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.
Zimri ... conspired against him. During a carousal in the house of his chamberlain, Zimri slew him, and having seized the sovereignty, endeavoured to consolidate his throne by the massacre of all the royal race.
The news of his conspiracy soon spread; and the army having proclaimed their general, Omri, king, that officer immediately raised the siege at Gibbethon, and marched directly against the capital, in which the usurper had established himself. Zimri soon saw that he was not in circumstances to hold out against the whole forces of the kingdom; so shutting himself up in the palace, be set it on fire, and, like Sardanapalus, chose to perish himself, and reduce all to ruins, rather than that the palace and royal treasures should fall into the hands of his successful rival. The seven days' reign may refer either to the brief duration of his royal authority, or the period in which he enjoyed unmolested tranquillity in the palace.