In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah for two years.
Elah, the son of Baasha, takes the throne of Israel in Tirzah for two years, while Asa is only in his twenty-sixth year over Judah. The verse reads like a routine date-stamp, but commentators treat it as the first line of a sentence God had already passed on his father's house.
Elah inherited a house that a prophet had already spoken against.
The history of the kings of Israel becomes increasingly dark and tragic. The curse of God rests on this apostate line. Elah, the son of Baasha, reigns two years (v. 8); Zimri, who held high rank in the army, kills him at Tirzah while he was drinking himself drunk. So the word of Jehu the prophet starts to come true: "As soon as he sat on his throne, he struck down all the house of Baasha. He did not leave him a single male of his relatives or his friends" (v. 11). … When a man's heart is turned away from God, each of his deeds carries the mark of it, and that is how a mass of sins can pile up in so short a time.
Elah's father Baasha chose this capital, and the city's name tells you what drew him to it.
He was of Issachar, and had the tribal trait — an eye for what appeared "pleasant" (Genesis 49:15). So he made beautiful Tirzah (which some derive from ratzah, "pleasant"; see Song of Solomon 6:4) the royal residence during his reign. Whatever he may have known of God's purpose in cutting off Jeroboam's house, his motive was not righteousness (like Jehu's, later). He was no better than the men he murdered, and he went on walking in their sin.
Scripture records almost nothing Elah did — except one thing.
Elah was no different from his father in his evil character. For two years he evidently reigned only for his own pleasure. The only specific action we read of on his part is that he was "drinking himself drunk" (v. 9). It is not surprising that his own servant conspired against him and killed him. Elah left himself open to any kind of assault by his drunkenness, and his own servants had reason to despise him.
The timing makes it worse. His soldiers were in the field, and his own steward had a hand in it.
How tragic! King Elah indulging his own appetites, drinking himself drunk! His steward Arza helping his master do wrong! All this while the people were encamped against the Philistine city of Gibbethon! No wonder one of his top military officers takes advantage of this to assassinate him! Wrong as this was and always is, we tend to sympathise with Zimri rather than with drunken Elah. Nor can we forget that the wrath of man shall praise the Lord, and the rest He will restrain (Psalm 76:10). So God's judgment overtook the house of Baasha.
Elah is not the only king who did this:
David (2 Samuel 11), Belshazzar (Daniel 5) and Elah all indulged their own appetites while their people were at war. For each of them and for many others like them the results proved tragic.
Elah lived to please himself. One Man never did.
What a contrast we have in the Lord Jesus. "For Christ did not please Himself," we read in Romans 15:3. He alone could say, "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:29). No one could challenge this; rather, "As He was saying these things, many believed in Him" (v. 30). Self-control is also one of the Spirit's nine delicious flavours of fruit in Galatians 5. "Against such things there is no law."
Elah's two years close a family line. The record of it was not kept for curiosity.
In less than fifty years the first two dynasties of Israel's kings had come to an end and every member of their families had been wiped out. God meant their doom to be an example to those who would afterwards live ungodly lives. In these records they stand as warning lights. They warn every ruler and subject off the rocks that wrecked these kings forever. "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them" (Hosea 14:9).
- Sentence — Elah takes a throne already under a prophet's word against his father's house. His two years are where that word starts to land.
- Setting — He reigns in Tirzah, the "pleasant" city his father chose for its looks.
- Self — Two years on the throne, and the only deed on record is that he drank himself drunk. He reigned for his own pleasure.
- Sword — He drank while his army camped against Gibbethon. That left him open to the officer who killed him. The same self-indulgence turned tragic for David and Belshazzar.
- Signal — Two royal houses wiped out in under fifty years stand as warning lights. The opposite is Christ, who did not please Himself.
