This new series looks at the life of Jezebel. She became the consort of King Ahab of the Ten Northern Tribes of Israel. His father, Omri, was the king of Israel who founded the city of Samaria. He reigned for twelve years.
Ahab then reigned from Samaria as the king of Israel for twenty-two years.
1 Kings 16 v 31-33
He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.
Ahab’s reign was littered with bad choices, but at times God was even gracious to him. Hoping he would turn from his pagan ways and come back to Him.
Jezebel and Her Lineage
Jezebel was the daughter of the king of Sidon, Ethbaal. Extra-Biblical sources suggest he was born in 915 BC and died in 847 BC. He was a priest of Astarte, the Phoenician goddess of love, sex, war and hunting. He became the monarch of the city, through murdering the previous king, Phelles.
Ethbaal’s name means ‘with Baal’ or ‘Baal is with him’. Jezebel’s name is more complex and scholars are unsure of its meaning. Her name likely relates to the Phoenician name, Baalazebel, which means ‘Baal has exalted’. But in the Bible, the negative replaced Baal and so the general consensus is it means ‘unexalted’.
After marrying Ahab, Baal worship is promoted to the national cult in the northern Kingdom of Israel. During her husbands reign, we see her priests have a showdown with Elijah and she arranges the murder of Naboth.
After the death of Ahab, she becomes the queen mother and saw her first son die of ill health and her second son killed by Jehu. Soon after this event, she was pushed out of a window, died due to the fall and was eaten by wild dogs.
Jezebel and Paganism
Jezebel promoted the worship of Baal, Asherah and Astarte. Astarte was the chief goddess in Sidon and was primarily worshipped by its royal family. So it is no surprise she was connected with this goddess.
Baal was a well known god to the whole region and even became part of the Roman and Greek pantheons.
Asherah was commonly understood to be the ‘Queen of the gods’, and is mentioned in pantheons of the Mesopotamian cultures. The poles associated with her are mentioned throughout the earlier parts of the Old Testament. Scholars are unsure what these poles were, but they know to be made of wood. These poles possibly facilitated a particular kind of worship which was unacceptable for the Israelites to be involved with.
I find it interesting how Christ was raised up on the Cross, a type of pole. And so from a Biblical perspective, I wonder if these Asherah poles were symbolically linked to the Cross. But instead of being the true Cross, these were demonic attempts at subverting this symbol.
Daughter of the Devil
Even though her father is named as the king of Sidon in the Bible, at this time, Sidon included Tyre as well.
We find an interesting connection in the Book of Ezekiel between the King of Tyre and the Devil.
Ezekiel 28 v 12-13
“Son of man, take up a lament for the king of Tyre and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says, ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God.
This chapter is commonly associated with the Devil and describes his fall from Heaven. I’m not going to dive into its implications, but suffice to say, I wonder if the Bible is in some way alluding to Jezebel, as not only being the daughter of the King of Sidon, but also the daughter of the Devil himself.
I will unpack more about Jezebel over the rest of the series. We will look at her story, her relationship with paganism and look at her life through the stories of other women in the Bible.
I place a paywall on some of my posts to dig a little deeper and talk about more controversial topics. This time we will look at how Jezebel is set up as a feminist icon.
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