The story of Jezebel is a sad accounting of lust and corruption, misuse of power, idolatry, murder and greed. What lessons can we learn from her life?
Media Download Options
[ Download Media: right-click on link ] Low Quality WMV 
Bad girls! Ever know any bad girls? Now don't go pointing at any one please here in the audience, if that is at all possible. I happened to graduate from High School in the 1970's. Of course during that period of time disco music was the rage. I know some of our young people kind of laugh about that thinking that people actually liked disco music. And further, it is difficult for them to imagine that we actually danced to that kind of music. There was one hit during the 70's that was called "Bad Girls", yes, talking about those bad girls. I probably shouldn't refer to this song because those are the only two words that I know from this song so for all I know it may be praising bad girls.
None the less I'd like to talk to you today about one bad girl. You take a look at the scripture. The scripture, you know, does refer to both good girls and to bad girls. Now why would God record in His word stories about bad girls? Well, for the same reason He records stories about good girls. So that we can analyze their lives, see what we can learn from them, repeat what is good and avoid what is bad. So let's take a look today at the story of probably one of the baddest girls ever recorded in the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ.. That is the story of Jezebel. Now, if you have ever been a bad girl, of maybe even leaned toward being a bad girl, some one at some time may have referred to you as a Jezebel. I hope not, but some have been. Her name has come to represent the worst of the bad girls.
Now it is interesting in our culture, some times you kind of expect fellows to be the bad guys. You know men are so much more naturally evil. I'm just kidding! But when there is a woman who is evil, boy, it seems all the more difficult to deal with, because they don't seem to take that role quite as naturally. Today, this woman that we'll talk about certainly is one of the most wicked women recorded in the pages of the scripture. What lessons can we learn from the life of Jezebel? Well, there are several things that I jotted down that I thought you might find helpful as we study her life. She is mentioned for the first time in the book of Kings.
Lessons from the life of Jezebel:
1. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.
Now you might say: "Well, that didn't take a lot of creativity to come up with." That is an old saying that often is used to represent people's background. You know he is just like his father; he is just like his mother. She is just like mother of father. The apple doesn't fall too far. Some time's it is used in a very positive sense. There might be someone with a lot of talent and ability in a certain area and their offspring has that same ability or talent, and we will say: "The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree". But in regard to wickedness, can that be true as well? Here in 1 Kings 16 we see the first reference to this woman by the name of Jezebel. Again, the term Jezebel came to be such a universally evil phrase regarding a women, it is even used in the book of RevelationThe disclosure of God's Word and plan to mankind. In the Bible this refers to making obscure things clear; bringing hidden matters to light; causing especially called individuals to see, hear, perceive, know and understand the things of God; the unveiling of biblical mysteries (Romans 16:25)., when God is correcting one of the churches that He wrote too. He said: "One thing I am really disappointed about is that you accepted that woman, Jezebel." There is a concept there that God was displeased with. 1 Kings 16:30 It refers — again, the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. is a story or a history of Israel, and other nations are mentioned when they come into contact with God's Israel and that is the case here. Ahab was the king of Israel. He was the son of Omri. He was a bad boy, a bad king. And do bad boys usually hang out with good girls? Not usually. Do good girls usually hang out with bad boys? Not usually. Bad seems to meet up with bad, doesn't it? Ahab seemed to have that problem as well.
1 Kings 16:30 Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.
Up to this point Ahab was the worst king Israel had ever had. Now what good woman would want anything to do with the worst king of Israel? What was he doing that was so bad?
V.31 — And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,... and that was bad enough.
What were those sins? Remember Jeroboam set up a golden calf in the two extreme areas of Israel and what he wanted was that the Israelites would worship the golden calf. What did he do? He called the calf Yahweh. He called the calf by God's name. He said: "This is the God that brought you out of the land of Egypt." He kept the Feast of Tabernacles but moved it to the eight month. He did keep priesthood in the place of worship, but he also replaced the priests that God called and placed in those positions, the Priests and the Levites, and sold those positions to the highest bidder, the people that would be in favor of him and his reforms and his way of doing things.
So that was bad enough to alter God's pattern in that way but he did more than that. What more did he do?
V.31 - ... It wasn't enough to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and on top of that he served Baal and worshipped him.
So here is the first mention of Jezebel, and it is mentioned in such a way that it is the second worst thing he ever did. First of all, he went along with the sins of Jeroboam but then he introduced an entirely false system of worship amongst the people of Israel. It is not that they didn't have contact with this form of worship before. There were always fringe elements in Israel that were attracted to this sensual kind of worship of these false gods. In fact there are several different variations of Baal mentioned throughout the scripture. One of them, Beelzebub, the god of flies. That is whole other story. But it is interesting that now it becomes one of the state's religions. In fact, it begins to displace the true religion with a completely false system. No longer did you have in essence a Feast of Tabernacles now that it is moved to the eight month, now you have an entirely different form of religion, but right in the middle of all of this is mentioned the number one bad girl, Jezebel.
