Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 15:16

"Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the borders thereof, from Tirzah: because they opened not to him, therefore he smote it; and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up." — 2 Kings 15:16 (ASV)

Then. — After slaying Shallum and seizing the supreme power.

Tiphsah. — The name means ford, and elsewhere denotes the well-known Thapsacus on the Euphrates (1 Kings 4:24). Here, however, an Israelite city in the neighborhood of Tirzah is obviously intended.

The course of events was apparently this: after slaying Shallum, Menahem returned to Tirzah and set out from there at the head of his entire army to bring the rest of the country to acknowledge him as king. Tiphsah resisting his claims, he made an example of it that effectively terrorized other towns into submission.

[Thenius would read Tappuah for Tiphsah by a slight change in one Hebrew letter. This agrees very well with the local indications of the text , though, of course, there may have been an otherwise unknown Tiphsah near Tirzah.]

The coasts thereof. — Literally, her borders (or, territories). .

From Tirzah. — i.e., starting from Tirzah. This shows that the districts of Tirzah and Tiphsah (or, Tappuah) were adjoining.

Because they did not open to him. — Literally, for one did not open; an impersonal construction. The meaning is: the gates were closed against him. The to him is added by all the versions except the Targum.

And all the women. — (Compare 2 Kings 8:21; Hosea 13:16; Amos 1:13).