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OMRI

(Heb. ʿomrî)

1. A king of the northern kingdom of Israel. Omri was the founder of a dynasty of Israelite kings (“Omride”) who ruled the northern kingdom during the first half of the 9th century b.c. The account of his rise and reign is found in 1 Kgs. 16:15-28.

Establishing a precise chronology for the reign of Omri is difficult. Various proposals for his accession and death dates have been made, ranging from 886-875 to 879-869. Any proposal for dating his reign must account for the fact that Omri’s son Ahab was on the Israelite throne at least as late as 853, since Ahab is mentioned as king of Israel by Shalmaneser III in his inscription describing the Assyrian western campaign of that year. If one assumes that 853 is also Ahab’s final year and that he is to be credited with reigning the full 22 years accorded him by 1 Kgs. 16:29, then the death of Omri and accession of Ahab could be dated as early as 875. Giving Omri credit for the 12 years ascribed to him in 1 Kgs. 16:23 would place his accession in 887/886. However, these dates fall afoul of the synchronisms with the reign of Asa of Judah given in 1 Kgs. 16:23, 29. In 1 Kgs. 16:23 Omri’s accession takes place in the 31st year of Asa, and the accession of Ahab occurs in the 38th, leaving only a span of seven years for the reign of Omri. One is thus forced to choose between shortening the 12-year figure for the length of Omri’s reign, disregarding the synchronisms in either 1 Kgs. 16:23 or 29, or explaining the discrepancy by some other means (e.g., that the seven-year span between the 31st and 38th years of Asa reflects the length of Omri’s reign after the founding of Samaria). In any event, an accession date for Omri in the period between the mid-880s and 879 seems appropriate on the basis of available information.

Omri acceded to the Israelite throne amid political tumult. His predecessor, Elah, was apparently incompetent or unpopular or both; the text indicates that while the Israelite army was engaged with the Philistines at Gibbethon, Elah was at home in Tirzah “drinking himself drunk” (1 Kgs. 16:9). Zimri, a commander in the chariot force, seized upon the occasion to assassinate Elah, massacre the royal family, and claim the throne for himself. However, when word reached the troops at Gibbethon, they rallied behind their own commander, Omri, and marched on Tirzah. Zimri barricaded himself in the palace, but the situation soon became hopeless. In a final gesture of defiance, Zimri set fire to the palace and perished in the flames.

Zimri’s death did not leave Omri on the Israelite throne uncontested. At some point early in his reign, Omri faced opposition by a certain Tibni son of Ginath. 1 Kgs. 16:21 makes clear that the kingdom was sorely divided between the two. After a civil war, Omri was able to overcome and put to death Tibni; only thereafter did Omri manage to rule without serious rival.

Despite the negative evaluation of Omri offered by 1 Kgs. 16:25-26, a number of important achievements are clear during his reign. First among those accomplishments is the construction of a new Israelite capital at Samaria (modern Sebastiyeh). The fire in which Zimri died probably caused such extensive damage to the royal palace in Tirzah that it was not worth rebuilding. But the need to build a new capital also provided the opportunity to move the entire governmental complex to a site located closer to the major roads leading from the Jezreel Valley to the Philistine coast. Omri’s selection of Samaria meant that the Israelite capital would be a stop on the great trade routes that carried commerce along the Fertile Crescent, and would thus be a cosmopolitan city as well as a political center. Excavations at Sebastiyeh I and II have revealed a number of ivory pieces of Phoenician manufacture, testifying to the cultural cross-pollination occurring in Omride Samaria.

Omride construction was not limited to Samaria, however. Storage buildings, formerly identified as stables, at Megiddo are certainly of Omride origin. In addition, an extensive tunnel and shaft system for delivering water inside the city walls at Megiddo is also an Omride engineering achievement. City walls and other large public buildings at Megiddo and Hazor (stratum VIII) also date from this period. All this testifies to the relative wealth and technological sophistication of Omri and his successors.

Omri was the first of the Israelite kings to become a player in international politics. The mid-9th century Mesha inscription (Moabite Stone) states that Omri “. . . occupied the whole land of Medeba and . . . dwelt in it during his days. . . .” Reaching to the west, Omri also became involved with the Phoenician city-state of Sidon. He concluded an alliance with Ethbaal of Sidon, sealed by the marriage of his son Ahab to Ethbaal’s daughter Jezebel (1 Kgs. 16:31). In the years following Omri’s death, Ahab was involved in a large 12-nation coalition to oppose the advance of Assyrian forces under Shalmaneser III into Syria-Palestine. Ahab’s contribution to the force was substantial enough to merit comment from Shalmaneser in his own account of the confrontation (Monolith inscription; ANET, 278-79). In this and in subsequent Assyrian inscriptions, even those recorded long after Omri’s death and the end of the dynasty he founded, Assyrian monarchs referred to Israel as Bīt ³umrî, “the land of Omri,” testifying to Omri’s enduring historical legacy. Omri’s reign was in all probability a period of significant economic growth, as can be deduced from both the large-scale building activity at Samaria and other cities, and from the likely opportunities in international trade opened to Israel by virtue of its alliance with the Phoenicians. But the economic prosperity would undoubtedly have brought with it a significant increase in religious syncretism, especially with the Baal cult of Phoenicia and Canaan, in both court and kingdom. Jezebel, the Baalist wife of Ahab, serves as a symbol of this influence, but surely the growth in Baalistic worship and practice was more widespread than she could account for on her own. Undoubtedly, this waxing influence of the Baal cult during his reign contributes to Omri’s extreme negative assessment at the hands of the Deuteronomistic editors of 1 Kings.

With his death (sometime between 874 and 869, depending on the chosen chronology) and the succession of his son, Omri founded the first of the two great dynasties to rule Israel. In all, one son and two grandsons (Ahaziah and Jehoram) acceded to the Israelite throne, and one daughter (Athaliah) ruled Judah.

Bibliography. J. M. Miller, “The Elisha Cycle and the Accounts of the Omride Wars,” JBL 85 (1966): 441-55; “So Tibni Died (1 Kings xvi 22),” VT 18 (1968): 392-94; Miller and J. H. Hayes, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah (Philadelphia, 1986), 251-87.

2. A member of the Benjamite clan, son of Becher and grandson of Benjamin (1 Chr. 7:8).

3. An inhabitant of postexilic Jerusalem, probably of Judahite, Benjaminite, or Manassite origin (1 Chr. 9:4).

4. An Issacharite tribal leader from the time of David (1 Chr. 27:18).

Paul K. Hooker

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OMRI

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)