Omri (Hastings' Dictionary)

4. A king of Israel. See followin article. 2, A descendant of Benjamin, 1 Ch 78 ( "Aueped, A "Auapid). 3. One of the ancestors of a Judahite family living at Jerusalem, 1 Ch 94 (B "Aupel, AAupl). 4. A prince of Issachar in the time of David, 1 Ch 2718 (Β᾿Αμβρεί, A ᾿Αμαρὶ). OMRI (“>y, LXX ᾿Αμβρ(ε)ί, Assyr. Humri or Humria) was the first king of a ayaa which reigned nearly sixty years, and consisted of four successive rulers (B.C. 900-842). Omri first appears in biblical history as the general of Elah’s army, at that time engaged in conducting siege opera- tions against the Philistine town Gibbethon (1K 16'-). On the other hand, at this very moment another military commander, Zimri, was carrying on a plot against the besotted and helpless Israelite king, Elah, who suffered assassination in his royal residence in Tirzah. This conspiracy, however, was only partially successful, as it never succeeded in gathering Israel under its standard. The nation preferred to rally round the more powerful as well The equivalence of Hebrew-Canaanite » with Assyr. A is Mlustrated in Schrader, COT3i. p. 179. Thus ΠῊΣ is in Assyr. Haziti, vyy sahru, }222 is Kinahhi (Tel el-Amarna Inscr.), | ΤΡ probably=Habiri, Ammi-rabi (Amraphel)= Hammu-rabi. His disciples quelle und Oclberg, 1882; Btanley, SP 185ff., 452 ff. ; Robinson, BRP i. 274 δ. SWP, Barclay, City of the Great King, Index ; Porter, Ha to Syria, 4.0. ; Thomson, Land and Book, i. 416 ff. ; and for the traditions, Quaresmius, Elucidatio Terra Sancta, ii. 277 ff. (with Robinson's note, BRP ii. 6041.), together with the vols. of the Pal. Pilgrim Text Ee to the name of the ui vocatur olineti’) by Wyclif, who all the Eng. versions (in- e Geneva (‘the mount that OMRI as more loyal military rival, Omri, at Gibbethon, and made him king. Under that capable leader Tirzah was besieged and captured, Zimri was com- pelled to seek refuge in the fortress-citadel of the royal palace, and perished amid the flames kindled either by his own hands or by those of his fees Omri, however, was not even now left without a competitor for the vacant throne. Yet the opposi- tion of Tibni was probably soon crushed, and Omri commenced a reign not only longer but certainly of far greater importance than the brief narrative 1K 16-5 would lead us to suppose. Even in that short section the military character of the monarch is clearly revealed to us by the reference to his erection of the fortress-city Samaria as a royal residence and capital of the Northern kingdom, to take the place of the less defensible town of Tirzah. The superior strategic position of Samaria, a conical hill standing 400 ft. above the base of the broad valley, is evidenced by the long siege which it endured and the stout resist- ance which it offered to the armies of Sargon (B.C. 722), as well as to the Spot hosts in the preceding century (1 K 20, 2K 6%). Its pictur- esque appearance is described by Isaiah (28) as ‘Ephraim’s proud crown on the summit of a fertile valley.’ This place is said to have been purchased by Omri from Shemer (so also LXX) for two silver talents (or about £800). Respecting the wars waged by Omri scarcely say Hunk is stated in the biblical narrative. From 1 K 20 we derive a valuable hint. Syria, the formidable foe of David, had remained quiescent since that monarch had inflicted upon it a series of overwhelming defeats. But in the days of the divided kingdom Syria became a: gressive, and aggrandized itself at the expense of its weakened Southern neighbour. From 1 K 20“ we learn that Omri must have sustained some reverses in his war with Syria, and was compelled to cede some streets or quarters in Samaria to the Aramezean residents. But these reverses may have been—probably were —only temporary. In any case, they are wholly pueatiene to warrant us in following Wellhausen in supposing that Israel became thereby reduced to vassalage by Aram (see art. AHAB). Kittel is robably right in considering it fairly certain that mri made heroic efforts to rid himself of the ressure of his Northern foe which he had inherited rom his predecessors, but without complete sue- cess.t It is quite evident, however, that the struggle did not leave him in the least degree crippled. Otherwise he would not have been in a position to conduct a war of conquest against his South-eastern neighbour Chemosh-Melech, king of Moab (see below). Moab, which had been subjugated by David, began to throw off its allegiance to Israel in the troubled years which followed the disruption. But the energetic military rule of Omri put an end to this independence. These facts we learn from the Stone of