And his servant Zimri, captain of half [his] chariots, conspired against him; and he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was the steward of his house in Tirzah;
One of his own chariot officers kills the king of Israel in a private house, while the king is drunk. That one scene sums up the whole reign of Elah son of Baasha, and it raises two questions: what self-indulgence does to a man, and how a traitor's hand carries out God's earlier sentence on Baasha's family.
Two years on the throne left nothing worth reporting. One writer ties Elah's drinking to the way he died:
Elah was no different from his father in his evil character. It seems that for two years he reigned only for his own pleasure. The one action we read of on his part is that he was "drinking himself drunk" (v.9). No wonder his own servant conspired against him and killed him. His drunkenness left him open to attack of any kind, and his own servants had reason to despise him.
The verse names the house where Elah died and the man who owned it. Arza was the steward, the servant who ran the king's household:
Of Elah, Josephus (viii. 12, § 4) says he was slain while his army was away at the siege of Gibbethon, begun in his father Baasha's day. His murder was carried out in the house of his steward Arza (earthliness), who was probably as given to self-indulgence as his master. Contrast the steward Obadiah, 1 Kings 18:3.
Obadiah is named as the opposite case — a steward in a later reign. A servant either feeds his master's weakness or stands against it.
The timing is the sharpest detail. The army was camped against a Philistine city while the king drank indoors:
How tragic! King Elah giving in to his bodily desires, drinking himself drunk! His steward Arza adding to his master's wrongdoing! All this while the people were encamped against the Philistine city of Gibbethon! No wonder one of his top military officers takes advantage of this to assassinate him! Wrong as this was and ever is, we tend to sympathise with Zimri rather than with drunken Elah. Nor can we forget that the wrath of man shall praise the Lord, and the rest of it He will hold back (Ps. 76:10). So God's judgment overtook the house of Baasha.
Zimri's motive and God's purpose were not the same, yet they met in one act. The killing carried out a word God had sent to Baasha through the prophet Jehu:
Zimri followed Baasha's example by killing both Elah and all the male descendants of Baasha (v.11). More than this, he killed the friends of Baasha. Zimri's motives were selfish and evil, but the Lord used Zimri's wickedness to carry out the prophecy He had sent to Baasha through Jehu (v.12). The whole house of Baasha died, and Elah and his friends with them. This happened because of the sins of both men, who provoked the Lord to anger by worshipping idols (v.13).
The killer was no outsider — the verse calls Zimri the king's own servant. He took the throne and kept it one week:
The conspiracy did not settle the kingdom. The army chose the next king, and one writer draws out the pattern:
On the day Zimri seized power, the people camped before Gibbethon chose Omri, the captain of the army, as their king. These things always repeat themselves when empires decline. When a people is without God, His will counts for nothing. What He set up at the beginning is thrown away. Whoever has power rules, and since power lies in the army, the empire is at the mercy of the military. Conspiracy on the one hand, military revolt on the other.
- Pleasure. Elah reigned for his own enjoyment, and the one act recorded of him is drinking himself drunk.
- Company. His host Arza — whose name is read as "earthliness" — was probably as self-indulgent as his master; the steward Obadiah is named as the contrast.
- Exposure. Drunkenness left him defenceless; his people were at war while he was at the table, and his own officer struck.
- Purpose. Zimri's motives were selfish, yet God used that wickedness to fulfil His word against Baasha's house for its idol worship.
- Collapse. The murder settled nothing. Where God's will counts for nothing, power decides, and the throne fell to whoever commanded the army.
and Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned in his stead.
Elah's two years as king of Israel end with one of his own officials killing him and taking the throne. It reads like palace politics. Commentators read it as God carrying out a sentence He had already spoken — and as a warning about how a man spends his time.
Scripture records almost nothing Elah did as king except drink. One writer ties his death to that drunkenness:
Elah was no different than his father in his evil character. For two years he evidently reigned only for his own pleasure. The only specific action we read of on his part is that he was "drinking himself drunk." No surprise, then, that his own servant conspired against him and killed him. Elah left himself open to any kind of assault by his drunkenness, and his own servants had reason to despise him.
