In this chapter of the podcast, I examine the stories about the first kings of Israel and the royal houses that rose and fell in Israel before the establishment of the Omride Dynasty in the early ninth century BCE: the house of Jeroboam, the house of Baasha and King Zimri, who reigned over Israel for only a few days until he was murdered by Omri, who founded a dynasty that succeeded for the first time in stabilizing the situation and reigned in Israel for several decades. I try to show that the biblical historiographer had only limited information about these four kings, who reigned between Jeroboam and Omri: Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, Elah, the son of Baasha, and Zimri the commander of half the chariotry – which stemmed from the lists of kings that were availab...