Jezebel
Jezebel was the daughter of Ithobaal I of Tyre and the wife of Ahab, King of Israel, according to the Book of Kings of the Hebrew Bible.
In the biblical narrative, Jezebel replaced Yahwism with Baal and Asherah worship and was responsible for Naboth's death. This caused irreversible damage to the reputation of the Omride dynasty, who were already unpopular among the Israelites. For these offences, Jezebel was defenestrated and devoured by dogs, under Jehu's orders, as prophesied by Elijah. In the Book of Revelation, the name Jezebel is contemptuously attributed to a prophetic woman of Thyatira, whom the author, through the voice of the risen Christ, accuses of leading her followers into fornication. For refusing to repent, she is threatened with sexualized punishment and the death of her children.
Jezebel, an Anglicized form of the Hebrew name אִיזֶבֶל, is often interpreted as meaning “Where is the Lord?”—a phrase linked to Baal worship rituals. As queen, according to the Hebrew Bible, Jezebel promoted the worship of Baal and Asherah in Samaria, clashing with the followers of Yahweh, killing prophets, and challenging established religious norms. Notable events in her biblical narrative include her conflict with the prophet Elijah, the orchestrated execution of Naboth to secure a vineyard for Ahab, and her violent death at the hands of Jehu, fulfilling Elijah’s prophecy. Scholars debate the historicity of her story, noting inconsistencies and theological bias in the biblical accounts, though some evidence, such as royal seals and extrabiblical records, suggest she may have been a real political figure engaged in the complex religious and dynastic politics of her time.
Over centuries, Jezebel became a cultural symbol associated with false prophets, manipulative women, and promiscuity. In Christian traditions, she was seen as leading others into idolatry and sin, and her image influenced medieval and modern perceptions of powerful or nonconforming women. The concept of the “Jezebel spirit” has emerged in some American Christian circles, portraying her as a demonic influence in spiritual and political contexts. Jezebel has also permeated popular culture through literature, music, and film, often reinterpreted as a misunderstood or vilified figure, inspiring works ranging from William Wyler's 1938 film Jezebel to contemporary songs, novels, and feminist scholarship that challenge traditional portrayals of her character.
Meaning of name
Jezebel is the Anglicized transliteration of the Hebrew . The Oxford Guide to People & Places of the Bible states that the name is "best understood as meaning 'Where is the Lord?'", a ritual cry from worship ceremonies in honor of Baal during periods of the year when the god was considered to be in the underworld. Alternatively, a feminine Punic name noted by the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum,, may have been a cognate to the original form of the name, as the Israelites were known to often alter personal names which invoked the names of foreign gods.Biblical account
Jezebel is introduced into the biblical narrative as a Phoenician princess, the daughter of Ithobaal I, king of Tyre.According to apocryphal genealogies given in Josephus and other classical sources, she was the great-aunt of Dido, Queen of Carthage. As the daughter of Ithobaal I, she was also the sister of Baal-Eser II. Jezebel eventually married King Ahab of Samaria, the northern kingdom of Israel.
Near Eastern scholar Charles R. Krahmalkov proposed that Psalm 45 records the wedding ceremony of Ahab and Jezebel, but other scholars cast doubt on this association. This marriage was the culmination of the friendly relations existing between Israel and Phoenicia during Omri's reign, and possibly cemented important political designs of Ahab. Jezebel, like the foreign wives of Solomon, required facilities for carrying on her form of worship, so Ahab made a Baalist altar in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. Geoffrey Bromiley points out that it was Phoenician practice to install a royal woman as a priestess of Astarte, thus she would have a more active role in temple and palace relations than was customary in the Hebrew monarchy.
Elijah
Her coronation as queen upset the balance of power between Yahwism and Baalism. As queen, Jezebel institutionalized Baalism and killed Yahwist prophets, which most likely included the priests of Jeroboam's golden calf cult, and desecrated their altars. Obadiah, a pro-Yahwist figure in Ahab's royal court, secretly protected the survivors of these purges in a cave. Some modern commentators observe that Jezebel's desecration of Yahwist altars would have normally been condoned since they were built outside of Jerusalem, which contravened the Deuteronomic Code. However, they were overlooked due to Elijah's piety or Jezebel's 'improper' motives. Alternatively, some scholars argue that the Deuteronomic Code promotes laicization and considers all of Israel to be Yahweh's "sacred space". Theologians likewise argue that the "sacred space" is any place where Yahweh "manifested" to humans, according to the Book of Exodus.As a result, Elijah invited Jezebel's prophets of Baal and Asherah to a challenge at Mount Carmel. The theologian Adam Clarke writing in the early 1800s argued that these prophets would have been royal chaplains and that the Baalist prophets had more jurisdiction over Samaria during Jezebel's reign than the Asherah prophets, who were always indigenous to Samaria. The challenge was to see which god, Yahweh or Baal, would burn a bull sacrifice on an altar. Jezebel's prophets failed to summon Baal in burning the bull sacrifice, despite their cries and cutting themselves. Elijah, however, succeeded when he summoned Yahweh, impressing the Israelites. He then ordered the people to seize and kill the prophets of Baal and Asherah at the Kishon River. In response, Jezebel vows to kill Elijah. Elijah fled to Mount Horeb, where he mourned the apostasy of Israel.
