What is the story of Ahab and Jezebel?

Daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, wife of Ahab king of Israel, and mother of Ahaziah, Joram, and Athaliah. She was a bold, wicked idolatress, and stirred up her husband to do evil against the Lord. She 'cut off' the prophets of Jehovah, and had four hundred prophets of Baal that ate at her table. When these were slain by Elijah, she threatened the life of the prophet, but he escaped out of her hands. When Ahab longed for the vineyard which Naboth refused to sell, Jezebel caused Naboth to be falsely accused and stoned to death, and then told her husband to go and take possession. Elijah was soon on the spot to tell Ahab his doom, and of his wife he said, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel." Jehu was to be the instrument of vengeance. He killed Joram and wounded the king of Judah, then as he rode into Jezreel, Jezebel, with painted face and head attired, looked from a window and taunted him with "Had Zimri peace who slew his master?" But on Jehu asking who was on his side, the eunuchs looked out, and at his request they threw her down to the ground. Her blood was sprinkled on the wall and she was trodden under foot. When Jehu told them to bury the 'cursed woman,' it was found that, as foretold by the prophet, the dogs had eaten her, except her skull, her hands and her feet. In the N.T. she is mentioned as symbolical of an evil seducing system in the professing church that leads others into idolatrous associations. 1 Kings 16:31; 1 Kings 18:4, 13, 19; 1 Kings 19:1-2; 1 Kings 21:5-29; 2 Kings 9:7-37; Rev. 2:20.

Son and successor of Omri, king of Israel. He married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and under her influence became an idolater, and led Israel into the worship of Baal. Of him it is said, there was none like him in very abominably following idols. It was chiefly in his reign that Elijah the Tishbite laboured, and he testified for Jehovah against the apostasy and corruption of the king. The trial of fire from heaven is an especial instance of this, which was followed by the death of 450 of the prophets of Baal, 1 Kings 18:19-40, but there was no repentance in the king. Ahab made two attacks on Benhadad king of Syria and was helped by God so that he obtained the victory; on the second occasion instead of destroying Benhadad (whom the Lord had doomed to destruction) he made a treaty with him.

Ahab coveted the vineyard of Naboth, but on his refusal to part with the inheritance given by God to his fathers, Jezebel caused his death and bade Ahab take possession of the vineyard. Elijah met him there and declared that dogs should lick his blood where they had licked the blood of Naboth. The dogs should also eat Jezebel, and Ahab's house should be cut off. Ahab humbled himself before God, and the full end of his house was delayed till his son's days. After this Ahab made another attack upon Syria, and his 400 prophets foretold that he would be successful; and he, though warned of his danger by the prophet Micaiah, went into battle accompanied by Jehoshaphat king of Judah, his ally. He disguised himself, but an arrow, shot at a venture, smote him between the joints of his armour, and he was wounded to death, and the prediction of Elijah came literally to pass. 1 Kings 21, 22. Grace had lingered over this poor idolater, for he was an Israelite; but he died impenitent, and his whole house was soon to perish. 2 Kings 9:7-10. The judgement of God fell on the apostate king who had seized the inheritance of God's people.

The times of Ahab were corrupt in the extreme. — There were none like him whom Jezebel his Queen stirred up to sell himself to work wickedness and to do very abominably in following idols. But in those times Naboth of Jezreel stood as the righteous one in the land. Though it were to please the King he would not depart from the law of the Lord and sell His inheritance. He knew that it was the decree of the God of Israel that inheritances were not to remove from tribe to tribe, but that every one in Israel should keep himself to the inheritance of his fathers (Num. 36:9). But for his righteousness' sake he is called to suffer. Through the subtlety of Jezebel and by the hand of certain sons of Belial his blood is shed in Jezreel, (1 Kings 21:13) and his inheritance, the inheritance of his fathers, is usurped by Ahab. For this deed the Lord, by His Prophet, denounces judgment on Ahab and his house; and, accordingly by stroke upon stroke he makes a full end of them, and the blood of Ahab and the blood of Joram his son, and the blood of Jezebel are shed in the portion of Jezreel. Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, is called forth to finish this judgment, to be the avenger of blood, and to cleanse the land that had been thus polluted with it (Num. 35:33); and as his reward the throne of Israel is secured to his family for four generations (2 Kings 10:30).

