Hanani, the father of Jehu, was seer to Asa in the kingdom of Judah 2 Chronicles 16:7. His son Jehu, who here discharges the same office in the kingdom of Israel, appears at a later date as an inhabitant of Jerusalem where he prophesied under Jehoshaphat, whom he rebuked on one occasion. He must hav... [ Continue Reading ]
The “might” of Baasha is sufficiently indicated by those successes which drove Asa to call Ben-hadad to his aid. 1 Kings 15:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
The natural position of this verse would be after 1 Kings 16:4 and before 1 Kings 16:5. But it may be regarded as added by the writer, somewhat irregularly, as an afterthought; its special force being to point out that the sentence on Baasha was intended to punish, not only his calf-worship, but emp... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO YEARS - i. e., More than one year, or, at any rate, some portion of two distinct years (compare 1 Kings 16:10).... [ Continue Reading ]
The conspiracy of Zimri - Elah’s “servant” (i. e., “subject”) - was favored by his position, which probably gave him military authority in the city, by the absence of a great part of the people and of the officers who might have checked him, at Gibbethon 1 Kings 16:15, and by the despicable characte... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER OF HIS KINSFOLKS, NOR OF HIS FRIENDS - Zimri’s measures were of much more than ordinary severity. Not only was the royal family extirpated, but the friends of the king, his councillors and favorite officers, were put to death. Omri, as having been in the confidence of the late monarch, would... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR VANITIES - The “calves.” The Hebrews call an idol by terms signifying “emptiness,” “vapor,” or “nothingness.” (Compare marginal references.)... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL ISRAEL MADE OMRI, THE CAPTAIN OF THE HOST, KING - This passage of history recalls the favorite practice of the Roman armies under the Empire, which, when they heard of the assassination of an emperor at Rome, were accustomed to invest their own commander with the purple.... [ Continue Reading ]
WENT UP - The expression “went up” marks accurately the ascent of the army from the Shephelah, where Gibbethon was situated Joshua 19:44, to the hill country of Israel, on the edge of which Tirzah stood 1 Kings 14:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 Assyr... [ Continue Reading ]
Zimri’s death illustrates the general moral which the writer of Kings draws from the whole history of the Israelite monarchs. that a curse was upon them on account of their persistence in Jeroboam’s sin, which, sooner or later, brought each royal house to a bloody end.... [ Continue Reading ]
From a comparison of the dates given in 1 Kings 16:15, 1 Kings 16:23, 1 Kings 16:29 it follows that the contest between the two pretenders lasted four years. Tibni’s death can scarcely be supposed to have been natural. Either he must have been slain in battle against Omri, or have fallen into his h... [ Continue Reading ]
“Samaria” represents the Greek form of the name Σαμάρεια _Samareia_; the original is שׁמרון _shômerôn_ (margin). The site is marked by the modern “Sebustiyeh,” an Arabic corruption of Sebaste, the name given by Herod to Samaria when he rebuilt it. Sebustiyeh is situated on a very remarkable “hill... [ Continue Reading ]
Omri outwent his idolatrous predecessors in his zeal, reducing the calf-worship to a regular formal system, which went down to posterity (compare the marginal reference).... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS MIGHT - Perhaps in the war between Israel and Syria of Damascus (1 Kings 20:1, etc.), during the reign of Omri. Its issue was very disadvantageous to him 1Ki 20:34; 1 Kings 22:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
TWENTY AND TWO YEARS - Rather, from a comparison between 1 Kings 15:10 and 1 Kings 22:51, not more than 21 years. Perhaps his reign did not much exceed 20 years.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 o... [ Continue Reading ]
AS IF IT HAD BEEN A LIGHT THING FOR HIM TO WALK IN THE SINS OF JEROBOAM - Idolatries are not exclusive. Ahab, while he detested the pure worship of Yahweh, and allowed Jezebel to put to death every “prophet of the Lord” whom she could find 1 Kings 18:4, readily tolerated the continued worship of the... [ Continue Reading ]
This seems to be adduced as a proof of the general impiety of Ahab’s time. The curse of Joshua against the man who should rebuild Jericho had hitherto been believed and respected. But now faith in the old religion had so decayed, that Joshua’s malediction had lost its power. Hiel, a Bethelite of wea... [ Continue Reading ]