Who was Jezebel? Interesting here, that all that is mentioned is that she is the daughter of a man who carries the name of Baal: Ethbaal. That name means: with Baal. His god was part and parcel. You see Baal, you see him; you see him, you see Baal. It is one and the same. He had so much taken on; he was called by that name. Now some did speculate. They wondered if Jezebel wasn't the young high priestess of the Baal worshipping system that had its centre in Sidon. When it talks about him, in this case Ethbaal, being the king of the Sidonians, that is the city of Sidon, it is a port city to the north of Israel. So, he apparently was the high priest and his daughter was being raised as the high priestess. Part of the Baal system of course, was fertility worship of the female sex-god as well, and so that was part of what was going on here. So it is been speculated maybe that was what her position actually was.
In this case, there is no doubt that Ahab was marrying her, in rather a political setting, as was often done to secure a treaty, number one, with Sidon. Sidon was an important port city with a large merchant marine that would travel the world and bring back goods. Solomon even during his time had agreements with the Sidonians or with Sidon, and again with Tyre. Tyre, Sidon and Babylon are all mentioned at the end time as being a trading empire. A conglomerate in that sense. So Ahab wasn't being stupid, in that sense. He tried to make a treaty that would encourage his prosperity but he also began to develop this whole concept of Baal worship.
Now it is not to say that just because Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal that that automatically cursed her to a terrible future. It is certainly true that she now would have to exercise a great deal of effort to break from her past. But there had been many others who had been a part of false religious systems and then once they married into the Israelites, they began to change. Can you think of one that sticks out in your mind in the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ.? How about the woman Ruth? She was a pagan worshipper. She married an Israelite and began to take on the worship of the true God even though her background was very pagan in nature. So it certainly can happen. It is rare; we will talk more about it a little bit later on. But none the less Jezebel would had to have exerted extreme diligence and extreme effort to break from her past, because the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. And if the tree that that apple falls near is an evil tree it is going to take a great deal of effort to turn away from that into a different way of life. It is possible with God's help and with God's Spirit.
That leads us to point number two:
2. Evil cannot stand good.
Evil cannot stand good. The next time Jezebel is mentioned, except for that brief mention here, in 1Kings 16:31, it mentions:
V.32 — he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria.
So not only did Jezebel entice or convince Ahab that a temple was necessary,
V33 — And Ahab made a grove. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
Grove is simply a satellite place of worship, we might say. So not only was there a temple of Baal now in Samaria, there were many satellite areas that were set up as well. We will read more about that later on in the confrontation with Elijah. Evil cannot stand good. The next time Jezebel is mentioned is in chapter 18.
1 Kings 18:1 And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, "Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth."
One of the punishments God was sending upon Israel because of their sins was holding back the rain and now was not the time to complete the judgment upon Israel for its sins, so God was going to send, after three years, more rain back to the area.
V.2 — So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab; and there was a severe famine in Samaria.
V.3 — And Ahab had called Obadiah, who was in charge of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly.
Now pause there for a minute. If you are an evil, conniving, stealing, thieving king, who want you to watch over your stuff? An honest man who is God fearing, who will be honest in spite of your dishonesty. He will carry out his responsibility. You know many employers, or employees, I should say, find themselves in almost this kind of position like Obadiah. That they work for a lying, thieving, stealing, conniving, over-bearing individual but they realize that their job is to do their responsibility with the utmost of honesty. And some times that can be a very challenging position to be in.
V.4 — For it was while Jezebel , the second time she is mention in scripture. The first time she is mentioned as an idolatress maybe even as a high priestess. The second time she is mentioned is as a murderer. This was one bad woman. .... while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water.)
In other words, Jezebel systematically slaughtered the representatives of the true God. Systematically, one at a time, in various areas. Before she could get to these hundred, Obadiah was able to scurry fifty off here and fifty off there, feed them secretly and keep them alive. Now this is also mentioned down in verse 13.
Obadiah was concerned, because he runs into Elijah and Elijah says: "Tell Ahab to come and see me." And Obadiah says: "Look, I am going to tell him to come see you here. By the time he gets here, you are going to be gone and he will want my throat on the chopping block". So Elijah said: "No, I will stay here."
