Sanhedrin 100-106
Reward for Building a City
Rabbi Yochanan said, “Why did Omri merit to become a king? Because he added one city to the Land of Israel.”
Rabbi Yochanan continues this statement on our daf by citing a verse (in Kings I 16:24): “And he (Omri) bought the mountain of Shomron from Shemer for two talents worth of silver… he built up the mountain and called the name of the city which he built… Shomron.”
Omri merited a reward of being king despite his being quite evil, as it says in the next verse, “And Omri did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem, and he was more wicked than all those who preceded him.” (Kings I 16:25)
However, if we look at the verse before the one that speaks about his building a new city (Kings I 16:23), it appears that Omri already became king before he added a city to Eretz Yisrael. That verse states, “In the thirty-first year of Asa, the king of Judah, Omri ruled over Israel for twelve years; in Tirzah he ruled for six years.” Rashi comments that Omri ruled there as king for six years before he built the city of Shomron in the Land of Israel.
This question is posed by the Maharsha, who answers as follows: Rabbi Yochanan is not teaching the reason why the evil Omri merited being king of Israel. Rather, he is explaining why Omri merited a kingdom that would span for more generations than for previous kings of Israel. He merited that not only his son, but also his son’s son would sit on the throne of kingship. The Maharsha cites a Midrash Yalkut, which appears to support his explanation of our gemara.
Had the Maharsha not explained Rabbi Yochanan’s words in this manner, perhaps one might have thought to explain them differently, since Rabbi Yochanan’s words explicitly appear to be giving a reason for Omri himself meriting being a king. It was certainly known to the One Above that Omri would, in the future, when he would gain the power of being a king, add a new city to Eretz Yisrael — and this would be his merit for becoming king in the first place.
Sanhedrin 102b