Elah lived to please himself. One writer sets that beside the one life that never did:
What a contrast we have in the Lord Jesus. "For Christ did not please Himself," we read in Romans 15:3. He alone could say, "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:29). No one could challenge this. Instead, "As He was saying these things, many believed in Him." Self-control is also one of the fruit of the Spirit's nine delicious flavours in Galatians 5. "Against such things there is no law."
The killing was not random. The prophet Jehu had already given Elah's father Baasha God's sentence on his whole family. The slaughter after Elah's death carried it out to the letter:
His murderer Zimri at once began to massacre "all the house of Baasha," sparing none, "neither his relatives nor his friends." It was complete extermination, just as God had ordained it should be. So "Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet." And it was "for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son … which they made Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their idols."
Zimri wanted the throne for himself. His crime still served a purpose he never intended:
Zimri followed Baasha's example by killing both Elah and all the male descendants of Baasha. More than this, he killed the friends of Baasha. The motives of Zimri were selfish and evil, but the Lord used Zimri's wickedness to carry out the prophecy He had sent Baasha by Jehu.
Baasha himself had wiped out the family of the king before him. Now the same judgment falls on his own house:
Baasha, God's instrument of judgment to exterminate the house of Jeroboam, was now to face the same judgment he had handed out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How solemn when we then go ahead and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no trifling matter before God.
Zimri held the throne for one week. One writer weighs what he did with it:
Zimri finished this extermination 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, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin." When a man's heart is far from God, every one of his deeds bears the mark of it. So a mass of wrongdoing can pile up in a very short time.
What he never did in that week matters as much as what he did:
Zimri did a quick but thorough job of wiping out the house of Baasha, even killing all his friends. But his effort went only that far. He made absolutely no effort to repent, to turn to the Lord, or to walk in His ways. His brutality was totally self-seeking and led to swift disaster for himself and Israel.
- Pleasure — The only act Scripture records of Elah as king is getting drunk. A reign spent on pleasure left him open to attack and despised by his own servants.
- Word — Zimri's blow was not an accident of politics. It carried out to the letter what God had spoken against Baasha's house through the prophet Jehu.
- Instrument — Zimri's motives were selfish and evil. The Lord still used his wickedness to carry out the judgment He had announced. Being useful to God is not the same as being right with Him.
- Measure — Baasha carried out God's judgment on the house before him, then repeated its sins. The judgment he handed out came back on his own son.
- Days — Seven days were enough for Zimri to fill up his record of evil, and enough to show he never once turned to the Lord. A short reign excuses nothing.
And it came to pass when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he slew all the house of Baasha he left him not a male, neither of his kinsmen nor of his friends.
Zimri has just killed King Elah and seized the throne, and his first act is to destroy Baasha's whole family. The chapter treats the bloodbath as a prophecy coming true — so how can one man's brutality and God's word run along the same track?
Years earlier the prophet Jehu had told Baasha that his house would end like Jeroboam's. Zimri's massacre is where that word lands.
His murderer Zimri at once began to massacre "all the house of Baasha," sparing none, "neither his relatives nor his friends." It was complete extermination, exactly as God had ordained it should be. "Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet."
Baasha had climbed to the throne by killing Nadab and destroying Jeroboam's family. What falls on his own house now matches what he once handed out.
Baasha, God's instrument of judgment to wipe out the house of Jeroboam, was now to face the same judgment he had dealt out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and treat them harshly for their sins. How serious it is when we then go on and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no small matter before God.
Jehu's message named the reason: Baasha had copied the very sins he once punished.
He sinned as Jeroboam did, though he had been the one who carried out God's judgment on the descendants of the wicked king. He had not heard the LORD's voice speaking in the events of the past... "I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat." Such is divine justice.
Zimri did not set out to serve God. His hand carried out the sentence while his heart pursued a throne.
