_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 ]