![]() They believe that they are right and others are wrong, and they are determined to have everything their way. They will not listen to reason they will not consider the feelings of others they will not face the potential consequences of their intended actions. With unyielding obstinacy they keep demanding their own way and looking for every possible means and method of doing or having what they want. Their indomitable self-will which has never been surrendered to God will seldom give in to those around them. Marriages to stubborn, willful people can bring unhappiness to all concerned. This stubborn, headstrong, self-willed wife of Ahab brought disruption and distress to Israel for years to come. And Baal worship lived on, dragging the nation to new depths of degradation. It was the lowest point in the godly prophet’s great career. She swore in her rage that she would kill Elijah, and he ran for his life, collapsed in the wilderness under a juniper tree, and pleaded with God to let him die. But Jezebel was not finished with her sinister work. The prophets of Baal were slain and it looked as though the nation would turn back to God. God gave him a great victory when he called down fire from heaven upon Mount Carmel. But Elijah was the only one courageous enough to stand up openly against Jezebel’s wickedness. Another group of 100 were hidden in a cave and fed secretly by a godly servant of Ahab named Obadiah. Some prophets survived by compromising their convictions and turning into “yes” men for Ahab. She had to have things completely her way, and she almost succeeded. Not satisfied to establish her religion in Israel, Jezebel sought to stamp out every remnant of Jehovah worship and to kill every true prophet of God. ![]() Their duties would have been to promote the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth throughout the land. Then she brought 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Ashtoreth from Phoenicia, housed them in the palace, and fed them in royal style. She got him to build a house for Baal beside the palace in Samaria, as well as an “Ashtoreth,” that is, an idol of the fertility goddess. She was a headstrong, self-willed, domineering woman, and with a moral weakling for a husband, she had little trouble getting her way. The worship of Jehovah must have seemed dull and commonplace by comparison, and she was determined to change it. Jezebel was fanatical about her religion. In times of crisis such as famine, they slashed themselves and even sacrificed their children to appease the gods and implore their help. So idols of both Baal and Ashtoreth stood side by side in their temples and were worshiped by priests and temple prostitutes with lewd dances and sacred orgies, with the hope that their god and goddess would follow their example and increase the productivity of their agriculture, their animals, and their children. Ashtoreth was considered to be the mother-goddess of fertility. He owned it, they said, and he controlled its weather and the increase of its crops and cattle. Baal was considered to be the god of the land. Jezebel had grown up steeped in the worship of Baal and his female consort, Astarte (or Ashtoreth). The king of Phoenicia was not only the political leader of his people, he was also the high priest of their religion, as his name Ethbaal implies. That is how Jezebel happened to move to Samaria, the capital of Israel, and there is only one way to describe it - a whirlwind hit Israel. With the ever-present menace of Syria and the growing threat of Assyria, Ahab decided that he needed an alliance with this neighboring nation, so he made a treaty with the king of Phoenicia and sealed it by marrying his daughter. “Sidonians” was another name for the Phoenicians, that seafaring people on the Mediterranean coast who occupied the great cities of Tyre and Sidon. ![]() We expect almost anything from a man that degenerate, and are not surprised to read, “And it came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him” (1 Kgs. He had the dubious distinction of being the most wicked king who reigned over Israel up until his day. He is introduced to the pages of Scripture with these shocking words: “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him” (1 Kgs. One of them was the husband in the next marital relationship we want to study. The southern kingdom of Judah was being ruled by his descendants, while the northern kingdom of Israel suffered under a succession of wicked men at the helm. His great kingdom, enlarged and more richly endowed by his son Solomon, had been fractured into two weakened fragments. King David had been absent from the scene of Hebrew history for about 135 years when this story opens.
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