And the people that were encamped heard say, Zimri has conspired, and has also smitten the king; and all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp.
Israel's army was camped outside Gibbethon when news came: an officer named Zimri had murdered king Elah and seized the throne. Within a day the soldiers crowned their own commander, Omri — so who really rules a nation once its people ignore God's will?
The troops made the choice, not the tribes. One writer sees the same pattern whenever a nation falls apart.
The people, encamped before Gibbethon on the day of Zimri's usurpation, choose Omri, the captain of the army, for their king. These facts always repeat themselves in the decline of empires. When the people are without God, His will counts for nothing. What He established at the beginning is done away with. Whoever has the power reigns. Since the power lies in the army, the empire is at the mercy of the military. Conspiracy on the one hand, soldierly revolution on the other.
The verse turns on what the camp heard. A report of conspiracy was enough to finish Zimri.
He appears to have had no support from the people, who knew his character and did not want his rule. News of his taking the crown had no sooner reached the army at Gibbethon than they rejected his claims by proclaiming their commander-in-chief, Omri, king.
Because the man they crowned already held the nation's fighting strength, the contest was over before it began.
By his treason Zimri gained the doubtful honour of reigning for seven days (v. 15). But he had little following. When the people of Israel heard that Zimri had killed Elah, they chose to make Omri king (v. 16). He was the commander of the army, so there was little chance that Zimri could survive.
The verse says all Israel made Omri king. Yet the next verses show a divided nation.
"All Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp," it says. That means the army camped against Gibbethon. But part of the tribes backed Tibni. So for the four years of the contest Omri held the position of a military dictator. With the soldiers behind him, he was almost certain to beat his rival in the end. His rival's death probably ended the conflict.
Nothing here looks governed. Yet these murders fulfilled a prophet's word, and a short reign gave no man an excuse.
So the word of Jehu the prophet begins to be fulfilled, for "as soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he struck down all the house of Baasha. He did not leave him a single male relative or friend" (v. 11). Zimri finished this work of extermination in a few days, for he reigned only seven days at Tirzah (v. 15). Those seven days were enough for him to do "evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin" (v. 19). When a man's heart is far from God, every one of his deeds bears the mark of it. That is how a mass of sins can pile up in such a short time.
Another writer follows that judgment down the line, from Jeroboam to Omri.
So then in this very next chapter (1 Kings 16) we find what I have already referred to — the judgment following. The sovereignty passes out of the hand of Jeroboam. Zimri his captain rises up against him. Omri kills Zimri. So family after family takes possession of Israel, but God did not leave Himself without a warning.
The soldiers crowned Omri in a single day. What he set up outlasted him by two centuries.
He seems to have drawn up laws that made Jeroboam's calf-worship, or other forms of idolatry, binding throughout his realm. Those laws stayed in force until the end of the kingdom, more than two hundred years later. "For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab" (Micah 6:16). Here "statutes" means a firmly-established system. Men willingly carry such yokes, and even cling to them, so ready is the human heart for idolatry. Omri founded the fourth and most powerful of Israel's dynasties. He combined real ability with setting up the most degraded idolatry.
- Vacuum. When a people count God's will as nothing, only force decides the throne — and in Israel force meant the army.
- Conspiracy. Zimri's seven-day reign collapsed. The people knew his character and wanted no part of his rule.
- Camp. The "all Israel" that crowned Omri was the army at Gibbethon. The rest of the tribes backed Tibni, and a four-year contest followed.
- Government. Behind the coups, a prophet's word was coming true. Zimri's few days were still long enough to fill up his own sin.
- Cost. The army's choice gave Israel its most powerful dynasty and fixed idolatry into law for two centuries. Strength came at the price of true worship.
And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah.
Israel's army was camped against the Philistine town of Gibbethon. It now turns and marches on its own capital, led by a general the troops have just crowned, with a week-old king shut inside the walls. Two questions drive the chapter: who makes a king in Israel, and what happens to a throne seized by murder?
Israel had been fighting the Philistines. The moment a crown was at stake, that fight stopped and the weapons turned inward. One writer sees the same habit among Christians:
How tragic to see Israelites fighting their fellow Israelites! The war against the Philistines, the real enemies of God's people, now stopped. Instead the people of Israel followed leaders they chose for themselves. Nothing is said of any effort to find out the will of God in the matter. Sad to say, don't we often see similar things among God's people today? The highly gifted Corinthians were choosing sides among those whom God was using in that day. "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ," were their battle cries (1 Cor. 1:12). Our real battle is abandoned while we fight one another!
