31 And it came to pass, as if it was a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshipped him.
And they forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made them molten images, two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the host of the heavens, and served Baal;
And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little: Jehu will serve him much.
Then the five men departed, and came to La'ish, and saw the people who were there, how they dwelt in security, after the manner of the Sido'nians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking nothing that is in the earth, and possessing wealth, and how they were far from the Sido'nians and had no dealings with any one.
(Surely there was none like to Ahab, who did sell himself to do evil in the sight of Jehovah, Jezebel his wife urging him on. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Jehovah had dispossessed before the children of Israel.)
And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Ba'als;
And thou shalt make no marriages with them: thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor take his daughter for thy son; for he will turn away thy son from following me, and they will serve other gods, and the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly.
And Jehu came to Jizreel; and Jezebel heard of it, and she put paint to her eyes, and decked her head, and looked out at the window. And when Jehu came in at the gate, she said, Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of his master? And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And two or three chamberlains looked out to him. And he said, Throw her down! And they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses; and he trampled on her. And he came in, and ate and drank; and he said, Go, look, I pray you, after this cursed [woman], and bury her; for she is a king's daughter. And they went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands. And they came back and told him. And he said, This is the word of Jehovah, which he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite saying, In the plot of Jizreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel; and the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the open field in the plot of Jizreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
But I have against thee that thou permittest the woman Jezebel, she who calls herself prophetess, and she teaches and leads astray my servants to commit fornication and eat of idol sacrifices.
And thou hast not walked in their ways, nor done according to their abominations; but as though that were a very little, thou hast been more corrupt than they in all thy ways.
And thou didst take thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hadst borne unto me, and these didst thou sacrifice unto them, to be devoured. Were thy whoredoms a small matter,
And he said unto me, Seest thou, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here, that they yet fill the land with violence, and keep provoking me afresh to anger? And behold, they put the branch to their nose.
And he said, Hear then, house of David: Is it a small matter for you to weary men, that ye weary also my God?
In those days also I saw Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, [and] of Moab. And their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them and plucked off their hair, and adjured them by God [saying], Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among the many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel; but even him did foreign wives cause to sin. And should we hearken to you to do all this great evil, to act unfaithfully to our God by marrying foreign wives? And [one] of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; and I chased him from me. Remember them, my God, for they are polluters of the priesthood, and of the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites!
And Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, Why is thy spirit sullen, and thou eatest no bread? And he said to her, Because I spoke to Naboth the Jizreelite and said to him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee a vineyard for it; and he said, I will not give thee my vineyard. And Jezebel his wife said to him, Dost thou now exercise sovereignty over Israel? arise, eat bread, and let thy heart be glad: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jizreelite. And she wrote a letter in Ahab's name, and sealed it with his seal, and sent the letter to the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the letter saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people; and set two men, sons of Belial, before him, and they shall bear witness against him saying, Thou didst curse God and the king; and carry him out, and stone him, that he may die. And the men of his city, the elders and the nobles that dwelt in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, as it was written in the letter that she had sent to them: they proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people. And there came the two men, sons of Belial, and sat before him; and the men of Belial witnessed against him, against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth blasphemed God and the king. And they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died. And they sent to Jezebel saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and in detail how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, So do the gods [to me], and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time!
and it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and maintained them with bread and water);
And it came to pass when Solomon was old, [that] his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as the heart of David his father. And Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and followed not fully Jehovah, as David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, on the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
But king Solomon loved many foreign women, besides the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, Hittites; of the nations of which Jehovah had said to the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in to you; they would certainly turn away your heart after their gods: to these Solomon was attached in love.
The Sido'nians also, and the Amal'ekites, and the Ma'onites, oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.
And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Ba'als and the Ash'taroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the LORD, and did not serve him.
For if ye in any wise go back, and cleave unto the residue of these nations, these that remain among you, and make marriages with them, and come in unto them and they unto you: know for a certainty that Jehovah your God will no more dispossess these nations from before you, and they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which Jehovah your God hath given you.
Is it too little for you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the assembly of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the work of the tabernacle of Jehovah, and to stand before the assembly to minister to them?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on 1 Kings 16
Commentary on 1 Kings 16 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
1 Kings 16:7 adds a supplementary remark concerning the words of Jehu (1 Kings 16:2.), not to preclude an excuse that might be made, in which case וגם would have to be taken in the sense of nevertheless, or notwithstanding (Ewald, § 354, a .), but to guard against a misinterpretation by adding a new feature, or rather to preclude an erroneous inference that might be drawn from the words, “I (Jehovah) have made thee prince” (1 Kings 16:2), as through Baasha had exterminated Nadab and his house by divine command (Thenius). וגם simply means “ and also ,” and is not to be connected specially with יהוּא בּיד , but to be taken as belonging to the whole sentence: “also the word of Jehovah had come to Baasha through Jehu, ... not only because of the evil, etc., but also ( ועל ... ועל ) because he had slain him (Jeroboam).” With regard to this last reason, we must call to mind the remark made at 1 Kings 11:39, viz., that the prediction of the prophet to Baasha gave him no right to put himself forward arbitrarily as the fulfiller of the prophecy. The very fact that Baasha continued Jeroboam's sin and caused the illegal worship to be perpetuated, showed clearly enough that in exterminating the family of Jeroboam he did not act under divine direction, but simply pursued his own selfish ends.
