Life as a Christian Woman

The term “jezebel” today is often used to refer to a woman who is sexually promiscuous. She enjoys power over men and sways them to sin. Although in today’s society a jezebel is not necessarily viewed as terrible as she once was, the original Jezebel was a sinner of, as they say, Biblical proportions.

We first meet Jezebel in 1 Kings, chapter 16. She was a daughter of the king of the Sidonians, Baal worshippers. King Ahab took her as his wife and brought her religion to Israel. Once among the Jewish people, she set out to summarily wipe out the worship of God and replace it with Baal, sparing no thought against any means to accomplish her goals. King Ahab ruled a nation and defeated the Syrians on the battle field, but in his own home Jezebel held the power. “Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” (1 Kings 16:33 NKJV). Her influence over her husband was so great, even in that strictly patriarchal society, that God raised up Elijah the Prophet to lead His people away from her false religion and back to Him.

Jezebel was a murderer, a prophetess of Baal, power hungry, greedy, and sexually immoral.

“For so it was, 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.” (1 Kings 18:4). This passage tells us specifically that it was Jezebel, not Ahab, who had the prophets killed. She so stongly believed in her religion of Baal, that she showed no mercy in doing away with the holy men of Israel. She also had a man named Naboth killed so that King Ahab could have his vineyard. “She wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth with high honor among the people; and seat two men, scoundrels, before him to bear witness against him, saying, ‘You have blasphemed God and the king.’ Then take him out, and stone him, that he may die.” (21:9-10)). Naboth was falsely accused and killed at Jezebel’s orders for pure greed.

Jezebel was also power hungry, and wielded the power of a ruler in her husband’s name. Not only was she the one that gave the orders for the Lord’s prophets to be killed, but she wrote the letters which sealed Naboth’s fate, and sealed them with King Ahab’s official seals. “And she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and the city nobles who were dwelling in the city with Naboth.” (21:8). This verse reveals that Israel’s leaders were most likely used to following her orders just as if they came from the king. Even though those letters were sealed in the king’s name, when the deed had been accomplished, “Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, ‘Naboth has been stoned and is dead.’ ” (21:14). The city leaders knew that the orders to kill Naboth had come from Jezebel, not the king, and yet they still did as she commanded. Ahab had simply gone home and pouted when Naboth would not give him his vineyard. It was Jezebel who took matters into her own hands and took by force whatever she or her husband desired.

Jezebel also threatened the life of Elijah, but the Lord protected and hid him from her. God did not deal with her kindly. “And concerning Jezebel the Lord also spoke, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” (21:23). When her fate caught up with her, Jezebel heard Jehu had come to Jezreel “and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head, and looked through a window.” (2 Kings 9:30). We get the impression that Jezebel intended to use her looks, and possibly her body, to keep Jehu from killing her. But her power over men was lost, and she was thrown from the window “and some of her blood spattered on teh wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot.” (9:33). When the soldiers went later to get her body, all they found was her skull, her feet, and the palms of hands. The Lord’s wrath had been delivered, and Jezebel was eaten by dogs.

What lessons can we learn from Jezebel today? There are many, and some are obvious such as the sin of murder and of worshipping other gods. But we also learn about relationships. A wife is meant to stand beside her husband, not in front of him. To use your husband’s name for your own gain subverts the marriage. Decisions and actions should be taken together as man and wife. To use your own body in sexual immorality leads only to destruction. Jezebel was eaten by dogs, but today’s sexual promiscuity leads to your body being eaten by disease. We also learn that ruling others through fear or intimidation only produces enmity, and eventually revolt. Ahab was a king and a success on the battlefield, but the picture we get of him at home is of a simpering, pathetic man who allowed his wife to overtake him. Intimidation takes away from others the dignity and self-worth that all men and women are accorded by God. In the end, both King Ahab and Jezebel met their deaths at the hands of those they had attempted to control by fear. We can work with others to accomplish our goals for God. Working over them disintegrates the Lord’s gifts.

All in all, Jezebel is an example of everything a woman should NOT do.

women of the Bible, Jezebel, christian women, sin, religion