House of Omri

The House of Omri (929-884BC by Ussher, or 885-841BC by Thiele) is the dynasty of four kings, beginning with Omri, a rebel general who seized power from one who himself had murdered a previous king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It lasted for forty-five years.

Beginning

The House of Omri began when a general named Omri, commanding the troops of the Northern Kingdom at the siege of Gibbethon, led the entire army to Tirzah to take over the kingdom from King Zimri, who had seized power by murdering King Elah seven days before. Omri won the day when Zimri burned the palace down over his own head and perished in the flames.

Soon afterward, however, the army split into two equal halves, the one following Omri, and the other following a pretender named Tibni. Omni spent four years quelling this rivalry. To do it, he might have made a military treaty with King Ithobaal I of Tyre, involving the marriage of his son Ahab to Ithobaal's daughter Jezebel. We do know that Athaliah, daughter of Omri and eventual queen of the Southern Kingdom, was born two years into the civil war.

Baal worship

The marriage of Ahab and Jezebel was to prove instrumental in introducing the worship of Baal to the Northern Kingdom and even to the Southern. During the reign of Ahab, Jezebel systematically exterminated almost all the prophets of God then living in the Northern Kingdom—except that a palace steward hid a hundred of them in at least two locations, and two prophets, the great Elijah and his student Elisha, strove against Baal worship beginning in the ninth year of Ahab to the very end of the House of Omri, through lessons, demonstrations, and occasionally direct action.

End of the House of Omri

The House of Omri ended with the death, in yet another military coup, of Jehoram, second son of Ahab, at the hand of his general, Jehu.

King List

		Ussher I		Ussher II		Ussher III		Ussher IV		Thiele I		Thiele II		Thiele III		Thiele IV
King	Authority	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC
Omri	I_Kings 16:23	3075	929	3015	929	3290	929	3230	929	3075	885	3015	885	3290	885	3230	885
Ahab	I_Kings 16:29	3086	918	3026	918	3301	918	3241	918	3085	874	3025	874	3300	874	3240	874
Ahaziah	I_Kings 22:51	3106	898	3046	898	3321	898	3261	898	3106	853	3046	853	3321	853	3261	853
Jehoram	II_Kings 3:1	3108	896	3048	896	3323	896	3263	896	3107	852	3047	852	3322	852	3262	852
Jehu	II_Kings 10	3120	884	3060	884	3335	884	3275	884	3118	841	3058	841	3333	841	3273	841

See also

• Northern Kingdom
• Jezebel
• Elijah
• Elisha