the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Jezebel
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Jez'ebel. (chaste). Wife of Ahab, king of Israel. (B.C. 883). She was a Phoenician princess, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians. In her hands, her husband became a mere puppet. 1 Kings 21:25. The first effect of her influence was the immediate establishment of the Phoenician worship, on a grand scale in the court of Ahab. At her table were supported no less than 450 prophets of Baal and 400 of Eastward. 1 Kings 16:31; 1 Kings 16:21; 1 Kings 18:19. The prophets of Jehovah were attacked by her orders, and put to the sword. 1 Kings 18:13; 2 Kings 9:7.
At last the people, at the instigation of Elijah, rose against her ministers and slaughtered them at the foot of Carmel. When she found her husband cast down by his disappointment, at being thwarted by Naboth, 1 Kings 21:7, she wrote a warrant in Ahab's name, and sealed it with his seal. To her, and not to Ahab, was sent the announcement that the royal wishes were accomplished, 1 Kings 21:14, and on her accordingly fell the prophet's curse, as well as on her husband, 1 Kings 21:23, a curse fulfilled so literally by Jehu, whose chariot-horses trampled out her life. The body was left in that open space called, in modern eastern language, "the mounds," where offal is thrown from the city walls. 2 Kings 9:30-37.
These files are public domain.
Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Jezebel'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/j/jezebel.html. 1901.
