In the space of twenty years, the throne of Israel changed hands five times, and almost every transfer was soaked in blood. Zachariah, son of Jeroboam, lasted six months before his friend Shallum murdered him. Shallum held the crown for thirty days before Menahem, a general stationed in Tirzah, marched on Samaria and killed him in turn.
Menahem's reign was pure brutality. When the city of Tiphsah refused to open its gates, he burned the surrounding countryside, took the city by force, and slaughtered everyone inside, including infants. He ruled for ten years through cruelty alone. When Pul, king of Assyria, came knocking, Menahem did not fight. He taxed every Israelite fifty drachmas per head and handed Assyria a thousand talents of silver to go away. His son Pekahiah inherited the throne and the brutality, but lasted only two years before his own cavalry commander, Pekah son of Remaliah, assassinated him at a feast.
Meanwhile in Jerusalem, Jotham son of Uzziah ruled the tribe of Judah with actual competence. He repaired the Temple foundations, rebuilt crumbling walls, raised enormous towers, defeated the Ammonites, and collected tribute of a hundred talents plus ten thousand measures each of wheat and barley every year. His enemies could not touch him. His people flourished.
During Jotham's reign, the prophet Nahum delivered a terrifying oracle against Assyria's capital: "Nineveh shall be a pool of water in motion. Her people will flee while crying 'Stand, stand!' They will grab for gold and silver, but choose their lives over their wealth. The den of the lions shall be no more." God declared that Nineveh's power to dictate laws to the world was finished. These prophecies, Josephus notes, came true a hundred and fifteen years later when the great city fell.