As an introduction we will recall the time when Ahab came to power. Following the division of the kingdom He was the seventh king to ascend the throne of Israel, after the death of his father Omri. He was married to Jezebel and established the worship of Baal under the influence of his idolatrous wife. He built the temple to Baal's name and persecuted the prophets of God. We read that he wrought evil more than all his former fellow-monarchs (1 Kings 16: 30, 33). He even allowed his wife to kill the prophets of the Lord. Such a condition in Israel called for a response from above, and God sent the prophet Elijah to meet the prevailing apostasy. He went to the king and told him of the drought that would be in the land. A period of famine followed and the king's reaction was not one of seeking the Lord in time of trouble. Only when the famine became severe did the people and king appear to realise how evil a thing and bitter it is to forsake the Lord God and worship idols, as we will see further on.

Egged on by his wife, Jezebel, a heathen princess from nearby Zidon, Ahab challenges Jehovah again and again. He adopts her religion. Israel had often been unfaithful to God in the past, following these abominable fertility idols. Bitter consequences had been the result. Now Ahab officially embraced these heathen gods, building a temple and erecting an altar for Baal in his new capital, Samaria. Jezebel, we find as we go on in the story, killed many of Jehovah's prophets and sustained and supported at least 850 idolatrous prophets. Light and darkness can never dwell in harmony side by side. They are absolutely incompatible!

No comment is needed on the story of Naboth's vineyard. Jezebel, the wicked, and Ahab's submission to her was his ruination. On her Satanic suggestion one of the most wicked deeds recorded in Bible history is done. Naboth is murdered to obtain his vineyard. The measure of Ahab's apostasy and wickedness is now filled to overflowing. For the wicked king the tidings of Naboth's death were welcome tidings. No inquiry follows, but in self-satisfaction he goes to take possession of the beautified vineyard of Naboth. But his enjoyment, as it is always with the enjoyment of sin, did not last very long. No sooner had the innocent blood been spilt, than Jehovah, who saw and knew the foul deed, sent Elijah with the final message of doom and judgment for the guilty pair. Ahab was still in the vineyard. His eyes still feasted on the beautiful scene before him. His thoughts were occupied with the pleasures of sin when suddenly Elijah appeared. "I have found thee," were the prophet's first utterances. "Be sure your sin will find you out." Then follows the sentence already indicated in the words of the disguised prophet in the previous chapter. "I will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Abijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked Me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat." How literally this sentence was carried out we shall find in the subsequent history. But Ahab having humbled himself hears a merciful message from Elijah's lips. "Because he humbled himself before Me, I will not bring evil in his days, but in his son's days will I bring evil upon his house." How merciful the Lord is to all who humble themselves!

A Jezreelite, owner of a vineyard adjoining the property of Ahab, king of Israel. Ahab desired to purchase this vineyard, or exchange it for another; but Naboth refused to part with it, because it was the inheritance of his fathers. Jezebel, Ahab's wife, observing her husband's vexation on account of this refusal, wrote to the elders and nobles of the city where Naboth lived, telling them to proclaim a fast, to set Naboth in a prominent place, to get two sons of Belial to charge him with blaspheming God and the king, and then to stone him to death. The elders and nobles were mean and wicked enough to carry out her instructions, and sent word that Naboth was dead. Jezebel now informed her husband, and he went down to take possession of the vineyard; but God sent Elijah to tell him his doom and that of Jezebel. God could not allow such wickedness to go unpunished. 1 Kings 21:1-19; 2 Kings 9:21-26.

