jezebel was the wife of king ahab who ruled the kingdom of israel in the old testament ahab was regarded as a horrific king the worst of all the kings according to the book of kings he ruled for 22 years enough time to cause a lot of havoc he outdid all his predecessors in wickedness now ahab the son of omri became king over israel in the 38th year of assa king of judah and ahab the son of omri reigned over israel in samaria 22 years and ahab the son of omri did evil in the sight of
the lord more than all who were before him and it came about as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of jeroboam the son of nemat that he married jezebel the daughter of ethbaal king of the sidonians and went to serve ba'al and worship him so he erected an altar for ball in the house of ball which he built in samaria and ahab also made the ashira thus ahab did more to provoke the lord god of israel than all the kings of israel who were before him 1st kings
chapter 16 verses 29-33 this was the man that jezebel was married to jezebel was the daughter of the priest king ethball ruler of the phoenician cities of tyre and siddon her name in phoenician meant primrose but the same name in hebrew jezebel meant garbage and this was how she was known it was clear that she used ahab to achieve her own evil ends and that he needed little persuading this was the first time that a king of israel had allied himself by marriage with a heathen princess the rule of jezebel jezebel persuaded ahab to accept
ball a nature god after they married as a woman desiring greater power she wanted to eliminate those who dared to question her and she had most of yahweh's prophets slain at her request she is the first and most powerful agitator of persecution against god's saints she spared no pains to keep her idolatry in all its glory around her guided by no principle controlled by no fear of either god or man and fervent in her allegiance to her heathen worship 450 prophets ministered under her care to ball besides 400 prophets of the groves or ashura astarte
a phoenician goddess which ate at her table first kings chapter 18 verse 19. now therefore send and gather to me all israel unto mount carmel and the prophets of ball 450 and the prophets of the groves 400 which eat at jezebel's table her conduct in many respects very disastrous to the kingdom of both israel and judah these evil and tyrannical works stirred the righteous vengeance of elijah who correctly predicted the encounter of a severe drought as divine retribution against jezebel elijah was regarded as one of israel's greatest prophets despite the fact that no book has
been published in his name the book of kings covers more of his life than most of the kings elijah was most famous for his confrontation with the ball prophets whom jezebel had brought to the palace this was to see the victor between the forces of jezebel and the force of god this is a well-known story elijah constructed an altar and dared the prophets of bald to construct their own altars beside his and call on their gods for fire to consume the sacrifice it was a clever task we now know that beneath ball's altars was a
tunnel where a priest would hide and set fire to the wood as the people cried out to the god elijah cleverly requested them to build their altar in the open and then promised to build his altar in the same manner only he would also add water to make the challenge greater his arrogance led him to mock the priests to the point where if his experiment failed he would have been executed he pushed them to shout even louder implying that their god was on vacation or needed to relieve himself it was a critical moment in the
northern tribe's history the fire was sent by god elijah's sacrifice was consumed and israel saw who was truly powerful paul's prophets were defeated there's an unlikely sequel to this great story jezebel threatened elijah after learning of his victory and the deaths of her prophets despite his victory over ball's 400 prophets elijah fled to horeb for his life god sent an angel to cook him a supper since the prophet was emotionally and spiritually exhausted and afterwards assured him of his presence and provision for israel's future god had already set aside a colleague for elijah to continue
the work elisha the ploughman took over the prophetic function from elijah he sought a double portion of his spirit from elijah elisha was requesting the right to be his heir and successor so that he could take over the business in a sense another brutal act attributed to jezebel is written in first kings next to ahab's home was a vineyard which he coveted and desired a civilian owned it named naboth of jezreel when naboth refused to part with his vineyard as the inheritance of my fathers jezebel falsely accused him of cursing god and the king which
led to the stoning of naboth elijah confronted ahab in the vineyard prophesying over their lives the case of a vineyard owned by naboth showed the true behavior of jezebel and a relationship with ahab some time after there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to naboth the jezreelite the vineyard was in jezreel close to the palace of ahab king of samaria ahab said to naboth let me have your vineyard to use for my vegetable garden since it is close to my palace in exchange i will give you a better vineyard or if you prefer i
will pay you whatever it is worth but naboth replied the lord forbid that i should give you the inheritance of my ancestors so ahab went home sullen and angry because naboth the jezreelite had said i will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors he lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat his wife jezebel came in and asked him why are you so sullen why won't you eat he answered her because i said to naboth the jezreelite sell me your vineyard or if you prefer i will give you another vineyard in its place
but he said i will not give you my vineyard jezebel his wife said is this how you act as king over israel get up and eat cheer up i'll get you the vineyard of nabath the jezreelite so she wrote letters in ahab's name placed his seal on them and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in naboth city with him in those letters she wrote proclaim a day of fasting and seat naboth in a prominent place among the people but seek two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed
both god and the king then take him out and stone him to death so the elders and nobles who lived in naboth city did as jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them they proclaimed a fast and seated naboth in a prominent place among the people then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against naboth before the people saying naboth has cursed both god and the king so they took him outside the city and stoned him to death then they sent war to jezebel naboth has been stoned to death as