Omri did not go up to Tirzah as God's anointed. He went up because the troops had shouted for him, and because he commanded them. One commentator traces this pattern wherever empires decline:
The people were camped before Gibbethon on the day Zimri seized the crown. They choose Omri, the captain of the army, for their king. These facts always repeat themselves in the decline of empires. When a nation is without God, His will counts for nothing. The nation does away with what He established at the beginning. Whoever has power reigns. Power lies in the army, so the empire is at the mercy of the military. Conspiracy on one side, a soldiers' revolution on the other.
A later writer compares Israel's long line of usurpers with the kings of Judah:
Many men, one after another, overturned the kingdom in Israel. It is remarkable that Jehu is the only one of them who was anointed. In Judah the Lord Himself approved the anointing... but not so in Israel.
Zimri had killed his master and taken the crown, but he had taken nothing else. The siege exposes how empty his position was from the start:
By his treason Zimri gained the doubtful honour of reigning for seven days (v.15). But he had little following. When the people of Israel heard that Zimri had killed Elah, they chose to make Omri king (v.16). He was the commander of the army, so there was little chance that Zimri could survive. Omri, with the armies of Israel, came and besieged Tirzah, where Zimri had established himself (v.17). Zimri knew his case was hopeless, so he killed himself by setting fire to his house with himself inside.
Zimri's crime outlived him by years:
Zimri's treachery became a byword in Israel. The infamous Jezebel could point to him and say, "Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?" As someone has said, "Treason gets treason as its punishment, and the slayer is slain."
Another writer compares Zimri's end with the ends of the kings before him:
His death was also repayment from the Lord for his own sin. He walked in the way of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin against God. But the judgment in his case was more swift and abrupt than that of those who went before him. Yet, whether the time is short or long, those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind. This history of the kings declares that God is not mocked. Whatever one sows he will also reap (Gal. 6:7).
Tirzah fell fast. Omri drew a practical lesson from that, and it shaped the rest of his reign:
He was a man of military skill. He wanted a capital with more strategic value than Tirzah, which had failed when Zimri tried to hold it. Tirzah could not survive even a week's siege! (1 Kings 16:18)... Firm rule and a new, modern capital may look desirable in men's eyes. But it is the moral and spiritual condition that counts with God. Omri became a more wicked ruler than even the bad kings before him.
- Abandoned. Israel drops the siege of Gibbethon to besiege Israel. The real enemy goes free while God's people fight each other.
- Unasked. No one asks what God wants. Where His will counts for nothing, the man with the army takes the crown.
- Unsupported. Zimri's seven days collapse. A throne taken by murder rests on nothing, and the people who knew him wanted none of him.
- Repaid. Treason gets treason as its punishment. Whether judgment comes fast or slow, what a man sows he reaps.
- Unlearned. Omri's answer to a fallen capital was a stronger capital, not a changed heart — and he ruled worse than all before him.
And it came to pass when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the citadel of the king's house, and burned the king's house over him with fire;
Zimri seized Israel's throne by murder and held it for one week. When Omri's army broke into Tirzah, he set fire to the royal palace and died inside it. His end raises two hard questions. Why did the collapse come so fast? And does a short reign of evil mean a lighter account with God?
Commentators read the burning palace as the last move of a man with no way out. Zimri had the crown, but he never had the country.
By his treason Zimri gained the dubious honour of reigning for seven days (v.15). But he had little following. Omri came with the armies of Israel and besieged Tirzah. Zimri had established himself there (v.17). Zimri knew his case was hopeless, so he committed suicide by burning down his house while he was inside.
Seven days is not a reign; it is a verdict on his reputation. Zimri's own people refused him before Omri's siege ever started.
"The triumphing of the wicked is short." Zimri's case showed it sharply — just one week. He appears to have had no support from the people, who knew his character and did not want his rule. News of his taking the crown reached the army at Gibbethon. At once they rejected his claims and proclaimed their commander-in-chief, Omri, king.
Tirzah itself proved as weak as his position. Its failure under siege later pushed Omri to move the capital.
