1 Kings 16:18

_AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN ZIMRI SAW THAT THE CITY WAS TAKEN, THAT HE WENT INTO THE PALACE OF THE KING'S HOUSE, AND BURNT THE KING'S HOUSE OVER HIM WITH FIRE, AND DIED,_ The palace of the king's house, х_ 'ARMOWN_ (H759) _ BEEYT_ (H1004) _ HAMELEK_ (H4428)] - the fortress of the kings house; not the harem, as J.D. Michaelis, Ewald, and others suppose, but the central, which was the highest and strongest, part, the citadel, of the building (Proverbs 18:19). [The Septuagint has: eis antron, into a cave.]...

15-28 When men forsake God, they will be left to plague one another. Proud aspiring men ruin one another. Omri struggled with Tibni some years. Though we do not always understand the rules by which God governs nations and individuals in his providence, we may learn useful lessons from the history before us. When tyrants succeed each other, and massacres, conspiracies, and civil wars, we may be sure the Lord has a controversy with the people for their sins; they are loudly called to repent and reform. Omri made himself infamous by his wickedness. Many wicked men have been men of might and renown; have built cities, and their names are found in history; but they have no name in the book of life....

THE PALACE OF THE KING’S HOUSE - The tower of the king’s house. A particular part of the palace - either the “harem,” or, more probably, the keep or citadel, a tower stronger and loftier than the rest of the palace. Zimri’s desperate act has been repeated more than once. That the last king of Assyria, the Sardanapalus of the Greeks, thus destroyed himself, is almost the only “fact” which we know concerning him....

EXPOSITION This division of chapters, immediately after the commencement of the narrative of the reign of Baasha, is somewhat unfortunate, inasmuch as it obscures the close connexion between the sin of Baasha and the prophecy which it provoked. The idea the historian would convey is clearly this—the analogy between the dynasty of Jeroboam and that which supplanted it, (1) in their sin, (2) in the denunciation of each by a prophet, and (3) in the punishments which followed their sins an analogy so close that the prophet Jehu almost employs the _ipsissima verba _of his predecessor, Ahijah. 1 KINGS 16:1 THEN THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO JEHU, THE SON OF HANANI [Hanani is mentioned in...

AND IT CAME TO PASS, THAT WHEN ZIMRI SAW THAT THE CITY WAS TAKEN,.... That Omri, and the army with him, had got into it, being a place not much fortified, and Zimri not having force enough to defend it against such an army: THAT HE WENT INTO THE PALACE OF THE KING'S HOUSE; into the innermost and most splendid, as well as the strongest part of it: AND BURNT THE KING'S HOUSE OVER HIM WITH FIRE, AND HE DIED; that he might not fall into the hands of his rival, who he might fear would use him ill, and that he might not enjoy the royal palace; though Kimchi thinks that Omri set fire to the palace, and burnt it over the head of Zimri, in which he perished; and this sense the text will bear....

4. KINGS OF ISRAEL Chapter S 15:25-16 _ 1. Nadab, King of Israel (1 Kings 15:25)_ 2. Baasha, King of Israel (1 Kings 15:34; 1 Kings 16:1) 3. Elah, King of Israel (1 Kings 16:8) 4. Zimri, King of Israel (1 Kings 16:15) 5. Divisions (1 Kings 16:21) 6. Omri, King of Israel (1 Kings 16:23) 7. Ahab ...

1 KINGS 15:33 TO 1 KINGS 16:34. BAASHA'S DYNASTY. RISE OF THE HOUSE OF OMRI. Nothing is told us of Baasha except the usual annalistic details, and, that a prophet named Jehu foretold the destruction of his whole house. His son Elah was at war with the Philistines (1 Kings 16:15), but remained at Tirzah (p. 30), which at this time was the chief residence of the kings of Israel. Zimri slew him and reigned but seven days, and was then attacked by the army under Omri, and burned himself in his house. For four years, (_cf._ 1 Kings 16:15 with 1 Kin

_the palace_[R.V. CASTLE] _of the king's house_ The word is most frequently rendered -palace" in A.V.; but here and in 2 Kings 15:25, the sense required is some strong and well barricaded part of the royal residence, where any one might retire and the enemy be unable to reach him. The root of the noun is probably a verb implying -height....

AND BURNED THE KING'S HOUSE OVER HIM WITH FIRE— Some interpreters would rather have it, that Omri set the royal palace on fire, in order to burn Zimri in it, who had retired thither. The Hebrew may, indeed, bear that construction, but the other seems the most likely interpretation; nor has prophane history neglected to preserve the memory of some princes who have chosen to die in this manner, rather than fall by the sword; whereof Sardanapalus is one of the most ancient and most notorious examples. Calmet....

D. THE SEVEN-DAY REIGN OF ZIMRI 16:15-20 TRANSLATION (15) In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were on an expedi tion against Gibbethon which belonged to the Philistines. (16) And the people who were on the expedition heard, saying, Zimri has conspired, and also he has smitten the king, And all Israel proclaimed Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel in that day in the camp. (17) And Omri went up and all Israel with him from Gibbethon, and they besieged Tirzah. (18) And it came to pass when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king's house, and he set fire to the king's house over him, and he died, (19) because of his sins which he had committed, to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, and to walk in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin. (20) And the rest...