No. CB156
The Woman Jezebel
(Edition 1.0 20100806-20100806)
In this paper
we will review the historical facts of the woman Jezebel and look at the
spiritual symbolism that is associated with her and those who are called by her
name.
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(Copyright ©
2010 Diane Flanagan, ed. Wade Cox)
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The Woman Jezebel
The Woman
Jezebel
Jezebel was a woman that lived over twenty-eight
hundred years ago. She was a Queen of Israel, and the Bible has much to say about her. We will look
at facts about her from a historical viewpoint, the symbolism associated with
her, and what is prophesied to those that partake of her line of thinking and
actions in the future. Spiritually, Jezebel represents the false religious
system that will continue through to the end times.
Historical
information
1Kings 16:31 is the first scriptural reference to
Jezebel. She is the daughter of King Ethbaal, the King of Zidon. Jezebel means:
“Baal exalts” or “Baal is husband to” or “unchaste”. From the meaning of her name, we understand
immediately that Jezebel is a pagan woman and not a woman of God.
Jezebel marries King Ahab, king of Israel.
1Kings 16:29-33 In the
thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign
over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Sama'ria
twenty-two years. 30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all
that were before him. 31 And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of
Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, he took for wife Jez'ebel the daughter of Ethba'al
king of the Sido'nians, and went and served Ba'al, and worshiped him. 32 He erected an altar for Ba'al in the house of Ba'al, which he built in
Sama'ria. 33 And Ahab made an Ashe'rah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of
Israel, to anger than all the kings of
King Ahab was the first King of Israel to take a non-Israelite
woman as his wife. Jezebel is described as the daughter of the priest of the
Phoenician goddess Astarte (Bullinger, footnote to 1Kgs. 16:31). After he married
Jezebel, Ahab made an Asherah (translated grove(s) in other versions). An Asherah is something that was set upright
in the ground and worshipped. It could be from a tree or stone, and was
connected with Baal worship. It is a
phallic symbol such as an obelisk, minaret, or a steeple.
Jezebel is famous for her idolatry and cruel persecution
of the prophets of Eloah. As we continue with the story of Jezebel and Ahab,
the Bible tells us that Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord.
1Kings 18:3-4 And Ahab called
Obadi'ah, who was over the household. (Now Obadi'ah revered the LORD greatly; 4
and when Jez'ebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, Obadi'ah took a hundred
prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
(RSV)
During this time, God told Elijah to go to King
Ahab. Elijah brought him up on Mount Carmel and requested he bring the 450
prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Ashe’rah that ate at Jezebel’s table. Elijah
challenged the prophets of Baal to bring down fire.
1Kings 18:24 And you call on the
name of your god and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who
answers by fire, he is God." And all the people answered, "It is well
spoken." (RSV)
There was no fire from the gods
of Baal, but God answered Elijah and fire was sent from heaven to consume the
sacrifice on the altar surrounded by water.
1Kings 18:36-40 And at the time
of the offering of the oblation, Eli'jah the prophet came near and said,
"O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that
thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all
these things at thy word. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may
know that thou, O LORD, art God, and that thou hast turned their hearts
back." 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt offering,
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in
the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and
they said, "The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God." 40 And Eli'jah
said to them, "Seize the prophets of Ba'al; let not one of them
escape." And they seized them; and Eli'jah brought them down to the brook
Kishon, and killed them there. (RSV)
When King Ahab returned to tell Jezebel all that had
happened, Jezebel sent a message to Elijah threatening his life.
1Kings 19:1-2 Ahab told Jez'ebel all that Eli'jah
had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 2
Then Jez'ebel sent a messenger to Eli'jah, saying, "So may the gods do to
me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by
this time tomorrow."
For a more detailed version of this story, see the
paper Trouble in Israel and Judah (No. CB105).
Jezebel clearly had no regard for Eloah, the one
true God, or His prophets. Elijah was a powerful
man of God; his name means Yaho is God of
captivity. (Elijah or Eliah
The next reference to Jezebel is the story of Naboth
and his vineyard. (See Israel Fights Against Syria (No. CB143) and Lesson: The Battle of Christ and Satan (No. CB81).) Jezebel tricks Naboth and has him stoned to
death so her husband, King Ahab, can have his vineyard.
She seems to think nothing of using and killing people to get what she wants. She, like Satan, attempts to try taking other people’s lands, inheritances, or systems of law and order and using it for personal gain. She deceived many and led many people away from Eloah and His blessings. She was an idolatress and persecuted the Prophets of God (1Kgs. 18:4,13,19; 2Kgs. 9:7,22).
After Naboth was killed, Elijah confronts King Ahab about what he had done and King Ahab repents.
