Jezebel, also spelled Jezabel (died c. 843 bc), in the Old Testament (Kings I and II), the wife of King Ahab, who ruled the kingdom of Israel; by interfering with the exclusive worship of the Hebrew god Yahweh, disregarding the rights of the common man, and defying the great prophets Elijah and Elisha, she provoked the internecine strife that enfeebled Israel for decades. She has come to be known as an archetype of the wicked woman.
Jezebel from “Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum “
Jezebel was the daughter of the priest-king Ethbaal, ruler of the coastal Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon (modern Ṣaydā, Lebanon). When Jezebel married Ahab (ruled c. 874–c. 853), she persuaded him to introduce the worship of the Tyrian god Baal-Melkart, a nature god. A woman of fierce energy, she tried to destroy those who opposed her; most of the prophets of Yahweh were killed at her command. These cruel and despotic actions provoked the righteous wrath of Elijah; according to I Kings 17, he accurately prophesied the onset of a severe drought as divine retribution. Some time later, Elijah had the Baal priests slain after they had lost a contest with him to see which god would heed prayers to ignite a bull offering, Baal or Yahweh. When Jezebel heard of the slaughter, she angrily swore to have Elijah killed, forcing him to flee for his life (I Kings 18:19–19:3).
The Death of Jezebel, engraving by Gustave Doré.
The last vicious act attributed to Jezebel is recorded in I Kings 21:5–16. Adjacent to Ahab’s palace was a vineyard, which he coveted; it belonged to a commoner, Naboth of Jezreel (an ancient city at the foot of Mt. Gilboa, probably the site of the modern Israeli settlement of the same name). When Naboth refused to part with his vineyard (“the inheritance of my fathers”), Jezebel falsely charged him with blaspheming “God and the king,” which led to Naboth’s death by stoning. Elijah confronted Ahab in the vineyard, predicting that he and all his heirs would be destroyed and that dogs in Jezreel would devour Jezebel.
A few years later, Ahab perished in battle with the Syrians. Jezebel lived on for approximately another ten years. Elijah’s successor, Elisha the prophet, equally determined to end Baal worship, had a military commander named Jehu anointed to be king of Israel, an act that provoked civil war, for Jezebel’s son Jehoram (Joram) then ruled. Jehu killed Jehoram at the site of Naboth’s property and then went to Jezebel’s palace. Expecting him, she adorned herself for the occasion. Looking down from her window, she taunted him, and Jehu ordered her eunuchs to throw her out the window. Later, when he commanded that she be properly buried as a king’s daughter, it was discovered that dogs had eaten most of her body.
Jezebel and Ahab meeting Elijah, print by Sir Francis Dicksee (1853-1928)
