Jezebel
About 900 years before Jesus was born, Ahab and Jezebel were King and Queen of Israel. She came from Lebanon (on the Mediterranean coast between Syria and Israel) to marry Ahab, but she was a very bad influence on him. She was one of the worst women in the whole Bible – no one had anything good to say about her!
She did not follow the one true God of Israel and she had people killed who got in her way – she was selfish and cruel. When God sent his spokesman, Elijah, to the royal court, she threatened to kill him too!
She was evil and she encouraged her husband to do evil things too. She led the whole nation of Israel in evil ways! One time she helped her husband to take the family vineyard away from a man called Naboth and had him killed (1 Kings 21). 1 Kings 21: 15 says “You know the vineyard Naboth wouldn’t sell you? Well, you can have it now. He’s dead!” (New Living Translation). When Ahab died, her son ruled in his place – and, sadly, he continued in this bad tradition.
Ahab allowed Jezebel to do what she wanted – she was the one who insisted on having the 450 Prophets of Baal who Elijah was able to defeat on Mount Carmel with God’s help.
Eventually she was killed by some of her servants. When she was alive no one was happy, when she died no one was sad!
To find out more, read...1 Kings17:1; 18:1, 5-8, 16-39; 19:1-16
1 Kings chapter 21
and watch Friends and Heroes...
Series 1 Episode 13, “No Turning Back”
Series 2 Episode 16, “The Ram”
