Omri

Omri (Hebrew עָמְרִי, Standard Hebrew ʿOmri, Tiberian Hebrew ʿOmrî; short for Hebrew עָמְרִיָּה "The Lord is my life", Standard Hebrew ʿOmriyya, Tiberian Hebrew ʿOmriyyāh) was king of Israel and father of Ahab. William F. Albright has dated his reign to 876–869 B.C.E., while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 885–874 B.C.E.

Omri took power during a period of political instability in the northern kingdom. His rule over Israel was secure enough that he could bequeath his kingdom to his son Ahab, thus beginning a new dynasty (sometimes called the Omrides), and his descendants not only ruled over the kingdom of Israel for the next 40 years, but also briefly over Judah. Archaelogists consider the Omride dynasty to be the first fully developed Israelite kingdom, and some of the monumental building projects attributed to Solomon by the biblical writers have recently been dated to the period of Omri's rule (Finkelstein 2001). Omri is the first king of Israel or Judah to be mentioned in the historical record outside of the Bible.

The writers of the Books of Kings barely mention Omri's political and economic accomplishments, considering him an evil king who followed the sin of Jeroboam I by refusing to acknowledge the Temple of Jerusalem as the only legitimate religious shrine.

Omri in the Bible

Omri ended a period of political instability in the Kingdom of Israel following the death of its founder, Jeroboam I, who had led a successful revolt against King Solomon's son Rehoboam to establish an independent nation consisting of the ten northern Israelite tribes. Jeroboam's son Asa had reign only two years before being overthrown by Baasha, who proceeded to wipe out any surviving descendants of Jeroboam as well. Baasha pursued a policy of war against the southern Kingdom of Judh but had to abondon this effort due to military pressure from the Aramaen kingdom of Damascus. He was succeeded by his son Elah, who was in turn overthrown after two years by one of his own officials, Zimri.

Omri had been the commander of the army for under Elah. With Zimri claiming the kingship, Omri's troops proclaimed him as legitimate ruler. Omri and his forced then marched to the capital of Tirzah, where they trapped Zimri in the royal palace. The Bible reports that Zimri burned the palace down and died in the inferno rather than surrendering (1 Kings 16:15-19). Although Zimri was eliminated after only seven days in power, "half of the people" supported a certain Tibni in opposition to Omri. Fighting between the two sides seems to have continued for several years until Omri was finally recognized as the undisputed king of Israel (1 Kings 16:21-23).

The Bible credits Omri with having built he city of Samaria as his capital in the seventh year of his reign, c. 884 B.C.E. (1 Kings 16:23-24). He faced military attcks from the kingdom of Syria (Damascus) and was forced for a time to allow Syrian merchants to open markets in the streets of Samaria (1 Kings 29:34). However, the new city remained the capital of Israel as long as the nation survived, for more than 150 years. The city was strongly fortified and endured several sieges before its downfall.

Omri also strengthened his kingdom through alliances with his northern and southern neighbors against the threat of the Damascus to the east. He facilitated a marriage between his son and heir, Ahab, and the Phoenician princess Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal. Animosities were also ended with the southern Kingdom of Judah, and Ahab later married his own daughter, Athaliah, to King Jehoshaphat of Judah, with whom he contracted a military alliance against Damascus.

Omri alienated the biblical writers, however, by following Jeroboam's policy of supporting shrines other than the Temple of Jerusalem as officially sanctioned places of pilgrimage where citizens of Israel could offer tithes and sacrifices. For this, he was denounced as walking in the "ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit." (1 Kings 16:25)

The Omride Dynasty

Like most of the northern Kings, Omri left no record yet uncovered to tell his own version of events. However, he is the first king of either Israel or Judah who is mentioned by historical sources outside of the Bible. Recent historians believe that the dynasty founded by Omri constitutes a new chapter in the history of the northern Kingdom of Israel.

Omri ended almost 50 years of constant civil war over the throne. Under his reign, there was peace with the Kingdom of Judah to the south, while relations with neighboring Phoenicans to the north were bolstered by marriages negotiated between the two royal courts. This state of peace with two powerful neighbors enabled the Kingdom of Israel to expand its influence and even political control in Transjordan, and these factors combined brought economic prosperity to the kingdom.

