And it came to pass, as if it was a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshipped him.
Here Israel's long drift becomes open apostasy: the nation abandons the Lord outright. Ahab marries a foreign princess, serves her god, and the whole land follows.
The phrase "as if it had been a light thing" measures Ahab against the kings before him. Jeroboam had set up golden calves. Ahab treated that as a small matter and went further. Baal was already known in the land, but Ahab's reign made that worship official.
C KnappAhab was not the first to introduce Baal-worship in Israel. The people had known it since they entered the land. But under his rule, and the strong influence of his wife Jezebel, it became the established form of idolatry. Jeroboam had done the same earlier with calf-worship. Baal was the sun-god of the earlier inhabitants of the land, and of the Phoenicians too. His worship came with the most obscene rites and impurities.
The verse names Ahab's wife with her father and her nation. Israel had a standing command against such marriages, and God gave the reason.
W. W. FeredayOne of Ahab's many sins was his marriage to the idolatrous Jezebel... The Israelites were expressly forbidden to inter-marry with the corrupt nations of Canaan: "You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and He would destroy you quickly" (Deut. 7:3-4). There is no hint here that a God-fearing husband or wife might win an ungodly partner for the truth. The opposite result is certain. A woman has great influence over a man. So it matters greatly that everyone who knows God should be matched by God. A marriage contract made in defiance of the Word has ruined many a man besides Ahab.
Commentators differ on whether Ahab first brought Baal into Israel. Either way, the names in the verse tell their own story.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAhab introduced Baal-worship in Israel. This was the result of his marriage to Jezebel (dunghill), the daughter of Ethbaal (with Baal), king of the Zidonians.
Ahab "served Baal" as king, in the open. Nothing of the Lord's worship was left in sight.
Hamilton SmithAhab did worse than his father: he married the vile and idolatrous Jezebel and became the leader in apostasy. In his day all trace of the public worship of the Lord vanished from the land. Idolatry was universal. People worshipped the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. The house of Baal stood in Samaria. Groves of Baal were on every side, and prophets of Baal carried out their idolatrous rites in the open. Apparently Baal lived and the Lord had ceased to be.
The chapter closes with this collapse. The next opens with a prophet.
The Christian's FriendGod's Spirit often shows His power most clearly in times of the darkest spiritual corruption. It was so with Elijah... Ahab did not merely continue in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin. He also married a heathen wife, and then took up the worship of Baal. Full-blown apostasy is therefore seen in Ahab.
Against the whole system of Baal, God's witness rested on one separated man.
J. N. DarbyAhab, Jezebel, and the four hundred and fifty prophets led the people of Israel who had turned away from God and worshipped Baal at that time... Elijah was the friend of God. He kept completely separate from that turning away. While all this evil went on, he was the only witness of the truth.
Jezebel does not stay in this chapter. Her name becomes a label the Lord Himself uses in His message to the church at Thyatira in Revelation 2.
William KellyJezebel, as everyone knew, added violence to corruption. She advised bloodshed. She hated all God's witnesses and worked against them. In private and in public she backed the idolatrous priests and prophets of Baal. And now in Thyatira something appeared that showed the Lord's eye a dark and cruel idolatry to come. An authority claiming to be infallible would teach it and impose it inside the professing church.
- Step. Ahab counted Jeroboam's sin a light thing, and a sin treated lightly is never the last one.
- Yoke. The forbidden marriage was the doorway. Hoping to win an ungodly partner runs the opposite way here.
- Altar. One man's household choice became the nation's official worship. Public worship of the Lord then vanished.
- Witness. Right there God raised up Elijah. His Spirit works most visibly in the darkest times, through one separated man.
- Warning. Revelation uses Jezebel's name for corrupt teaching allowed inside a professing people.
And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria.
Ahab's reign hits its low point here: in Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, the king builds a temple to a foreign god and puts an altar inside it. How did Baal worship become the state religion of Israel, and what did God do about it?
