Lives of Scripture

Shemer is named in a single verse as the owner of a hill in the territory of the northern kingdom of Israel. When Omri became king after a period of civil war between rival claimants to Israel's throne, he chose to build a new capital rather than continue ruling from Tirzah. "He bought the hill Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built on the hill, and named the city which he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill" (1 Kings 16:24). Nothing else is recorded about Shemer -- not his tribe, family, or fate -- only that his name became permanently attached to the city that would serve as the capital of the northern kingdom for the rest of its existence, the city so identified with Israel's later idolatry and judgment that "Samaria" and "Israel" become nearly interchangeable terms in the prophets.