1.
Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,
2.
Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins;
3.
Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
4.
Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat.
5.
Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
6.
So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his stead.
7.
And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him.
8.
In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years.
9.
And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of his house in Tirzah.
10.
And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.
11.
And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends.
12.
Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,
13.
For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities.
14.
Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
15.
In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah. And the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.
16.
And the people that were encamped heard say, Zimri hath conspired, and hath also slain the king: wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp.
17.
And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah.
18.
And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king's house, and burnt the king's house over him with fire, and died,
19.
For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin.
20.
Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
21.
Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri.
22.
But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned.
23.
In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah.
24.
And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria.
25.
But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were before him.
THE HOUSE OF OMRI
‘Omri did worse than all that were before him.’
1 Kings 16:25
I. Omri was commander of the army that was besieging Gibbethon, when by the acclamation of the camp, he was proclaimed King of Israel. Those who know something of Roman history, will remember what tremendous power passed into the hands of the Roman legions. If the legions had a general who was a favourite, and was willing to make a bold venture for the crown, the chances were that in a few days he was Emperor. Just so, in Israel, the camp took sides with Omri. The last king, Elah, might have been an idle drunkard; but at least his murderer must not be his successor. So Omri was chosen, a man of might and valour, swift in decision, resolute in action, but lacking the one thing needful for true kingship—staunch faith in the invisible Jehovah. Now it was the twenty-seventh year of Asa, King of Judah, when Omri was chosen. And it was not till the thirty-first year that Omri reigned without a rival. That means that his first four years were years of civil war. There were fierce strifes between rival claimants for the crown. And doubtless it was in these four years of warfare, when Omri was fighting for his own hand, and for his life, that all that was bravest and kingliest in his nature shone out, to be recorded in the ‘Book of the Chronicles’ ( v. 27).
II. When peace was restored, and rivals had disappeared, Omri took one bold and sagacious step.—He removed the seat of government from Tirzah, and made the city of Samaria his capital. The first capital of Israel was Shechem. That was soon changed to Tirzah, a spot so delightful that Solomon sang to his love, ‘Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah.’ In Tirzah, Omri reigned six years, and then he changed the centre to Samaria. It may be that Tirzah, for all its loveliness, was rife with disaffection and sedition. It was not unusual for a new dynasty in the East to make everything new, by choosing a new metropolis. And Omri showed something of the statesman and the soldier in choosing Samaria to be his seat. Samaria, like Tirzah, was a pleasant town. It was so strongly placed that though the Syrians besieged it twice, on neither occasion did they capture it. In the stirring lives of Elijah and Elisha we often read of Samaria. Here was the temple of Baal which Jehu shattered. Hither came the leper Naaman from Damascus.
III. But if Omri was vigorous, and resolute, and strong, he was not great in the sight of the Lord.—The dead hand of Jeroboam was upon him. He walked in all the ways of Jeroboam. It takes a little courage to be true; it takes a certain scorn of popularity. And it was just there that Omri came to grief—the ways of Jeroboam were broad and beaten, the ways of God were, and are always, narrow. It is one of the strange things in Roman history that even Nero was remembered fondly. His bodyguard kept him in constant affection. Fresh flowers were placed on his tomb by unknown hands. Otho and Vitellius walked in the way of Nero, they copied and they carried on his vices, just as Omri and Ahab, and many another, walked in the way of Jeroboam. And when we try to imitate what is bad, do we not end by making the bad worse? So Omri, and his son Ahab who succeeded him, kept dragging the nation farther and farther down. Jeroboam made Israel sin by his example. He led them astray by tempting and alluring. But Omri proceeded to force and to compulsion. The suggestions of Jeroboam became the ‘statutes of Omri’ ( Micah 6:16). And then came Ahab, most famous of all the kings, and he, under the influence of a woman, sent the nation headlong to its doom, by changing the worship of the one true God—however corrupt and impure it had become—into that of the cruel and beastly Baal and Ashtaroth.
Illustrations
(1) ‘Note two things here. The restlessness of those who forsake God. First Shechem, and then Tirzah, and then Samaria; first the golden calves, and from them to Baal and Ashtaroth—do you see how unstable the rebellious grow? Then mark the evil of making light of sin. To make light of any sin, however small, is to wound the love of Him Who died for us. Had Jesus of Nazareth made light of sin, He would never have borne it in His body on the tree.’
(2) ‘In the great floods in Scotland in 1829, some of the rivers went back to their ancient courses. They would have been flowing in their newer channels still, but for the havoc and devastation of the floods. And God’s judgments, like a great deep, were needed—captivities and the bitterness of death—to bring Israel back from the ways of Jeroboam to the ancient ways of the everlasting God.’
(3) ‘What a dreary record is afforded in this chapter of apostasy and revolution, of idolatry and national disaster! Perhaps the great mass of the people—the peasantry—were not greatly affected by those dynastic changes; but severe judgments of famine and drought were soon to make them also realise what an evil and bitter thing it was to desert the Fountain of living waters, and to hew out broken cisterns which could hold none.’
26.
For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities.
27.
Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he shewed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
28.
So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son reigned in his stead.
29.
And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years.
30.
And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him.
31.
And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
32.
And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
33.
And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
34.
In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.