Zimri followed Baasha's example by killing both Elah and all the male descendants of Baasha. More than this, he killed the friends of Baasha. The motives of Zimri were selfish and evil, but the Lord used Zimri's wickedness to accomplish the prophecy He had sent Baasha by Jehu.
Commentators draw the same line about a different Jehu — the man who destroyed the house of Ahab:
God takes into account not only what men do, but their aim in doing it. Jehu carried out the judgment of the Lord on the house of Ahab, and on all his guilty partners, until not one of them remained alive... But the harshness with which he carried out the Lord's just judgments, and his own selfish reasons for that harshness, were far from acceptable.
Zimri held the throne for a week. Even so, the record of his reign says he did evil in the sight of the Lord — and the speed is the point.
Zimri finished this work of extermination in a few days, for he reigned only seven days at Tirzah. 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 that stamp. So a mass of sins can pile up in a very short time.
Two royal families vanished inside fifty years. God left their end on record as a lesson for later readers.
In less than fifty years the first two dynasties of Israel's kings had come to an end and every member of their families had been wiped out. God meant their doom to be an example to those who would afterwards live ungodly lives. They stand in these records as warning lights, to steer all rulers and subjects clear of the rocks on which they wrecked themselves for ever. "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them" (Hosea 14:9).
- Word — Jehu's prophecy against Baasha's house was no empty threat. Zimri's massacre carried it out to the letter.
- Measure — Baasha destroyed Jeroboam's family, then copied Jeroboam's sins. The judgment he once carried out came back on his own house.
- Motive — Zimri's aims were selfish and evil. God used his wickedness without excusing it, because He weighs why men act, not only what they do.
- Speed — seven days on the throne were enough to mark Zimri as a man who did evil. A heart far from God stamps every deed.
- Warning — two dynasties fell within fifty years. Their record stands as a warning light, steering later readers clear of the rocks that wrecked them.
And Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spoke against Baasha through Jehu the prophet,
Zimri killed every male in Baasha's family within a week, and the Bible calls this not palace politics but the fulfilment of a word God had spoken through a prophet. That raises two questions: why was Baasha's house doomed, and how can a murderer's crime carry out God's word?
The messenger named here had already been sent to more than one throne, and his errands cut both ways.
After Hanani there appears Jehu, his son. He is a prophet in Israel as well as in Judah. He prophesies against Baasha, the king of Israel, who was Asa's enemy. He also prophesies against Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who was Ahab's friend (2 Chronicles 19:2; 20:34). Both things — the world's hatred for the children of God, and the friendship of God's children for the world — are just as sinful in the eyes of the Lord.
The killing of a drunken king in Tirzah looks like nothing but ambition. Read against the prophecy, it is the opening move of something announced in advance.
Elah, the son of Baasha, reigns two years (v. 8). Zimri, who had a high rank in the army, kills him at Tirzah while Elah is drinking himself drunk. So the word of Jehu the prophet begins to be fulfilled: "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 of his relatives or his friends" (v. 11). Zimri finished this work of extermination in a few days, for he reigned seven days at Tirzah (v. 15).
Nothing here excuses Zimri. He chased his own ends, and God's word came true through them.
Zimri followed Baasha's example by killing both Elah and all the male descendants of Baasha (v. 11). More than this, he killed the friends of Baasha. The motives of Zimri were selfish and evil, but the Lord used Zimri's wickedness to accomplish the prophecy He had sent Baasha by Jehu (v. 12).
This judgment is not random. The verse ties it to named sins. Older translations say they provoked God with their "vanities," which the writer explains as their idols.
His murderer Zimri at once began to massacre "all the house of Baasha," sparing none, "neither of his relatives nor of his friends." It was complete extermination, exactly as God had ordained it should be. "Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they … made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities" (idolatries).
Baasha had once destroyed a dynasty as God's instrument. Now the same judgment falls on his own family, and that turnaround carries a lesson.
Baasha, God's instrument of judgment to exterminate the house of Jeroboam, was now to face the same judgment he had handed out. It is easy, we find, to condemn others and deal harshly with them for their sins. How serious it is when we then go ahead and repeat the same sins ourselves! This is no small matter before God.
