At that time Menahem, starting out from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in the city and its vicinity, because they refused to open their gates. He sacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women. – 2 Kings 15:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 27, 2013): 2 Kings 15

Marie Antoinette has been traditionally thought to have responded to the news that the people were starving, lacking even bread to eat with the words “let them eat cake.” The words have come to symbolize the idea of rulers who had grown out of touch with the reality of the people that served under them – obviously if there was no bread, there could not be any cake. It is actually extremely unlikely that the monarch of France ever spoke the words. It was probably just a story or moral parable that at long last became connected with the French Queen. But we still remember the words as if she was the one that spoke them. It was a time of upheaval and poverty, a time when the monarchy of a country had once again fallen out of step with the common populace – it had become ruled by people who craved power at any cost and was willing to sacrifice the common people - with disastrous results.

For the nation of Israel, the ascension Menahem to the throne seemed to be one of many low points for the nation. Menahem was the third king – and the second assassin to rule on the throne of Israel inside the space of the year. And it quickly becomes apparent that all Menahem cares about is the exercise of his own power. It is possible that he even saw himself as another David, expanding the rule of Israel to places it had never been before.

There is some indication that Tipsah may have been on the west bank of the Euphrates River. It was a place that the borders of Israel had never extended beyond, and yet Menahem demands that the city bow to his rule. The city refuses and Menahem displays a brutality that was even shocking in ancient times. Far beyond that proverbial telling of starving people that they could eat cake, Menahem’s ego demanded that the city pay – and his method of making them pay included even ripping open the stomachs of pregnant women. It was a crime so shocking that it was one of the few things remembered during Menahem’s reign. It also might have prompted an invasion from Assyria.

Menahem reigned for ten years, and with the help of the Assyrians, whom he had bribed, he was able to rule the nation with an iron fist. But it did not help his son, who was assassinated after just two years of his reign. The violence of Menahem had been passed down to and paid for by his heir. Whether or not Marie Antoinette actually said the words that we remember her for, she paid a similar price for the crime of being out of step with the needs of the nation. Her death came at the hands of the executioner in October of 1793. The people claimed their prize for a ruler who wanted power more than they wanted to aid a nation in need.  

Tomorrow’s Scriptures Reading: 2 Kings 16