V.13 — Was it not reported , this is Obadiah speaking, to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid one hundred men of the Lord's prophets, fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
Now whether or not Elijah was aware of that we are not told. But the point is: Jezebel is mentioned as a murderer. Often times evil will pursue good to try to eliminate it. Now why could that possibly be the case? Well, Satan does not like good. The more good there is around, the more truth there is around; the more exposed the falsehoods are. So having a righteous individual around evil people, is like that righteous person shining a bright flashlight in some ones eyes in the pitch dark. It is very irritating. Jezebel could not stand righteous competition because that righteous competition would show just how false her system was. So Satan inspired an elimination of the people of God, the prophets of the Lord, in this case.
Evil cannot stand good. Christ said: "Do not be surprised if they persecute you". Why? "Because they persecuted Me". He also told His followers that there will come a time that those who stand for the truth will be murdered because evil cannot stand good. And there are times that God allows evil to carry out its schemes against the good. God's people have experienced that from time to time throughout history. The prophecy certainly shows that there will be a time in the future when we will experience that again, when God's people, as Daniel says, will be put to death; will be martyred. RevelationThe disclosure of God's Word and plan to mankind. In the Bible this refers to making obscure things clear; bringing hidden matters to light; causing especially called individuals to see, hear, perceive, know and understand the things of God; the unveiling of biblical mysteries (Romans 16:25). talks about the souls of those under the throne, symbolically speaking out as if they were alive, saying: "When are you going" to God, "bring justice to us"? And God's answer was that "after there are some more of your brothers murdered or martyred just the way that you were". There is more yet to come in the future. Evil cannot stand good and so it often tries its best to eliminate it.
What else can we learn from this bad girl, this evil woman Jezebel?
3. Power corrupts the carnal mind.
You may have heard the phrase, again this is not new information, that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. None of those are true. God has power. He has absolute power and it has never corrupted Him. Jesus Christ has absolute power. Christ said: "All power is given to me in heaven and earth." It has not corrupted Him. But, power does corrupt the carnal mind, no doubt about that, and absolute power absolutely corrupts the carnal mind. There is no doubt about that. History has been written in human blood that constantly reaffirms that understanding. When the Spirit of God is not present power often can be a corrupting influence.
It's been said: you can see what a person is like by how he or she follows, but you see much more about them by how they lead, when they have their hand on the throttle of power. We teased about that a few years back at Camp Heritage. Mr. McNeely had to leave camp early. One of his trade marks that we always teased him about as camp director over the team camp, was he had a huge flashlight, one of those mag lights. It weighs about 12 pounds and has, I think, 4 D-cell batteries and shines like a mile down the road. Well, we teased him about, that was the scepter of the director of Camp Heritage. When he had to leave one year early and so I was asked to fill his shoes in the meantime when he was gone, and we symbolically handed over the flashlight and I teased how that now things are going to be different around here. I've got my hands on the throttle of power.
Jezebel was given power and she was corrupt and as a result that power continued to corrupt her even more and the results of that corruption were spilled out in human blood in many other people. Notice:
1 Kings 18:19 Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel,
Back up for a moment to get some of the context. Remember here is the classic confrontation between the priests of Baal and the servant of God. Elijah is saying: It is time for Israel to sort this out. Who is God? Is Yahweh or is it Baal? So Elijah, assuming he was the only righteous man left that worshipped the true God, there were hundreds of prophets of Baal, he said: "Let's bring all the representatives of Israel to Mount Carmel. We'll have this, in essence, proving ground or court hearing or competition, and we will see who is the true God." So the prophets of Baal came: Four hundred and fifty and the prophet of the groves, four hundred. So apparently there were four hundred and fifty priests that worked the main temple in Samaria and when you add all of the satellite groves - the local churches we might say - to this system, there were another four hundred. So there were at least four hundred and fifty there in attendance of the prophets of Baal, the other four hundred may have been there as well. And of course the only individual representing the true God was Elijah. Notice the last portion of the phrase in verse 19.
V.19 — ...and the prophets Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table.
Now did she have this big banquet every day with eight hundred and fifty people there? No. What it means is that they were all on the public payroll; on the queen's subsistence. Whatever she was given by the king or took from the king, part of that she fed these eight hundred and fifty individuals. So they were insuring that the false system would be well cared for, where as they kill, they slew, they murdered the prophets of the true God. So Elijah obviously saw that there was a need to show Israel very graphically who the true God was. God backed him in that situation.
V.20 — So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel.
V.21 — And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt you between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
Why didn't anybody say any thing? Well, because we have a very, very powerful individual who was over all of the priesthood of Baal, that was Jezebel, and also she was personally responsible for supporting those eight hundred and fifty individuals and man, when you compared this sight: Here is one skinny guy with the cloak over here, and eight hundred and fifty, or at least four hundred and fifty individuals on the government payroll, looking the part, looking sharp, got their fish-heads on. You know, these people look sharp! They've got the greatest in the duds, the gold and the clothing. They've got the chance, you know, they've got everything here. They've got the ceremony. People kind of look at that and didn't say a word. Many were simply going along with the state religion.