Zimri did the work thoroughly, and that is his whole record.
Zimri did a quick but thorough job of wiping out the house of Baasha, even killing all his friends. But his effort went only that far. He made absolutely no effort to repent, to turn to the Lord, or to walk in His ways. His brutality was totally self-seeking and led to swift disaster for himself and for Israel.
So why keep such a grim record of wiped-out families?
In less than fifty years the first two dynasties of Israel's kings had come to an end and every member of their families had been wiped out. God meant their doom to be an example to those who would later live ungodly lives. They stand in these records as warning lights. They steer all rulers and subjects clear of the rocks that these kings struck, to their everlasting ruin. "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them" (Hosea 14:9).
- Word spoken. God sent Jehu son of Hanani with this word before any of it happened. His errands went to kings in both Israel and Judah.
- Word justified. The verse ties the sentence to named sins — idolatry, and leading the nation into sin — not to raw politics.
- Word fulfilled. Zimri's motives were selfish and evil, yet the Lord used his wickedness to bring the prophecy to pass.
- Word returning. Baasha had once wiped out Jeroboam's house as God's instrument. The judgment he handed out came back on his own family.
- Word warning. Two dynasties were gone inside fifty years. The record stands as a warning light, so others steer clear of the same rocks.
for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and wherewith they made Israel to sin, provoking Jehovah the God of Israel to anger with their vanities.
Zimri had just wiped out the whole family of King Baasha. Verse 13 gives God's reason for it: the sins of two kings, father and son, who worshipped idols and drew a whole nation in with them.
Zimri acted for himself. Yet his massacre carried out a word God had already spoken.
Zimri followed Baasha's example by killing both Elah and all the male descendants of Baasha (v.11). More than this, he killed the friends of Baasha. Zimri's motives were selfish and evil, but the Lord used his wickedness to carry out the prophecy He had sent to Baasha through Jehu (v.12). This slaughter of the whole house of Baasha, and of Elah and his friends, came because of the sins of both of these men. Their idol worship provoked the Lord to anger (v.13).
The word translated "vanities" is not vague wickedness. Writers take it as a plain reference to the idols the two kings kept.
His murderer Zimri at once began to massacre "all the house of Baasha," sparing none, "neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends." It was complete extermination, even as God had ordained it should be. "Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they … made Israel to sin, in provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities" (idolatries).
Elsewhere the same word gets a sharper edge. Idols are described as things with no substance at all:
"Idols" as used in that verse is a very remarkable word. It really means "nonentities".
Both kings named in the verse had a record of their own. They also stood in a line of kings where not one was good.
Fifty-eight years had passed since the kingdom had been split in two at the death of King Solomon. During this period seven kings had reigned, all, without exception, wicked men. Jeroboam had made Israel to sin with the golden calves. Nadab, his son, "did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father." Baasha was a murderer. Elah his son was a drunkard. Zimri was a traitor and murderer.
Baasha had every reason to break the pattern and did not.
A new dynasty was starting, and the dynasty before him had a sad history. One might hope that Baasha would have taken a different course, and turned to Jehovah. Sadly, we read: "And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he made Israel to sin."
The verse charges them twice: they sinned, and they made Israel sin. One writer notes how often the record repeats that second charge.
Let us note here what the earlier chapters repeat so often: the sins of their kings made Israel sin. One person's sin becomes far more serious when it makes others stumble. Its results are charged to those who drag the ignorant and the unsteady into the path of their own disobedience.
Elah reigned two years and Zimri only seven days. A short reign did not make a small record of sin.
The history of the kings of Israel grows darker and more tragic. The curse of God rests on this line that has turned away from Him. Elah, the son of Baasha, reigns two years (v. 8). Zimri, who held a high rank in the army, kills him at Tirzah while he is drinking himself drunk… Zimri finished this work of extermination in a few days, for he reigned seven days at Tirzah (v. 15). When a man's heart is far from God, each of his deeds carries that mark. So a mass of sins may pile up in a very short time.