Nothing could more strikingly reveal the frightful moral corruption of Israel - of king and people - at this time than the details of this chapter. Naboth had a vineyard "hard by the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria." The king saw and coveted it for himself. It was near to his house, and he desired it for a garden of herbs. Accordingly he sought to obtain it from Naboth, either by exchange or by purchase. Outwardly this was fair and honest; but Ahab knew, or should have known, that he could not have it except by inducing Naboth to transgress the law of God. Naboth preferred obedience to the Word above the favour of the king and his own advantage, and thus he replied, "The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee." (See Num. 36:7.) Baulked in his project, "Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased … laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread." (v. 4.) In the previous chapter he likewise came to his house "heavy and displeased" (v. 43) because a prophet had pronounced judgment upon him for making an alliance with one whom God had appointed to destruction. Weakness and wickedness are often united, and in both cases the king was angry because the will of God was against his own, and interfered with his designs. But mark the lesson: whenever the heart is resolved upon evil, Satan is ever at hand to open the way for its commission. Covetousness had mastered the soul of Ahab, but he was lacking in courage; he feared to take what he longed to have. Jezebel was of another spirit; she had neither conscience nor fear. Daughter of a heathen king (1 Kings 16:31), she owned no law but that of her own wicked will. Like the unjust judge, she feared not God nor regarded man; and, determining that her husband should gratify the desire of his heart, she said, "I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." Her measures were soon taken. "She wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal," commanding Naboth to be falsely accused and to be stoned. Surely there would be conscience, we might think, in some of Jezreel's elders! Alas! the men of Naboth's city, "the elders and the nobles," fellow-citizens of this faithful man, hastened to obey the queen's command, brought in false witnesses, as in the case of our blessed Lord (also of Stephen), procured his condemnation, "stoned him with stones, that he died;" and they sent immediately to Jezebel to say, "Naboth is stoned, and is dead." (vv. 11-14.) Let the reader pause, and mark the consequences of covetousness in Ahab's heart. A simple desire, at first, for a convenient garden - such was the root of this deadly tree, bearing such a crop of poisonful fruit; such the trickling stream that swelled into this blackening river of corruption. Ahab wanted a garden; Jezebel determined he should have it at all costs; and the elders of Jezreel, wishing to commend themselves to the queen, carried out her commands even at the cost of shedding innocent blood. What an unfolding of the heart of man!

At Jezebel's instigation, Ahab adds sin to sin, and a piece of flagrant injustice fills up the apostasy of the king of Israel. He enjoys the fruit of a crime which he had not courage to commit himself. His enjoyment was short-lived. Sent by God to meet the king, Elijah goes before him into the vineyard, which Ahab went down to possess. The king's heart bows before the word of Jehovah, and the fulfilment of the judgment is put off until the days of his son: a new proof of the longsuffering of a God ever ready to accept and respond to any movement of man's heart towards Himself.

The reign of Ahab, looked at historically, was in general prosperous and glorious. Moab was tributary. Syria subject and quiet. The king had an ivory palace, and built fresh cities: a new motive to own Jehovah, a snare to one who worshipped Baal. God did not regard all this prosperity. In a moral point of view, this reign stamps its character upon the kingdom of Israel. It is apostasy and iniquity, but at the same time the testimony of a faithful and patient God.

The messenger carried out the commission and at the same time states the judgment work into which God had called him. He was to execute judgment on the house of Ahab, to avenge the blood of the prophets and the Lord's servants at the hand of Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab was to perish like Jeroboam (1 Kings 14:10) and that of Baasha (1 Kings 16:3). "And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her." More than fifteen years had passed since Jehovah through Elijah had announced the doom of the house of Ahab and the doom of Jezebel. And now the hour of execution had come. God will judge in the end, though He is never in haste to execute His threatened judgments. The day is surely coming when the Lord will judge this world, when especially Jezebel (Rev. 2:20), Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, drunken with the blood of the saints, the Romish apostate "church," will receive her judgment. "And in her was found the blood of the prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain on the earth" (Rev. 17:5-6, 18:24).