Jezebel

"Jezabel" redirects here. For the band, see The Jezabels.
For other uses, see Jezebel (disambiguation).

Jezebel
Queen of Israel
19th-century painting of Jezebel by John Liston Byam Shaw
Diedc. 852 BCE
Tel Jezreel
SpouseKing Ahab
IssueAhaziah
Jehoram
Athaliah?
FatherIthobaal I
ReligionCanaanite religion

Jezebel (/ˈdʒɛzəbəl, -bɛl/)[1][2][3][4] was the daughter of Ithobaal I of Tyre and the wife of Ahab, King of Israel, according to the Book of Kings of the Hebrew Bible (1 Kings 16, 1 Kings 16:31).[5]

According to the biblical narrative, Jezebel replaced Yahwism with Baal and Asherah worship and was responsible for Naboth’s death. This caused irreversible damage to the reputation of the Omride dynasty, who were already unpopular among the Israelites.[6][7][8][9] For these offences, Jezebel was defenestrated and devoured by dogs, under Jehu's orders, which Elijah prophesied (2 Kings 9, 2 Kings 9:33–37).

Later, in the Book of Revelation, the name Jezebel is contemptuously attributed to a prophetic woman of Thyatira, whom the author, through the voice of the risen Christ, accuses of leading her followers into fornication (idolatry). For refusing to repent, she is threatened with sexualized punishment ("throw[n] on a bed") and the death of her children.[10][11]

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary (Second ed.). 1989. "Jezebel" (US) and "Jezebel". Oxford Dictionaries UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Jezebel". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Jezebel". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  4. ^ Hebrew: אִיזֶבֶל, Modern: ʾĪzével, Tiberian: ʾĪzeḇel
  5. ^ Elizabeth Knowles, "Jezebel", The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, OUP 2006
  6. ^ "Micah 6:16".
  7. ^ "2 Chronicles 21:6".
  8. ^ "2 Kings 8:18".
  9. ^ ISHDA, T. (1975). "The House of Ahab". Israel Exploration Journal. 25 (2/3): 135–137. JSTOR 27925509.
  10. ^ Smith, Shanell T. (2019). "Female Agency in New Testament Texts". In Dunning, Benjamin H. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of New Testament, Gender, and Sexuality. Oxford University Press. pp. 168–169, 513. ISBN 978-0-19-021340-4.
  11. ^ Streete, Gail Corrington (1 January 1997). The Strange Woman: Power and Sex in the Bible. Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 154–55. ISBN 978-0-664-25622-7.