1 Kings 16:15-20·~1 min

Zimri Reigns in Israel

Zimri reigns for only seven days before the army hears of his conspiracy and proclaims Omri king. Omri besieges Tirzah, and Zimri, seeing the city lost, burns the royal citadel over himself and dies.

I¹⁵n the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah for seven days. Now the troops were encamped against Gibbethon of the Philistines, ¹⁶and the people in the camp heard that Zimri had conspired against the king and struck him down. So there in the camp that very day, all Israel proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel. ¹⁷Then Omri and all the Israelites marched up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah. ¹⁸When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he entered the citadel of the royal palace and burned it down upon himself. So he died

His death is explained by the evil he did in the LORD’s sight, following Jeroboam’s example and drawing Israel into sin. The brief notice ends by sending the rest of his acts to the royal record.

¹⁹because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD and following the example of Jeroboam and the sin he had committed and had caused Israel to commit. ²⁰As for the rest of the acts of Zimri and the treason he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Section summaryZimri’s reign lasts only seven days. The army rejects his seizure of power, raises Omri as king, and traps Zimri in Tirzah, where he dies by fire; the narrator then places his brief rule in the same sinful line as Jeroboam.

Role in the chapterThis section shows that the overthrower does not escape the pattern he has joined. The judgment that fell on Baasha’s house continues to expose the instability and corruption of Israel’s kingship.