Commentators note the gap between what the city was meant to be and what Ahab made it.
Leslie M. GrantAhab was not content with following the wicked course of Jeroboam. He married an evil wife, Jezebel, who encouraged him in greater evil still, including the worship of Baal. Samaria was the centre supposedly built for the worship of God, but there Ahab built a temple for Baal and an altar to go with it (v. 32). Added to this, he made a wooden image, deliberately and willfully provoking the Lord to anger (v. 33).
The name is a title, and the worship behind it was old, organised and cruel.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe name means "master, possessor." Whether singular or plural, it always takes the article. Baal was the chief male god of the Phoenicians and the Canaanites, as Ashtoreth was the chief female goddess. When the Israelites came into the land, they surely found temples, groves, altars and high places set apart to Baal. There the people offered incense, burned offerings, and sacrificed children to him. A great company of prophets and priests served him.
Ahab did not invent this worship. He gave it official standing.
C KnappAhab was not the first to bring Baal-worship into Israel. Israel had known it ever since they entered the land. But under his rule, and the powerful influence of his wife Jezebel, it became the established form of idolatry, just as Jeroboam had made calf-worship the established form. Baal was the sun-god of the older peoples of the land, and of the Phoenicians. His worship went together with the most obscene rites and impurities.
The altar in verse 32 goes back one verse, to Ahab's wedding.
W. W. FeredayOne of Ahab's many sins was his marriage with idolatrous Jezebel... God plainly forbade the Israelites to marry into the corrupt nations of Canaan: "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, neither shall you take their daughters for your sons." God Himself said what disobedience would surely bring: "for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly" (Deut. 7:3-4). There is no hint here that a God-fearing husband or wife might win an ungodly partner for the truth. The opposite result is sure. The influence of a woman over a man is great. So it is of the greatest importance that everyone who knows God should be matched by God's own direction. A marriage made in defiance of the Word has ruined many a man besides Ahab.
Earlier kings had corrupted the worship of the Lord with Jeroboam's golden calves. Ahab went further and brought in another god entirely.
J. N. DarbyAhab added the worship of Baal, the god of his idolatrous wife, to the sin of the kings before him. His offences against Jehovah were so great that he went beyond all the kings of Israel who came before him.
Idolatry did not stay in the palace. It filled the whole land.
Hamilton SmithIn his day all trace of the public worship of Jehovah vanished from the land. Idolatry was universal. People worshipped the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. The house of Baal stood in Samaria. Groves of Baal were on every side, and prophets of Baal carried out their idolatrous rites in the open. Apparently Baal lived and Jehovah had ceased to be.
The altar in Samaria is the background to Elijah, who appears in the next chapter.
J. N. DarbyWhatever their sin may be, God does not strike a people who have forsaken His ways until He has sent them a testimony. He may discipline them beforehand, but He will not carry out His final judgment on them.
The house Ahab built did not stand.
Morrish Bible DictionaryElijah stood for Jehovah. He put the question to Israel: was Jehovah God, or was Baal? He established the rights of Jehovah by fire from heaven. This led to the destruction of all the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:17-40). But this idolatrous worship continued until the days of Jehu. He killed its worshippers and destroyed its house and images (2 Kings 10:18-28).
- Alliance. Ahab's marriage to Jezebel came first. The altar in Samaria was its fruit. Scripture had already warned that such a match turns the heart to other gods.
- Establishment. Baal worship existed in the land long before Ahab. His sin was to make it the official religion, housed in the capital.
- Escalation. Earlier kings corrupted the worship of the Lord with calves. Ahab replaced Him outright, and so outdid every king before him.
- Eclipse. Public worship of the Lord disappeared from view — to all appearances Baal was alive and the Lord was gone.
- Answer. God did not strike without first sending a witness. Elijah came, fire fell, and in time Jehu pulled down the house of Baal itself.