1 Kings 16:9
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. 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.
The verse belongs to the wholly historical record of 1 Kings 3-21. It falls within the history of the kings of Israel and Judah covered by 1 Kings 12-22, a period of about eighty years from the revolt of the ten tribes to Jehoshaphat's death. It belongs to the history after Solomon's multiplying of wives turned away his heart and divided the kingdom, when the ten tribes became Israel apart from Judah. It contributes to the account of the northern kingdom that was later obliterated, during a time of war and strife between the two divisions.
Zimri was one of the kings who reigned over Israel, in succession with Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Omri, and the wicked Ahab. Elah, Baasha's son and successor, reigned for two years in a drunken rule. That rule ended when Zimri, a captain and officer and chief general in his army, killed him while he was drunk during a drinking debauch and took the throne. Zimri's own reign lasted only seven days, or a week, and then he burned the palace and died in the flames.
The verse stands in a sad record showing the general downward moral tendency in Judah and Israel after David. It shows the responsibility resting on leaders, where unfaithful kings fail to lead in right ways and the people fail with them, while seeking God brings abundant working for and through them. It stands in the account of the apostasy of Israel in 1 Kings 15 and 16, where the kings led the nation to forsake the worship of the living God and turn to the worship of idols. They turned away from the God-given plan of worship which pointed to Christ and revealed the way of salvation from sin, to forsake all that was pure and true and uplifting and turn to the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, to that which was impure, untrue and degrading, to the worship of the creature instead of the Creator. Events in chapter 16 come to a climax in Ahab son of Omri who did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings before him.
The chapter introduces the setting of Elijah's ministry in a time of great idolatrous apostasy and commandment-breaking in Israel during the days of Elijah. The weak king Ahab and his wife Jezebel promoted Baal worship. Elijah stood out as a fearless and faithful prophet who denounced the nation's sin and called the people back to worshiping Jehovah and obeying God's law. God found a faithful remnant who answered the call of His prophet, including seven thousand Israelites who had not bowed to Baal.