1 Kings 21:23

In 1 Kings 21:17 and following, Elijah meets Ahab at Naboth's vineyard. Without fear he denounces him, and declares the judgment of God against him and against Jezebel also. The blessed God uses him to say how grievous it is in His sight when anyone — and even more a prominent person — deprives any of His people of their divine portion and inheritance. Such an act will draw down the severest judgment.

Ahab then had to listen to as fearful a sentence as was ever passed on a sinner. It was in three parts. (1) "Behold, I will bring disaster upon you." He personally must suffer. He came to a miserable end, as we know. (2) His whole family was to be destroyed, like the families of his evil predecessors Jeroboam and Baasha. He had wiped out Naboth's family: God would wipe out his. (3) Jezebel was to be eaten by dogs.

Ahab was a weak character; Jezebel was strong and energetic. A most unfortunate combination! … When Elijah announced God's sentence on him after the murder of Naboth, we read that he "tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly." This was excellent, and the LORD so far relented towards him that the judgment was at least deferred. No man's weakness of character excuses his wickedness; still, God in His pity does take account of the influences that surround us all. "There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited." But he should never have married the woman!

The joy he longed for gives way to that horrible curse, which sounds again and again through this sad history of Israel. … And Jezebel is not forgotten: "The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel." The judgment foretold waits for her (2 Kings 9), but it is no less certain.

The will of man has little to do with the accomplishment of the word of God. Jehu, now at the height of his power, softens a little towards this wicked woman Jezebel. He even says, "See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter." But what had God said? The prophet had said, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her." … They went to bury her. Their purpose was to obey him. In vain. They found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.

Jezebel! One of the most sinister figures in the Word of God! This wicked woman did incalculable damage among God's chosen earthly people in the days of Elijah's testimony. That is not all. The Holy Spirit also uses her name in Revelation 2:20 as the symbol of a frightful system of evil, and that system has forced its way into a more sacred circle than Israel ever was.

Ahab's Jezebel had a gruesome end. That which has reproduced her outrages, and practised them in the name of "the holy one, the true one," will have a fearful end also. Meanwhile God wants all who love His truth to stand in firm separation from everything that even hints at Jezebel and Babylon.