Dib4n, erected by Mesha’, son of Chemosh- Melech. We quote (on next page) from the original, which may be found in Smend and Socin’s copy, with notes (Inschrift des Kénigs Mesa), in Driver’s Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel, Appendix to Introduction, p. lxxxviff., and in the art. MOAB, above, p. 404. From this passage we can infer the importance of Omri’s military operations in Moab. He acquired the district around Mehedeba; and so thoroughly was Moab subdued that it was com- pelled to pay an enormous tribute of wool (2K 34, See Driver, l.c. p. Ixxxix). Jahrb. fiir deutsche Theol. xx. p. 27, Skizzen u. Vorarb. i. P. 81. The view adopted above and also in the art. AHAB is alse eee ia by McCurdy, History, Prophecy, and the Monuments is. . der Hebriier, ii. Ὁ. 223 (Eng. tr. ii. 261). ot ΟΝ ΟΝ 621 any 4 ἼΝΞ, ΦῺΘ FIND JT Oras AR Sy qon-s ὃ DON OD D- 2ΝῸ AN ΣΝ NT Oe oa ebay [πὸ 6 aN Oo σι > MW, JYIIN, 723-1 [ass] ΓΝ, yay wan ody, ἼΩΝ" san Ssqw onan: aes 7 UM Fy ΤΣ, ΖΦ | ΜΊΓΤΟ “Ὁ ‘Omri was king of Israel and oppressed Moab a long time [lit. many days], for Chemosh was wroth with his land. And his son succeeded him [#.e. Omri], and he too said [=thought janb3 ἼΩΝ] “I will oppress Moab.” In my time [1.6. of Mesha] he said thu{s]. But I saw [my desire] on him and his house, and Israel perished with an everlasting destruction. So Omri obtained possession of the land of Mehédeba, and (one) dwelt therein during his days and half the days of his son, forty years’... The inscription also sheds a valuable light on the chronology of Omri’s reign, since it shows that the period of his occupation of Moabite territory and of the pecupetion by his son Ahab covered the remainder of his own reign and half of his son Ahab’s reign, making 40 years in all. It is of course not nece' to take ‘sn in a strict | mathematical sense. On the other hand it is quite clear that the biblical chronology is at fault, since | it ascribes to Omri a reign of only 12 years, and to Ahab’s entire reign 22 years, making the total length of both reigns only 34 years. From these data of the Moabite Stone it is evident that we. must extend considerably the reign of Omri. In the scheme set forth in Schrader’s COT? ii. p. 322 ff, Omri’s reign is reckoned to be 25 years (B.C. 900-875), ten years being deducted from the rome of Baasha. These dates harmonize better with (a) the results of Assyriology, (δ) with the deep impression which Omri had produced in Western Asia by his spelen prowess, This impression was no fleeting one, but extended over a very long riod. We have clear indication of this in the act that Palestine was called (mat) Bit Humri, or ‘land of the house of Omri,’ from the time of Shalmaneser II. (860) to that of Sargon (722-705). The usurper Jehu is called on Shalmaneser’s black obelisk Ja’ua abal Humri, ‘ Jehuson of Omri.’ And no less deep was the impression produced in Israel and Judah. The reference to the ‘statutes of Omri’ in Mic 6" is an indication of this, his name being coupled with that of his son Ahab. What is meant by this expression, and what forms of practice | it isintended to cover, we donot know. Combining | it with the phrase that ‘he did evil more than a that were before him’ (1 K 16%), we are led to infer | not only that he is judged in an unfavourable light, like Jeroboam and his successors, in accordance with later and stricter canons of Deuteronomic legalism, but also that in all probability the beginnings of Phoenician influence in religion, for which Ahab’s reign became notorious, were already infecting the cultus of Israel in Samaria. To this the passage in Micah seems to point. OWEN C. WHITEHOUSE. ON (βκ; B Atv, A Αὐνάν; Luc. ᾿Αμνάν)., -Α Reubenite associated with Dathan and Abiram in a rebellion against Moses, Nu 16! (JE).+ There is This implies that Ahab, son of Omri, was compelled to re- linxaish his hold of Moab. This probably took place during his | wars with Syria. Nevertheless he did not lose all. To identify | the ‘son’ Given 6 and 8) with Jehoram, thus ignoring the two intervening reigns of Ahab and Ahaziah (cf. CuronoLoey, vol. i. p. 402), is highly improbable. The campaign of 2 K 8 against Moab was an attempt to retain the slight remnant of power | which Mesha now threw off. Comp. McOurdy, vol. 1. p, 282. + B. W. Bacon, who seeks here, as in many other instances, to break up JE into its corstituents, suggests that, according to reason to believe that the mention of On is due to textual corruption, for no such personage appears in the subsequent narrative, and the name is found nowhere else in the Old Testament. For the prob- able restoration of the text see KORAH, p. 12.