Then Menahem son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and struck down Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed him; and he succeeded him — Menahem's violent overthrow of Shallum continues the pattern of conspiracy and assassination. The detail that Menahem "came up from Tirzah" (מִתִּרְצָה, *mi-Tirzah*), an alternate capital of Israel, suggests either a regional strongman consolidating power or a military figure seizing the throne. Tirzah's location in the interior distinguishes Menahem as a provincial power-broker rather than a resident of the capital. His succession through violence establishes his reign's character: military consolidation through brutality.

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