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| − | '''Omri''' ([[Hebrew]]: "Yahweh is my Life") (r. 929-918 BC by [[James Ussher|Ussher]],<ref name=Ussher>[[James Ussher]], ''[[The Annals of the World]]'', [[Larry Pierce]], ed., Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003 (ISBN 0890513600), pghh. 501-504, 506-507</ref> or 885-874 BC by [[Edwin R. Thiele|Thiele]]<ref name=Wood>Leon J. Wood, ''A Survey of Israel's History'', rev. ed. David O'Brien, Grand Rapids, MI: Academie Books, 1986 (ISBN 031034770X), pp. 262-263</ref>) was the sixth king of the [[Northern Kingdom]] of [[Israel]].<ref>{{Bible ref|book=I_Kings|chap=16|verses=16-18,21-28}}</ref><ref name=Smith>Smith, William, Dr. "[http://www.studylight.org/dic/sbd/view.cgi?number=T3257 Entry for 'Om’ri']." ''Smith's Bible Dictionary'', 1901. Retrieved June 20, 2007.</ref> With him began the troubled dynasty called the [[House of Omri]] that held sway in the Northern Kingdom until King [[Jehu]] violently overthrew it and began a dynasty of his own.
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| − | Omri was an especially "evil-doing" king, and the [[Bible]] describes him as ruling in a manner worse than that of all the kings of the Northern Kingdom who preceded him.
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| − | == Accession ==
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| − | Omri was theater commander at the siege of [[Gibbethon]], a town under [[Philistia|Philistine]] control,<ref name=Smith/> when word came that King [[Elah]] had been murdered by [[Zimri]], who was a rival general. Omri's men rallied to him and indicated that they would support him as king rather than Zimri.<ref name=Smith/><ref name=WebBible>Authors unknown. "[http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/omri.html Entry for Omri]." WebBible Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 20, 2007.</ref>
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| − | Omri won the allegiance of the entire army, and marched with all military units to [[Tirzah]], the capital city. There he could only watch as Zimri burnt the palace down around him and perished in the flames.<ref name=Smith/>
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| − | == Civil War ==
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| − | Unhappily, with victory at hand, the army split into two nearly equal halves, the one following Omri and the other following yet another general, Tibni son of Ginath. Omri would take four long years to defeat Tibni's forces once and for all.<ref name=Smith/><ref name=WebBible/>
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| − | Early in the course of this war, Omri seems to have made a decision that was to have nearly disastrous consequences for his kingdom and also for the [[Southern Kingdom]]. From the birth in 927 BC (or 883 BC) of his granddaughter, [[Athaliah]], daughter of his son [[Ahab]], we may surmise that Omri, in either the first or second year of the civil war, made a military treaty with King [[Ithobaal I]] of [[Tyre]], and that, to seal this pact, arranged for his son to marry Ithobaal's daughter [[Jezebel]]. This marriage would result in the Northern Kingdom's sad history of the worship of [[Baal]], the husbandman-god of Tyre. The Bible makes no direct mention of such a pact, but the time frame of the birth of Athaliah, occurring as it did during the Omni-Tibni War, makes this pact highly likely.
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| − | Omri is listed as reigning for twelve years, but is also listed as having "begun to reign" in the thirty-first year of the reign of King [[Asa]] of the [[Southern Kingdom]]. The twelve years refers to the entirety of Omri's reign, beginning from the day that [[Zimri]] burnt his own palace down around himself.
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| − | == A New Capital ==
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| − | Omri bought a high hill from a man named Shemer, and paid two [[silver]] [[talent]]s for it. He named that hill ''[[Samaria]]'' after its owner, and established his capital city there in the eleventh year of his reign (919 BC by Ussher; 875 BC by Thiele). This one may infer by the statement that Omri reigned for six years in [[Tirzah]] before he built [[Samaria]].<ref name=WebBible/>
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| − | == Death and Succession ==
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| − | Omri died in the twelfth year of his reign (918 BC by Ussher; 874 BC by Thiele) and was buried in Samaria. His son [[Ahab]] ruled in his stead.
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| − | == Extrabiblical Evidence ==
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| − | The Stele of [[Mesha]] of [[Moab]] attests directly to [[Northern Kingdom]] dominance of Moab, first by Omri and then by his son [[Ahab]].<ref name=WebBible/>
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| − | == References ==
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| − | <references/>
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| − | == See Also ==
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| − | * [[Northern Kingdom]]
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| − | * [[House of Omri]]
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| − | [[Category:Bible]]
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| − | [[Category:Biblical persons]]
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| − | [[Category:Biography]]
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| − | [[Category:Ancient History]]
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| − | [[Category:Israel]]
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