KING OMRI (I KINGS 16:16-30)

Although this obscure king of the Northern Kingdom is seldom the subject of Sunday school presentations or sermons, there are some real lessons we can take away from a study of these few verses. Omri's story begins a few verses earlier where we learn that a man named Zimri has assassinated King Elah, killed all his relatives, and placed himself on the throne. The commander of the Israelite army, Omri, hears about this event and immediately besieges Tirzah, where Zimri has been living. Zimri sees the handwriting on the wall and commits suicide, setting a record low for the length of reign of any kings during the Divided Monarchy – seven days!

At this point, there are only two viable candidates to fill the royal vacancy, Omri (who is supported by the army) and a man named Tibni, who dies, probably in battle, after a civil war that probably lasted for four years. This time period is “based on several chronological references in the Hebrew Bible.” (Drinkard) At this point Omri succeeds to the throne and reigns for twelve years.

But who exactly was Omri? This question is brought up since amazingly, of all the characters introduced in this story, only Omri is given no genealogical background as to his parentage. This is one reason why some scholars have proposed that he may not have even been an Israelite. In favor of this supposition is the oft-noted fact that those in the Israelite army were often recruited from neighboring countries. Another factor is that Omri does not appear to be a common Jewish name, with various scholars thus attempting to connect it with similar names found in the countries around Israel. But Cogan expresses the opinion that “it is overdone to make Omri out to be a foreigner (Canaanite?) simply on the basis of a name etymology.”

Since we will probably never be able to settle the above question, let us go on and see what the text has to say regarding Omri's reign. And here we are told practically nothing to go on, except for one verse, I Kings 16:24. There it is stated that Omri purchased the hill of Samaria and fortified it, setting it up as the new capital of the Northern Kingdom. The importance of that act is explained below:

    “Omri's choice of the hill of Samaria as the new capital...was a master-stroke. The beautiful site's strategic position enabled the Israelites to repulse successive Syrian and Assyrian sieges until its capture by Sargon in 722 BC (even then only after a three-year siege).” (Douglas)

    “Certainly, Omri chose the site for its strategic location. It was not the highest hill in the region, but it was well isolated from surrounding higher hills and also had good access through the valley to its west to the major trade and communication routes to the Mediterranean.” (Drinkard)

Since I Kings provides us no more detail regarding Omri's time as king, we must go to other sources. One such source is the writings of the prophet Micah. In Micah 6:16, there is mention of “the statutes of Omri.” Based on this cryptic reference, LaSor suggests “that he must have had some kind of legal reforms, but we know nothing further about them.” That suggestion is probably unlikely since that half verse is written in poetic form and can best be explained by the subsequent lines in the verse:

        “For you have kept the statutes of Omri

        and all the works of the house of Ahab

        and you have followed their counsels.

        Therefore I will make you a desolation

        and your inhabitants an object of hissing;

        so you shall bear the scorn of my people.” (NRSV)

You can see from this full context that “statutes” is probably used in a non-literal sense to refer to Omri's evil deeds and counsels.

But if we go even further afield in our search for evidence of Omri's reign, we actually find that neighboring nations held a rather high view of his accomplishments. Without going into all the archeological evidence, the following can be stated:

    “Omri was perhaps the most important of all the kings of Israel, from the standpoint of secular history...Omri is the only Israelite king named in the Mesha Inscription...A century ofter Omri's dynasty had fallen, some Assyrian inscriptions still referred to his land as 'the house of Omri.” (LaSor)

    “His death (c. 874 BC) evidently saw a quiet and prosperous kingdom inherited by his son Ahab.” (Douglas)

    “By secular standards he and his descendants were fairly effective monarchs; for they kept foreign armies at bay, gave the people a religion they liked, and made foreign alliances through marriage.” (House)

    “Omri and his dynasty are known especially for several building projects, perhaps the most significant ones in the history of the northern kingdom...Although Omri had his origin in the military, his strength as a king was in his diplomatic actions. He focused not on military activity, but on developing treaties and alliances and securing the borders through peaceful means.” (Drinkard)

    Mead states that “archaeological and inscriptional evidence...points to Israel's significant growth and military strength during this period of relative Assyrian weakness.”

    C.G. Martin summarizes: “Omri's brief seven years of sole rule were crammed with action which is only hinted at.”

But that is, of course, not the whole story. Mead points out, “The Deuteronomistic purpose of demonstrating the religious and mortal shortcomings of Israelite kings explains the lack of interest in the political and historical contributions of the Omri dynasty. The book of 1 Kings devotes eight verses to Omri's twelve-year reign...(contrast six verses for Zimri's seven-day reign).” This reason for this seeming oversight is found in vv. 25-26, in which the narrator states that Omri “did more evil than all who were before him.” But the nature of his sins is not really spelled out.

Some go to v. 31 for a possible answer since it introduces Jezebel, the evil wife of Omri's son Ahab. Thus, Martin says “The schismatic worship devised by Jereboam continued but the infiltration of Baal-worship (or the syncretistic worship of Yahweh with Baal-like ritual) was accelerated by the league with Sidon and the presence at court of Jezebel.” And according to Douglas, this sin should probably be laid at the feet of Omri, not Ahab.

Douglas proposes a possible scenario to account for her presence: “Apparently in an attempt to strengthen his position he [Omri] married his son Ahab to the Tyrian daughter of Ethba'al, a high priest of Tyre. Her role in Israel's history was to bring bitter consequences.” And in a more general sense, Douglas feels that Omri “may have countenanced sycretistic practices in religion (cf. Mi vi.16).”

There is another front on which Omri is open to criticism, according to Jones, namely “the significance of establishing Samaria as the capital of the northern dynasty, and making it equal in status to Jerusalem, the capital of the Davidic dynasty.” That action did two things. In the first place, it cemented the differences between the two kingdoms even more firmly than ever. And another aspect is pointed out by Martin: “The growth of the luxurious and powerful city of Samaria...brought the same grandeur, ostentation and oppression as Solomon's Jerusalem had brought to the South. With Omri the northern tribes too began to taste the evil and pleasant fruit of politically successful kingship divorced from true religion.”

What are the lessons for today? We could certainly turn to the examples of the leaders of our own country. From a secular viewpoint, a president like Thomas Jefferson was idolized by generations of Americans for his many accomplishments and noble attributes while in office. It is only relatively recently, however, that the depths of his true character have emerged with revelations of his affair with one of his slaves, refusal to free his slaves (including his mistress and her children by him) even when urged to do so by neighboring plantation owners, and his love of money to the point where he hired a known brutal slave master to oversee the many children working on his property in order to increase their output. And almost all of the money he made went into the continual renovations he made on Monticello so as to be a monument to Jefferson's genius.

For an opposite example, I could cite Jimmy Carter who was not exactly a very successful president while in office but was arguably the most admired ex-president we have ever had due to devotion to serving God in many ways to help world peace and aid the underprivileged.

Or we could just turn from powerful government leaders to our own lives instead. It is an interesting exercise to try writing your own obituaries while you are still alive. What would you put in it, your many worldly accomplishments or what you have done to serve God and your fellow men and women?