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He was a chariot commander who murdered king Elah at Tirzah , and succeeded him as king. However, Zimri reigned only seven days, because the army elected Omri as king, and with their support laid siege to Tirzah. Finding his position untenable, Zimri set fire to the palace and perished.

Omri became king only after four years of fierce war with Tibni, another claimant to the throne of Israel.

The name Zimri became a byword for a traitor who murdered his master. When Jehu led a bloody military revolt to seize the throne of Israel, killed both Jehoram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah, and entered the citadel of Jezreel to execute Queen Jezebel, she greeted him with the words: "Is it peace, Zimri, you murderer of your master?" (2 Kings 9:31). In John Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, the character of Zimri stands for the Duke of BuckinghamGeorge Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham ( January 10, 1628 April 16, 1687), English statesman, son of the 1st Duke of the second creation ( 1623) of that title. He was brought up, together with his younger brother Francis, by King Charles I with his own c.