“Because I exalted you out of the dust, and made you prince over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. The dogs will eat Baasha’s descendants who die in the city; and he who dies of his in the field, the birds of the sky will eat.”
Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah; and Elah his son reigned in his place.
Moreover Yahweh’s word came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he struck him.
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. His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah; and Zimri went in and struck him, and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.
When he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he attacked all the house of Baasha. He didn’t leave him a single one who urinates on a wall among his relatives or his friends. Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned, and with which they made Israel to sin, to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12 Thus spake Jehu to Baasha in the Name of…
Thus spake Jehu to Baasha in the Name of the Lord.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–13 1Ki 16:2 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of…
1Ki 16:2 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins;
Ver. 2. Forasmuch as I exalted thee.] See 1Ki 14:7. Ingentia beneficia, flagitia, supplicia, say the Centurists.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 Out of the dust; out of a low and…
Out of the dust; out of a low and mean estate. See 1Sa 2:8; Psa 113:7.
Quest: How is Baasha’s exaltation to the kingdom ascribed to God, when he got it by treachery and cruelty? Answ. Though that way or manner of invading the kingdom was from himself, and his own wicked heart; yet the translation of the kingdom from Nadab to Baasha, simply considered, was from God, who by his decree and providence ordered it, and disposed of all occasions, and of the hearts of all the soldiers and people, so that Baasha should have opportunity of executing God’s judgment upon Nadab; and such success thereupon, that he should get a present and quiet possession of the kingdom. Nay, the very act of Baasha, to wit, the killing of his master Nadab, was an act of Divine justice, foretold and appointed by God, 1Ki 14:10. And if Baasha had done this in obedience to God’s command, and with a single design to execute God’s vengeance threatened against him, it had been no more a sin than Jehu’s act in killing his master king Jehoram, upon the same account, 2Ki 9. But that Baasha did this merely to gratify his own pride, or covetousness, or malice, this was not from God, but from himself, and therefore is charged upon him as murder here, 1Ki 16:7.
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To provoke me to anger: See Poole "1Ki 14:9".
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–13 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust,....…
Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust,.... From a very low estate, and mean family:
and made thee prince over my people Israel; as they were of right, and ought to have been; and though Baasha got the kingdom by treachery and murder, yet the translation of the kingdom to him was according to the appointment of God, and by his overruling providence; and even his act of killing Nadab was a fulfilment of a prophecy of his; and had he done it in obedience to the will of God, and in vengeance for his sin, would not have been blameworthy, since then he would have been an executioner of the, justice of God:
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and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; committing and encouraging the same idolatrous practices, so very provoking to God.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13 I made thee - Though that invading the kingdom…
I made thee - Though that invading the kingdom was from himself, and his own wicked heart; yet the translation of the kingdom from Nadab to Baasha simply considered, was from God, who by his providence disposed of all occasions, and of the hearts of the soldiers and people, so that Baasha should have opportunity of executing God's judgment upon Nadab; nay, the very act of Baasha, the killing his master Nadab, was an act of divine justice. And if Baasha had done this in obedience to God's command, and with a single design, to execute God's vengeance threatened against him, it had been no more a sin, than Jehu's act in killing his master king Jehoram, upon the same account, 2 Kings ix, 24. But Baasha did this, merely to gratify his own pride, or covetousness, or malice, ver. 7.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2, 7, 9, 11, 13 Verse 2. Made thee prince over my people] That…
Verse 2. Made thee prince over my people] That is, in the course of my providence, I suffered thee to become king; for it is impossible that God should make a rebel, a traitor, and a murderer, king over his people, or over any people. God is ever represented in Scripture as doing those things which, in the course of his providence, he permits to be done.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 7, 8, 11 1Ki 16:2. Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of…
1Ki 16:2. Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust — Probably from a mean family in the tribe of Issachar. Perhaps he was but a common soldier, or some very inferior officer in the army which besieged Gibbethon; but, being bold and daring, he formed a conspiracy against Nadab. The message which this prophet brought to Baasha is much the same with that which Ahijah sent to Jeroboam by his wife. 1st, He reminds him of the great things God had done for him: 2d, He charges him with high crimes and misdemeanours; and, 3d, He fore-tels the same destruction to come upon his family which he himself had been employed to bring on the family of Jeroboam. And made thee prince over my people Israel — But it may be asked, how Baasha’s exaltation to the kingdom can he ascribed to God, when it is manifest he obtained it by his own treachery and cruelty? To this Mr. Poole replies, that “though the manner of invading the kingdom was from himself and his own wicked heart, yet, the translation of the kingdom from Nadab to Baasha, simply considered, was from God, who by his decree and providence ordered it, and disposed of all occasions, and of the hearts of all the soldiers, and the people so, that Baasha should have the opportunity of executing God’s judgment upon Nadab, and such success thereon, as should procure him a present and quiet possession of the kingdom.” So that his accession to the kingdom was from the divine decree; but the form and manner of his accession was from himself, from his own ambition and covetousness, which induced him to kill Nadab; and as it was wicked and cruel, it is therefore charged upon him as a wilful murder, 1Ki 16:7.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13 The “might” of Baasha is sufficiently indicated by those…
The “might” of Baasha is sufficiently indicated by those successes which drove Asa to call Ben-hadad to his aid. 1Ki 15:17-21.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13 I have. All power comes from God, though he…
I have. All power comes from God, though he frequently disapproves of the means by which people obtain it. (Haydock) --- Baasa was a traitorous usurper. --- My people. Many had abandoned the Lord: (Haydock) yet he still regards Israel as his people, sending prophets to reclaim them, and preserving many from bending the knee before Baal.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v8 B.—The reigns of Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab
B.—The reigns of Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab
1Ki_16:8-34
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8In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah1 began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years. 9And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah. 10And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. 11And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks,2 nor of his friends.3 12Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord [Jehovah], which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, 13for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel to anger with their vanities. 14Now 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?
15In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah4 did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah. And the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. 16And the people that were encamped heard say, Zimri hath conspired, and hath also slain the king: wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp. 17And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. 18And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace [citadel] of the king’s house, and burnt the king’s house over him with fire, and died,5 19for his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the Lord [Jehovah], in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin. 20Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason [conspiracy] that he wrought, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? 21Then 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. 22But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died,6 and Omri reigned.
23In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah. 24And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria. 25But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord [Jehovah], and did worse than all that were before him. 26For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin [sins] wherewith he made. Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel to anger with their vanities. 27Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might7 that he shewed, are they not 28 written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son reigned in his stead.8
29And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the soil of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. 30And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord [Jehovah] above all that were before him. 31And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. 32And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. In his days did Hiel 34the Beth-elite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord [Jehovah], which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.
