Loyalty to the Lord will unite the people of God; loyalty to a man will always divide.
You may recall that Zimri was commander of only half the charioteers (1 Ki 16:9). So when Omri replaced him, he had the loyalty of only half the people. Thus “the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri” (v 21). As if the division between Israel and Judah wasn’t bad enough, now even Israel was divided in two. How often we are reminded that schism can lead ultimately to ruin. Paul warned the Corinthians that “contentions” could result in “divisions” (1 Cor 1:10-11). Remember that divisions in a body are referred to as, gulp, amputations! Well, in the case of this division in Israel, they simply used brute force to overcome the problem, obviously not the best solution. “The people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri reigned” (1 Ki 16:22). Omni purchased the hill of Samaria, providing a centralized capital for the northern nation, where it remained throughout Israel’s history. But, sad to say, “Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all who were before him. For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin” (vv 25-26). When I was a boy and had irritated my sister to the point of retaliation, my dad would take me to his study and read the account of Jeroboam, “in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.” He would then explain to me again (there was no need; I knew the sermon by heart) that Jeroboam was not only accountable for his own sin, but was also responsible for the sin he caused others to commit. We should be provoking people, but always to love and good works (Heb 10:24)!