V.22 — Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
This woman was powerful, extremely powerful, so all these priests were a part of this huge, huge display of great power. Now it is fascinating in this case, as we see power corrupting Queen Jezebel's mind.
Notice over in 1 Kings 19 — we will come back here to chapter 18 in a minute — chapter 19, verses 1 and 2. While she is responsible for the support of these four hundred and fifty priests, it was all a tax-payers expense, we might say. They were state funded. She was a murderous woman. Ahab told Jezebel all Elijah had done. Now you remember the rest of that story. Elijah said: "Let's have a competition here, let's have a judgment" and you remember what happened. The prophets of Baal set up their altar; started cutting themselves and wailing and asking Baal to step in.
Now the ironic thing: One of the major manifestations of Baal worship was Baal as the storm-god. Now he was sometimes considered the sun-god. There may have been different minor variations of Baal worships. The word "Baal" in Hebrew, by the way, just means lord. So it is the pantheistic kind of system that crept into Israel, but the major manifestation of Baal seems to be as a storm-god. So of course Elijah said: "Let's see who starts the sacrifice. Don't bring any fire. Just set up the wood and the sacrifice and whichever is the true God will bring fire down from heaven on the sacrifice". Well, of course the prophets of Baal started early in the morning and they go through all the day. They had their sun-worshipping ceremony very likely at sun-up, went through the whole day wailing and of course nothing happens.
During the time of the afternoon-sacrifice, in the early evening, Elijah sets up this altar with twelve stones, one representing each of the tribes of Israel, puts the wood up there, cuts up the sacrifice, lays it on the altar, then commands three huge barrels of water to be poured on top of the wood and the sacrifice. He dug a trench around this so that all the water could collect in that trench underneath the altar. He prayed and asked God for deliverance, and what happened? The true storm God, God the Father, dropped the lighting bolts directly on this sacrifice. It evaporized the entire thing. The sacrifice was gone; the sticks were gone; the stones were gone; the trench was gone and basically a big hole was left there - a smoldering hole. So it is ironic that God chose to answer in that way. He could have just lit a match and let it start to burn, and burn and burn; but if Baal was supposed to be the storm god, the one who controlled lighting and rain and fertility; God set that off just like that. He made it very clear.
Now it is interesting: Remember what Elijah then did? He said: "It is clear who is God. Grab all those prophets of Baal, take them down the river and murder them". So, it is time for them to be put to death because of their idolatry and their destruction of the people of Israel by teaching them false gods. So they were all taken down and murdered. We come to chapter 19 and Jezebel hears about all this: all of her priests from the head-quarters temple in Sidon, now in Samaria, were murdered.
1 Kings 19:1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.
We start to feel a bit sorry for this Ahab. On one hand he had remnants of the true worship of God and felt guilty about it and really saw what happened here, and yet, he's got this very manipulative, powerful wife that he has to please as well. Sad position to be in; told her all about it.
V.2 — Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying,...
I can see whom the true God is. Please come and teach me how to worship the true God Yahweh. No. Not at all! She was corrupted with power. You see to admit that the true God was not the one she worshipped would mean she would loose her position of power and authority and again, if she was acting as the high priestess in this sense, she would loose that position as well. She wasn't about. Power had corrupted her carnal mind to the point that she would not repent. Of course, we see manifestations of that again prophesied in the end time where people will have plagues poured out upon them and it says they will curse God instead of repent. Why? Because their carnal mind has been corrupted by that lust for power. They want to control their own destiny. They don't want to submit to God.
V.2 — Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, and I always read this with my teeth clenched because that is the way I think she meant it when she said it, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
So she immediately dispatched a group of soldiers to hunt down Elijah and kill him. Now again, the kind of power that she had, that she could in this situation simply send out soldiers. Who was really controlling Israel? Well, much of the time it was Jezebel. Sad but true.
We can learn a fourth point though from the life of Jezebel, and that is this; it is a positive point:
4. Evil cannot conquer good.
There are times when God allows evil to reign and good suffers. But, evil cannot conquer good. There was never a time in Israel, during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, where God did not have representatives of His truth, teaching His way. And that is certainly the case today as well. The people of God may be a very small minority on the earth today, but just like in ancient Israel God will not have a time when His truth is not being taught, where His people are not living the truth as an example of the right way to live no matter how small that group may seem. How ridiculed they may be. Evil cannot conquer good.
We already read how Elijah thought that he was the only individual still left that was living God's way.
1 Kings 19:15 And the Lord said to him, meaning Elijah, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus: or through the wilderness of Damascus. He was still running for his life from Jezebel, and when you come, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:
V.16 — And Jehu the son of Nimshi shall you anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shall you anoint to be prophet in your room.
