Omri
    servant of Jehovah. When Elah was murdered by Zimri at Tirzah (1
    Kings 16:15-27), Omri, his captain, was made king (B.C. 931).
    For four years there was continued opposition to his reign,
    Tibni, another claimant to the throne, leading the opposing
    party; but at the close of that period all his rivals were
    defeated, and he became king of Israel, "Tibni died and Omri
    reigned" (B.C. 927). By his vigour and power he gained great
    eminence and consolidated the kingdom. He fixed his dynasty on
    the throne so firmly that it continued during four succeeding
    reigns. Tirza was for six years the seat of his government. He
    then removed the capital to Samaria (q.v.), where he died, and
    was succeeded by his son Ahab. "He wrought evil in the eyes of
    the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him."
      Beth-omri, "the house" or "city of Omri," is the name usually
    found on Assyrian inscriptions for Samaria. In the stele of
    Mesha (the "Moabite stone"), which was erected in Moab about
    twenty or thirty years after Omri's death, it is recorded that
    Omri oppressed Moab till Mesha delivered the land: "Omri, king
    of Israel, oppressed Moab many days, for Chemosh was angry with
    his land. His son succeeded him, and he also said, I will
    oppress Moab" (comp. 2 Kings 1:1; 3:4, 5). The "Moabite stone"
    also records that "Omri took the land of Medeba, and occupied it
    in his day and in the days of his son forty years."
 Omri, sheaf of corn