Zim´ri; Heb., “[God] is my protection” or “strength”
1 A Simeonite who lived prior to Israel’s entry into Canaan and was killed by the priest Phinehas for bringing a Midianite woman into his home (Num 25). 2 Commander of half the chariotry in early-ninth-century BCE Israel who led a successful coup against King Elah, as a result of which Zimri became an epithet for one who kills his own master (2Kgs 9:31). He ruled in Tirzah for only one week before another officer (Omri) besieged the city and Zimri committed suicide by entering the royal palace he had set afire (1Kgs 16:8-31). 3 A descendant of Judah (1Chr 2:6; perhaps the same as Zabdi in Josh 7:1). 4 A descendant of Saul’s son Jonathan (1Chr 8:36; 1Chr 9:42). 5 A nation apparently near southern Mesopotamia (Jer 25:25), although the accuracy and exact reference of the text are uncertain.
