King living at the time of Divided Monarchy
Zimri, a commander of half of Israel's chariots, became king after assassinating Elah, but his reign lasted only seven days.
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Zimri was a short-lived king of Israel who reigned for only seven days. He was originally a commander of half of the chariots in the army of Elah, king of Israel. While Elah was drinking himself into a stupor at the house of Arza, his steward, Zimri conspired against him and assassinated him. Zimri then proclaimed himself king and killed all the members of Elah's family, fulfilling the prophecy against the house of Baasha, Elah's father. However, when the army of Israel, which was besieging Gibbethon, heard of Zimri's actions, they proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, as king. Omri marched to Tirzah, the capital city, and besieged it. When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king's house and set it on fire, killing himself. Zimri's brief reign was marked by treachery and violence, and he is remembered as one of the wicked kings of Israel. The story of Zimri's rise and fall illustrates the political instability and moral decline that characterized the northern kingdom of Israel during this period.
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Praise-worthy. (1.) A son of Salu, slain by Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, because of his wickedness in bringing a Midianitish woman into his tent (Num. 25:6-15). (2.) Murdered Elah at Tirzah, and succeeded him on the throne of Israel (1 Kings 16:8-10). He reigned only seven days, for Omri, whom the army elected as king, laid siege to Tirzah, whereupon Zimri set fire to the palace and perished amid its ruins (11-20). Omri succeeded to the throne only after four years of fierce war with Tibni, another claimant to the throne.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
8 verses in 2 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H2174
However, while Elah was in Tirzah getting drunk in the house of Arza the steward of his household there, Elahʼs servant Zimri, the commander of half his chariots, conspired against him.
So in the twenty-seventh year of Asaʼs reign over Judah, Zimri went in, struck Elah down, and killed him. And Zimri reigned in his place.
So Zimri destroyed the entire household of Baasha, according to the word that the LORD had spoken against Baasha through Jehu the prophet.
In the twenty-seventh year of Asaʼs reign over Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah for seven days. Now the troops were encamped against Gibbethon of the Philistines,
and the people in the camp heard that Zimri had conspired against the king and struck hime down. So there in the camp that very day, all Israel proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel.
When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he entered the citadel of the royal palace and burned it down upon himself. So he died
As 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?
And as Jehu entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, O Zimri, murderer of your master?”
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.