1 Kings 16:24

He was a man of military genius. He wanted a seat of government with more strategic value than Tirzah. Tirzah had proved weak when Zimri tried to hold it. It could not survive even a week's siege! ... Such a memorial of his reign would suit Omri's vanity, as well as making for greater security in wartime. Men may prize firm rule and a new, modern capital. But it is the moral and spiritual condition that counts with God.

It lay about six miles northwest of Shechem, the old capital. According to Josephus, the site combined strength, fertility, and beauty. The hill stood six hundred feet above the country around it... But the site of the old capital, Shechem, is more attractive to the Christian heart. There our Lord, "wearied as He was from His journey, was sitting beside the well." And there He spoke to Jacob's erring daughter. He told her of the free-giving God, and of that living water — whoever drinks of it will never thirst again.

Omri had another place in mind, so he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer. There he built a city and called it Samaria... This is like the energy of many people today in professing Christendom. They think up a plausible center of gathering that is not Christ. It may be baptism, pentecostalism, presbyterianism, catholicism, or any other name that seems to suit their purpose. But if Christ is not our Center, we face dangers of the worst kind. The danger is greater still if we are proud of a sectarian name.

A good king of Israel was impossible. Otherwise there would have been two central cities, Jerusalem and Samaria. Both were centers of religion and worship, yet they stood opposed to each other and were sometimes at war. Samaria was always the rebel city. It had no trace of authority from God, and no symbol or type from Him, for carrying out the ordinances of His worship... Two opposing testimonies would destroy each other. There could be only one center of worship, only one hill of Zion, as there is only one Calvary.

The hill was called Samaria, and the city on it was called Samaria, after Shemer. Perhaps the hill got its name from its position, which suited it for a watch-tower. The city then got its name from Shemer. So the hill may have carried the name Samaria before Omri built on it. The historian only tells us why the city was so named.

He seems to have drawn up laws that made Jeroboam's calf-worship, or other forms of idolatry, binding across his kingdom. Those laws stayed in force until the kingdom ended, 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). Men willingly carry such yokes, and even cling to them — so prone is the human heart to idolatry... Samaria is called on the Assyrian monuments "Beth Omri" (house of Omri).

Two things marked Omri. He built a city as Israel's center in opposition to God's center, Jerusalem, and his evil ways were worse than all the kings before him. He died and was buried in Samaria. He seized control of Israel for twelve years — but what of eternity?