Omri was a man of military genius. He wanted a seat of government with greater strategic value than Tirzah. Tirzah had not proved strong when Zimri tried to hold it. It could not survive even a week's siege! (1 Kings 16:18).
A brief reign did not mean a small record.
Zimri carried out this work of extermination in a few days, for he reigned seven days at Tirzah (v. 15). And these seven days were enough for him to do "evil in the sight of Jehovah, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, making Israel to sin" (v. 19). When a man's heart is estranged from God, every one of his deeds carries the mark of it. That is how a mass of wrongdoing can pile up in so short a time.
Writers see spite in the act. If the palace could not be his, it would be nobody's.
Zimri was besieged in his capital city, Tirzah. When it fell, he took his own life, burning the citadel of the palace over his own head. If he could not have it, no one else could have it either! What a frightful end to the life of this rash, impulsive man! But the flames he lit, which brought his life to its fiery end, were nothing compared to those in which he will suffer forever in the torments of hell.
The pattern runs deeper than one bad week. Violence that runs out of other targets turns on the one who carries it.
Murderers are usually desperate characters. When it is no longer in their power to destroy the lives of others, they often destroy their own, as wretched Zimri did. Satan "was a murderer from the beginning," and he knows how to drive them on to their destruction — body and soul.
Zimri did not vanish from memory. His name turned into an insult for traitors.
Zimri's treachery became a byword in Israel. The infamous Jezebel could point to him and say, "Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?" Someone has said, "Treason is punished by treason, and the slayer is slain." … Let Zimri's end warn deliberate king-killers and traitors.
The speed of Zimri's fall is not an argument against God's fairness. What settled his case was what God had already seen.
The heart-knowing God knew Zimri's heart well. He owes us no apologies. Zimri "died for his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of Jehovah." God had seen them all. The Judge of all the earth will always do right. Whether He allows a man to go on in his sins for many years or only a week, as in Zimri's case, makes no difference. All His ways are right and not to be questioned. Thankfully, today His offer of salvation is still open. Accept it while you can. Tomorrow may well be too late.
- Seven days. Zimri murdered his way to a throne and kept it one week — a short triumph that showed how little the people wanted him.
- No following. The army crowned Omri as soon as the news reached them; a crown taken by treachery had nothing under it to hold it up.
- Full account. A brief reign was still long enough to pile up evil, because a heart estranged from God marks every deed it does.
- Own fire. Cornered, the man who had destroyed others destroyed himself. Spite and desperation lit the palace over his own head.
- Right verdict. Fast or slow, God's judgment is just, because He has already seen the heart. And today His offer of salvation still stands open.
and he died for his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of Jehovah, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, making Israel to sin.
Zimri's reign lasted one week, and the record of it closes with God's own verdict on why he died. It does not blame the army or bad timing. It names sin — and traces that sin back to a king who had died long before.
A week was all Zimri had. One writer traces how he seized the throne, and how much evil a man can pack into seven days once his heart has turned away:
Zimri, who held high rank in the army, killed King Elah at Tirzah while Elah was drinking himself drunk. Then he wiped out the whole house of Baasha, and it took only a few days, for Zimri reigned seven days at Tirzah. And those seven days were enough for him to do "evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin." When a man's heart is far from God, every one of his deeds carries the mark of it. So a mass of wrongdoing can pile up in a very short space of time.
The verse dates Zimri's guilt by a road someone else built. Jeroboam ruled the ten tribes in the north. He feared Jerusalem. If his people kept going there to worship, he could lose them to the king in the south:
He was afraid that if he let his subjects go up to Jerusalem they would think again of their old king. They would think again of the great purposes of God tied to Jerusalem. So what does he do? He invents a religion out of his own head. "So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, 'You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'" He put it on the ground of bringing religion to their doors, of helping his people to a religion that would not be too costly or too difficult. In fact he was only seeking to make religion serve his policy.
That is "the way of Jeroboam": worship redesigned to keep a king's throne.
Why did king after king keep this worship going? One writer points to the politics behind it:
The golden calves were a political religion, and it suited the policy of the ten tribes to keep it going. If the ten tribes had no calves of gold, they would have gone back to their loyalty to the LORD in Jerusalem. The calves were the great means of having another centre. Suppose Jerusalem had been the one centre for the ten tribes as well as for the two. Then the twelve tribes of Israel would have united. And if they had united in the worship of God, they would have united under the same king.
