These chapters afford a dreary record of apostasy and revolution, of idolatry and national disaster. Perhaps the great mass of the people-the peasantry-were not greatly affected by these dynastic changes, though severe judgments of famine and drought were soon to make the nation realize what an evil and bitter thing it is to desert the Fountain of living waters for broken cisterns that can hold no water, Jeremiah 2:13. Four times in this chapter we meet the phrase, "provoke to anger," 1 Kings 16:7; 1 Kings 16:13; 1 Kings 16:26; 1 Kings 16:33. To idolatry was added intemperance, 1 Kings 16:9, and the fruit was suicide, anarchy, and civil war, 1 Kings 16:18; 1 Kings 16:21-22. But great as these evils were, they were to be surpassed, I Kings 1 Kings 16:30.
The one sufficient bulwark against universal anarchy is the maintenance of true religion. People talk with glib tongues against the Puritan conscience and demand the secularization of the Lord's day, but they are surely imperiling the stability and order of the commonwealth. More than is ordinarily realized are the relations between man and man affected by the relation between the nation and God. The writings of Voltaire helped to bring on the French Revolution; while the religious revivals of the eighteenth century, both in England and in America, contributed greatly to solid national progress. [source]
Chapter Summary: 1 Kings 16
1Jehu's prophecy against Baasha 5Elah succeeds him 8Zimri, conspiring against Elah, succeeds him 11Zimri executes Jehu's prophecy 15Omri, made king by the soldiers, forces Zimri desperately to burn himself 21The kingdom being divided, Omri prevails against Tibni 23Omri builds Samaria 25His wicked reign 27Ahab succeeds him 29Ahab's most wicked reign 34Joshua's curse upon Hiel the builder of Jericho
What do the individual words in 1 Kings 16:17 mean?
And went upOmriand allIsraelwith himfrom Gibbethonand they besiegedonTirzah
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: עָמְרִי
Sense: king of the northern kingdom of Israel, successor to king Elah for whom he was the captain of the army; ruled for 2 years and succeeded by his infamous son Ahab.
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יִשְׂרָאֵל
Sense: the second name for Jacob given to him by God after his wrestling with the angel at Peniel.