1 Kings 16 - Introduction
XVI. The brief record continues of the troubled times of civil war and foreign danger in Israel, to which, perhaps, the tranquillity of Judah under Asa was partly due.... [ Continue Reading ]
XVI. The brief record continues of the troubled times of civil war and foreign danger in Israel, to which, perhaps, the tranquillity of Judah under Asa was partly due.... [ Continue Reading ]
JEHU THE SON OF HANANI — probably of Hanani the seer of Judah in the reign of Asa (2 Chronicles 15:7). Jehu must have been now young, for we find him rebuking Jehoshaphat after the death of Ahab, and writing the annals of Jehoshaphat’s reign (2 Chronicles 19:2; 2 Chronicles 20:34).... [ Continue Reading ]
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 1 Kings 16:7 that his guilt was enhanced by perseverance in the very sins for which, by his hand, so terr... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALSO. — This second reference to the prophecy of Jehu seems to be a note of the historian — perhaps added chiefly for the sake of the last clause, which shows that Baasha’s act, though foretold, was not thereby justified.... [ Continue Reading ]
DRINKING HIMSELF DRUNK. — There seems an emphasis of half-contemptuous condemnation in the description of Elah’s debauchery, evidently public, and in the house of a mere officer of his household, while war was raging at Gibbethon. On the other hand, Zimri — noted emphatically as “his servant” — was... [ Continue Reading ]
VANITIES — that is, _idols_ (as in Deuteronomy 32:21; 1 Samuel 12:21; Psalms 31:6; Isaiah 41:29; Jer. viii 19; &c.): not only the idols of Dan and Bethel, but the worse abominations which grew up under cover of these. In the Old Testament generally the contempt for idolatry and false worship as a gr... [ Continue Reading ]
MADE OMRI... KING. — This exaltation of Omri, as a matter of course, shows how entirely the kingdom of Israel had become the prize of the sword. By a curious coincidence (see 1 Kings 15:27) the dynasty of Baasha had been founded in the camp before the same city of Gibbethon. Zimri’s conspiracy appea... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PALACE OF THE KING’S HOUSE. — The same phrase is found in 2 Kings 15:25. The word here rendered “palace” evidently means (as is clear from its derivation) “the high place,” or “citadel,” of the building. Some render it the “harem,” with which the curious rendering (ἄντρον) of the LXX. — signifyi... [ Continue Reading ]
IN WALKING IN THE WAY OF JEROBOAM. — The use here of this constantly-recurring phrase probably indicates only the historian’s sense of the curse lying on the whole kingdom from its idolatry, which Zimri did not attempt to repudiate; unless, perhaps, his conspiracy had clothed itself under pretence o... [ Continue Reading ]
TIBNI. — Of him we know nothing. No doubt he also was a military chief — possibly Zimri’s colleague, under the supreme command of Omri — and the LXX. speaks of a brother, Joram, who fought and fell with him. There is an ominous significance in the terse description of the alternatives of fortune in... [ Continue Reading ]
BEGAN OMRI TO REIGN OVER ISRAEL. — The accession of Omri after this long civil war opened a new epoch of more settled government and prosperity for about forty-eight years. Omri had (as appears from 1 Kings 20:34) to purchase peace with Syria by some acknowledgment of sovereignty and cession of citi... [ Continue Reading ]
BUILT ON THE HILL. — Omri only followed the usual practice of a new dynasty in the East, of which Jeroboam had set an example at Shechem, and probably Baasha at Tirzah. Possibly the seeds of disaffection may have still lurked in Tirzah, the place of Zimri’s conspiracy, and (as has been conjectured)... [ Continue Reading ]
DID WORSE THAN ALL THAT WERE BEFORE HIM. — This phrase, used of Jeroboam in 1 Kings 14:9, may indicate, in addition to the acceptance and development of the old idolatry, some anticipation of the worse idolatry of Baal, formally introduced by Ahab. The “statutes of Omri” are referred to by Micah (Mi... [ Continue Reading ]
ETHBAAL, KING OF THE ZIDONIANS. — The mention of Ethbaal, clearly the _Eithobalus_ of Menander (see Jos. _against Apion_ i. 18), affords another comparison of Israelite with Tyrian history. He is said to have assassinated Pheles, king of Tyre, within fifty years after the death of Hiram, and to have... [ Continue Reading ]
DID HIEL... BUILD JERICHO. — This marks both the growth of prosperity and power, and the neglect of the old curse of Joshua (Joshua 6:26). The place had not, it would appear, been entirely deserted. (See Judges 3:13; 2 Samuel 10:5.) But it was now made — what it continued to be even down to the time... [ Continue Reading ]