This is why the verse adds "making Israel to sin." Zimri did not only walk the road — he kept it open for everyone behind him.
The chapter has already told us how Zimri died: besieged in Tirzah, he burned the palace down over himself. But verse 19 gives the real cause of death:
His death was repayment from the Lord for his own sin in walking in the way of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin against God. But the judgment in his case was swifter and more abrupt than for those before him. Yet whether the time is short or long, those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind. This history of the kings declares that God is not mocked. Whatever one sows, he will also reap (Gal. 6:7).
Another writer sees a grim logic in how he ended:
Most murderers are desperate characters. When they can no longer destroy the lives of others, they often destroy their own — as wretched Zimri did. Satan "was a murderer from the beginning," and he knows how to drive them on to their destruction — body and soul.
Zimri took the throne by murdering his master. Long after his death, people still threw his name at other traitors:
Zimri's treachery became a byword in Israel. The infamous Jezebel could point back to him and say, "Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?" As one writer said, "Treason punishes treason, and the slayer is slain." Let Zimri's end be a warning to anyone who deliberately murders a king, and to traitors.
- Seven days. A week was long enough for a full record of evil. A heart turned from God marks every deed it produces.
- Borrowed road. Zimri walked "in the way of Jeroboam" — a religion one king invented to keep his people from going up to Jerusalem.
- Cheap religion. Jeroboam sold the calves as worship made easy and close to home. It was really worship made to serve his policy, and it kept the kingdom split.
- His own sins. He did not die for Jeroboam's sin, but "for his sins that he committed" — whatever a man sows, he reaps.
- A byword. Zimri killed his master and then died himself. His name became a warning against the next traitor.
And the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his conspiracy which he wrought, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
Zimri reigned seven days. When his record closes, the one thing named beside "the rest of his acts" is the conspiracy that put him on the throne. It points to a national record book that no longer exists. So what record of a life does survive, and who writes it?
Zimri held power for a shorter time than any other king here. Even so, the verse sums up his "acts." One writer traces how much wrong a man can pack into a single week.
Elah, the son of Baasha, reigns two years. Zimri, who had a high rank in the army, kills him at Tirzah while Elah was drinking himself drunk… Zimri wiped out the whole house of Baasha in a few days, for he reigned seven days at Tirzah. And these seven days were enough for him to do "evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, making Israel to sin." When a man's heart is far from God, every deed he does carries that mark. So a mass of wrongdoing can pile up in a very short time.
The verse does not soften what Zimri did. It puts his treason on his public record, and Israel did not forget it.
Zimri's treachery became a byword in Israel. The infamous Jezebel could point at him and ask, "Was there peace for Zimri, who killed his master?" As someone has said, "Treason is punished by treason, and the slayer is slain."… Let Zimri's end be a warning to anyone who plans to kill a king or betray his ruler.
His plot did not happen in a vacuum. In the same chapter the army puts its own commander on the throne. One writer reads the whole sequence as a symptom.
On the day Zimri seized power, the people were camped outside the town of Gibbethon. They chose Omri, the captain of the army, as their king. These facts always repeat themselves in the decline of empires. When a people is without God, they count His will as nothing. They sweep away what He set up at the beginning. Whoever has power reigns, and since power lies in the army, the empire is at the mercy of the military. Conspiracy on one side, a soldiers' revolution on the other.
The book named here is not the Bible's own Chronicles. One writer explains what these royal record books were, and why their loss costs the reader nothing.
These books refer quite often to the chronicles of the kings of Israel, or to those of the kings of Judah. Men wrote these chronicles during the reign of every ruler of those times… They have nothing to do with the Word of God. They contain what the Lord did not choose to record or explain. These chronicles have been lost… The believer has no need of any of them; he has God's Word. There in God's account he finds everything necessary for him, as well as the divine assessment of people, events, and things. Writings that are not inspired may record certain deeds, even with great accuracy. But those deeds never carry anything more than a human verdict.
Those state records are gone. That loss says something about the book that mentions them.
Now that they have disappeared, they have no other witness than the mention of them in the sacred writings. Amid the ruin and disappearance of these things the Word of God remains, the only monument, the only document that cannot be shaken!