One writer reads the whole book as one story: a kingdom set up under responsibility, its fall, God's patience, and judgment at last.
The Books of Kings contain the history of the kingdom in Israel: how it was set up under this responsibility, and how it fell. They tell of the patience of God, and of God's testimony in the middle of the ruin that flowed from the unfaithfulness of the first king. At last they tell of the judgment being carried out. To delay it any longer would only have falsified God's own character, and the testimony that should be given to the holiness of that character.
- Sin — Baasha had a fresh start and the warning of the dynasty before him, yet he walked in Jeroboam's way. Elah his son kept the same course.
- Idols — what stirred God's anger was worship given to idols, a word one writer says means "nonentities."
- Spread — they did not sin alone; they made Israel sin. Such results are charged to those who lead weaker people into their own disobedience.
- Speed — two years for Elah and seven days for Zimri were long enough to fill the record. Every deed of a heart far from God carries that mark.
- Sentence — Zimri's selfish violence became the tool that fulfilled Jehu's prophecy. God could not delay the judgment forever without denying His own holiness.
And 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?
Elah's two-year reign ends like most reigns in Kings: with a note that the fuller account lies somewhere else. What was that book, and why does the record keep so little of Elah's life — a drunken evening, a murder, and his whole family wiped out?
Elah's reign gets almost no space. One writer calls this verse the usual sign-off on a life with nothing worth telling. He reads the fall of Israel's first two royal families as a warning from God:
In less than fifty years the first two dynasties of Israel's kings had come to an end, and every member of their families had been wiped out. God meant their ruin to be an example to people who would live ungodly lives later. In these records they stand as beacons, warning all rulers and their people away from the rocks that wrecked them for ever. "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things... for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them" (Hosea 14:9). The usual formula ends the record of Elah's worthless life (1 Kings 16:14).
The "Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel" is not the Bible book we call Chronicles. Comparing the two books shows they draw on different kinds of material:
Another clear difference between these two interesting books is where their writers got their material. In Kings it seems always to be taken from state records, such as "the book of the acts of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:41) and "the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel" (1 Kings 14:19). Chronicles draws more on the writings of individual people, such as "Samuel the seer," "Nathan the prophet" and "Gad the seer"...
So Kings draws on documents that already existed. One writer explains why the result is still God's own word:
In various places the writer refers to books that contain more about the life of the king in question, and on which he may have based his accounts... The author of the books of Kings was able to use these "references" under the guidance of the Holy Spirit while writing his God-inspired work.
Those royal annals recorded achievements. Two things they left out. One writer names them, commenting on the same closing formula later in the history:
If the chronicles of the kings of Israel (v. 34) were ever found, they would contain the acts and all the might of Jehu. They would not contain what he was before God, or God's judgment on his conduct as king.
But there is a second set of books. One writer asks the same closing question about a later king, then answers it:
"Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?" Yes — and they, with the wicked acts recorded here, are written in God's books above. Those books are not just "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!
Out of two whole years, the record keeps one drunken night and the killing that followed:
The history of the kings of Israel grows darker and more tragic. The curse of God rests upon this apostate line. Elah, the son of Baasha, reigns two years (v. 8). Zimri, a high-ranking army officer, kills him at Tirzah while he is drinking himself drunk. So the word of Jehu the prophet begins to be fulfilled: "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).
Elah's one remembered act was self-pleasing at the worst possible moment, and he is not alone in that:
David (2 Sam. 11), Belshazzar (Dan. 5) and Elah all indulged their bodily appetites while their people were at war. For each of them and for many others like them the results proved tragic.
One writer points from kings like Elah to Christ:
He alone could say, "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:29).
- Two records. Elah's fuller story went into royal archives. His real story went into God's books above, which hold "the deeds and doings of every man's life, whether good or evil."