Exegetical and Critical
1Ki_16:8-14. Began Elah to reign, &c. For Tirzah see on 1Ki_14:17. As Elah commenced his reign in the twenty-sixth year of Asa, and according to 1Ki_16:10 was killed in the twenty-ninth, the two years he was king could not have been full ones. רֶכֶב is now generally translated riding; but a comparison with 1Ki_9:19; 1Ki_10:26 would seem to indicate that it should be chariot. There is no doubt that some of the chariot-cities which Solomon built (see on the place) were in the kingdom of Israel; perhaps “the half” of all the chariots were at the capital, and Zimri was placed over them. According to Josephus (Antiq.viii. 12, 4), Zimri took advantage of the absence of the army and its chief to undertake the siege of Gibbethon (see above on 1Ki_15:27). The house steward Arza, who had arranged a drinking bout, was no doubt the principal person in the conspiracy which Zimri set on foot. Cf. 1Ki_14:10 with 1Ki_16:11. Zimri acted, as Grotius remarks, according to the tyrannical principles νήπιος, ὃς πατέρα κτείνας υἱοὺς κατέλιπε. But he went farther than Baasha, inasmuch as he not only killed the relatives of the king, but also his friends, in order to secure himself from any possible blood-revenge; all this took place in a few days, for his whole reign was only seven days. For 1Ki_16:12-13 cf. 1Ki_16:3, and above on 1Ki_14:15-16. הֲבָלִיםi. e., vanitates, anything which is called God, yet is not God, and which is consequently vain and empty (cf. Deu_32:21). The word here does not refer to idols, properly speaking, but to images of Jehovah, which, however, are, like the former, empty and vain.
1Ki_16:15-20. Did Zimri reign seven days, &c. The distance of Tirzah from Gibbethon requires us to suppose that the seven days apply to the time during which Zimri was in undisturbed possession of the throne, i. e., until the day when the army in Gibbethon made their chief, Omri, king, who then first went to Tirzah and besieged it. Zimri’s death followed when he saw that he could not hold the town against the besiegers. The “people” and “all Israel” mean here all those who were armed, i. e., the men of war. אֲרְמוֹן, from the root אָרַם to be high, is the part that was highest, that is “the fortress of the royal palace, the securest and inmost place, the citadel, as it were; for the royal palace contained a great number of buildings” (Gesenius, cf. 2Ki_15:25). Zimri set fire to this last place of refuge, and through it to the entire palace, in order not to fall into the hands of his enemies, and to prevent the palace and all it contained from passing into their possession. Similar instances are to be found in Justin. hist. i. 3; Liv. xxi. 1 Kings 14 : Flor. ii. 18. Ewald’s rendering of אַרְמוֹן is quite arbitrary; he gives the “women’s chamber,” the harem; and supposes that Zimri went there, for the “effeminate man had only suffered the queen and other women of the palace to live, as they readily lent themselves to the murder of their lord; and the queen mother seems to have offered him her favor.” However, there is not a syllable of all this either in the text or anywhere else. Besides, the deed recorded in 1Ki_16:18 rather displays courage and contempt of death than effeminacy. The Syriac has: and they, the besiegers, fired his royal house over his head; and Kimchi translates: and he, that is Omri, set fire, &c.; both are decidedly wrong. In consideration of Zimri’s short reign of seven days, we must conclude from 1Ki_16:19 that he had formerly shown much partiality for the calf-worship of Jeroboam, and that, at the time of his accession, he had no intention of removing it.
1Ki_16:21-22. Then the people of Israel divided. 1Ki_16:21 sq. It is generally thought that two parties had arisen within the army, each of which wished to make their leader king, and that they fought for some time until the weaker party succumbed, and their leader Tibni fell in battle. According to Ewald, Tibni was assisted in the war by his brother Joram, and both fell in the one battle. But it is very doubtful if the “people of Israel,” 1Ki_16:21, means the same as “the people that were encamped,” 1Ki_16:18, i. e., only the army. The latter had not divided, for according to 1Ki_16:16 Omri was made king by “all” the army; it is only said of him that he was the captain of the host, but neither this nor anything similar is said of Tibni. We have therefore more reason to suppose that after the death of Zimri a faction arose, which did not acknowledge the soldier-king Omri, who had been chosen by the army alone, and which faction set up Tibni in opposition. The Sept only makes mention of a brother of Tibni (καὶ ἀπέθανε θαβνὶ καὶ ’Ιωρὰμ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ), and Josephus also (Ant.viii. 12, 15), only says, Tibni was killed by Omri’s faction, but not that the two brothers fell in the same battle.
1Ki_16:23-28. Began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years. 1Ki_16:23. According to 1Ki_16:15 the elevation and death of Zimri occurred in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Asa, king of Judah (929); according to 1Ki_16:29, Ahab, the successor of Omri, came to the throne in the thirty-eighth year of Asa (918); therefore the twelve years of Omri’s reign could not have been twelve full years. And furthermore, if Omri became king in the thirty-first year of Asa, according to 1Ki_16:23 (925), and yet died in the 38th year of Asa, according to 1Ki_16:29 (918), that is, in from seven to eight years, it is plain that the twelve years of his reign are reckoned from the year in which he was made king by the host (929), but did not at the same time attain the sole sovereignty, as part of the people wished Tibni to be king. He became sole sovereign only in the year 925, so that the struggle with Tibni’s faction must have lasted four years. The six years during which Omri resided at Tirzah were the first half of the twelve years of his reign; during the latter six years he lived in Samaria, a city which he had newly built (1Ki_16:24). In order to explain some chronological difficulties that occur later, with regard to the kings Jehoram and Jehoshaphat, Ewald (III. s. 432) refuses to reckon the four years before Tibni’s death in the twelve years of Omri’s reign, and as Asa reigned four years as a contemporary of Ahab, the successor of Omri (1Ki_22:41), Asa could not have reigned forty-one years (1Ki_15:10) but forty-seven, for the years mentioned in 1Ki_16:15 amount to that; 27+4+12+4. “But according to this supposition, the numbers here and in 1Ki_16:29, also in 1Ki_15:10, which are perfectly correct, should be altered” (Thenius), and there is no reason whatever for doing so. The name שֶׁמֶר (1Ki_16:24), is probably the same as שׁוֹמֵר and שָׁמֵר (1Ch_7:32-34), we cannot, therefore, pronounce the derivation of the name of the city to be “wrong,” because the owner must otherwise have been called שֹׁמֵר (Petermann). The mountain of Shemer is not far to the east of Tirzah, and it lies north-east of Shechem. The palace at Tirzah, which was destroyed under Zimri, does not seem to have been rebuilt, and Omri appears, as soon as he became king, to have taken the resolution of building a new capital and royal city, for which that mountain was peculiarly adapted. It was a “beautiful round mountain, covered with splendid trees, and lying in a valley or basin enclosed with mountains; “it commanded” a glorious prospect of the fruitful valley and the heights and villages surrounding it” (Knobel on Isa_28:1-4; Robinson, Palest. III. 1, p. 503 sq.). Samaria, therefore, continued to be the capital of the kingdom until its destruction. The two talents of silver, for which Omri bought the hill, are reckoned at 5,200 Thr. by Keil, and at 4,000 Thr. by Thenius [$3,900 and $3,000 respectively]. We may infer from Mic_6:16, where Judah is reproached with keeping “the statutes of Omri and all the works of the house of Ahab,” that Omri went further in regard to the worship than the former kings of Israel (1Ki_16:25). We have no more exact information, but it is certain, at any rate, that he prepared the way for the state of things under his successor Ahab. That Omri was a valiant warrior appears from the word גְּבוּרָתוֹ (1Ki_16:27), which is used respecting Asa and Baasha, Elah and Zimri, but not of Nadab.
