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Monday, August 9 2010
Tirzah is first mentioned in Bible History in the time of Joshua. The Canaanite king of Tirzah was removed, along with thirty others in the region, and the city was made Israelite.
"12:7 And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west, from Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir; which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions ... 12:24 The king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty and one." (Joshua 12:7,24 KJV)
Tirzah, in Hebrew pronounced teer-tsaw, means delightful, which it apparently was, or was situated in a beautiful area at the time. Amorous King Solomon also literally spoke of the beauty of the city, albeit in a somewhat contradictory manner i.e. "beautiful," but "terrible as an army with banners."
"6:4 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners." (Song Of Solomon 6:4 KJV)
"To reign over all Israel in Tirzah"
Later, after the death of Solomon, when the united kingdom of the Israelites split into two separate kingdoms, Israel and Judah (see the Fact Finder question below), Jeroboam, the northern kingdom's first king, in effect made Tirzah the capital city of Israel i.e. it was the place of the king's residence. It would remain so from approximately 933 to 886 BC, during the reigns of Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri and Omri. Omri replaced Tirzah with Samaria as Israel's capital.
The division of Israel happened because of Solomon's apostasy, but both Israel and Judah soon became even more corrupt than Solomon. Israel's first king, Jeroboam (see Jeroboam Of Israel), who established the royal residence at Tirzah, quickly became perverted - and brought the wrath of the LORD upon himself for it.
"14:15 For the LORD [i.e. Jesus Christ; see 'Before Abraham Was, I AM' and 'The God Of The Old Testament'] shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger.14:16 And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. 14:17 And Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died; 14:18 And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.
14:19 And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 14:20 And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead." (1 Kings 14:15-20 KJV)
King Baasha apparently intended to move the capital to Ramah, but an invasion from Benhadad of Syria caused Baasha to remain at Tirzah.
"15:20 So Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. 15:21 And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah. 15:22 Then king Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted: and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah." (1 Kings 15:20-22 KJV)
Baasha reigned, corruptly, from Tirzah for twenty-four years; he was buried in Tirzah. The LORD chose Baasha's successor.
"15:33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty and four years. 15:34 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin." (1 Kings 15:33-34 KJV)"16:1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, 16:2 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; 16:3 Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 16:4 Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat.
16:5 Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 16:6 So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his stead." (1 Kings 16:1-6 KJV)
King Elah reigned in Israel for two years. He was assassinated while in a drunken stupor; his entire family was killed, ending his dynasty (the northern kingdom had nine royal lines, or dynasties - just as democracies do when father and son(s) are elected as president; see also see Israelite Dynasties). Zimri, one of Elah's military commanders, assassinated and succeeded Elah as king.
"16:8 In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years.16:9 And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of his house in Tirzah. 16:10 And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.
16:11 And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends. 16:12 Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, 16:13 For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities." (1 Kings 16:8-13 KJV)
Zimri lasted a week as king in Tirzah before the people rose up in retaliation for the assassination of Elah. Zimri committed suicide by burning his palace to the ground with himself in it. Omri, another of Elah's military commanders, was then proclaimed king (see Royal Democracy).
"16:15 In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah. And the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. 16:16 And the people that were encamped heard say, Zimri hath conspired, and hath also slain the king: wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp. 16:17 And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. 16:18 And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king's house, and burnt the king's house over him with fire, and died, 16:19 For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin." (1 Kings 16:15-19 KJV)
Omri reigned in Tirzah for six years, before establishing the capital at Samaria.
"16:23 In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel [see Kings of Israel and Judah], twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah. 16:24 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." (1 Kings 16:23-24 KJV)
Fact Finder: (a) How and when did the Israelite monarchy begin? (b) What war resulted in all of the tribes of Israel united under a single king? (c) Under what two kings did Israel remain united? (d) Why did the LORD cause Israel to become two kingdoms? (e) How did the northern kingdom become "the lost ten tribes of Israel"? (f) Where did the southern kingdom go into exile? Why was Judah allowed to return 70 years later? (g) Who is the King Of Israel?
(a) Israelite Monarchy - The Origin
(b) The Civil War
(c) The United Kingdom
(d) The Division Of Israel
(e) The Northern Kingdom
(f) The Southern Kingdom
(g) Israelite Monarchy - The Messiah
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This Day In History, August 9
480 BC: The Persian army defeated Leonidas and his Spartan army at the Battle of Thermopylae in Persia (Persia is known today as Iran; see Ancient Empires - Persia).
48 BC: Julius Caesar defeated Gnaius Pompey at Pharsalus (see also Ancient Empires - Rome).
378: The Battle of Adrianople in Turkey. The defeat of a Roman army commanded by the emperor Valens (who was killed on the battlefield) at the hands of the Germanic Visigoths led by Fritigern and augmented by Ostrogothic and other forces. It was a major victory of "barbarian" horsemen over Roman infantry and marked the beginning of Germanic inroads into Roman territory.
1483: Pope Sixtus IV held the first Church of Rome mass in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel - which was named based on that pope's name, Sixtus.
1549: England declared war on France.
1653: Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp was killed following the battle of Terheijde with the English fleet off the Dutch coast. He was the Dutch commander at the defeat of a superior Spanish fleet at the Battle of the Downs in 1639.
1830: Louis-Philippe formally accepted the crown of France after the abdication of Charles X on August 2.
1842: The Webster-Ashburton Treaty between the U.S. and Britain was signed. It established the boundary between the U.S. and Canada from Maine to the Great Lakes.
1902: Edward VII of England was crowned after death of his mother Queen Victoria.
1942: After the passing of a "Quit India" campaign by the All-India Congress, Mahatma Gandhi and 50 others were arrested in Bombay.
1945: The Nagasaki atomic bombing. Over 75,000 men, women and children were indiscriminately incinerated to death, while many more were horribly burned and/or poisoned by the radiation. It was the second U.S. use of an atomic "weapon of mass destruction," a plutonium device (the first U.S. atomic bomb, used at Hiroshima a few days earlier, was a uranium device).
1969: Actress Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski, was found murdered with four others at their house in Beverly Hills, California. The Charles Manson gang was later convicted for the murders.
1974: Gerald Ford was sworn in as president of the United States. He replaced Richard Nixon who resigned to avoid criminal prosecution for the Watergate burglary and obstruction of justice cover-up.