Now if I can put this into common, everyday language: Elijah, we are going to have a retirement party for you. It is time to hang up the script; hang up the cloak. Time to pass it on to someone else. Your last acts of service in this role are going to be the anointing of a new king over Syria and a new king over Israel and then to anoint your successor. It is time to retire. There is a time in all of our lives when we are not as effective in the role as we had been previously. And when that time comes, it is not a bad thing, it is not a wrong thing, and it is not an evil to thing to say: "My time of service is up. It is time for me to retire and pass this on to someone else." One of the saddest things you may have seen over the course of time are those who've gone far past their prime or their ability to serve but still can't seem to hand it over to someone else. And what happens? Everybody suffers as a result. So in this case it was time for Elijah to retire in essence, and a new young man, Elisha, would take his roll. Now as a side point:
V.17 — and it shall come to pass, that him that escapes the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.
God was setting up individuals to carry out some of His will.
V.18 — Yet, He said, I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which have not kissed him.
So even though Elijah felt he was the only one, he was one of seven thousand and one. Now apparently he didn't know any of these other individuals. As far as he could tell he was the only one. Some have speculated that maybe these seven thousand were actually among the Israelites who at this time lived in Great Britain. Well, interesting speculation though we need to prove that. All that God is saying is that: "No, you are not alone, Elijah."
Evil cannot conquer good. No matter how dark the times are, God will make sure there are faithful individuals living His way of life no matter where they may be. And as we speak today, there are those around the world that we probably have no knowledge of, that are faithfully living the way of God. They have the Spirit of God and are carrying on the truth of God. It is God's truth, it is His Church and they are His people. It is a great reward to us when we get to meet them and join together, but God will make sure those things happen. We cannot limit God to our efforts alone. Now we have our efforts to produce, there is no doubt about that. Evil cannot conquer good. God will make sure, like He did here, that there are thousands who are still faithful to His way of life.
5. Lust brings selfishness, lying and stealing.
Or we could say it this way: Lust breeds selfishness, lying and stealing. Lust for power, lust for wealth, lust for what I want, certainly brings all kinds of curses with it. Over in 1 Kings 21. You might remember the story of Naboth's vineyard. Now any one who has grown a vineyard knows that it takes sometimes years, in fact some vineyards have been around for generations and are producing some amazing stock. But it takes constant work, constant diligence over a long period of time to really produce the finest grapes for the finest wines. Naboth had a vineyard apparently like that.
1 Kings 21:1 Now it came to pass after these things, Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
It was right up next to the palace grounds. Now some say it was right up against the palace wall, others feel it was up next to the kings' property itself. It doesn't really matter which it was. None the less, Ahab wanted that piece of property.
V.2 — And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, it means a vegetable garden.
So he was going to destroy this vineyard. "I'd like to plant some tomatoes, some corn, some beans, some okra. I want to put this stuff on my property here". Now here is a man, he is talking to Naboth whose father had probably lived, maybe was born on this property and worked it. His grandfather probably was born and worked this property, maybe several generations back. There was no way he was going to give up this beautiful piece of landscape and coiffured property to simply someone who was going to plow it under and plant tomatoes. It just didn't seem right. This is our family heritage. He said: "Look I will give you money for it, or I will trade you another vineyard some place else". Now again, it wasn't an illogical request on Ahab's part. Fresh veggies were hard to come by. You didn't have semi's bringing them by the truckload over to your friendly Marx or Giant Eagle or all these, every week. You had to plant it yourself. Vegetables were hard to transport in the ancient world. So, you wanted it close by. Go out your back door. Of course Ahab wouldn't go out of his back door but he will sent his servants out the side door: "Go get the veggies, bring them back and fix them for me".
V.3 — And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto you.
There is not a chance on this green earth that I will give you this inheritance.
V.4 — And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
Big baby was basically pouting. That is what it boils down to. But notice the slyness of his wife. Talk about the power behind the throne. And everybody knew it! I'm sure there were those righteous in Israel that prayed daily for Jezebel's death or her conversion so that that evil influence would be taken away from Ahab.
V.5 - But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?
V.6 — And he said to her, Because I spoke unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give you my vineyard.
V.7 — And Jezebel his wife said to him, Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Aren't you the king? Don't you know how to handle the situation? You just sit there and mope. Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry: I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.
You see lust breeds selfishness. Selfishness, we might say on the opposite hand, breeds lust. Lying and stealing and in this case eventually murder are the end results.
V.8 — So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.
Now were they fooled? Did they think these letters were actually written by Ahab? Not a chance. They knew exactly who they were coming from. They knew who wanted this done and they knew if they didn't carry it out, it's their necks that would be on the line next because that kind of lust, that kind of power, that kind of corruption doesn't care who it affects. If you'll not carry out what I want done, I will kill you and somebody else will do it. So either take the money for doing it or get out of the way.