Naboth
Jezebel was said to have resolved a failed business deal between Ahab and a civilian named Naboth, concerning a vineyard. To do this, she ordered the execution of Naboth and his sons, under false charges of blasphemy against God and the king. Commentators observe that the execution was performed according to the Biblical guidelines so that suspicions of foul play could be minimized. After Naboth's death, his corpse was licked by stray dogs. His execution was criticized by Elijah, who prophesized doom for Jezebel's family as punishment.Death
Three years later, Ahab died in battle. Jezebel's son Ahaziah inherited the throne, but died as the result of an accident and was succeeded by his brother, Jehoram. Jehu later usurped the throne and killed Jehoram, and his nephew Ahaziah, who was the son of Jehoram's possible sister Athaliah and her Judahite husband Jehoram. He later approached Jezebel at the royal palace in Jezreel.Anticipating his arrival, Jezebel put on make-up and a formal wig with adornments and looked out of a window and taunted him. Bromiley says that it should be looked at less as an attempt at seduction and more as the public defiance of the queen mother, invested with the authority of the royal house and cult to confront a rebellious commander. In his two-volume Guide to the Bible, Isaac Asimov describes Jezebel's last act: dressing in all her finery, make-up, and jewelry, as deliberately symbolic, indicating her dignity, royal status, and determination to go out of this life as a queen.
Jehu remained unfazed and ordered Jezebel's eunuch servants to throw her from the window. Her blood splattered on the wall and horses, and Jehu's horse trampled her corpse. He entered the palace where, after he ate and drank, ordered Jezebel's body to be taken for burial. However, only her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands remained—her flesh had been eaten by stray dogs, just as the prophet Elijah had prophesied.
Historicity
According to Israel Finkelstein, the marriage of King Ahab to the daughter of the ruler of the Phoenician empire was a sign of the power and prestige of Ahab and the northern Kingdom of Israel. He termed it a "brilliant stroke of international diplomacy". He says that the inconsistencies and anachronisms in the biblical stories of Jezebel and Ahab mean that they must be considered "more of a historical novel than an accurate historical chronicle". Among these inconsistencies, 1 Kings 20 states that "Ben-Hadad king of Aram" invaded Samaria during Ahab's reign, but this event did not take place until later in the history of Israel, and "Ben-Hadad" was the title of the ruler of Aram-Damascus. Finkelstein also states that the biblical accounts are "obviously influenced by the theology of the seventh century BCE writers". They were hostile to polytheism and viewed Samaria as a rival to Jerusalem.According to Dr J. Bimson, of Trinity College, Bristol 1 and 2 Kings mix the annals of history with legends, folktales, miracle stories and "fictional constructions", and presentation of earlier sources is heavily edited to fit the Deuteronomist agenda. Janet Howe Gaines likewise finds the narratives implausible, especially the narrative of Naboth being betrayed by an entire Israelite town. But Christian Frevel argues that the biblical narrative subtly alludes to the Omrides' historical role in introducing Yahwism to Judah, which was obfuscated by anti-Omride Judeans. For example, Ahab gave his children theophoric names during his years of expansion in the northern territories and Judah. Other scholars propose that the Baal worshipped by Ahab and Jezebel was the "YHWH of Samaria", which was opposed as Yahwist heresy by the Judean priests, but some disagree based on archaeological evidence and extrabiblical records on Jezebel's upbringing. Brian R. Doak believes the narratives are historically plausible because of the historicity of Omri and Ahab, evidence for widespread paganism among Israelites, international marriages for political purposes and competition between religious professionals during periods of "political unrest or social change". In addition, other contemporary sources, including sources written by Phoenicians, face similar issues in terms of being unverified by third-party sources.
A seal from the 9th century BCE, discovered in 1964, has a partially damaged inscription of "YZBL" which could have once read, "belonging to Jezebel". However, there are some issues with this theory. Whereas on the seal it appears the inscription begins with the letter yodh, Jezebel's name starts with an aleph, which is lacking on the seal; furthermore, the possessive lamedh which would translate to the predicate "belonging to ..." is also missing from the seal. However, it is entirely possible these letters simply could have been located where the seal is now damaged. The seal includes motifs associated with both Egyptian and Israelite royalty, such as the Uraeus cobra, which is commonly found on pharaonic artifacts, and symbols such as the winged sun and ankh, which are found on numerous other Israelite royal seals from the 8th century BCE and onwards. Regardless, scholars do not agree on whether the seal is evidence for the historicity of the biblical character. Some scholars have said that the size and intricacy of the seal could mean it was used by royalty. If the seal truly represents Jezebel, then she most likely represented 'Anat as queen, who was the wife of the Ugaritic Baal. This aligns with Phoenician royal tradition.