1 Kings 16:30

_AND AHAB THE SON OF OMRI DID EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD ABOVE ALL THAT WERE BEFORE HIM._ Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. The worship of God by symbols had hitherto been the offensive form of apostasy in Israel; but now gross idolatry is openly patronized by the court. This was done through the influence of the bigoted and blood-thirsty Jezebel Ahab's queen. She was "the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians." He was priest of Ashtaroth, or Astarte, who, having murdered Philetes, king of Tyre, ascended the throne of that kingdom, being the eighth king since Hiram. Jezebel was the worthy daughter of this regicide and idol priest; and, on her marriage with Ahab, never rested until she had gotten all the forms of her native Tyrian worship introduced into her adopted country. The name of this furious idolatress and wicked woman...

29-34 Ahab did evil above all that reigned before him, and did it with a particular enmity both against Jehovah and Israel. He was not satisfied with breaking the second commandment by image-worship, he broke the first by worshipping other gods: making light of lesser sins makes way for greater. Marriages with daring offenders also imbolden in wickedness, and hurry men on to the greatest excesses. One of Ahab's subjects, following the example of his presumption, ventured to build Jericho. Like Achan, he meddled with the accursed thing; turned that to his own use, which was devoted to God's honour: he began to build, in defiance of the curse well devoted to God's honour: he began to build, in defiance of the curse well known in Israel; but none ever hardened his heart against God, and prospered. Let the reading of this chapter cause us to mark the dreadful end of all the workers of iniqu...

See 1 Kings 16:33. The great sin of Ahab - that by which he differed from all his predecessors, and exceeded them in wickedness - was his introduction of the worship of Baal, consequent upon his marriage with Jezebel, and his formal establishment of this gross and palpable idolatry as the religion of the state....

EXPOSITION THE REIGN OF AHAB.—With the accession of Ahab a new main section of our history begins—the section which has its close in the destruction of the house of Omri by Jehu, as related in 2 Kings 10:1. And this reign is recorded at unusual length; in fact, it occupies nearly all the remaining portion of this volume, whereas the reigns of preceding kings have in several instances been dismissed in a few verses. It owes this distinction to the ministry of the great prophet Elijah by which it was marked, and, indeed, was profoundly influenced; but this ministry, it must be remembered, was necessitated by the critical circumstances of the time. It may be that "every age thinks itself a crisis," but no one can fail to see that this was one of the veritable turning points of Jewish history. One of the real ...

AND AHAB THE SON OF OMRI DID EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD, ABOVE ALL THAT WERE BEFORE HIM. Adding other idols to the calves, and those more abominable than they; since the other kings pretended to worship God in them, but he worshipped other gods besides him, as the following verses show....

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

ABOVE ALL. The reign of Ahab opens. new era in Israel's history....

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._...

THE REIGNS OF ELAH, ZIMRI, AND OMRI 1. Jehu the son of Hanani] Hanani is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 16:7. Jehu's denunciation of Baasha is similar to Ahijah's denunciation of Jeroboam (1 Kings 14:7)....