_A.M. 3074. B.C. 930._ The ruin of Baasha's family foretold, 1 Kings 16:1; and executed by Zimri, 1 Kings 16:8. Zimri's short reign, 1 Kings 16:15. The struggle between Omri and Tibni, and Omri's reign, 1 Kings 16:21. The beginning of Ahab's reign, 1 Kings 16:29.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The word of the Lord came to Jehu_ This Jehu was a prophet, and the son of a prophet. His father Hanani, who was a prophet before him, was sent to reprove Asa king of Judah for hiring Benhadad king of Syria to assist him against Baasha and for relying on the Syrians, instead of relying on the Lord,... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 prophe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat_ This threat was exactly verified; for as Nadab the son of Jeroboam reigned but two years, so Elah the son of Baasha reigned no longer; and as Nadab was killed by the sword, so was Elah: thus remarkable was the similitude between Jeroboam a... [ Continue Reading ]
_And also by the hand of the Prophet Jehu_ The order of the narrative seems to be here much confused, to restore which Houbigant places this seventh verse before the fifth and sixth. _Came the word of the Lord against Baasha_ The meaning is, the message which _came from the Lord to Jehu_, (1 Kings 1... [ Continue Reading ]
_Began Elah to reign in Tirzah two years_ One complete and part of another. _Zimri, captain, of half his chariots_ Of all his military chariots, and the men belonging to them; the chariots, or carriages for necessary things being put into meaner hands. _Conspired against him as he was in Tirzah_ Whi... [ Continue Reading ]
_He slew all the house of Baasha_, &c. He not only destroyed all that were descended from Baasha, as Baasha had destroyed the families of Jeroboam, but he extended the destruction, and increased it, as Abarbinel speaks, for he killed all that were of kin to Baasha, with all his friends, which Baasha... [ Continue Reading ]
_The people were encamped against Gibbethon_ Which had been besieged many years before, but, it seems, was then relieved or afterward recovered by the Philistines, while the Israelites were in a distracted condition through civil broils and contentions. It was, however, now again invested. _The peop... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Zimri saw that the city was taken_ Tirzah, though a beautiful city, it seems, was not fortified; so that Omri soon made himself master of it, and forced Zimri into the palace; which, as he was unable to defend, and yet unwilling to surrender it, he burned, and himself in it: grudging that his... [ Continue Reading ]
_For his sins which he sinned_ Though he lived but a very short time after he usurped the crown, yet he gave sufficient demonstration of his resolution to continue the idolatry of Jeroboam; and therefore he was abandoned by God. Add to this, the whole course of his life seems to have been wicked, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts_ Which contended, and went to war with each other about the person that should reign over them. For when it is said, (1 Kings 16:16,) _all Israel_ made Omri king, the meaning is, only _the whole army_, and such as attended them. _Half of the peo... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the people that followed Omri prevailed_ Partly because they had the army on their side; and principally by the appointment of God, giving up the Israelites to him who was much the worse man, 1 Kings 16:25. _So Tibni died_ A violent death, it seems, in battle: and doubtless many of the people d... [ Continue Reading ]
_Began Omri to reign twelve years_ That is, _and he reigned twelve years:_ not from this thirty-first year of Asa, for he died in his thirty- eighth year, (1 Kings 16:29,) but from the beginning of his reign, which was in Asa's twenty-seventh year, 1 Kings 16:15. So he reigned four years in a state... [ Continue Reading ]
_He bought the hill Samaria of Shemer_ Where he built the noted city of that name, which ever after was the royal city of the kings of Israel, the palace of Tirzah being burned. This city, in process of time, became so considerable, that it gave name to the middle part of Canaan, which lay between G... [ Continue Reading ]
_Omri wrought evil in the sight of the Lord_ He rendered himself infamous for his wickedness. _And did worse than all that were before him_ Not only walking in the way of Jeroboam, in worshipping the calves, but, as is likely, introducing other idolatries, which his son Ahab established among them.... [ Continue Reading ]
_So Omri slept with his fathers_ He died in his bed, as Jeroboam and Baasha had done; but like them, left it to his posterity to fill up the measure, and then pay off the scores of his iniquity.... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the thirty and eighth year of Asa_, &c. Asa saw six kings of Israel buried, while Judah flourished under him, the length of whose reign was doubtless a great advantage to them. _Began Ahab the son of Omri to reign_ Of whom we have more particulars recorded than of any of the other kings of Israe... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he reared up an altar for Baal_ On which to offer sacrifices to him, whereby they acknowledged their dependance upon him, and sought his favour. _In the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria _ The royal city, for the convenience of his worship. Because the temple of God was in Jerusalem,... [ Continue Reading ]
_In his days_, &c. This is mentioned here, 1st, As an instance of the certainty of the accomplishment of the divine predictions; that here referred to being fulfilled upward of five hundred years after it was delivered: a most striking proof of the divine prescience, as well as of the authority of t... [ Continue Reading ]