V.9 — and she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, ...you remember the story. They had this big party; say what a great guy Naboth is but then two people were supposed to say, "We heard him curse God and the king and he should be stoned. Here is what he said". And whatever they lied about was so inflaming that everybody hauled Naboth out and he was stoned. He was killed.
V.11 — And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had said unto them. They were participants in a murder probably because they feared Jezebel too much not to carry this out. As it was written in the letters that she had sent to them, verse 12, they did proclaim this fast; the two came and lied; they killed him.
V.15 — And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, ....now let's back up to verse 14. Again, were they fooled? Did they think it was Ahab sending these letters? Not a chance.
V.14 — They sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. They knew who sent this order even if did maybe have Ahab's name on it. But they feared her. Her lust, selfishness, lying and stealing eventually ended in murder. Again, this woman was bad to the bone, as we say. She was evil through and through. Had no conscience or problems with killing an innocent man to show who was in charge. To take what she wanted.
V.15 — And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead.
Ahab knew exactly what had happened. He knew that Naboth just didn't suddenly drop dead of a heart attack. He allowed her to work this scheme therefore he was just as guilty.
V.16 — And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. As if somehow he was an innocent party, which of course he was not.
So we must be careful to guard against lust and that kind of selfishness and lying and stealing that leads to the spirit of murder.
6. Evil is contagious:
Evil is contagious. I'm not saying you will catch it like you would the common cold, but given the right circumstances it can be a tremendously contagious issue. Notice 1 Kings 21, here in verse 25, summing up Ahab's life.
1 Kings 21:25 But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, but very quickly God adds a phrase to help us understand, and that is: whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
His wife stirred him up to perform much of the evil that he had performed. The word: stirred up, is the Hebrew word cuwth , and it means properly or literally to stick or poke or prick, in that sense. It means to stimulate. And so by implication the word is translated to entice; or to move one toward; or to persuade; or to stir up; and that is how it is translated in the English here. His wife persuaded him, moved him, seduced him, enticed him, provoked him, to these things.
Sometimes our wives may not realize the incredible power that they possess. Jezebel knew precisely what that power was and was able to use it for her own selfish ends. A wife can encourage, can support, can back, can help her husband or like Jezebel she can send him, through his own weakness, it is not completely her fault of course, no doubt about that. They shared responsibility here. We can either be a help to one another as husband and wife, or we can be a discouragement to one another. We can actually entice one another to do evil. So, some of the most evil things that Ahab is accused of doing, and rightly so, have Jezebel tied together in that evil, hand in hand, and this God condemns. Both he and Jezebel were involved. She enticed him, stirred him continually toward that.
You might keep a finger here in 1 Kings. Look at Proverbs 22. This is why parents often warn their children about their acquaintances and who they hang around with, because those people that we spend our time with do have and effect on us.
Proverbs 22:24 (New American Standard Version) Do not associate with the man given to anger or go with a hot tempered man, lest you learn his ways and find a snare for yourself.
Why would someone hang around an angry, hot tempered man? Well, because people see that it works. It works! Someone is hot tempered and angry? Who gets their way? Go to a restaurant and complain enough about the food — I can't believe it. My daughter has worked for several years in the food service industry while she has been going through college and she said: "It is always fascinating to see some people will come in — I know I serve them meals perfectly fine. I've see some people come in multiple times and every time they complain to the manager about the food", and you think why would these people come back here if they are always complaining about the food? Because they start yelling about it, getting upset about it, getting angry about it and the manager says: "Calm down, what can we do to make this right?" "Now I am not paying for that meal!" when there is nothing but crumbs left on the plate! But the manager, just to get rid of them, to stop this raucous, gives them a free meal! Now don't any one of us get the idea! I like that idea. Why do they do it? Because it works!
Hang around people who are angry and intimidating and what happens? Sometimes meeker people give in to them. It often happens. Because they don't want the hassle, they don't want the problem. God says who you hang around with does make a difference. You hang around immoral people; you will be tempted toward immorality. No question about it. You hang around angry people; you will be tempted toward anger. You hang around loud people; you'll tend to be loud. You suffer some of the consequences. Beware of your companions. It is easy to follow those things if we see them working. I've known one individual, sadly over the years, very intimidating individual. You can see the results in his family finally after all these years. It is truly tragic, absolutely tragic. Because he always thought that that way of intimidation, overbearing dominion over people was the way to go. It gets him results, got him a lot of money over the years. His family has been destroyed as a result. Very sad.