1Ki_16:29-33. Ahab.… to reign over Israel. 1Ki_16:29-34 describe the government of Ahab generally; from chaps, 17 to 22 follow notices of separate events that occurred in this time, and then in 1Ki_22:39-40, comes the usual concluding formula, the rest of the acts, &c. Our section, therefore, forms a general introduction, and at the same time the superscription to the following particulars; it is also designed to place the reader beforehand upon the stand-point from which all that is coming must be viewed and judged. Omri had departed farther than any of his predecessors from the fundamental law, but Ahab went still farther than his father (1Ki_16:30 is therefore no mere repetition of 1Ki_16:25). He was not contented with the sin of Jeroboam, but he formally introduced the service of Baal into his kingdom, in consequence of his marriage with Jezebel, and he even built a temple to Baal in the royal city and capital Samaria. Ethbaal is no doubt the Εἰθώβαλος (who was mentioned by Menander in Josephus c. Apion.I. 18), king of Tyre and Sidon, who succeeded to the throne about fifty years after Hiram’s death, and could, therefore, have very well been the father-in-law of Ahab; he was priest of Astarte and the murderer of his brother, king Pheles. What is related of Jezebel afterwards coincides perfectly with what we should expect from the daughter of such a father. הַבַּעַל is the known chief male divinity of the Phœnicians, “the sun god, which was regarded as the primary preserver and principle of physical life, and of the generative, reproductive power in nature, which flowed from his being” (Movers, Rel. d. Phön. s. 184). According to 2Ki_3:2; 2Ki_10:27 the image of Baal which Ahab had made, was מַצֵּבָה, i. e., a monument, a monumental pillar (see on 1Ki_14:23). In the temple of the Tyrian Hercules (=Baal), at Tyre, there stood two pillars, one of gold, the other of emerald (Herodot. II. 44, see above). Besides the male divinity there was also the הָאֲשֵׁרָח, the female deity a (wooden) image of Astarte (see above 7). From the great number of the priests who were employed in the worship of Baal which Ahab introduced (chap, 1Ki_18:19), it appears that it was very extensive and magnificent. More particulars regarding the temple of Baal are given in 2Ki_10:25-27. That Ahab built besides “another splendid building of the same kind, which served as a sacred grove for Astarte, and which was probably close to his favorite palace at Jezreel” (Ewald III. s. 457), is a pure invention, of which there is not a single word in the text.
1Ki_16:34. In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho. 1Ki_16:34. The city of Jericho, which was very strong at the time of the conquest of the promised land, was destroyed after being taken, and Joshua pronounced these words over it: “Cursed be the man before the Lord that raiseth up and buildeth Jericho; he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it” (Jos_6:1-2). This does not mean that no one should live there again, but he who endeavors to make it again what it was, i. e., a fortress, shall be severely punished. Jericho was afterwards apportioned to the tribe of Benjamin, but in Ahab’s time it certainly belonged to the kingdom of Israel (Jos_18:21; 2Ki_2:5; 2Ki_2:18). At the command of Ahab, Hiel of Bethel (the chief seat of the calf-worship) now built, i. e. fortified (בָּנָה as in chaps. 1Ki_11:27; 1Ki_12:25), Jericho again; probably because it lay on the borders of Ephraim, or was designed to protect the passage of the Jordan, which was near. Whether this was done in defiance of Joshua’s prediction, as older commentators think, or in ignorance of it, is uncertain; at any rate Joshua’s word was fulfilled. “We cannot doubt the truth of what is related in this verse, for the names are mentioned, and the signification of these names has no reference to the event” (Thenius). There is no other ground for the supposition that Joshua’s utterance was a vaticinium ex eventu than the rationalistic presupposition that all prophecies are impossible. The supposition of the Rabbins that all the sons of Hiel, from the eldest to the youngest, were destroyed during the building, is unsupported by the text. However, the question remains how the whole of the information contained in 1Ki_16:34 comes to be inserted just here. As it follows immediately after the account of the introduction of the Canaanitish idolatrous worship by Ahab (1Ki_16:30-33), our author may very well have thought of it in connection with the latter. The fortress of Jericho was, in Joshua’s time, die gate and key to the whole laud of Canaan; he who possessed it had the entire country open before him (Jos_2:1; Jos_2:24; Jos_6:1 sq.). The taking of this town was, therefore, of the greatest importance; it was achieved by a miraculous act of Jehovah, which was compared, on that account, to the passage through the Red Sea, i. e., the complete deliverance from Egypt (Jos_2:9 sq.). With it, the land of Canaan fell into the hands of the Israelites; with the walls of Jericho the stronghold of Canaanitism fell, its destruction was begun, and the pledge of the same lay, in a measure, in the destruction of that city. But just for this very reason it should never again become what it was before its capture. Ahab, however, who placed the country again in its ante-Israelitish condition through the introduction of the Canaanite idol-worship, caused the fortress, which had been destroyed by the almighty power of Jehovah, to be restored. As he denied the God of Israel, and placed the Baal of the Canaanites in His stead, so he also denied the great saving act of Jehovah as manifested in the fall and destruction of Jericho. He showed his apostasy from Jehovah by causing the walls of Jericho to be rebuilt. It appears, however, that the God of Israel would not surfer contempt of Him to go unpunished. The curse of Joshua was fulfilled as a warning that the divine threatenings would not remain unfulfilled. The account in 1Ki_16:34, thus understood, is so well connected with that of 1Ki_16:32, that it forms the direct transition to the activity of the prophet Elijah (of whom the following chapter treats) against the apostasy of Ahab.
