Who was Jezebel in the Bible?

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.

In Pergamos the Lord spoke about the doctrine of Balaam and his activity of evil in the Old Testament. Here in Thyatira the Lord speaks of the evil of Jezebel. This was the name of a well-known wicked queen in the days of Elijah the prophet of the Lord. She was the "daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians" and wife of Ahab, king of Israel (1 Kings 16:31 ). Her father had been a priest of Astarte (Venus) and the family was famous for intense devotion to Baal. She fed 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah at her table and slew the prophets of the Lord (1 Kings 18:13,19; N.Tn). Her whoredoms and witchcrafts are spoken of as "so many" by king Jehu who was used of God to execute judgment upon her and the whole house of Ahab (2 Kings 9:22). We are also told that she was the instigator of all the evil which her husband Ahab did. "There was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up" (1 Kings 21:25 ). Such was the character of wicked Jezebel and such has been the manifested evil, idolatrous and murderous character of the wicked, ecclesiastical system of Rome which Jezebel typifies in Thyatira.

Jezebel! One of the most sinister figures in the Word of God! This wicked woman not only wrought incalculable mischief amongst God's chosen earthly people in the days of Elijah's testimony; her name is used by the Holy Spirit in Rev: 2:20 as the symbol of a frightful system of evil which has intruded itself into a more sacred circle than Israel ever was. One of Ahab's many sins was his marriage with idolatrous Jezebel. "It came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him" (1 Kings 16:31). The Israelites were expressly forbidden to inter-marry with the corrupt nations of Canaan; "thy daughter shalt thou not give to his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take to thy son. "The inevitable consequences of disobedience in this respect were divinely stated: "they will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly" (Deut. 7:3-4). Here there is no suggestion that a God-fearing husband or wife might win for the truth an ungodly partner; the very opposite result in sure. The influence of a woman over a man is considerable; it is of the greatest importance therefore that every one who knows God should be divinely mated. Many a man besides Ahab has been ruined by a marriage contract entered into in defiance of the Word of God. A great contrast to Jezebel is found in Abigail. Well might David, after she had restrained him from violence, say, "Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me, and blessed be thy advice" (1 Sam. 25:32). Happy is the man who in any age and in any land, meets an Abigail!

Ahab was a weak character; Jezebel was strong and energetic. A most unfortunate combination! 1 Kings 21:27 suggests that his whole course might have been different had his wife been an Abigail instead of Jezebel. When Elijah pronounced the divine sentence upon him after the murder of Naboth, we read that "he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. "This was excellent; and Jehovah so far relented towards him that the judgement was at least deferred. No man's weakness of character excuses his wickedness; still, God in His pitifulness, does take account of the influences which surround us all. "There was none like to Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up" (1 Kings 21:25). But he should never have married the woman!

Elijah had witnessed the good confession before the wicked king, the false prophets and the idolatrous nation; now he is called to face the opposition of a very different character, that of the wicked Jezebel. The king was selfish and indolent, seeking only the gratification of his lusts and pleasures and quite indifferent to religion. Jezebel, on the contrary, was a woman of intense energy, a religious fanatic, pursuing idolatry with untiring zeal, protecting the priests of Baal, and persecuting the servants of the Lord. In order to attain her religious ends she sought to wield the secular and regal power of her weak husband.

To understand the spiritual significance of the "woman Jezebel," we must recall the history of Israel in the days of the actual Jezebel. Ahab was then king, who "did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him." His great sin was that he took to wife the daughter of Ethbaal, King of the Zidonians. Having entered into, this worldly alliance he lost his place and authority as king, and permitted this wicked woman to rule, even to writing letters in his name, and subscribing them with his seal. Under her rule the whole country was led into idolatry; false prophets of Baal were protected, and the prophets of the Lord were persecuted.

This evil condition of the nation of Israel, under the sway of Jezebel, is reproduced in the period of the Church's history represented by Thyatira. As the outcome of the false alliance of the Church with the world, in the Pergamos period, there arises a false ecclesiastical system that seeks to dominate Christendom; that, like a prophetess, professes to speak with divine authority, and communicate the mind of God; that takes the place of "teacher" and "leader" of God's people, for, says the Lord, "Thou sufferest … that woman … to teach and to lead away my servants" (N. Tr.). Thus the Word of God, as giving the mind of God, the Spirit of God as being the Teacher, and Christ as the Head and the Leader of His people, are set aside by the substituted teaching of this evil system.