Israeli archaeologist Israeli Finkelstein refers to Omri's reign as "Israel's forgotten first kingdom." He notes that during the earlier reigns of David and Solomon, "political organization in the region had not yet reached the stage where extensive burearucraces" had developed. This had changed by the time of the Omrides, however. Finkelstein has also done estensive work on large buildings formally attributed to Solomon, which he now dates as originating in Omri's days.

Omri is credited in the Mesha steele as having brought the territory of Moab under his dominion. The Moabite king Mesha admits:

Omri [was] king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab many days... And his son succeeded him, and he too said, "I will humble Moab."

In the Tel Dan inscription the Syrian king (probably Hazael) admits that "the kings of Israel entered my father's land," indicating that the Omride dynastry controled terroity in Syria, stretching south through Moab. A sizeable army is also evidenced, as shown in the inscription of the Assyrian leader Shalmaneser III (858-824 B.C.E.) who refers to an opposing force of 2,000 chariots and 10,000 footsoldiers belonging to Omri's son, "Ahab the Israelite."

Achaeolgical evidence regarding the construction of palces, stables, and store cities, indicates that Israel under the Omrides suprassed those of the southern neighbors, included even Solomon. The site of Omri and Ahab's impressive palace at Samaria has been uncovered for more than a century. Moreover, recent investigations have reassigned the dates of other fortresses, stables, walls, water tunnerls, and store cities—some formerly attributed to Solomon—to the time of Omri and Ahab. Impressive fortifations and other improvement at Megiddo and Hazor lead Finklestein and other to conclude that "The Omrides, not Solomon, established the first fully developed monarchy in Israel."

Externally, Omri is thus increasingly recognized as a major Israelite king. However, it is also clear that he faced internal opposition from adversaries who allies ultimately give him and his descendants an infamous place in biblical history. Peace with Phoencia, while increasing trade and ensuring stability with Israel's northwestern neighbors, also resulted in the penetration of Phoenician religious tradition into the kingdom. This led to a violent struggle between the Yahweh-only party (as personified by the prophets Elijah and Elisha) and the aristocracy (as personified by Omri, Ahab, [Jezebel]]), and their descendants.

The animosity of the Yahweh-only group to the Omrides support of Phoenician Baal worship led to the famous fight between the prophets of Baal and the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel, after which Elijah ordered the slaughter of his defeated opponents. His successor, Elisha, reportedly anointed Hazael to replace Ben Hadad III on the throne of Damascus, and simultaneously appointed the military commander Jehu to usurp the throne from Arab's descendants and slaughter his entire family, including Jezebel. Jehu's simultaneous assassination of the king of Judah paradoxically led to the Omride princess Athaliah, who had married the king of Judah, seizing the throne at Jerusalem and reigning there for seven years.

Meanwhile Assyria was beginning to expand westward from Mesopotamia. The Battle of Qarqar (853 B.C.E.) pitted Shalmaneser III of Assyria against a coalition of local kings, including Ahab. It was the first in a series of wars that would eventually lead to the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.E. and the reduction of the Kingdom of Judah to an Assyrian tributary state.

Attitude in contemporary Israel

The Bible displays a negative attitude to King Omri, and it has been followed by later rabbinical tradition. However, Zionism was created mainly by non-religious (sometimes anti-religious) people who re-evaluated many Biblical characters (as well as characters from later Jewish history) according to the criteria of a secular national movement in need of National Heroes. As with many European national movements which served as an example to the founders of Zionism, ancient Jewish warriors in general and warrior kings in particular were often regarded positively. Omri, a successful warrior king and the founder of a strong dynasty, is a conspicuous example.

In the present-day Israeli society, "Omri" is quite a common male name, which would have been unthinkable in a traditional Jewish milieu. (The same is true for the name "Nimrod", another Biblical character negatively regarded by pre-Zionist Jewish tradition.) Omri Sharon, the elder son (and close political associate) of former PM Ariel Sharon seems the most well-known among present bearers of the name. Omri Katz is an Israeli-American actor, born in Los Angeles to Israeli parents.

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