- Human records fall short. Court annals kept acts and might, but not what a man "was before God, nor the judgment of God upon his conduct."
- God's record selects. The Holy Spirit guided the writer of Kings as he used these sources. What he kept exposes Elah: a drunken night, a murder, a family wiped out.
- The record vindicates the word. Elah's fall began to fulfil Jehu's prophecy against the house of Baasha. The ways of the Lord are right, and transgressors stumble in them.
- Read it as a beacon. These ruined royal families stand in Scripture as beacons. They warn later generations away from the rocks that wrecked them, and point us to the One who always did what pleased His Father.
In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which [belonged] to the Philistines.
This verse dates the shortest reign in Israel's history. Zimri holds Tirzah, the capital city, for one week. Meanwhile Israel's army is far away, camped against a Philistine town. Two questions follow: how much evil fits into seven days, and who decides who rules when a nation has stopped consulting God?
Zimri had killed his master Elah and wiped out his family. One writer notes how little time that took.
This work of extermination took only a few days, for Zimri reigned seven days at Tirzah (v. 15). And those seven days were enough for him to do "evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam" (v. 19), and to commit the sin by which he made Israel sin. When a man's heart is far from God, every one of his deeds carries the mark of it, and so a mass of wrongdoing can pile up in so short a period of time.
Zimri's week was not only his own crime. It completed a judgment God had spoken against the family of Baasha long before through the prophet Jehu.
He only reigned seven days. Besides his dreadful death, the only deed mentioned is the killing of all the house of Baasha "according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet." All Israel made Omri king, and with him another dynasty began.
Being God's instrument of judgment is not the same as being right with God. Zimri's short rule shows a man who finished his violence and then stopped there.
Zimri had conspired against Elah, son of Baasha, and had killed him. Then he did a quick but thorough job of wiping out the house of Baasha, even killing all his friends. But his effort went only that far. He made absolutely no effort to repent, to turn to the Lord, or to walk in His ways. His brutality was totally self-seeking and led to swift disaster for himself and for Israel.
The verse mentions where the army was: encamped against Gibbethon, a Philistine-held town. Its history explains why Israel's soldiers were there at all.
A city in the tribe of Dan, allotted to the Kohathites, but afterwards held by the Philistines. It was besieged by Nadab and by Omri, kings of Israel.
The Kohathites were one of Israel's Levite families. The town belonged to them by right, yet Israel's kings were still besieging it under Nadab and later under Omri. Dynasties rose and fell at home while the same siege dragged on, and land God had given stayed in enemy hands.
The army named in this verse did not stay out of the succession. One writer sees a pattern in nations that have pushed God out of their decisions.
The people, encamped before Gibbethon on the day of Zimri's usurpation, choose Omri, the captain of the army, as their king. These things always repeat themselves when empires decline. When a people is without God, His will counts for nothing. What He set up at the beginning is thrown out. Whoever has power reigns. Since power lies with the army, the empire is at the mercy of the military. Conspiracy on one side, a soldiers' revolution on the other.
Seizing a throne is not the same as holding one. Zimri's week shows why.
A wicked man's triumph 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 that he had taken the crown reached the army at Gibbethon. At once they rejected his claim and proclaimed their commander-in-chief, Omri, king.
One thing outlasted his seven days.
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.
Older translations word Jezebel's taunt, "Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?"
- Seven days — enough. A short reign was long enough for Zimri to do evil in God's sight; a heart far from God stamps every act it has time for.
- Seven days — foretold. His one week carried out the sentence already spoken against Baasha's house through the prophet Jehu.
- Seven days — wasted. Zimri made no move to repent or turn to the Lord; his violence served only himself.
- Seven days — and the army decides. When God's will counts for nothing, whoever holds power reigns. The camp at Gibbethon crowned Omri that same day.
- Seven days — then a byword. The people never backed him. His name lived on in Israel only as the label for a traitor who was destroyed himself.
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.