Then comes Jezebel, the wicked. She died as she had lived, in wickedness and pride. She knew she had to die. The evil tidings had reached Jezreel, where once in younger days she was queen and mistress. She painted her face to make herself look beautiful. Did she attempt to attract Jehu? Hardly that, for she was an old woman, having a grandson twenty-two years old (2 Kings 8:26). It was a proud defiance--she would meet death like a queen. The miserable, doomed woman, the dunghill of all vileness (Jezebel means "dunghill"), the instigator of crimes, looked out of the window, while Jehu's chariot came thundering on. Then she spoke, "Is it peace--Zimri! murderer of his master?" It was a bold taunt. Zimri had murdered his master, but reigned only seven days (1 Kings 16:9-19). She reminds him of Zimri's deed and Zimri's fate. Eunuchs threw her out of the window. The blood bespattered the wall and the prancing horses. The chariot of Jehu rushed on over her body. He did not pay any attention to her mangled body. Jehu entered the royal palace to feast and afterwards gave command to bury the cursed woman. But little was left of her. And Jehu 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." God's judgments are often slow, but they are sure.

The life of Jezebel stands out from the black page of the divine history of man as the embodiment of the corruption of royalty, and even if the Lord has to refer to the reign as Ahab's when singling it out by His prophet as an example well describing the evil for which sure destruction would fall upon all Israel (Micah 6:16), yet He lets us know in 1 Kings 21:25, that He is not blind to the source of Ahab's wickedness. "There was none," He says, "like unto Ahab which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." Those who were faithful to the God of Israel were nothing to her as we know, and she reckoned even the life of Jehovah's prophet of no account if it offered any barrier to the idolatry and lust which she unscrupulously indulged.

Jezebel now again appears on the scene. She has been well described as "the wife of responsible Ahab," and consequently the height of his offence was, as we learn from the use of Jezebel's name in Rev. 2, in suffering her to take his place, and to act by his authority. More wicked, if possible, than her husband, as resolute as he was timid, untroubled by any scruples, neither fearing God nor regarding man, she would soon obtain for Ahab the coveted vineyard. "Dost thou now," she asks, "govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.'' Then, having secured the death of the obnoxious Israelite by a series of infamous and diabolical acts she returned and said to the king, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth … for Naboth is not alive, but dead."

Nothing reveals more fully the wicked perversity of Ahab's heart than the fact that, in obedience to the command of his wife, he went immediately down, without a question as to the cause or manner of Naboth's death, to take possession of the vineyard. At last his desire could be gratified! So thinks many a sinner as he plucks the coveted fruit from the branch, and puts it to his lips; but he forgets that he cannot escape from the eye of God. While Ahab was lying upon his bed, irritated by Naboth's refusal to sell his vineyard, and while the wicked Jezebel was devising the means of compassing Naboth's destruction, God was watching. If He is not in all the thoughts of the sinner, the day of reckoning will none the less surely come. Already Jehovah had instructed Elijah to go down and meet Ahab: "Behold he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone to possess it." Jehovah had once more lifted up His hand in judgment; and who can stand in His sight when once He is angry?

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!

And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria." Ahab was not the first to introduce Baal-worship in Israel: it had been known among them since their entrance into the land, but under his rule and the powerful influence of Jezebel, his wife, it became the established form of idolatry, as calf-worship was made under Jeroboam. Baal was the sun-god of the ancient inhabitants of the land (as of the Phenicians), and his worship was accompanied by the most obscene rites and impurities.

Dius and Menander, Tyrian historians, mention an Eithobalus of Ahab's time, who was priest of Ashtoreth (female consort of Baal), who having murdered Pheles, became king of Tyre. See Josephus, c. apion, i. 18. This was, in all probability, Jezebel's father. Her zeal for the spread and maintenance of the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, or Astarte, is therefore easily accounted for; hence, also, her inveterate hatred of the holy worship of Jehovah, and her murderous designs against His prophets. Her name means chaste — Satan's counterfeit or ridicule, as it were, of purity. Was it the hope of strengthening his kingdom, or her seductions, with the attractions of her painted face, that led Ahab into this alliance? Behind it all, we may be sure, Satan was seeking by this new move to utterly corrupt and destroy God's people and His truth from the earth. "And Ahab made a grove" — Asherah — an image, or pavilion, to Astarte" and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.