This closing question repeats at the death of king after king. One writer, meeting it again, gives it a direct answer.
Yes, and they, along with the wicked acts recorded here, are written in God's books above. Those books are not merely "the chronicles of the kings of Israel." They hold the deeds and doings of every man's life, whether good or evil. Solemn facts for us all!
Zimri's rule ended almost as soon as it began. Does that short run change God's verdict?
God, who knows the heart, knew Zimri's heart well. He owes us no apologies. Zimri "died for his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD." God had seen them all. The Judge of all the earth will always do right. Whether He allows a man to go on in his sins for many years or only a week, as in Zimri's case, makes no difference. All His ways are right and not to be questioned. Thankfully, today His offer of salvation is still open. Accept it while you can. Tomorrow may well be too late.
- Deed — Seven days on the throne were enough for a full record of evil. A heart turned from God stamps every action, so wrongdoing piles up fast.
- Treason — Scripture keeps his conspiracy on the record. His treachery became a byword, and the slayer was slain.
- Decline — A plot in the palace and a coup in the army mark a nation that no longer counts God's will for anything. Whoever holds power takes the throne.
- Register — The royal chronicles were a human record, and they are lost. Only Scripture carries God's own assessment of people and events. Only Scripture cannot be shaken.
- Verdict — God keeps His own record, and every life is in it. Decades or one week makes no difference: the Judge of all the earth does right. His offer of salvation is open today.
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.
Israel's northern kingdom had already broken away from Judah, and now it splits again behind two rival leaders. The four-year civil war that follows raises one question: what happens to God's people when His will no longer decides anything?
Tibni is the last name in a long run of murders and army takeovers — and all of it happened among God's own people:
Jeroboam's son Nadab reigned only two years. One of his captains — Baasha — then murdered him, during the war with the Philistines at the siege of Gibbethon. Baasha occupied his bloodstained throne twenty-four years... Baasha's son Elah succeeded his father, but an officer named Zimri murdered him two years later. This man hoped to establish himself in Tirzah — the capital of the ten-tribe kingdom. But another captain — Omri — wanted the throne. Within a week he captured Tirzah. Zimri died in the flames of the royal palace, which he himself set on fire when he saw that his cause was hopeless. But even this did not settle the country. Yet another man reaching for the throne appeared — Tibni the son of Ginath... We are speaking, not of pagan nations, but of God's chosen people. He had done great things for them from Egypt onward, and He had made His holy will known to them. Israel had the Scriptures; no other nation was so privileged... A downward course is always slippery. Let us all beware of the first small step away from the revealed will of God.
In this verse "the people of Israel" means the ten northern tribes. That half of the nation now splits again:
Another feature marks the decline of the kingdom. Israel is divided against itself: how shall it stand?
Older people alive at the time could remember something very different:
Only a few years before — probably within living memory — the twelve tribes of Israel were one people. God's goodness had set them high among the nations, and all the kings around paid homage to their king. The country was wealthy and peaceful... Now — they were divided into two nations hostile to each other. Two ruthless military leaders were fighting for control in the Northern State.
The people picked their own king. Where God's will no longer decides, something else does:
The people, camped before Gibbethon on the day of Zimri's grab for power, choose Omri, the captain of the army, for their king. These facts always repeat themselves in the decline of empires. When a people is without God, His will is counted as nothing. What He established at the beginning is set aside. The one who has might reigns. Since might lies in the army, the empire is at the mercy of the military power. Conspiracy on one side, a soldiers' revolution on the other.
The two halves were not evenly matched. One side had the army behind it:
Civil war — the most terrible of all forms of armed conflict — followed Omri's taking of the throne of Israel... "All Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp," it says — that is, the army camped against Gibbethon. But part of the tribes took up Tibni's cause. During the four-year contest Omri would be in the position of a military dictator. With the soldiers behind him, he was almost sure to win in the end against his rival. His rival's death probably ended the conflict.
Whichever man won, the deeper problem stayed. The ten tribes had walked away from the centre God had chosen:
Confusion marked the whole history of Israel from Jeroboam on. Kings fell from power, and evil men fought over the throne. Tibni, the son of Ginath, challenged Omri, and both of them had large followings (v. 21). Omri's side prevailed, however, and Tibni died... Of course this was in opposition to God's decree that Jerusalem was the centre of the nation Israel. Judah recognised this, but the ten tribes had given themselves up to accept any substitute.