Historical and Ethical
1. The unspeakable results of the partition of the kingdom, and the consequent breach of the fundamental law of Israel, appears more plainly in the history of the reigns of Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab, than in those of the three previous kings. All four of these kings continued in the sins of Jeroboam, because they as well as he considered it to be necessary to the separate existence of their kingdom and to the support of their power. In fact each One surpassed the other until the image-worship reached its natural goal in the worship of idols (see above), which the last of them, Ahab, not only permitted, but introduced as the State-religion. With Ahab, therefore, the history of the kingdom of Israel comes to a conclusion relatively, and a new epoch begins, characterized by the appearing of the great prophet Elijah and his struggle with idolatry (chap. 17). The consequences of the partition, which were felt in the sphere of religion, were felt, in like manner, in that of politics, on account of the peculiar and inseparable connection of the Israelite people with their religion. The monarchy in Israel had arisen by means of rebellion and forcible separation from the house of David, and thus it lacked the ground of divine law. What Jeroboam conceived he was justified in doing, every other one thought he had a right to do also, as soon as he had followers and power enough; that was the case with Baasha and still more with Zimri and Omri. Thus the kingdom became the football of human ambition and caprice, so that one insurrection followed another; and in the comparatively short time of from fifty to sixty years, seven kings reigned, of whom four attained the throne by violence and even murder. But no blessing could rest on such a kingdom. The people of the ten tribes, who were already more inclined to nature-life, and therefore more adapted for the reception of Jeroboam’s calf-worship, must, by the persistence of their kings in this worship, and by their complete separation from Judah, the guardian and protector of the law, and with it of the spirited life by the nation, have sunk lower and lower. A people can indeed endure a bad ruler without themselves degenerating; but a whole line of sovereigns, of whom each obtained the throne by conspiracy, rebellion, and murder, is only possible where the people themselves are rough and barbarous. What social and religious degeneracy is presupposed, where the nation accepted all the abominations of its rulers, and where an Ahab (finally) met no opposition in instituting the shameful and indecent worship of Baal and Astarte as the State-religion! How far different the state of things in Judah! For though the religious liberty permitted by Solomon bore evil fruit, yet the fundamental law was always adhered to by the kings, and the idol-worship was completely destroyed by Asa, who reigned two years contemporaneously with Ahab. The kingdom was firm; there was not a trace of conspiracy or rebellion, and the house of David retained the throne. Although the kingdom of Judah was much smaller and weaker than that of Israel, and was continually in danger from the latter; yet, holding fast to its royal house, it victoriously repelled all attempts to subjugate it. Such was the blessing which rested in fidelity to Jehovah and His law.
2. Of the two kings, Elah and Zimri, we learn nothing besides that they held to the sin of Jeroboam, except how they died. This was, however, sufficient to characterize them. We see that Elah did not even inherit energy and courage from his father Baasha, but was a coward and a low-souled glutton; because when the whole army was engaged in combat with the Philistines before Gibbethon, he not only remained at home, but drank and caroused. Zimri was still worse; ambition led him to unfaithfulness and treason; he not only murdered his king and master, but the king’s whole house. How little esteemed and respected he was, appears from the fact that the whole army, as soon as they heard of his having ascended the throne, immediately made another king, and marched against Zimri. Then, when shut in and surrounded, he set fire to the citadel over his head and gave himself to the flames—his act was one of despair rather than of heroism.
3. The accounts of Omri’s reign are limited entirely to this: that he built the city of Samaria after the taking of Tirzah, and that he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam, and was worse than all who preceded him. It is not said in what respect he was worse, but it certainly implies that he maintained the anti-theocratic institutions of Jeroboam with great zeal and decision. It appears that he stood well as captain of the army, for it was in the camp that he was elected to the throne. Yet however valiant he may have been as a warrior, in the chief thing, i. e., in his relation to Jehovah and the theocratic fundamental law, he stood worse than any of his predecessors, and was furthest from being what was especially required of a theocratic king, that is, a servant of Jehovah. According to Ewald (III. s. 452 sq.), whom Eisenlohr (II. s. 150) again follows, Omri was “a ruler as enterprising as he was prudent,” and “very wisely took advantage of the times to secure greater prosperity for his kingdom and security to his own house. This camp-king ruled his people with great power and decision, not even sparing the prophets when they opposed his designs. But without, he sought..… the needful peace in order to strengthen himself in his internal relations. He concluded peace with the kingdom of Judah.… Omri’s chief efforts were directed towards the furtherance of trade, commerce,” &c. Every one that has eyes can see that the text does not say a word of all this; it gives us another example of how history is made. Omri is not great and distinguished even as a commander, for it took him four years to conquer the already weaker faction of Tibni, and according to 1Ki_20:34; 1Ki_22:3, he was, as Eisenlohr himself is obliged to confess, “forced to conclude a peace with (the Syrian king) Benhadad on very humiliating conditions.” It is not credible that a soldier-king should have thought only of quiet and peace; and it does not follow from the marriage of his son Ahab with the Sidonian Jezebel that his chief desires were for the furtherance of trade and commerce, for Ahab did not marry till after he became king, that is, after the death of Omri (1Ki_16:31). It is just as arbitrary to conclude that because he was worse than they all, the prophets must have thrown obstacles in the way of his designs, and that he “punished their interference with the utmost severity.” Ahab is the first of these kings of whom we have a complete picture, which is given in the following chapters.
Homiletical and Practical
1Ki_16:8-34. General reflections upon the history of the reigns of the four kings in the following succession, Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab. (a) At variance as they were with each other, hating, destroying, and killing each other, yet they all remained faithful to the calf-worship, regarding it as the means by which they could maintain their own kingdom and their dominion over Judah. The religion of the people in the service of the policy of the sovereign. How often does it happen that selfish profit, power, or seeming form the real motive of a confession of faith. (b) One exceeds the other in revolt against the living God.—Calw. B.: In sin and departure from God there are always gradual advances, just as in godliness and well-doing—one step follows another, and the slavery of sin is ever increasing (2Ti_3:13). (c) One successful insurrection seldom stands alone in history, but is ever followed by a fresh one, and becomes a passion, which, like a deadly plague, saps the moral and religious life of a nation to its foundations. Hence the apostle’s meaning: let no man, &c. (1Ti_2:1-3).
