A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

God. This apostate dynasty would lead Israel into one of her darkest hours spiritually, but
brightest hours politically.
When Omri took the throne of Israel, the capital was still in Tirzah. The palace was to
some extent restored after the fire at the defeat of Zimri; and Omri reigned from that city for six
years. During that period, Omri was involved in two significant actions. The first was the fouryear
civil war with Tibni which is discussed earlier. The second was the beginning of an alliance
with the Phoenicians. As was customary in that day, the alliance was achieved in part by a
marriage involving the royal families of the two nations involved. As a result of this alliance,
Ahab, the son of Omri and heir to the throne of Israel, married the daughter of Ethbaal, a
Phoenician king. The Phoenician wife of Ahab was named Jezebel. Though her name simply
means “unmarried,” because of the recorded actions of this Jezebel, the name has become
synonymous with the idea of the incarnation of wickedness, especially in a woman. Jezebel’s
zeal for the worship of Baal was such that she earned the distinction of becoming the first
woman in biblical history to assume the role of a religious persecutor. When Omri formed this
alliance with Phoenicia, sealing it with the marriage of his easily influenced son to the strongwilled
Jezebel, he set the stage for what amounted to a foreign ruler assuming the throne of Israel
in the next generation.
It was during the reign of Omri that the capital of Israel was moved from Tirzah to
Samaria. Omri bought the hill of Samaria, located about forty-two miles north of Jerusalem,
from a man named Shemer for two talents of silver, worth about $4,000. Part of the purchase
contract established between these two men appears to have included the naming of Omri’s city
after the former owner. Though the two names are different in English, in Hebrew both are
spelled the same (v. 24).
Omri’s choice of Samaria for a capital demonstrated his military insights in that the
selection was of one of the most defendable sites in Israel at that time. Though the hill of Samaria
is surrounded by higher mountains on three sides, those mountains were located beyond
the range of weapons of that day. Further, the slope of the hill is so steep as to discourage an
invading army from even attempting what would amount to a suicide assault. Perhaps the ease
with which Omri had taken the former capital of Tirzah alerted him to the vulnerability of that
city. In moving the capital to Samaria, Omri overcame that problem and gave himself a more
defendable capital. Historically, the only successful battle strategy against this new capital was
the final siege.
Though Omri provided the political and military leadership Israel needed after a period of
confusion and disorder, he failed in his spiritual responsibilities as a king. Like so many others
before him, he led Israel in various idolatrous practices which kept the people from a vital
relationship with their God. If Omri excelled his predecessors in his political astuteness and
military wisdom, he also excelled them in his reprobate character. “Omri did evil in the eyes of
the Lord, and did worse than all who were before him. For he walked in all the ways of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin, provoking the Lord
God of Israel to anger with their idols” (1 Kings 16:25-26). The death of Omri in 874 B. C.
marked the beginning of the reign of his son Ahab.
THE REIGN OF GOOD KING ASA IN THE SOUTH
(1 Kings 15:9-24; 2 Chronicles 14:2-16:14)
(911-870 B.C.)