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The Definition of the word Jezebel

Jezebel

Chaste, the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the Zidonians, and "the wife of Ahab, the king of Israel (1 Kings 16:31). This was" "the "first time that a king of Israel had allied himself by" marriage with a heathen princess; and the alliance was in this case of a peculiarly disastrous kind. Jezebel has stamped her "name on history as the representative of all that is designing," "crafty, malicious, revengeful, and cruel. She is the first great" instigator of persecution against the saints of God. Guided by "no principle, restrained by no fear of either God or man," "passionate in her attachment to her heathen worship, she spared" no pains to maintain idolatry around her in all its splendour. Four hundred and fifty prophets ministered under her care to "Baal, besides four hundred prophets of the groves [R.V.," "'prophets of the Asherah'], which ate at her table (1 Kings" "18:19). The idolatry, too, was of the most debased and sensual" "kind." Her conduct was in many respects very disastrous to the" kingdom both of Israel and Judah (21:1-29). At length she came "to an untimely end. As Jehu rode into the gates of Jezreel, she" "looked out at the window of the palace, and said, "Had Zimri" "peace, who slew his master?" He looked up and called to her" "chamberlains, who instantly threw her from the window, so that" "she was dashed in pieces on the street, and his horses trod her" under their feet. She was immediately consumed by the dogs of "the street (2 Kings 9:7-37), according to the word of Elijah the" Tishbite (1 Kings 21:19). "Her name afterwards came to be used as the synonym for a wicked woman (Rev. 2: 20). "It may be noted that she is said to have been the grand-aunt of "Dido, the founder of Carthage."


The Old Testament

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