1Ki_16:8-10. King Elah. (a) He riots and carouses whilst his people are pouring out their blood in war. It is a sign of great barbarousness and rudeness amid exterior refinement, when the great and rich lead a frivolous and luxurious life, whilst the masses eat their bread in the sweat of their brow, and are famishing. A riotous court life is the usual precursor of the storm which shakes or destroys the throne (b) Death overtakes him in drunkenness. To go suddenly and unprepared from time into eternity is a heavy fate; but it is still more fearful to leave the world in darkness. Therefore, we should daily pray: Lord, teach us so to, &c. (Psa_90:12).—Würt. Summ.: The nearer chastisement comes to the ungodly the more secure are they. When they say, “There is peace, there is no danger,” then destruction shall overtake them suddenly, and they shall not escape from it (1Th_5:3; cf. Psa_39:6). Therefore: be sober, &c. (1Pe_5:8). It is fearful, when one can say nothing more of a man than, “He has despised God and his word, served his belly, and ended his life with a revel. Better to famish and be miserable with Lazarus, and then to be borne by angels into Abraham’s bosom, than with the rich man to live in splendor and revelry, and afterwards to suffer the pains of hell.
1Ki_16:9. Drunken revels are an abomination unto the Lord, and only occur where the fear of the Lord is absent. The drunkards rank with those (1Co_6:9-10) who will not inherit the kingdom of God, and the Lord Christ warns: Take heed to yourselves, &c. (Luk_21:34).
1Ki_16:11-20. Zimri, King, (a) His way to the throne: Treachery, cunning, murder. He shunned no means to gain his end. That is the way of the ungodly; but without their knowledge or will they are compelled to be scourges and whips in the hand of the Lord (Isa_10:5). (b) His end: a speedy and fearful one. Only seven days did the dominion which he so coveted, and attained through such villany, last. Lightly come, lightly go. The ungodly are like the chaff, &c. (Psa_1:4; Psa_1:6). He gave himself up to death, in flames of fire. The ungodly are utterly consumed, &c. (Psa_73:19). As he had lived, so he died.
1Ki_16:18. The doom of despair is the end of a life given over to sin, which has lost sight of the living God, and can never again find Him. Frequently, what the world regards as heroism and contempt of death is simply cowardice and crime in the sight of God. The Lord has no pleasure, &c. (Eze_18:23). It requires more courage and bravery to bear the merited punishment of one’s sins than to escape from it by suicide.
1Ki_16:21-28. The King Omri. (a) How he became king. When the king is chosen by the people instead of receiving the crown from the hand of God by right of inheritance, which is by the grace of God, factions are sure to arise, which wage bloody conflicts, and waste the best strength of the people, until, at length, the stronger party conquers the weaker by violence.9 The curse of party spirit, (b) How he reigned. He built Samaria, making it the strong centre of the kingdom, but he walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, and “did worse” than all who went before him. A man may be skilful and useful to himself and others, in all material and worldly things, whilst in spiritual and divine things he works only mischief and destruction. What, without religion, is so-called civilization?
1Ki_16:29-34. The King Ahab. (a) His union with Jezebel—a marriage contracted not in obedience to God’s holy will, but merely upon worldly grounds and political considerations, and was therefore the source of great mischief to himself and to his people. (b) The uplifting of idolatry over the religion of the country. The calf-worship was merged in the Baal worship. The greatest tyranny is the tyranny over conscience, which pretends to rule also over belief. The worst rule is that which, instead of demanding recognition of the truth, substitutes lies and errors, and exercises its power in aid of unbelief and of superstition, (c) The rebuilding of Jericho. By means of “faith” the walls of Jericho fell (Heb_11:30). Idolatry will build them up again, but the curse rests upon them. He who builds up what the Lord has destroyed, falls under his judgment. 2Ch_13:12 : Fight ye not, &c. Julian, who rebuilt the heathen temple, and the Jews, who rebuilt the temple of Jerusalem, were confounded and brought to shame.
Footnotes:
[1]1Ki_16:8.—[The Vat. Sept. omits the preceding comparative date.
[2]1Ki_16:11.—[The Vat. Sept. omits the latter half of 1Ki_16:11 and the first of 1Ki_16:12.
[3]1Ki_16:11.—[גֹּֽאֲלָיו = his kinsman who might avenge his death. The full force of the word גֹּאִל as the avenger of blood can hardly be conveyed by any single English word.
[4]1Ki_16:15.—[The Vat. Sept. here again omits the comparative date.
[5]1Ki_16:18.—[The division of verses breaks the connection, and obscures the dependence of 1Ki_16:19 upon the word “died.”
[6]1Ki_16:22.—[The Sept. adds, “and Joram his brother at that time.”
[7]1Ki_16:27.—[Many MSS. and editions, followed by the Sept. and the Syr., insert וְכָל before אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה = “his might and all that he did,” thus assimilating the expression to that used in regard to some other kings, cf. 1Ki_16:14; 1Ki_15:7; 1Ki_15:23; 1Ki_15:31, &c., although the expression of this text is also used elsewhere.
[8]1Ki_16:28.—[The Vat. Sept. here inserts (with some chronological variations) the account of the reign of Jehoshaphat from 1Ki_22:41-50, again repeating that account (without those variations) in its proper place. The insertion was evidently made to avoid the chronological difficulty between verses 23 and 29, for the explanation of which see the Exeg. Com. Accordingly in 1Ki_16:29 instead of the 38th year of Asa the Vat. Sept. has “in the second year of Jehoshaphat.” The Alex. Sept. follows the Hebrew.—F. G.]
[9][Of course our readers will estimate at their value these stiff monarchial sentiments. The present Editor, here as elsewhere, prefers to translate in this work rather than omit them, because it is due to the author to give his work fairly in a translation. But here he enters a mild caveat, and avails himself of the opportunity to say that his task is not that of a reviewer, and consequently he has allowed many things to pass without comment, from which he differs widely and thoroughly.—E. H.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 7, 8, 9 Forasmuch as I exalted thee--The doom he pronounced on…
Forasmuch as I exalted thee--The doom he pronounced on Baasha was exactly the same as denounced against Jeroboam and his posterity. Though he had waded through slaughter to his throne, he owed his elevation to the appointment or permission of Him "by whom kings reign."
over my people Israel--With all their errors and lapses into idolatry, they were not wholly abandoned by God. He still showed His interest in them by sending prophets and working miracles in their favor, and possessed a multitude of faithful worshippers in the kingdom of Israel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv7–9 7. Also — Further reason why the word of…
7. Also — Further reason why the word of the Lord came to Baasha by Jehu.
And because he killed him — That is, killed Jeroboam. That assassination (1Ki_15:27) was a dark and bloody crime, which, though foreseen and foretold by Jehovah, was still wrought by wicked hands. God’s prescience of his act took not from the daring Baasha the guilt of murder; and therefore, besides the oracles of judgment which Jehu uttered in 1Ki_16:2-4. he also uttered other words of the Lord against Baasha, because he had killed Jeroboam.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 2. I exalted thee out of the dust] This…
2. I exalted thee out of the dust] This may signify that Baasha was of humble origin; but to be chosen of God and called to the position of a ruler of Israel was great exaltation out of any station.
prince over my people] Though Israel has offended, they are still God’s people. They have rejected His law, but He does not reject them. From the house of Baasha there was expected to come some amendment of the evil ways of Jeroboam.