The Reign of Elah. - As Baasha reigned from the third to the twenty-sixth year of Asa, i.e., not quite twenty-four years, but only twenty-three years and a few months, so his son Elah reigned from the twenty-sixth to the twenty-seventh year of Asa, i.e., not quite two years.
1 Kings 16:9-11
Zimri , the commander of the half of his war-chariots, conspired against him, and not only slew him, when he was intoxicated ( שׁכּור שׁתה ) at a drinking bout in the house of Arza , the prefect of his palace, but after ascending the throne exterminated the whole family of Baasha to the very last man. The prefect of the palace was no doubt a party to the conspiracy, and had probably arranged the drinking bout in his house for the purpose of carrying it out. “He did not leave him בּקיר משׁתּין (see at 1 Kings 14:10), either his avengers ( גּאליו , blood-relations, who might have avenged his death) or his friends.” These words simply serve to explain בּקיר משׁתּין , and show that this phrase is to be understood as relating to males only.
1 Kings 16:12-14
“According to the word of the Lord;” see at 1 Kings 16:1. כּל־חטּאות אל , with regard to all, i.e., on account of all the sins (compare 1 Kings 16:7, where על is used). בּהבליהם , through their nothingnesses, i.e., their idols, by which the golden calves are meant.
The Reign of Zimri lasted only seven days. As soon as the people of war ( העם ), who were besieging Gibbethon (see at 1 Kings 15:27), heard of his conspiracy, his usurpation of the throne, and his murderous deeds, they proclaimed Omri king in the camp of the military commanders, and he at once, with all Israel, i.e., all the army, raised the siege of Gibbethon, to lay siege to Thirza. Now when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the castle of the royal palace and burned the king's house over his own head, as Sardanapalus did, according to Justin ( Hist . i. 3). ארמון does not mean harem (Ewald), but the high castle (from ארם , to be high); here and in 2 Kings 15:25, the citadel of the royal palace, which consisted of several buildings.
1 Kings 16:19 is connected with ויּמת in 1 Kings 16:18 : “and so died for his sins,” i.e., as a punishment for them.
But Omri did not come into possession of an undisputed sovereignty immediately upon the death of Zimri. The nation divided itself into two halves; one half was behind Tibni , the son of Ginath (i.e., declared in favour of Tibni), to make him king, the other adhered to Omri . Nevertheless Omri's gained the upper hand over the party of Tibni, and the latter died, whereupon Omri became king after four years, as we may see from a comparison of 1 Kings 16:15, 1 Kings 16:16 with 1 Kings 16:23. The “people of Israel” (1 Kings 16:21) are probably the fighting people, so that the succession to the throne was decided by the military. אהרי היה as in 2 Samuel 2:10. הזק , with an accusative instead of with על , in the sense of to overpower, as in Jeremiah 20:7. According to Josephus ( Ant . viii. 12, 5), Tibni was slain by his opponent; but this is not contained in the words; on the contrary, all that is implied in the connection of ויּמת with וגו ויּחזק וגו/ is that he met with his death in the decisive engagement in which the opposing party triumphed.
The Reign of Omri. - 1 Kings 16:23. Omri reigned twelve years, i.e., if we compare 1 Kings 16:15 and 1 Kings 16:23 with 1 Kings 16:29, reckoning from his rebellion against Zimri; so that he only possessed the sole government for eight years (or, more exactly, seven years and a few months), viz., from the 31st to the 38th years of Asa, and the conflict with Tibni for the possession of the throne lasted about four years. “At Thirza he reigned six years,” i.e., during the four years of the conflict with Tibni, and after his death two years more.
1 Kings 16:24
As soon as he had obtained undisputed possession of the throne, he purchased the hill Shomron (Samaria) from Shemer ( Semer ) for two talents of silver, about 5200 thalers (£780 - Tr.), built houses upon it, and named the town which he built after the former owner of the hill שׁמרון , rendered by the lxx Σεμηρών here, but everywhere else Σαμάρεια (Samaria), after the Chaldee form שׁמרין (Ezra 4:10, Ezra 4:17). This city he made his seat ( Residenz , place of residence, or capital), in which he resided for the last six years of his reign, and where he was buried after his death (1 Kings 16:28). Samaria continued to be the capital of the kingdom of the ten tribes from that time forward, and the residence of all succeeding kings of Israel until the destruction of this kingdom after its conquest by Salmanasar (2 Kings 18:9-10). The city was two hours and a half to the north-west of Sichem, upon a mountain or hill in a mountain-hollow ( Bergkessel , lit., mountain-caldron) or basin of about two hours in diameter, surrounded on all sides by still higher mountains. “The mountains and valleys round about are still for the most part arable, and are alive with numerous villages and diligent cultivation.” The mountain itself upon which Samaria stood is still cultivated to the very top, and about the middle of the slope is surrounded by a narrow terrace of level ground resembling a girdle. And even higher up there are marks of smaller terraces, where streets of the ancient city may possibly have run. After the captivity Samaria was retaken and demolished by John Hyrcanus, and lay in ruins till Gabinius the Roman governor rebuilt it (Joseph. Ant . xiii. 19, 2, 3, and iv. 5, 3). Herod the Great afterwards decorated it in a marvellous manner, built a temple there to the emperor Augustus, and named the city after him Σεβαστή , i.e., Augusta , from which arose the present name Sebuste or Sebustieh , borne by a village which is still standing on the ancient site: “a pitiable hamlet consisting of a few squalid houses, inhabited by a band of plunderers, notorious as thieves even among their lawless fellow-countrymen” (V. de Velde, i. p. 378). - But by the side of this there are magnificent ruins of an ancient Johannite church, with the reputed grave of John the Baptist and remains of limestone columns at the foot of the mountain (cf., Robinson, Pal . iii. p. 136ff.; Van de Velde, Syria and Pal . i. p. 374ff.; and C. v. Raumer, Pal . pp. 159,160).