Turn back to the book of 1 Kings. Let's go back a few pages before the time of Ahab and Jezebel, to the time of Solomon. 1 Kings 11:1-2. There is a note here about Solomon likewise, teaching us the lesson that evil is contagious and if we associate with the wrong people it will likely pull us in the direction away from God's truth. Now again, people don't like to admit that, but it is true.
1 Kings 11:1 But King Solomon loved many strange women, as the King James puts it. It just means they were foreign women not Israelite women. Not of the same ethnic background and much more important than that, of the same religious background. That's what the emphasis is if we go through here. .... together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;
The Zidonians. We've heard that before haven't we, just a few minutes ago? Jezebel was a Zidonian.
V.2 — Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, You shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods:
Ethnic wasn't the issue, religion was. Solomon hung around with women who had different gods. He gave himself to them; they gave themselves to venture in that contract, venture in that close physical relationship. There is a great deal of obligation that's placed upon that. Sadly today people separate that kind of contact with obligation and think that obligation doesn't exist, but it does. Solomon as a result built temples for various gods of the Zidonians and the Moabites and Ammonites, etcetera. Who you hang around with is very important. His wives turned Solomon from the truth, from worshipping the true God. Sadly the end of Solomon's life was pretty depressing as a result.
So, evil is contagious. Beware of your companions, who you hang around with, because they will have an influence. This is why the people of God strive so much to enjoy fellowship together because of the encouragement it brings. This is why the Church of God has traditionally encouraged young people: do not get emotionally involved with those who have a different religious persuasion. Why? Because more often than not it will pull people away from the worship of the true God. It is just the way it is. All of a sudden there is this emotional connection with someone and oftentimes that pulls them away. Now it is not to say that some are not attracted to the Truth trough the behavior of righteous individuals but if we allow an emotional situation to develop first, before there is a connection with the Truth, what always wins out or most often wins out? It is that emotional connection, not the spiritual connection that wins out. So, this is something to be aware of. Young people have to be very wise, and I won't say just young people, old people as well. Single people have to be very wise about those associations - what they allow themselves to be tied up in, because of what it does.
7. God will eventually punish evil.
God will eventually punish evil and of course the emphasis is on the word: eventually. As we've said there have been times and will be times in the future when God will allow evil temporary dominance over good. Temporary sway over good, but God says: Vengeance, payback, is His and He will take care of that at the perfect time, in the perfect way.
1 Kings 21:21 Elijah said: Behold, I will bring evil upon you, he is speaking on God's behalf, and will take away, Ahab, your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male descendants, both free and bond.
V.22 - and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith you has provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.
Now as far as I can recall it is the only time, there in verse 23, where God pours out a curse upon an evil ruler, that He specifically, individually and by name singles out that persons wife for the same punishment, because of her contribution to that evil.
V.23 — And of Jezebel also spoke the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall, or the ditch, of Jezreel.
Many ancient cities had a wall that was constructed obviously to protect them from invaders, and then in front of the wall a ditch was dug. If anyone was going to attack the city, they'd come to the city and had to go down into the ditch before they came to the wall. Obviously would give the defenders quite an advantage. So in essence, what He was saying is that Jezebel would die in this ditch outside the city of Jezreel. What ends up in the ditch in your city around in the country? Well, it is the refuge; it is the junk; the dead dogs; the dead deer; the stuff that had been killed on the road. Not very much of a position of high or highness or of honor. So that is the way she was going to die.
V.24 — Him that dies of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dies in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.
But Jezebel is specifically and individually set out. Now we'll talk or listen or read about Jezebel's final ending in 2 Kings 9. Ahab now has died. He's been shot; his blood ran down into his chariot and the chariot was washed out; the dogs licked up his blood. The time now came for Jezebel's death. Jehu was anointed king over Israel, as we read earlier. Elijah anointed him; he took that roll; he went to kill, to carry out the penalty that God had predicted for Ahab's family. Ahab's son would be the first to go.
2 Kings 9:10 And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.
The prophet anointed Jehu, reminded him of the prophecy, and off he went. Now it is interesting, since she would die in Jezreel. What famous event in the history of king Ahab and queen Jezebel had taken place in Jezreel? Well, the murder of Naboth and the stealing of his vineyard. Who was primarily responsible of that? Obviously Jezebel. So in this ironic twist of "fate" God would make sure that every thing came full circle. That vengeance was His; evil would finally get its due and ironically in the very place where they had done evil themselves. Right there next to the wall of Jezreel. This may have been the exact property, no doubt as we'll read, that Naboth had been murdered on previously. Right up against the wall of the king's palace.
V.21 — And Joram said, Make ready. Joram is Ahab's son. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.
Ironic? They ride out to have this discussion with the new king of Israel that has been anointed by Elijah.