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to provoke me to anger with their sins] For the last three words the LXX. gives ἐν τοῖς ματαίοις αὐτῶν, ‘with their vanities;’ a common form of expression in similar phrases. See below, 1Ki_16:13.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 7, 9, 13 (2) Forasmuch as I exalted thee . . .—The…
(2) Forasmuch as I exalted thee . . .—The prophecy—closely resembling that of Ahijah against Jeroboam—clearly shows that Baasha had a probation, which he neglected; and it seems to be implied in 1Ki_16:7 that his guilt was enhanced by perseverance in the very sins for which, by his hand, so terrible a vengeance had been inflicted.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–13 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust…
Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust cf. 1 Kings 2Sa_7:8; Psa_78:70. These words assuredly point to a lowly origin. He may well have risen from the ranks and made thee prince The original word is used of leaders of various degrees, comprehending even the king: (1Ki_1:35; 1Sa_9:16 1Sa_10:1; Dan_9:25) over my people Israel There is no approval implied here of the means by which Baasha had raised himself to the throne. All that is said is that he had been an instrument in God"s hands, and owed his throne to God"s sanction and ordering. Even his conspiracy and cruelties had been overruled to the furtherance of the Divine purpose, and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger better vex, one word with their sins;
The Working of Jeroboam"s Sin.
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The punishment which Jeroboam"s sin brought down upon himself, his successors, and his people, was not its worst part. Its influences upon others, the lessons of disobedience and defiance taught by that malign example, were even more disastrous. Let us now trace, as far as we can, its workings; let us see how the leaven of the calves leavened the whole lump.
1. He begat a son in his own likeness. "The evil that men do lives after them it lives in their children; it is inwrought into their constitution. As a rule, the child reproduces the character of the parent, the moral traits, quite as closely as the physical. There are exceptions Abijah was one but they help to prove the rule. He was the only exception in the house of Jeroboam. (1Ki_14:8) Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis, and the converse is equally true. Nabab, and the other children of that house, not
2. only practised the lessons they had learned in Jeroboam"s school, but they reproduced in their own persons the self will, the impatience of control, and the other faults and vices of their father. What wonder if "Nadab did evil in the sight of the Lord"? he only "walked," as the next words remind us, "in the way of his father". (1Ki_15:26)
3. He begat a spirit of lawlessness and insubordination among his people. There are not a few indications of demoralization and corruption in Israel, corresponding with the depravation of religion. The very revolutions, which followed one afar another, are in themselves a proof of this. The chronic disaffection and the periodical upheavings of society in the northern kingdom, especially when contrasted with the quietness and security of Judah, can only be accounted for by the influences of the court. North and south were of one blood, and lived under one sky. It was because the former had been taught disobedience and disregard of constituted authority, it was because the sense of reverence and duty had been weakened by the action of Jeroboam, that it became like a reed shaken in the water so often rebelled against its sovereigns. Jeroboam had accustomed them to play fast and loose with the commandments of Heaven; what wonder if they made small account of their obligations to their earthly king?
1. He taught Baasha, Zimri, and Omri to lift up their hands against the king. Just as David"s religious veneration for the person of the "Lord"s anointed" tended to make his throne and that of his successors the more secure, so did Jeroboam"s rebellion (1Ki_11:26) afford an example of aggression to later ages. His subjects were not likely to believe in the "divinity that doth hedge a king." Why should they scruple to grasp at the crown if it came within their reach? Why was Nadab more sacred than Rehoboam? Why should the son of Baasha, again, have more respect than the son of Solomon?
2. He taught his subjects, indirectly, to hold life cheap. There had been two changes of dynasty before Baasha had learned from him to attack the king and to exterminate his family, but both of these had been, so far as the royal family was concerned, bloodless. David never thought of slaying the children of Saul. His inquiry was, "Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him?" (2Sa_9:3) And when "Israel rebelled against the house of David," they never contemplated a massacre of Solomon"s harem, or even of insolent Rehoboam. But observe the change in succeeding revolutions. "He left not to Jeroboam any that breathed" (1Ki_15:29; cf. 16:11; 2Ki_10:11) Why this thirst of blood? It is because Jeroboam has returned from Egypt, and his godless proceedings have depraved public morality, and the restraints of law have been enfeebled, and men have grown more reckless and desperate. (1Ki_16:18, 1Ki_16:24) It is clear to the most cursory reader that a daring impiety characterizes the whole period from Jeroboam to Hoshea, and for this "the sin of Jeroboam" is mainly responsible. That was the "first step" which makes the rest of the road easy.
3. He entailed his sin upon his successors. Of each of the kings of Israel do we read that he "walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did," and we wonder, perhaps, how it was that not one of these nineteen kings, sprung as many of them were from different lineages, had the courage and the piety to retrace his steps, and revert to the primitive faith and mode of worship. But a little reflection will show that this, under the circumstances, was well nigh an impossibility. For Jeroboam had made the calf worship an integral part of the national life. It was so intertwined with the existence of Israel as a separate people, that to abandon it would be to repudiate all the traditions of the kingdom, and tacitly to acknowledge the superiority of Judah. Any king attempting such a reformation would appear to be a traitor to his country. The attempt would have provoked a second schism. No, it was clear to each monarch at his accession, if he reflected on the subject at all, that the calf worship must go on. The damnosa hereditas which he had received he must transmit. There was no place for repentance.
