1 Kings 16:22

1Ki 16:22 But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned.

Ver. 22. So Tibni died, and Omri reigned.] An untimely death it was likely that Tibni came to: as did most of the emperors of Rome till Constantine the Great. Of sixty-three of them, six only died in their beds. Ad generum Cereris, &c. This made Erasmus cry out, O miseros principes, si intelligant sua mala: miseriores, si non intelligant! Oh, the misery of princes, if they know their own misery!

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki_16:22

So Tibni died, and Omri reigned.

Tibni and Omri

We have often been struck by the difference in the lot of men upon the earth; for example, as between the rich man and Lazarus, and between the great king and the poor wise man. The text brings these differences before us sharply--Tibni died, and Omri reigned. A short explanatory story is needed here. When Zimri killed Elah, the people proclaimed Omri as king; but the proclamation was not unanimous; half of the people wanted Tibni, and half wanted Omri: the half that wanted Omri prevailed; so Tibni died, and Omri reigned. Our purpose is to show that both Tibni and Omri are still living, and that we may learn a good deal from their different lots in life.

1. Tibni and Omri are both living in the persons of those who divide public opinion respecting themselves. Is there any man living with whom everybody is satisfied? Take a Christian minister--any minister in this great London, and see how public opinion is divided about him. To one set of men he is the supreme human teacher; to another set of men he is almost unfit to be in the pulpit at all. Take a statesman; to one class he is the salvation of the kingdom, to another he is an empiric, a traitor, or in some degree a political rascal. Take any friend in social life; to one man he is an idol, to another he is bore. There are great moral lessons coming out of these simple facts. Society will always be divided about its leading men; but let us insist that there may be difference without bitterness, and that you may make one man king without taking away the character and perhaps the life of his rival. Let us pray God to show us the best points in every man s character.

2. Tibni still lives in the man who comes very near being a king but just misses the throne. Half the people in the camp were in his favour. In some of the popular shouts you could hardly tell whether Tibni or Omri was the uppermost name. Now the one seemed to fill the whole wind and now the other. The men themselves did not know for certain which of them was to have the crown. Let us see if there be not a good deal of our own life in this apparently remote and uninteresting fact. Whatever you strive for most anxiously in life is the crown to you, because it is the thing you want beyond all others. Sometimes it is so near! You feel as if you could put out your hand and take it! And yet though so near, it is so far, like a star trembling in a pool. Here we come upon the very first lines of Providence, and the finer the lines the subtler the temptation. We are tempted to step over some lines; it seems right that we should do so; we say we ought to take advantage of our good fortune, and if God has come so near He means us to take the one last step. It is just there that many a man suffers the supreme trial of his faith and the supreme agony of his sensibilities. We have referred to the supreme trial of a mans sensibilities; let us explain our meaning. We often say of this man or that, How narrowly he escapes being a great man! There is only one thing wanting, one element, one force, one virtue--one thing thou lackest, one thing is needful! And the man himself is tormented by a sense of greatness which is always nearing the point of royalty but never absolutely reaching it. He feels that the great poem which would give him literary immortality is breathing within him and around him, but the moment he puts pen to paper the inspiration ceases and will not harden into words. He has m him strange wild dreamings of power; he can write a book, he can found a new school of philosophy, he can illumine the whole horizon of theology, he can save the State; innumerable things he attempts and completes in his dreams, but the day of execution never dawns! It is in such men that Tibni still lives; in disappointed hearts, in blighted hopes, in brilliant prospects overcast, in kingdoms made of cloud, in castles built in air.

3. Omri still lives in those who turn great powers and great openings to dishonourable and unholy uses. Omri got the throne. For twelve years he reigned in Israel, six of them in Tirzah. His rival died, and he was left in undisputed sovereignty. But his way was not honourable before the Lord. Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him. Some providences seem to be altogether thrown away, and we stand aghast at the destruction, saying, Why was this waste made? Great talents are made to serve the devil; great voices of song are never heard in the sanctuary; noble powers of speech are dumb when the righteous cause has to be pleaded. Application:

(1) If we cannot be great we can be good;

(2) There is one throne which we need not miss. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 16:22. But the people that followed Omri prevailed — Partly because they had the army on their side; and principally by the appointment of God, giving up the Israelites to him who was much the worse man, 1Ki 16:25-26. So Tibni died — A violent death, it seems, in battle: and doubtless many of the people died with him. But why, inquires Sir Walter Raleigh, (see his History of the World, 50:2, c. 19, § 6,) in all these confusions, and revolutions of the kingdom of Israel, did they never think of returning to the house of David? Probably, observes he, because the kings of Judah assumed a more absolute power over their subjects than the kings of Israel. It was the heaviness of the yoke which they complained of, when they first revolted from the house of David. And it is not unlikely but the dread of that made them averse to it ever after.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tibni died--The Hebrew does not enable us to determine whether his death was violent or natural.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

22. so Tibni died] Here the LXX. says ‘and Thamni died and his brother Joram at that time, and Ambri reigned after Thamni.’ This is one of those additions which can hardly have arisen except from the existence of a different Hebrew text.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now the rest of the acts of Omri, which he did, and his might which he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? Where those of the preceding kings were written, see Kg1 14:19.

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1 Kings 16:28

kg1 16:28

kg1 16:28

kg1 16:28So Omri slept with his fathers,.... Died a natural death:

and was buried in Samaria; the city he had built, and now the royal seat and metropolis of the kingdom:

and Ahab his son reigned in his stead; of whom much is said in the following history.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

From a comparison of the dates given in 1Ki 16:15, 1Ki 16:23, 1Ki 16:29 it follows that the contest between the two pretenders lasted four years.

Tibni’s death can scarcely be supposed to have been natural. Either he must have been slain in battle against Omri, or have fallen into his hands and been put to death.

There has probably been some derangement of the text here. The passage may have run thus: “So Tibni died, and Omri reigned in the thirty-first year of Asa, king of Judah. Omri reigned over Israel twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah.” Omri’s reign of 12 years began in Asa’s 27th 1Ki 16:15-16, and terminated in his 38th 1Ki 16:29. The event belonging to Asa’s 31st year was the death of Tibni, and the consequent extension of Omri’s kingdom.

The six years in Tirzah are probably made up of the four years of contention with Tibni, and two years afterward, during which enough of Samaria was built for the king to transfer his residence there.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Died in the battle, wherein Amri prevailed. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The people that followed Omri prevailed; partly because they had the army on their side; and principally by the appointment and judgment of God, giving up the Israelites to him who was much the worst, 1Ki 16:25,26.

Tibni died a violent death in the battle.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22. So Tibni died — The record is so brief as to leave it doubtful whether he died naturally or by violence.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath It appears, however, from the following verse that the struggle lasted four years: so Tibni died According to Jos., Ant. 8:12. he was slain by the conqueror. The LXX has here a curious and probably genuine addition. "And Thabni died, and Joram his brother at that time, and Omri reigned. The jingle of the Hebrew words is probably designed.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Prevailed - Partly, because they had the army on their side; and principally, by the appointment of God, giving up the Israelites to him who was much the worst, ver. 25, 26. Died - A violent death, in the battle: but not till after a struggle of some years. But why in all these confusions of the kingdom of Israel, did they never think of returning to the house of David? Probably because the kings of Judah assumed a more absolute power than the kings of Israel. It was the heaviness of the yoke that they complained of, when they first revolted from the house of David. And it is not unlikely, the dread of that made them averse to it ever after.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And Tivni died. When Asa took Omri’s daughter in marriage for Yehoshofot his son, they killed Tivni, when they saw Omri’s prominence; according to Seder Olam.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.