Zimri

Zimri ("Name means::praiseworthy") is the name of two men in the Bible.

In the Wilderness
During the forty-year wandering of the nation of Israel in the wilderness, Zimri was a Simeonite prince who took a Midianitish woman as a concubine. Zimri defied a direct order from Moses that all Israelites should put away their foreign wives. Phinehas, grandson of Aaron, executed Zimri and his concubine both for this act of defiance.

King of Israel
King Zimri (r. 929 BC by Ussher, or 885 BC by Thiele ) was a cavalry general and commander of half of the chariot force of the Kingdom of Israel. He acceded to the throne of that kingdom by murdering his predecessor Elah while he was getting drunk at a party. Zimri then slaughtered every member of Elah's family and all of Elah's friends.

However, the members of the army at Gibbethon refused to recognize him as king, and declared their loyalty for another general, Omri. Omri marched to the capital city of Tirzah and laid siege to it. Zimri, realizing his situation was hopeless, shut himself up in the royal palace and set fire to it, and then perished in the flames. He had held the throne for seven days, the shortest reign in the history of the Divided Kingdoms. The Bible provides insufficient information to date this period precisely.