1. He paved the way for idolatry. Already, in 1Ki_14:15, we find the "groves" following directly upon the calves, the images of Asherah upon the images of Jehovah. Ahab and Jezebel are not wholly responsible for the abominations of Baal and Ashtaroth. It was the daring innovations of Jeroboam had prepared the minds of men for this last and greatest violation of the law. "Man does not become base all at once." The plunge into wholesale idolatry would have been impossible, had not the deep descent to the calf worship been traversed first. Pecati poena peccatum. That, too, begets children in its own likeness. Those who despised the "tabernacle of witness" in the wilderness were given up to take up "the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Remphan". (Act_7:42, Act_7:43) If men will not have God in their thoughts, He gives them over to a reprobate mind. (Rom_1:28)
2. We see his hand in the building of Jericho. It was Hiel, a Bethelite, braved the curse and rebuilt the walls and reared the gates of the city of palm trees. Here we see the influence of a prior violation of law. Whether he acted in ignorance of law, or defiance of law, it is to Jeroboam"s sin the deed owed its perpetration. The law might well be forgotten which had been so completely ignored. And the subject had been encouraged to violate it by his sovereign.
3. We hear his voice in the curses of the children of Bethel. Where but at Bethel would children have dared thus to revile a prophet of the Lord? The children only reflected the impiety and hatred of their parents. And from whom had these latter learned their hatred but from the king, who "made a house of high places" there, and inaugurated the schismatic worship with his own hands? From the day when a man of God laid the city under an interdict, the prophets of Jehovah must have been unpopular at Bethel, and as the time passed by, and the breach was widened, passive dislike ripened into open scorn and hatred, and a new prophet, of whose powers they had had no experience, could not pass by without insult and defiance.
The Jews have a saying, that in all the scourgings, plagues, and chastisements which they have endured, there is not one but has in it an ounce of the dust of the golden calf which Aaron made. The saying holds equally good of the calves which Jeroboam made. There is not one of the troubles which befell both the crown and the kingdom, not one of the bitter sufferings which the ten tribes endured, but had its starting-point in the sin of Jeroboam.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v8 Elah . . . Zimri . . . Arza.
1Ki_16:8-10
Elah . . . Zimri . . . Arza.
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Elah, Zimri, and Arza
There was once a king in Israel called Elah. He reigned over Israel in Tirzah two years. He had a servant called Zimri who was a captain of his chariots. Zimri was a born traitor. Treachery was in his very blood. In the case of Elah, Zimri had a marked advantage; for Elah was a drunken fool. He was in the habit of visiting the house of another of his servants, a steward called Arza, and there he had what drink he asked for; and he asked for a good deal, so much so that he was often drunk in his servants house, and on one of these occasions, Zimri went in and killed him, and reigned in his stead. These are the facts which we have to deal with. Are they very ancient, or are they happening round about us every day?
1. Elah lives in every man who has great chances or opportunities in life, but allows them to slip away through one leak in the character. Elah was a king, and the son of a king, so his openings in life were wide and splendid; but he loved strong drink, and through that leak in his character all that might have made him a man oozed away, and left him a king in nothing but the barren name. Strong drink will ruin any man. What is true of this leak in a mans character is true of every other. Take indecision for example, or idleness, or love of company, or devotion to pleasure. A great merchant once said to me of a certain man in his employment, I would to-morrow give that man a thousand a year to begin with, if he could do one thing, and that is, hold his tongue; but he would no sooner get the appointment than he would go into an ale-house, and tell the whole company everything I am doing. There is the leak in the character, and it means ruin! It is astounding what one leak will do.
2. Zimri still lives in all persons who take advantage of the weaknesses of others. Zimri knew that Elah was a drunkard, and he further knew that through his habit of drunkenness alone he could reach the king. On every other side of his character Elah may have been a strong man: acute, shrewd, far-sighted; but when in drink, weak and foolish. And Zimri played his game accordingly. Some people trade on the weaknesses of others. They study them. Thy adapt themselves to them. They watch for striking time, and seldom miss the mark. How else could the net be always ready for the bird? How else the pit be always prepared for the unexpected and bewildered traveller? There is an infernal science in these things--a devils black art!
3. And does not Arza still live in those who find the means whereby men may conceal their evil habits and indulge their unholy desires? They seem to say, In my house you may do what you please. I shall not look at you. Come when you please; go when you like; I am nobody, if you like to call me so. My wonder is that any young man can keep his morals uncorrupted in a strange city. Houses of destruction are open in every street. How foolish, too, are the wicked! If they would devote their talents to some virtuous end they would attain honourable success, sweetened with a sense of honesty. They often have great talents, fine powers, large capacities, and if they gave themselves with ardour and energy to the pursuit of good ends they would outrun many, and gain a prize worthy and lasting. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v11 As far as we can understand from our meager…
THE KINGS OF ISRAEL FROM ZIMRI TO AHAB
1Ki_16:11-34
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As far as we can understand from our meager authorities-and we have no independent source of information-we infer that Elah, son of the powerful Baasha, was a self-indulgent weakling. The army of Israel was encamped against Gibbethon-originally a Levitical town of the Kohathites, in the territory of Dan-which they hoped to wrest from the Philistines. It was during the interminable and intermittent siege of this town that Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, had been murdered. Whatever may have been his sins, he was in his proper place leading the armies of Israel. Elah was not there, but in his beautiful palace at Tirzah. It was probably contempt for his incapacity and the bad example of Baashas successful revolt, that tempted Zimri to murder him as he was drinking himself drunk in the house of his chamberlain Arza. Zimri was a commander of half the chariots, and probably thinking that he could secure the throne by a coup de main he slew not only Elah, but every male member of his family. To extinguish any possibility: of vengeance, he even massacred all who were known to be friends of the royal house. It was a consummate crime, and it was followed by swift and condign judgment. Through that sea of blood Zimri only succeeded in wading to one weeks royalty, followed by a shameful and agonizing death. We are told that he did evil in the sight of the Lord by following the sin of Jeroboams calf-worship. The phrase must be here something of a formula, for in seven days he could hardly have achieved a religious revolution, and every other king of Israel, some of whom have long and prosperous reigns, maintained the unauthorized worship. But Zimris atrocious revolt had been so ill-considered that it furnished a proverb of the terrible fate of rebels. {2Ki_9:31} He had not even attempted to secure the assent of the army at Gibbethon. No sooner did the news reach the camp than the soldiers tumultuously refused to accept Zimri as king, and elected Omri their captain. Omri instantly broke up the camp, and led them to besiege the new king in Tirzah. Zimri saw that his cause was hopeless, and took refuge in the fortress (birah) attached to the palace. When he saw that even there he could not maintain himself, he preferred speedy death to slow starvation or falling into the hands of his rival. He set fire to the palace, and, like Sardanapalus, perished in the flames.
The swift suppression of his treason did not save the unhappy kingdom from anarchy and civil war. However popular Omri might be with the army, he was unacceptable to a large part of the people. They chose as their king a certain Tibni, son of Ginath, who was supported by a powerful brother named Joram. For four years the contest was continued. At the end of that time Tibni and Joram were conquered and killed, and Omri began his sole reign, which lasted eight years longer.
