The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 356

pregnable, nnd snrronnded by an amphi• amongst the Semitic races (as, indeed, isth& theatre of hills. " Samarin is in a position case still, see Conder, p. 301), and the form of gre11t strength ... and mnst before the in- Shomeron would at once perpetuate the vention of gunpowder have been almost im- memory of Shemer, and express the hope and pregnable. It stands some 400 feet above purpose of Omri. It is a curious fact that the valley, the sides of the hill being steep the later Samaritans did play upon this very and terraced in every direction for cultiva- word, representing themselves as guardia1U1 tion, or perhaps for defensive purposes ... (tl 1'}r,li!i) of the law (Ewald). The Greek broad and open valleys stretch north and south, and the hill is thus almost isolated," form.of the name, l:aµapua, would Se€m to Conder, p. 47, who adds, "Strategical rea- have been derived through the Chaldee sons may be supposed to have dictated the l~l'?C? BB fonnd in Ezra iv.10, 17.] choice of the capital of Omri, for on the north the hill co=11nds the me.in road to Ver. 25.-But Omrt wrought evil In the J ezreel over a steep pass, on the west it eyes of the Lord, a.nd did worse than all dominates the road to the coast, and on the that were before him. [It has been thought east that to the Jordan" (p. 49). Grove that Micah vi. 16 (" the statutes of Omri, (Diet. Bib. iii.1099) speaks of "the singular &c.") points to a fresh departuxe from the Jewish faith ; to the organization of the beauty of the spot," and Stanley(" Jewish calf-worship into a regular formal system, Church" ii. p. 284) justly sees in the selection or to " measures for more competely iso- of this spot a proof of Omri's sagacity. But lating the people of Israel from the services perhaps the best proof is that which the subsequent history supplies. Shechem o.nd of the house of the Lord at Jerusalem" (Kitto). Tirzah had each been tried, and each in turn had been abandoned. But Samaria Ver. 26.-For he walked In all the way continued to be the capital so long as the of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a.nd In his kingdom lasted] of Shemer for two talents sin wherewith he made Israel to Bin, to of silver [variously estimated o.t £600 and provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger £800. This puxchase, obviously of the with their vanities. freehold, i.e., in perpetuity, was in contra- Ver. 27.-Ncw the rest of the acts ot vention of the law of Levit. x:xv. 23. David Omrt which he did, a.nd his might that he had bought the threshing-floor of Oman, but showed [Not only in the war with Tibni, that was (1) from a Jebnsite, and (2) for a but certainly in the subjugation of the high religions puxpose (2 Sam. xx.iv. 24). It Moe.bites, of which mention is made in the has been suggested that this pnrchnse m11y recently discovered Moabite stone. He m11y have inspired Ahab with the idea of buying well have had other wars, which, like this, the vineyard of No.bothJ, a.nd built on [Heb. have escaped notice in Scriptuxe. If the built] the h1ll, a.nd called tlie name of the king of Syria spoke truly {1 Kings xx. 34), city which he built, after the name of the wo.r with that power had been extremely Bhemer, owner of the hill, Samaria. [It is disastrous. Yet the Assyrian inscriptions not improbable that the vendor bargllined prove that Omri's name was more widely that the land should retain his name (cf. and permnnently known in the East tho.n Pea. xlix. 11). The reluctance of the those of his predecessors or successors. Israelite to part with his patrimony, even to Samaria, for example, down to the time of the king, is brought out very strikingly in Tiglath-Pileser, appears as Beth Khumri, eh. xxi. Shemer, in selling his choice par- the "house of Omri;" Athali11b, the d11ughter cel of land for a c11pit11l, might well wish to of Ahab, is co.lled a daughter of Omri; o.nd connect his name with it. The fuct th11t Jehu appears in the Black Obelisk Inscrip- )ii'?ei me11ns watch-mountain (Gesen.), and tion o.s "the son of Omri" (Rawlinson, that we should h11ve expected a nnme formed "Hist. Illus. of 0. T.," pp. 111-12). It is from Shemer to to.ke the form Shimron- perh11ps an evidence of " his might " that Slwmeron would strictly imply an originnl his dynasty ret11incd the throne to the thin! Shomer-is not by o.ny me11ns a proof tho.t our generation], are they not written In the bistorio.n is o.t fault in his deriv11tion. For, in book of the chronicles of the kings of the first pince, the no.mes Shomer and Shemer Israel? [Vera. 26, 27 are n.n exact repeti- are used of the same person in 1 Chron. vii. tion, mutatis mutandis, of eh. xiii. 14; cf. 32, 34. And secondly, nothing would be xv. 30.] more in accordance with Jewish ideas than Ver. 28.-So omrt slept with his fathers, that Omri, in naming the hill nfter its and was buried In Samaria. [Alter the ex- owner, should give a tum to the word which nmple of earlier kings, he found n grave in would o.lso express nt the same time its liis co.pitnl city; cf. chs. ii. 10; xi. 43; xiv. characteristic feature. A pun, or play upon . 31 ; xvi. 16]: and Ahab his son reigned ill words, was the form which wit assumed his stea.4. 869 THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. [oa. xv. 25-XVL 28.