A Jezebel

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, ... that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.

-- I Kings 16: 30-31 (KJV)

The First Book of Kings forms part of a larger biblical strand, stretching from Deuteronomy to Second Kings, known as the "Deuteronomistic history." By and large the moral of these books is that the Israelites and their rulers repeatedly "did evil in the sight of the Lord," which explains various historical tragedies.

Even the wise Solomon strayed from the true path by tolerating the gods of his many heathen wives. Far more brazen, however, the apostate Ahab, ruler of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the ninth century B.C., "did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him" (I Kings 16: 33).

Ahab's father Omri, seeking an alliance with the Phoenicians, had married him to Jezebel, princess of Tyre. Soon after, Jezebel set about perverting both Ahab and Israel to the worship of Baal, the storied Canaanite thunder god. Ahab even built an altar to the god in Samaria, while Jezebel "cut off [that is, slaughtered] the prophets of the Lord" (18: 4). And that was just for starters.

Nonetheless, a few godly men did survive her murderous campaign, including the prophet Elijah. He colorfully expressed the Lord's disgust by predicting that "The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel" (21: 23), site of Ahab's palace. Sure enough, Jezebel met her fate at the hands of the Baal-hating king, Jehu, who had her thrown out a high window (II Kings 9: 33). And when Jehu's men went to collect Jezebel's remains, they found only her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands (verse 35). Elijah's prophecy had been fulfilled.

Jezebel -- whose name means "Where's the prince?" in Hebrew -- has gone down in history as the most wicked woman in the entire Bible. In the New Testament, she is the archetype of the evil temptress; God himself vilifies her in Revelation (2: 20). In later times, she would serve as a metaphor for a wicked and corrupting woman, especially one who wore lots of makeup. (Jezebel had attempted to hide from Jehu by painting her face -- thus the intensified insult is "painted Jezebel.")

 
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Michael Macrone is Associate Site Producer of GraceCom and the author of nine books on language, literature, and ideas, including the best-selling Brush Up Your Shakespeare!