He founded the most conspicuous dynasty of Israel, and so completely identified his name with the Northern Kingdom that it was known to the Assyrians as Beit-Khumri, or "the House of Omri." They even speak of Jehu the destroyer of Omris dynasty, as "the son of Omri."
Incidental allusions in the annals of his son show that Omri was engaged in incessant wars against Syria. He was unsuccessful, and Benhadad robbed him of Ramoth Gilead and other cities, enforcing the right of Syrians to have streets of their own even in his new capital of Samaria. On the other hand, he was greatly successful on the southeast against the Moabites and their warrior-king Chemosh-Gad, the father of Mesha.
Few details of either war have come down to us. {1Ki_20:34} We learn, however, from the famous Moabite stone that he began his assault on Moab by the capture of Mediba, several miles south of Heshbon, overran the country, made the king a vassal, and imposed on Moab the enormous annual tribute of 100,000 sheep and 100,000 rams. {2Ki_3:4} Mesha in his inscription records that Omri "oppressed Moab many days," and attributed this to the fact that Chemosh was angry with his chosen people. He stamped his impress deep upon his subjects. It must have been to him that the alliance with the Tyrians was due, which in his sons reign produced consequences so momentous. He "did worse we are told than all the kings that were before him." {1Ki_16:25} Although he is only charged with walking in the way of Jeroboam, the indignant manner in which the prophet Micah speaks of "the statutes of Omri" as still being kept, {Mic_6:16} seems to prove that his influence on religion was condemned by the prophetic order on special grounds. It is clear that he was a sovereign of far greater eminence and importance than we might suppose from the meagerness of his annals as here preserved; indeed, for thirty-four years after his accession the history of the Southern Kingdom becomes a mere appendix to that of the Northern. One conspicuous service he rendered to his subjects by providing them with the city which became their permanent and famous capital. This he did in the sixth year of his reign. The burning of the fortress-palace of Tirzah, and the rapidity with which the town had succumbed to its besiegers, may have led him to look out for a site, which was central, strong, and beautiful. His choice was so prescient that the new royal residence superseded not only Penuel and Tirzah, but even Shechem. It was, says Dean Stanley, "as though Versailles had taken the place of Paris, or Windsor of London?" He fixed his eye on an oblong hill, with long flat summit, which rose in the midst of a wide valley encircled with hills, near the edge of the plain of Sharon, and six miles northwest of Shechem. Its beauty is still the admiration of the traveler in Palestine. It gave point to the apostrophe of Isaiah: "Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under foot: and the fading flower of his glorious adornment, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall become as a fading flower and as an early fig." {Isa_28:1-4} All around it the low hills and rich ravines were clothed with fertility. They recall more nearly than any other scene in Palestine the green fields and parks of England
It commanded a full view of the sea and the plain of Sharon on the one band, and of the vale of Shechem on the other. The town sloped down from the summit of this hill; a broad wall with a terraced top ran round it. "In front of the gates was a wide open space or threshing floor, where the kings of Samaria sat on great occasions. The inferior houses were built of white brick, with rafters of sycamore, the grandeur of hewn stones and Isa_9:9-10. Its soft, rounded, oblong platform was, as it were, a vast luxurious couch, in which the nobles securely rested, propped and cushioned up on both sides, as in the cherished corner of a rich divan."
Far more important in the eyes of Omri than its beauty was the natural strength of its position. It did not possess the impregnable majesty of Jerusalem, but its height and isolation, permitting of strong fortifications, enabled it to baffle the besieging hosts of the Aramaeans in B.C. 901 and in B.C. 892. For three long years it held out against the mighty Assyrians under Sargon and Shalmanezer. Its capture in B.C. 721 involved the ruin of the whole kingdom in its fall, {1Ki_20:1; 2Ki_6:24} Nebuchadnezzar took it in B.C. 554 after a siege of thirteen years. In later centuries it partially recovered. Alexander the Great took it, and massacred many of its inhabitants B.C. 332. John Hyrcanus, who took it after a years siege, tried to demolish it in B.C. 129. After various fortunes it was splendidly rebuilt by Herod the Great, who called it Sebaste, in honor of Augustus. It still exists under the name of Sebastiyeh.
When Omri chose it for his residence it belonged to a certain Shemer, who, according to Epiphanius, was a descendant of the ancient Perizzites or Girgashites. The king paid for this hill the large sum of two talents of silver, and called it Shomeron. The name means "a watch tower," and was appropriate both from its commanding position and because it echoed the name of its old possessor.
The new capital marked a new epoch. It superseded as completely as Jerusalem had done the old local shrines endeared by the immemorial sanctity of their traditions; but as its origin was purely political it acted unfavorably on the religion of the people. It became a city of idolatry and of luxurious wealth; a city in which Baal-worship with its ritual pomp threw into the shade the worship of Jehovah; a city in which corrupted nobles, lolling at wine feasts on rich divans in their palaces inlaid with ivory, sold the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes. Of Omri we are told no more. After a reign of twelve years he slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city which was to be for so many centuries a memorial of his fame.
The name of Omri marks a new epoch. He is the first Jewish king whose name is alluded to in Assyrian inscriptions. Assyria had emerged into importance in the twelfth century before Christ under Tiglath-Pileser I, but during the eleventh and down to the middle of the tenth century it had sunk into inactivity. Assurbanipal, the father of Shalmanezer II (884-860), enlarged his dominions to the Mediterranean westwards and to Lebanon southwards. In 870, when Ahab was king, the Assyrian warriors had exacted tribute from Tyre, Sidon, and Bibles. It is not impossible that Omri also had paid tribute, and it has even been conjectured that it was to Assyrian help that he owed his throne. The Book of Kings only alludes to the valor of this warrior-king in the one word his might; but it is evident from other indications that he had a stormy and checkered reign.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v11 kinsfolks Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa…
kinsfolks Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 5, 7, 8, 11 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Yahweh continues telling Baasha what he will do to him.
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See, I will completely sweep away Baasha and his family
Yahweh is speaking to Baasha, and the phrase "his family" refers to Baasha's family. This can be translated using the words "you" and "your." AT: "Listen, Baasha. I will completely sweep away you and your family" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
I will completely sweep away
Sweeping away represents destroying. AT: "I will completely destroy" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
sweep
family
die
heaven
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2, 5, 9, 11 16:2-4 The Lord charged Baasha with being a murderer…
16:2-4 The Lord charged Baasha with being a murderer (16:7) and with following Jeroboam’s idolatry. Because he perpetuated Jeroboam’s evil example, Baasha and his family would suffer the same consequences (see 14:11).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.