Israel is not the only people who lined up behind rival leaders:
In the history of Israel the people failed. In their low condition they insisted on a king, and then the kings led them astray. So in the history of the Church. In 1 Corinthians 3 and 4, the Apostle Paul traces all division back to the low, fleshly condition of the people. That condition led them to line up under certain leaders. Paul also foresees that after his death leaders would arise who would bring about open division.
- Drift — for generations the throne had changed hands by murder. Tibni and Omri are the next step down.
- Divide — a nation once united and honoured is split in two, then split again, as rival leaders fight for control.
- Vacuum — where God's will counts for nothing, people set aside what He established, and the strongest man reigns.
- Force — Omri held the army, so the four-year contest could only end one way. Strength, not righteousness, decided who wore the crown.
- Substitute — the real loss was not Tibni's life. It was the centre God appointed in Jerusalem, traded for any substitute — the same low condition that later split the Church behind rival leaders.
But the people that followed Omri overcame the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath; and Tibni died, and Omri reigned.
Israel's northern kingdom is falling apart. Two men claim the throne, the people split behind them, and this verse records who won — though the deeper question is what happens to a nation that has stopped asking God who should rule.
The contest started in an army camp. Soldiers made their commander king, and part of the nation backed a rival instead.
Civil war — the most terrible of all forms of armed conflict — followed Omri's taking of Israel's throne... The record says that all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp — that is, the army camped against Gibbethon. But part of the tribes backed Tibni. So during the four-year contest Omri held the place of a military dictator. With the soldiers behind him, he was almost certain to beat his rival in the end. His rival's death probably ended the conflict.
The verse turns on the word "overcame." Right did not settle this. Force did — and one writer sees the same pattern wherever empires fall.
The same things always happen again when empires decline. When a people is without God, they count His will as nothing. They do away with what He set up at the beginning. Whoever has the power rules, and since the power lies with the army, the empire is at the mercy of the military. Conspiracy on one side, revolt by the soldiers on the other.
The fight between these two men was not the start of the trouble. It grew out of a long history of confusion and of turning from the place God chose.
Confusion marked Israel's whole history from Jeroboam on. People pushed kings off the throne, and evil men fought over it. Tibni, the son of Ginath, challenged Omri, and both had large followings... All of this went against God's decree that Jerusalem was the centre of the nation Israel. Judah accepted that, but the ten tribes had given themselves up to taking any substitute.
The split itself is one more mark of a kingdom going down.
Another feature marks the decline of the kingdom. Israel is divided against itself — how can it stand?
The cost shows up when you compare Israel now with Israel a few years earlier.
Only a few years earlier — still within living memory — the twelve tribes of Israel were one people. By God's goodness they stood high among the nations, and all the kings around them paid honour to their king. The country was rich and at peace... Now they were split into two nations that hated each other, and two ruthless military leaders were fighting for control of the northern one... Turning away from God and His Word brings disaster. Let us take warning!
By the world's measure, the winner did very well.
Omri, a powerful and ambitious man, bought a hill and built a new capital city on it, Samaria. This city plays a large part in the later history of the northern kingdom, and the prophets often call that kingdom Samaria. Omri must have made quite an impression on the nations around him. In their records, Israel's enemies the Assyrians called Israel the house of Omri, even after his family had lost power.
But God measures a ruler by another standard.
Firm rule and a modern new capital may look desirable in men's eyes. But what counts with God is a person's moral and spiritual condition. Omri became a more wicked ruler than even the bad kings before him. "Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did more evil than all who were before him."
- Drift. The ten tribes had already left the centre God chose. A people that will take any substitute ends up with no settled authority at all.
- Division. A kingdom split in half cannot stand. Two rival kings and four years of civil war were the symptom, not the disease.
- Force. Where God's will counts for nothing, the strongest arm rules — the throne falls to whoever commands the army.
- Victory. Omri won and Tibni died. The winner built a famous capital, and foreign records still called Israel by his name.
- Verdict. God measures a ruler by his moral and spiritual condition, not by what he builds. By that measure the winner was worse than every king before him.