Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

Omri was one of the kings of Israel, whose reign began approximately fifty years after the ten northern tribes of Israel had split apart from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin following the death of Solomon (as told in 1 Kings 12). Omri's reign is described in 1 Kings 16:16-28. 

A prior king of Israel (Elah) was assassinated by Zimri, who had commanded half of Elah's chariot force. After this assassination, Zimri reigned only seven days before Omri, the commander of the army, besieged the capital city of Tirzah, seeking to punish Zimri for his rebellion. Tirzah was captured, and Zimri committed suicide by setting fire to his palace, and dying in the flames.

Following the death of Zimri, half of the ten tribes in the northern kingdom designated a man named Tibni as king, while the other half followed Omri as king. But Omri's followers prevailed, and Tibni was killed, making Omri the sole king.

He reigned for twelve years -- the first six in Tirzah, and the second six on land that he had bought from a man named Shemer, and on which he then built and fortified a city, naming it Samaria (in honor of Shemer), and designating it as the new capital of Israel.

His reign is described as having been more evil than any of the other kings of Israel up to that time (1 Kings 16:25) (although Omri's son Ahab proved to be even worse when he became king after Omri's death (1 Kings 16:29-33)). Omri continued in the practice of idolatry and in the other sins into which the first king of the northern kingdom (Jeroboam) had led the people (as described in 1 Kings 12:25-33).

When the prophet Micah spoke in Micah 6:16 of Jerusalem (the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah) having kept the statutes of Omri and the works of Ahab, he was saying that it had corrupted itself to the point of being as wicked and sinful in God's eyes as those two kings of the house of Israel had been.

March 02 2017 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report