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Jezebel

Jezebel was a Phoenician queen in the 9th century BC who, according to the Bible, urged her husband King Ahab to support the worship of the Phoenician god Baal and had prophets of Israel killed for refusing to convert. She met a gruesome end after being thrown from a window at the command of Jehu and left to be eaten by dogs. While she may have been a historical figure, scholars debate whether the biblical account accurately portrays her actions and influence.

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Carmen Flores
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37 views2 pages

Jezebel

Jezebel was a Phoenician queen in the 9th century BC who, according to the Bible, urged her husband King Ahab to support the worship of the Phoenician god Baal and had prophets of Israel killed for refusing to convert. She met a gruesome end after being thrown from a window at the command of Jehu and left to be eaten by dogs. While she may have been a historical figure, scholars debate whether the biblical account accurately portrays her actions and influence.

Uploaded by

Carmen Flores
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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14

Jezebel

(421 words)

I 1 A villain of the Old Testament, Jezebel was a Phoenician queen


whose name has become synonymous with wicked women. In
the biblical account, she repeatedly tried to coerce the Israelites
into worshipping her god, Baal, and then had the prophets of
5 Israel murdered when they refused.
II Jezebel’s story is related in two books of the Old Testament, 1
Kings and 2 Kings. Whether she was an actual person—and
whether she deserves her dastardly reputation—is the subject of
scholarly debate. If real, she would have lived in the ninth
10 century BC.
III Described in the Bible as the daughter of a king, Jezebel was
married to King Ahab, the ruler of the northern Israelites.
Another unpopular figure in the Old Testament, Ahab was one of
a string of bad rulers whose sins had incurred God’s wrath.
15 Indeed, in the words of the King James Bible, “Ahab did more to
provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of
Israel that were before him.”
15

IV At Jezebel’s urging, Ahab allowed the worship of the


Phoenician god Baal. She also urged Ahab to give the temples of
20 Baal financial support and supposedly used unspecified sexual
temptations to attract new worshippers. After Ahab’s death, her
sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram, took over the kingdom while their
mother continued her pro-Baal activities.
V Baal was widely worshipped across the Mediterranean, and it is
25 likely that the story in the Bible is a roughly accurate description
of ancient religious strife in the Middle East. A seal that may have
belonged to Jezebel was unearthed in the early 1960s, although
many scholars have dismissed theories that it had any connection
to the biblical figure.
VI 30 Jezebel’s demise, according to the Bible, came after Jehu was
commissioned by God to “smite the house of Ahab” and end the
“whoredoms” and “witchcrafts” of Jezebel. After killing Jehoram,
Jehu cornered Jezebel at her palace. Knowing she was about to be
killed, she put on her makeup (hence the term “painted Jezebel”)
35 and confronted him. He ordered her thrown out of a window,
where her body was torn apart by dogs—ensuring, in the Old
Testament’s charming description, that “the carcass of Jezebel
shall be as dung upon the face of the field.”
VII ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
40 1. A jezebel is also a type of Asian butterfly. Males of the
species are pale, while females are vividly colorful.
2. Jezebel means “Where is His Highness?” in Phoenician.
3. The term Jezebel, once used as a pejorative, has been
adopted by feminist groups, women’s magazines, and even
45 a lingerie line.

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