JEZEBEL (Heb. i-zebel, perhaps an artificial form to suggest " un-exalted," a divine name or its equivalent would naturally be expected instead of the first syllable)

This article appears in Volume V15, Page 411 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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JEZEBEL (Heb. i-zebel, perhaps an artificial form to suggest " un-exalted," a divine name or its equivalent would naturally be expected instead of the first syllable) , wife of Ahab, king of

Israel

ISRAEL (Hebrew for " God strives " or " rules "; see Gen. xxxii. 28; and the allusion in Hosea xii. 4)

(1 Kings xvi. 31), and

mother

MOTHER

of Athaliah, in the Bible. Her father Eth-baal (Ithobal, Jos., contra Ap. i. 18) was king of Tyre and priest of the goddess Astarte. He had usurped the throne and was the first important Phoenician king after Hiram (see PHOENICIA). Jezebel, a true daughter of a priest of Astarte, showed herself hostile to the

worship

WORSHIP (i.e. " worth-ship," O. Eng. weor8scipe)

of Yahweh, and to his prophets, whom she relentlessly pursued (1 Kings xviii. 413; see ELIJAH). She is represented as a woman of virile

character

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

, and became notorious for the

part

PART

she took in the matter of Naboth's vineyard. When the Jezreelite 2 sheikh refused to sell the family

inheritance

INHERITANCE

to the king, Jezebel treacherously caused him to be arrested on a charge of treason, and with the help of false witnesses he was found guilty and condemned to death. For this the prophet Elijah pronounced a solemn curse upon Ahab and Jezebel, which was fulfilled when Jehu, who was anointed king at Elisha's instigation, killed the son Jehoram, massacred all the family, and had Jezebel destroyed (1 Kings xxi.; 2 Kings ix. 1r28). What is told of her comes from sources written under the

influence

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

of strong religious bias; among the exaggerations must be reckoned 1 Kings xviii. 13, which is inconsistent with xix. 18 and xxii. 6. A literal interpretation of the reference to Jezebel's

idolatry

IDOLATRY

(2 Kings ix. 22) has made her name a bywordfor a false prophetess in Rev. ii. 20. Her name is often used in

modern

MODERN

English

ENGLISH

as a synonym for an abandoned woman or one who paints her face. (S. A. C.)

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