Tibni son of Ginath תִּבְנִי בֶּן־גִּינַת
Omri's rival: for four years half of Israel followed him
"Then the people of Israel split into two factions: half the people followed Tibni son of Ginath to make him king, and half followed Omri" (I Kings 16:21). The split began after Zimri, having reigned seven days, burned the palace down over himself in Tirzah.
Who Tibni was, where he came from and what backed him, the book does not say—no tribe, no office, no city. Only his father's name is given. The outcome is one line as well: "those who followed Omri prevailed over those who followed Tibni son of Ginath; Tibni died and Omri became king" (16:22). Whether he died of himself or was killed is not stated.
On the years. Zimri rose in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and Omri became king, by the book's own count, in the thirty-first (I Kings 16:15, 16:23). Between those two numbers stand the four years of the double kingship—which is the whole of Tibni's time. He has no dates of his own.
Omri's victory settled more than a quarrel between two men: out of it came Samaria, the house of Ahab and Jezebel, and the whole turn of the Northern Kingdom against which Elijah rose.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Tanakh
- Melachim I 16:21–22 — the people split in two, Omri's victory and Tibni's death
- Melachim I 16:15–18 — Zimri's seven days — where the split began
- Melachim I 16:23 — Omri became king in Asa's thirty-first year — the upper bound of the four years
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.