16:15-28 When men forsake God, they will be left to plague one another. Proud aspiring men ruin one another. Omri struggled with Tibni some years. Though we do not always understand the rules by which God governs nations and individuals in his providence, we may learn useful lessons from the history before us. When tyrants succeed each other, and massacres, conspiracies, and civil wars, we may be sure the Lord has a controversy with the people for their sins; they are loudly called to repent and reform. Omri made himself infamous by his wickedness. Many wicked men have been men of might and renown; have built cities, and their names are found in history; but they have no name in the book of life.Omri outwent his idolatrous predecessors in his zeal, reducing the calf-worship to a regular formal system, which went down to posterity (compare the marginal reference). 25-27. But Omri wrought evil—The character of Omri's reign and his death are described in the stereotyped form used towards all the successors of Jeroboam in respect both to policy as well as time. He walked in all the way of Jeroboam, i.e. did not only promote the worship of the calves, as Jeroboam and all his successors hitherto had done; but did also imitate all Jeroboam’s other sins, which doubtless were many and great; and peradventure he added this to the rest, that together with the calves he worshipped devils, i.e. other idols of the heathens, as may be thought from 1 Corinthians 10:20, where his worship of the devils and of the calves is distinguished. Besides, though he did no more for the substance of the action than his predecessors did, yet he might justly and truly be said to do worse than they, because he did it with greater aggravations, after so many terrible examples of Divine vengeance upon the kings and people of Israel for that sin; or because he made severer laws concerning the calf-worship, whence we read of the statutes of Omri, Micah 6:16; or did more industriously and violently execute them, with greater despite against God, and malice against his servants.

For he walked in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin,.... Worshipping the calves;

to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities; these, and whatsoever idols else were worshipped by him, see 1 Kings 16:13.

For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities.