1 Kings 16

1 Kings 16:1-8 . JEHU'S PROPHECY AGAINST BAASHA.

1. Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu--This is the only incident recorded in the life of this prophet. His father was also a prophet ( 2 Chronicles 16:7 ).

2. Forasmuch as I exalted thee--The doom he pronounced on Baasha was exactly the same as denounced against Jeroboam and his posterity. Though he had waded through slaughter to his throne, he owed his elevation to the appointment or permission of Him "by whom kings reign."
over my people Israel--With all their errors and lapses into idolatry, they were not wholly abandoned by God. He still showed His interest in them by sending prophets and working miracles in their favor, and possessed a multitude of faithful worshippers in the kingdom of Israel.

7. also by the hand of the prophet Jehu--This is not another prophecy, but merely an addition by the sacred historian, explanatory of the death of Baasha and the extinction of his family. The doom pronounced against Jeroboam ( 1 Kings 14:9 ), did not entitle him to take the execution of the sentence into his own hands; but from his following the same calf-worship, he had evidently plotted the conspiracy and murder of that king in furtherance of his own ambitious designs; and hence, in his own assassination, he met the just reward of his deeds. The similitude to Jeroboam extends to their deaths as well as their lives--the reign of their sons, and the ruin of their families.

8. began Elah the son of Baasha to reign--(compare 1 Kings 15:33 ). From this it will appear that Baasha died in the twenty-third year of and Elah, who was a prince of dissolute habits, reigned not fully two years.

1 Kings 16:9-22 . ZIMRI'S CONSPIRACY.

9-12. Zimri . . . conspired against him--"Arza which was over his house." During a carousal in the house of his chamberlain, Zimri slew him, and having seized the sovereignty, endeavored to consolidate his throne by the massacre of all the royal race.

15-18. did Zimri reign seven days--The news of his conspiracy soon spread, and the army having proclaimed their general, Omri, king, that officer immediately raised the siege at Gibbethon and marched directly against the capital in which the usurper had established himself. Zimri soon saw that he was not in circumstances to hold out against all the forces of the kingdom; so, shutting himself up in the palace, he set it on fire, and, like Sardanapalus, chose to perish himself and reduce all to ruin, rather than that the palace and royal treasures should fall into the hands of his successful rival. The seven days' reign may refer either to the brief duration of his royal authority, or the period in which he enjoyed unmolested tranquillity in the palace.

19. For his sins which he sinned--This violent end was a just retribution for his crimes. "His walking in the ways of Jeroboam" might have been manifested either by the previous course of his life, or by his decrees published on his ascension, when he made a strong effort to gain popularity by announcing his continued support of the calf worship.

21, 22. Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts--The factions that ensued occasioned a four years' duration (compare 1 Kings 16:15 with 1 Kings 16:23 ), of anarchy or civil war. Whatever might be the public opinion of Omri's merits a large body of the people disapproved of the mode of his election, and declared for Tibni. The army, however, as usual in such circumstances (and they had the will of Providence favoring them), prevailed over all opposition, and Omri became undisputed possessor of the throne.

22. Tibni died--The Hebrew does not enable us to determine whether his death was violent or natural.

1 Kings 16:23-28 . OMRI BUILDS SAMARIA.

23. In the thirty and first year of Asa . . . began Omri to reign--The twelve years of his reign are computed from the beginning of his reign, which was in the twenty-seventh year of Asa's reign. He held a contested reign for four years with Tibni; and then, at the date stated in this verse, entered on a sole and peaceful reign of eight years.