V.22 — And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, Or how can we possibly have peace, so long as the whoredoms of your mother Jezebel and her wickedness are so many?
Jehu was pretty forthright; didn't mince many words. How can we possibly allow you to live if you are the offspring of that women and that man? No way can we let that happen. Now, whether her whoredoms were literal whoredoms that she often gave herself sexually to others for what she could gain from it, or whether that was a spiritual term referring to the many idolatrous practices she followed, is not clear. Many would assume by what happens later in the chapter that it was both that were being referred to. So, Joram turns and flees, verse 24, Jehu draws a bow with his full strength, shoots it and hits Joram between his arms and it went out of his heart and he sunk down on his chariot; it went right through his back out of his heart out of the front of his body and he dropped dead there in the chariot. And later on, of course, his chariot is washed out as well and the dogs licked his blood up as a punishment for turning from the true God. Of course they head on then to the city and taken care of Jezebel.
V.30 — And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and adorned her head, and looked out at a window.
Many feel that she was attempting to be a seductress. To try to get Jehu into her web of beauty and sexuality and deceit so that she might control him and spare her own life.
V.31 — As Jehu entered into the gate, here is what she said: Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? Referring to an earlier event in the history of Israel where Zimri slew the king and then later, very quickly thereafter, was killed himself. She in essence was trying to buy time to convince him that if you kill, you'll be killed yourself.
V.32 — And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? Who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs.
V.33 — And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses; and he simply rode over her, trod her under foot. The entire enclave just simply rode over her dead body and went on into the city.
Quite a horrible end for a life. Sad, rather graphic. The very wall that may at one time have soaked up the blood of Naboth was now splattered with the blood of Jezebel. How ironic in one sense. God will punish evil. It may not be in my lifetime or yours but God will take care of those things. We have to trust that God's vengeance is perfect at the perfect time. Evil can be painted up to look presentable but it is still evil and that described Jezebel.
Now with an end like that, how can we end the sermon on a kind of a depressing note of this bad, bad girl had to die because of the evil was in her heart? There are a couple of positive points, I think, we can close on.
First of all: It is never too late to repent. There were many times throughout the life of Jezebel that she could have turned to the true God and repented. How do we know that? Because her husband did. He reached near the end of his life and God said: "I am going to kill you for your wickedness," and what did Ahab do? He repented. He sat in sackcloth and ashes and wept and realized that his life was a sham. Realized that he let his wife manipulate him in so many areas. He repented and God said: "Look at Ahab. He is truly repentant". He looked at the heart. God said: "I am not going to send evil during Ahab's lifetime. I will allow him to die and I am going to send evil during his son's lifetime". Now it is not to say Ahab didn't have to pay for many of his sins because he was still killed as the result of his sins. But Jezebel could have repented at any time. So any of us who might be in a situation where we've got evil dwelling in our hearts; it is not too late to repent no matter where we might be on that scale, on the continuum of good and evil.
A second thing we can take home in a positive sense, is this: No matter how bad evil gets, God will bring His Kingdom. It is difficult for us in America today to understand the kind of evil that the BibleThe books (Greek, "biblia" ) that are acknowledged as canonical (authoritative) by the early Christian Church. It includes both the books of the ancient Hebrew prophets and those of the apostolic witnesses to Jesus Christ. describes coming to our people. The great tribulation is described primarily as a time of Jacob's trouble. Who are the descendent of Jacob? Who is modern day Israel? It is America, the British Isles, South Africa, Australia, the Israelite peoples of the world. It is upon those peoples that the great tribulation will be hardest. Why? Because some of the rest of the world are already living in kind of tribulation conditions: with almost nothing to eat; with constant warfare; with current destruction; much of the world survives that way, but when that trouble comes upon Israel it will be a great distress described as a time of trouble like no other.
No matter how bad evil gets, God will bring His Kingdom. He will intervene. He will rescue the earth and that is something we can learn from Jezebel as well. It teaches us that God will always intervene, and in one case in the final time to destroy evil and introduce instead, good. So no matter how bad it looks on the surface, God is in charge and He will bring an end to evil. And that is very good newsThe good news of God's everlasting kingdom to be established on earth after Christ's return and how we may be a part of that kingdom. This message was central to the teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles. The term is used about 100 times in the New Testament .. That is in fact the news of the Kingdom of God. That is the GospelThe good news of God's everlasting kingdom to be established on earth after Christ's return and how we may be a part of that kingdom. This message was central to the teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles. The term is used about 100 times in the New Testament . we preach.
So while the story of Jezebel is a sad accounting of lust and corruption, misuse of power, idolatry, murder and greed, God has recorded it for our benefit. So not only do we learn from the righteous examples but we learn from the evil as well. So let's strive to learn all we can and put into practice: The lessons from the life of Jezebel.
