ZIMRI zĭm’ rī זִמְרִ֖י; LXX Ζαμβρι (“older vocalization,” Montgomery p. 289); perhaps short for Zimri-el, on the analogy of Zimriilim in Hammurabi tablets (Parrot, Syria [1937], 74f. [1939], 97ff.), Zimrijah on a seal from Jerusalem (Diringer, Iscrizzioni Ant. Ebr., 25, 43 n. 17, 211); possibly my protection, cf. S Arab. root dmr “protect” (Aram. “admire”), BDB zmr III; Noth, Israelitische Personennamen pp. 175f., my song, but this should be zimrāti, and no masc. segholate form is known; J. Gray, p. 328, thinks the ending -i might indicate a nickname; G. B. Gray, Studies in Hebrew Names [1896] suggests mountain sheep from zmrn; cf. zemer, Deuteronomy 14:5, also Zimran son of Abraham by Keturah (Gen 25:2, 1 Chron 1:32). 1. A Simeonite elder, killed by Phinehas for his open adultery with a Moabite princess (Num 25:14); the incident is recalled in 1 Maccabees 2:26.

2. Ancestor of a Judahite clan (1 Chron 2:6). The context suggests that he was identical with either Carmi or Zabdi of Joshua 7:1, 17, 18.

3. A descendant of Saul through Jonathan and Meribaal (Mephibosheth) (1 Chron 8:36; 9:42).

4. Name of a tribe or district in an Arabian Mesopotamian context (Jer 25:25).

5. A “servant” or retainer of King Elah, whom he assassinated, briefly usurping the royal power (1 Kings 16:9-20). Elah was carousing at Tirzah, while the main army was besieging Gibbethon; its reaction, under Omri’s leadership, was so swift that Zimri had only seven days to live. Raising the siege, Omri brought the army to the capital; Zimri, who had perhaps relied on his chariot force, could not hold it. As the troops entered, he retired to the palace and burned it over his own head (’armon normally means “residence” but here, in the construct, the “private apartments”; Ginsberg JBL 62 [1943], 113f., renders “fortress”).

These events took place in Asa’s twenty-seventh year (16:10). Assuming the synchronism, from an Israelite source, to be based on ante-dating (with no accession-year), and reckoning 911/10 b.c. as Asa’s first year, Thiele deduces that Zimri reigned in 885/4 b.c. Albright holds the synchronism to be secondary (see Omri), and dates the rebellion about the thirty-eighth of Asa (876 b.c. by his chronology; see Asa). The synchronism is indeed omitted from the LXX; Thiele regards this as a form of harmonization.

Despite his very short reign, Zimri is said to have “sat on his throne,” implying a form of valid recognition without the national assembly; this must have depended on being in the capital. The note of his contribution to Israel’s apostasy (16:19) may mean that he formally affirmed his adherence to the religious policy of Jeroboam.

Bibliography W. F. Albright, BASOR 100 (1945), 16-22; J. Montgomery, Kings (ICC) (1951); Y. Yadin, Art of Warfare (Eng., 1963), 301; J. Gray, Kings (1964); E. Thiele, Mysterious Numbers² (1965), 62; J. Miller, JBL 86 (1967), 282-284.