1 Kings 16:25-28
Omri also walked in the ways of Jeroboam, and acted worse than his predecessors upon the throne. - For 1 Kings 16:26 and 1 Kings 16:27, compare 1 Kings 16:13 and 1 Kings 16:14.
The ascent of the throne of Israel by Ahab (1 Kings 16:29) formed a turning-point for the worse, though, as a comparison of 1 Kings 16:30 with 1 Kings 16:25 clearly shows, the way had already been prepared by his father Omri.
Whereas the former kings of Israel had only perpetuated the sin of Jeroboam, i.e., the calf-worship. or worship of Jehovah under the image of an ox, which he had introduced, Ahab was not satisfied with this. לכתּו הנקל ויהי , “it came to pass, was it too little?” i.e., because it was too little (cf. Ewald, §362, a .) to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, that he took as his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal the king of the Sidonians, and served Baal, and worshipped him. ויּלך before ויּעבד , “he went and served,” is a pictorial description of what took place, to give greater prominence to the new turn of affairs. אתבּעל .sri (i.e., with Baal) is the Εἰθώβαλος ( בּעל אתּו or Ἰθόβαλος : Jos. Ant . viii. 13, 1) mentioned by Menander in Josephus, c. Ap . i. 18, who was king of Tyre and Sidon, and priest of Astarte, and who usurped the throne after the murder of his brother, king Pheles, and reigned thirty-two years. Jezebel ( איזבל , i.e., probably without cohabitation, cf. Genesis 30:20, = untouched, chaste; not a contraction of אביזבל , as Ewald, §§ 273, b ., supposes) was therefore, as tyrant and murderess of the prophets, a worthy daughter of her father, the idolatrous priest and regicide. Baal (always הבּעל with the article, the Baal, i.e., Lord κατ ̓ ἐξοχήν ) was the principal male deity of the Phoenicians and Canaanites, and generally of the western Asiatics, called by the Babylonians בּל = בּעל (Isaiah 46:1), Βῆλος , and as the sun-god was worshipped as the supporter and first principle of psychical life and of the generative and reproductive power of nature (see at Judges 2:13). Ahab erected an altar to this deity הבּעל בּית , in the house (temple) of Baal, which he had built at Samaria. The worship of Baal had its principal seat in Tyre, where Hiram, the contemporary of David and Solomon, had built for it a splendid temple and placed a golden pillar ( χρυσοῦν κίονα ) therein, according to Dius and Menander, in Joseph. Ant . viii. 5, 3, and c. Ap . i. 18. Ahab also erected a similar pillar ( מצּבה ) to Baal in his temple at Samaria (vid., 2 Kings 3:2; 2 Kings 10:27). For statues of images of Baal are not met with in the earlier times; and the בּעלים are not statues of Baal, but different modifications of that deity. It was only in the later temple of Baal or Hercules at Tyre that there was, as Cicero observes ( Verr . iv. 43), ex aere simulacrum ipsius Herculis, quo non facile quidquam dixerim me vidisse pulcrius .
“And Ahab made את־האשׁרה , i.e., the Asherah belonging to the temple of Baal” (see at Judges 6:25 and Exodus 34:13), an idol of Astarte (see at 1 Kings 14:23).
In his time Hiכl the Bethelite ( האלי בּית ; compare Ges. § 111. 1 with § 86, 2. 5) built Jericho: “he laid the foundation of it with Abiram his first-born, and set up its gates with Segub his youngest, according to the word of Jehovah,” etc. (for the explanation see the Comm. on Joshua 6:26). The restoration of this city as a fortification, upon which Joshua had pronounced the curse, is mentioned as a proof how far ungodliness had progressed in Israel; whilst the fulfilment of the curse upon the builder shows how the Lord will not allow the word of His servants to be transgressed with impunity. Jericho , on the border of the tribe of Ephraim (Joshua 16:7), which was allotted to the Benjaminites (Joshua 18:21), had come into the possession of the kingdom of Israel on the falling away of the ten tribes from the royal house of David, and formed a border city of that kingdom, through the fortification of which Ahab hoped to secure to himself the passage across the Jordan.