JEZEBEL
Daughter of Et-baal king of the Sidonians, and priestess of Astarte before marrying Ahab king of Israel (1 Kings 16:31; Against Apion, 1:18).
Endowed with an energetic character, she did what she wanted from her husband. Jezebel was a fervent worshiper of Baal, so her husband built for her in Samaria a temple and an altar dedicated to Baal, and an Asherah, a statue representing the Phoenician Astarte (1 Kings 16:32, 33). .
Although she was only the king’s wife, Jezebel had all of Jehovah’s prophets whom she could arrest (1 Kings 18:4-13) and determined to kill the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 19:1, 2).
She instigated the legal murder of Naboth to obtain his vineyard for her husband (1 Kings 21:16-22).
Her dogs ate her according to Elijah’s prophecy. Jezebel was defenestrated during Jehu’s coup (see JEHĂ) and was run over by Jehu’s chariot launched at full speed.
After a short time, when Jehu gave the order to “bury that cursed one,” they discovered that almost nothing remained of her corpse, which had been eaten by dogs (2 Kings 9: 7, 30-37).
His action of introducing in Israel the idolatrous cult of Baal and of putting to death the servants of the Lord, has caused his name to be remembered as a shame of infamy and as a type of a seductive system within the professing church, which attracts others to idolatry. (Rev. 2:20).