Jezebel
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1 Ki 16:31 |
And as though it were not enough to live like Jeroboam, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and he began to worship Baal. |
Jezebel is restrained by no fear of
either man or the God of Israel and is passionate in her attachment to
Baal and Ashtoreth - Gods of the Phoenicians. She is
credited with introducing these foreign gods into Israel.
In a sense, Ahab and Jezebel become the earthly
counterparts of Baal and Ashtoreth. Four hundred and
fifty prophets under her care minister to Baal, besides
four hundred prophets of the groves [R.V., 'prophets of
the Asherah'], which eat at her table (1 Kings 18:19).
And she persecutes the prophets of Yahweh, the God of
Israel.
| 1Ki 18:4 | Once when Jezebel had tried to kill all the LORD's prophets, Obadiah had hidden one hundred of them in two caves. He had put fifty prophets in each cave and had supplied them with food and water. |
The question of whether or not Baal is an historic reality or a generic term applied to any foreign god in Israel is intriguing. The figure should be Baal-Melcarth who was worshipped in Sidon and Tyre, but in the Elijah narrative the foreigner is understood to be Baal-Hadad, the Lord of Mount Carmel associated with rain. A Phoenician source indicates there was a drought during the reign of Ethbaal, Ahab's father-in-law, and the dynamic battle between Elijah the prophet of the God of Israel and those who are the prophets of Baal occurs at Mount Carmel, a promontory close-by the sea of the present-day Haifa during a drought. (1 Kings 18:1-46).
The Elijah cycle reveals the essential answer to the spiritual question : "When I call upon God - Who will answer?"
We are told the priests of Baal dance in halting-wise about the altars and cut their flesh and work themselves into a religious frenzy, but Baal answers them not; whereas at evening, the fire of the Lord falls and consumes the burnt-offering of Elijah. At this sign the people fall on their faces and say Adonay hu ha-elohim ("The Lord, He is God").1
According to the word of Elijah the Tishbite the people seize the prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel and deliver them down to the Kishon where they are slain with the result that Jezebel determines (unsuccessfully) to kill Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-3).
She herself later suffers an unpleasant end.
| 1Ki 21:23 | The LORD has also told me that the dogs of Jezreel will eat the body of your wife, Jezebel, at the city wall. |
| 2Ki 9:22 | Jehu replied, "How can there be peace as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother, Jezebel, are all around us?" |
We are told specifically (2 Kings 9:30) "And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes and adorned her head, and looked down from the window." Thus Jezebel takes on the trappings of royal authority reminiscent of Pharoah2, who is treated as a "living God." At Jehu's bidding she is cast down from the window by two or three eunuchs and her blood splatters the wall and the horses, wherewith Jehu tramples her underfoot.
2 Kings also tells us of a daughter of Jezebel named Athaliah who married Jehoran King of Judah. Following the deaths of both her husband and her son, rather than give up the throne as Queen Mother to her son's widow, Athaliah murders all her grandchildren (save for Joash who was concealed by an aunt) and manages to reign in Judah for six years.
In the tale of Jezebel and her daughter we are confronted dangers of the divinization of the king and the divided worship of nature and man as represented by Baal. This spiritual division also mirrors the earthly division of the children of Israel into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. We must conclude that marriage alliances outside the nation are disastrous for the King and ultimately for the people.
At her death all that remains of Jezebel is her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands. The skull symbolizes the vanity of earthly attachments3 and human mortality. The feet are the foundation of those attachments; and because palms signify divine truths, the palms of the hands of Jezebel are empty of any divine truth. (2 Kings 10:37) "And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel."
It may be noted that she is said to have been the grand-aunt of Dido, the legendary founder and Queen of Carthage.
The name Jezebel afterwards came to be used as the
synonym for a wicked woman (Rev. 2: 20).
| Re 2:20 | But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman – that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet – to lead my servants astray. She is encouraging them to worship idols, eat food offered to idols, and commit sexual sin. |
In the New Testament Jezebel is mentioned as the licentious false prophet of the (Christian) Thyatira Church, one of the Seven Churches of Asia. Some say the Thyatiran Jezebel was the wife of the leader of the Thyatira Church, who undid all the good work her husband did. Others contend that she was a female oracle outside the walls called the Sambathe who presided over a lucrative fortune-telling business there. Barclay believes a third explanation devolving on Thyatira's prosperity as a trading city reknown for the expensive purple dye made from the madder root which grew around Thyatira and the murex shellfish. He says the influence of the Thyatiran trade guilds was the "Jezebel" threatening the Church of Thyatira. Ancient reliefs found throughout Asia Minor vividly portrayed the licentious nature of the guild feasts.
1These are now the last words spoken at the conclusion of the Yom Kippur service.
2The desire of Jezebel and her daughter Athalia for royal power are reminiscent also of Hatshepsut (1503 bce-1482 bce), the only woman to reign over Egypt as Pharoah.
3In Hindu scripture, the goddess Kali who dances at the end of time, wears a girdle of skulls, and Jesus is crucified at Golgotha, the "place of the skull."
Books about Jezebel from Barnes and Noble.
Virginia DeBolt, Jezebel Revisited - effort to review Jezebel as getting a bad rap.
Jonas Clark, Jezebel, Seducing Goddess of War - interesting development in traditional interpretation.
Fernanda Figueiredo and Kirill Pantine, Jezebel - French transcription of Charles Aznavour chanson.
Robin Hood, Jezebel - transcription 1951 Frankie Lane hit. A song clip in ram format Jezebel
Jezebel - a site for sore eyes graphics backgrounds.
Jezebel's Goddess - little Phoenician statue of Astarte c. 300 bce
The pillar and the grove can still be found on Mount Carmel.
Edgar Cayce clairvoyant readings resulted in a Journey to Mount Carmel.
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©1999 Joan A. Andersen All Rights Reserved.
09/10/1999