And he bought the hill Samaria of
Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of
the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill,
Samaria. But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than
all that were before him. 1Ki 16:24-25
Shakespeare
wrote, What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would
smell as sweet; So Romeo would were he not Romeo called. We refer to men as
having a good name when it is deserved. We remember the most famous of names in
our history such as Washington and Lincoln; we also remember the most infamous
names. Omri, king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel was infamous in the same
regard.
People
with infamous names can have success in their lives in some areas. For
instance, Omri built the city of Samaria which was built on a high hill. Samaria
stood as a strategic stronghold for the nation and became the capital city. Yet
Omri, like those before him, came to power through a division as you remember with
Tibni. Omri's status is truly marked the above passage where we read (He) did
worse than all that were before him. This is a horrible thing to write
about someone. It is even worse that it was true.
Micah mentions Omri in His prophecy in
Micah 6:16. The evil and idolatry of the reign of Omri and his son Ahab is
representative of God's people in Micah's time. Progressive evil was present in
the Northern Kingdom from its beginning and would continue. Omri, worse than
all those before, became a standard-bearer for the sin in which Israel
continued.
Evil continues to progress in society. It
has been bad before, real bad, and it will be really bad again. We must be
willing to face the accuser Satan with the Truth. We can stand up and proclaim
the name of Christ and the truth of His righteousness. We must not let the
infamous man soil our name. We can boldly live with our Savior’s name. It can
go either way, but each man chooses for himself the status of His name. That,
Juliet, is what’s in a name.
Grace and Peace,
R.D. Beavers
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