soon as jezebel heard that naboth had been stoned to death she said to ahab get up and take possession of the vineyard of naboth the jezreelite that he refused to sell you he is no longer alive but dead when ahab heard that naboth was dead he got up and went down to take possession of naboth's vineyard then the word of the lord came to elijah the tishbite go down to meet ahab king of israel who rules in samaria he is now in naboth's vineyard where he has gone to take possession of it say to him
this is what the lord says have you not murdered a man and seized his property then say to him this is what the lord says in the place where dogs licked up naubot's blood dogs will lick up your blood yes yours ahab said to elijah so you have found me my enemy i have found you he answered because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the lord he says i am going to bring disaster on you i will wipe out your descendants and cut off from ahab every last male in israel
slave or free i will make your house like that of jeroboam son of nabat and that of basha son of ahijah because you have aroused my anger and have caused israel to sin and also concerning jezebel the lord says dogs will devour jezebel by the wall of jezreel dogs will eat those belonging to ahab who die in the city and the birds will feed on those who die in the country there was never anyone like ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the lord urged on by jezebel his wife he behaved
in the vilest manner by going after idols like the amorites the lord drove out of israel when ahab heard these words he tore his clothes put on sackcloth and fasted he lay in sackcloth and went around meekly then the word of the lord came to elijah the tishbite have you noticed how ahab has humbled himself before me because he has humbled himself i will not bring this disaster in his day but i will bring it on his house in the days of his son 1st kings chapter 21 verses 1 through 29 isabel is thrown over
and overthrown ahab perished in a battle with the syrians a few years later and jezebel reigned for nearly another 10 years elisha the prophet elijah's heir continued elijah's mission to eradicate ball worship he installed a militant commander named jehu to be king of israel an order that prompted civil war as jeroboam ahab and jezebel's son then ruled jehu was a commander of chariots for the king of israel ahab and his son jehoram on israel's frontier facing damascus and assyria second kings chapter 9 the prophet elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and
said to him tuck your cloak into your belt take this flask of olive oil with you and go to ramath gilead when you get there look for jehu son of jehoshaphat the son of nimchi go to him get away from his companions and take him into an inner room then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare this is what the lord says i anoint you king over israel then open the door and run don't delay so the young prophet went to ramath gilead when he arrived he found the army officers
sitting together i have a message for you commander he said for which of us ask jehu for you commander he replied jehu got up and went into the house then the prophet poured the oil on jehu's head and declared this is what the lord the god of israel says i anoint you king over the lord's people israel you are to destroy the house of ahab your master and i will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the lord's servants shed by jezebel the whole house of ahab will perish i
will cut off from ahab every last male in israel slave or free i will make the house of ahab like the house of jeroboam son of nebat and like the house of ba'asha son of ahijah as for jezebel dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at jezreel and no one will bury her then he opened the door and ran jehu then slew jehoram and plotted to depose jezebel and take his position as israel's king she suited herself in nice dresses for the occasion anticipating his arrival she mocked him from her window and jehu
ordered her eunuchs to toss her out of the window he ordered that she be buried as a king's daughter after her fall and death but it was discovered that dogs had devoured the majority of her body just as elijah had predicted jezebel has become known as a model of a wicked lady exemplifying the traits of cruelty greed and vanity and when jehu was come to jezreel jezebel heard of it and she painted her face and tired her head and looked out a window and as jehu entered in at the gate she said had zimri peace
who slew his master and he lifted up his face to the window and said who was on my side who and there looked out to him two or three eunuchs and he said throw her down so they threw her down and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses and he trowed her underfoot but when he was come in he did eat and drink and said go see now this cursed woman and bury her for she is a king's daughter and they went to bury her but they found no more
of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands wherefore they came again and told him and he said this is the word of the lord which he spake by his servant elijah the tishbite saying in the portion of jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of jezebel second kings chapter 9 verses 30-36 significance of jezebel in the bible this was the first time that a king of israel had allied himself by marriage with a heathen lady and the combination was in this case of an especially disastrous kind jezebel has gone down
in history as the embodiment of all that is crafty devious nasty vengeful and cruel as jehu rode into the gates of jezreel she looked out the window of the palace and said had zimri peace who slew his master he raised his head and signaled her chamberlains who hurled her out the window she was quickly consumed by the dogs of the street according to the word of elijah the tishbite after the incident of nabath and his property first kings chapter 21 verse 19 and thou shalt speak unto him saying thus saith the lord hast thou killed
and also taken possession and thou shalt speak unto him saying thus saith the lord in the place where dogs lick the blood of nabath shall dogs lick thy blood even thine her name afterward came to be used as the synonym for a wicked woman nevertheless i have this against you you tolerate that woman jezebel who calls herself a prophet by her teaching she misleads my servants in the sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols revelation chapter 2 verse 20. you
