1 Kings 16:23

_IN THE THIRTY AND FIRST YEAR OF ASA KING OF JUDAH BEGAN OMRI TO REIGN OVER ISRAEL, TWELVE YEARS: SIX YEARS REIGNED HE IN TIRZAH._ In the thirty and first year of Asa ... began Omri to reign х_ `AAMªRIY_ (H6018); i:e., perhaps, 'aamªriyaah, servant of Yahweh; Septuagint, Ambri]. The twelve years of his rule are computed from the beginning of his reign, which was in the 27th year of Asa's royalty. He held a contest for supremacy four years with Tibni; and then, at the dates stated in this verse, entered on a sole and peaceful reign of eight years....

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....

Verse 23. _IN THE THIRTY AND FIRST YEAR OF ASA_] There must be a mistake here in the number _thirty-one_; for, in ver. 10 and 15, 1 Kings 16:10; 1 Kings 16:15 it is said that Zimri slew his master, and began to reign in the _twenty-seventh year of Asa_; and as Zimri reigned only _seven days_, and Omri _immediately_ succeeded him, this could not be in the _thirty-first_, but in the _twenty-seventh year_ _of Asa_, as related above. _Rab. Sol. Jarchi_ reconciles the two places thus: "The division of the kingdom between Tibni and Omri began in the _twenty-seventh_ year of Asa; this division lasted _five_ _years_, during which Omri had but a _share_ of the kingdom. Tibni dying, Omri came into the possession of the _whole_ kingdom, which h...

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...

IN THE THIRTY FIRST YEAR OF ASA KING OF JUDAH BEGAN OMRI TO REIGN OVER ISRAEL TWELVE YEARS,.... Which are to be reckoned not from the thirty first of Asa; for Ahab the son of Omri began to reign in his thirty eighth year, and so his reign would be but seven or eight years; but they are reckoned from the twenty seventh of Asa, the beginning of it, when Elah was slain by Zimri, and he died, which to the end of the thirty eight of Asa make twelve years; for the division, according to the Jewish chronology d, lasted four years; Jarchi says five e; and from the beginning of that his reign is reckoned, though he did not reign over all Israel, or completely, until the thirty first of Asa, when Tibni died: SIX YEARS REIGNED HE IN TIRZAH; the royal city of the kings of Israel, from Jeroboam to this time, and the other six he reigned in Samaria, built by him, as in the next verse. d Seder Olam R...

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

THIRTY AND FIRST YEAR. He reigned twelve years (833-821), and yet in 1 Kings 16:29 Ahab began in the thirty-eighth year of Asa. Omri began to reign _de jure_ when he slew Zimri, in the twentyseventh year of Asa; but only _de facto_ on the death of Tibni the usurper. SIX YEARS. Beginning in Asa's thirty-first and ending in Asa's thirty-eighth (1 Kings 16:29)....

_over Israel, twelve years_ The R.V. inserts in italics - _and reigned_," after -Israel" to make the sense clear. See on 1 Kings 15:33. _six years reigned he_ The four years of the struggle for the throne are not counted either to Tibni or to Omri. For the commencement of Ahab's reign is put (see 1 Kings 16:29) in the 38th year of Asa....

D. THE OMRI DYNASTY 16:21-34 The Omri dynasty ruled Israel for forty-four years. The closing verses of chapter 16 contain brief notices concerning (1) Omri's rise to power (1 Kings 16:21-22); (2) the reign of Omri (1 Kings 16:23-28); and (3) the early years of Ahab (1 Kings 16:29-34). Sixth King of Israel OMRI 885-874 B.C. (_Heaping_) 1 Kings 16:15-28 Synchronism Omri 1 = Asa 27 _The curse of the Lord is in the bouse of the wicked; but He blesses the habitation of the just._...