1Kings 21:18-29 "Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Sama'ria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. 19 And you shall say to him, 'Thus says the LORD, "Have you killed, and also taken possession?"' And you shall say to him, 'Thus says the LORD: "In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood."'" 20 Ahab said to Eli'jah, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" He answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD. 21 Behold, I will bring evil upon you; I will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel; 22 and I will make your house like the house of Jerobo'am the son of Nebat, and like the house of Ba'asha the son of Ahi'jah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you have made Israel to sin. 23 And of Jez'ebel the LORD also said, 'The dogs shall eat Jez'ebel within the bounds of Jezreel.' 24 Any one belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat; and any one of his who dies in the open country the birds of the air shall eat." 25 (There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jez'ebel his wife incited. 26 He did very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the people of Israel.) 27 And when Ahab heard those words, he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about dejectedly. 28 And the word of the LORD came to Eli'jah the Tishbite, saying, 29 "Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the evil upon his house."
Even as evil as King Ahab was, he was able to repent and humble himself before God. That is something that Jezebel never did. She never repented of her sins before God (Rev. 2:21).
She uses people, even her own family, for her own gain or pleasure. She clearly used her own husband, King Ahab and his kingdom. After his death, Jezebel continued to rule through her son Ahaziah. When Ahaziah was killed in battle, she exercised control through her other son, Jehoram.
Elijah foretold her death (1Kgs. 21:23; 2Kgs. 9:10). The prophet Elisha was told to anoint Jehu, King of Israel. Elisha told him the whole house of Ahab would be destroyed and Jezebel would be eaten by the dogs in Jezreel, and there would be none to bury her.
2Kings 9:6-10
So he arose, and went into the house; and the young man poured the oil on his
head, saying to him, "Thus says the LORD the God of Israel, I anoint you
king over the people of the LORD, over Israel. 7 And you shall
strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge on Jez'ebel the
blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the
LORD. 8 For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off
from Ahab every male, bond or free, in
When Jezebel sees Jehu entering Jezreel, she greets him sarcastically as his master’s murderer. Jehu then confronts Jezebel in Jezreel and urges her eunuchs to kill the queen by throwing her out of a window. They comply, tossing her out of the window and leaving her in the street to be eaten by dogs (2Kgs. 9:30-35). Only Jezebel's skull, feet, and hands remained. Though this is very graphic, it clearly shows the power of Eloah and what will happen to the false religious system in the last days.
Spiritual
symbolism and biblical references
The reference to Jezebel in the New Testament
is found in Revelation. It gives us the spiritual application of the story of
Jezebel and what she represented to Israel. The reference is found in the
letter to the Church in Thyatira. The
fourth church, Thyatira, mentioned in Revelation is given a strong warning
regarding how they deal with the system of Jezebel. This warning is not just for
a Church area in the time of Messiah. The seven Churches were physical churches,
yet they span the time of the Church and they are to be viewed from an
individual point of view and a collective point of view. Any one of those
called now can have attitudes mentioned to any one of the seven churches.
Revelation 2:18-29 "And to the angel of the church in Thyati'ra
write: 'The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and
whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19 "'I know your works, your love and faith and
service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate the
woman Jez'ebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and beguiling my
servants to practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to
repent of her immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her
on a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great
tribulation, unless they repent of her doings; 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the
churches shall know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give
to each of you as your works deserve. 24 But to the rest of you in Thyati'ra, who do not
hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of
Satan, to you I say, I do not lay upon you any other burden; 25 only hold fast what you have, until I come. 26 He who conquers and who keeps my works until the
end, I will give him power over the nations, 27 and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as when
earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received power from my
Father; 28 and I will give him the
morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' (RSV)
From The Pillars of Philadelphia (No. 283)
we read the following explanation of Jezebel:
The Jezebel is the church
that committed fornication with the kings of the earth. She is the great whore
of Revelation, Mystery,
The problem can only be
avoided by claiming that the text refers to the period in
Jezebel represents the pagan
religious system that allies or partners with Satan, and teaches “the deep things
of Satan”. The false religions are referred to as a whore (Rev. 17:1, 15-16;
19:2) and we see the whore leads many astray as Jezebel did in real life.
A whore would be someone who is
in an intimate relationship with someone other than her mate. Spiritually, it
is idolatry. We are told to only worship
Exodus 20:3 "You
shall have no other gods before me.”
We see from the meaning of the word whore, these people do not remain true to their mate, which is the Christ or to their God, Eloah or the worship of Eloah. They have chosen to follow a false system of worship. Clearly, we can see from a spiritual sense that nations today are not obeying the One True God, His Laws and Calendar and the land has fallen into great wickedness.
From the physical we learn the
spiritual. We can see how not obeying and worshipping the One True God has
brought great hardship and suffering on many. Many are defiled and the name of
God had been profaned. God has strong warning messages to those that
participate in not obeying Him.
Just as Jezebel killed many of
Eloah’s prophets and people, so have the false religious systems. Revelation 6 tells us many have been killed
or martyred for the faith over the ages; more will die prior to Messiah’s
return.
Revelation 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
False
Religious System
The false religious system is
referred to as the Babylonian Mystery Religion.
Revelation
17:1-2 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to
me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who is seated
upon many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed
fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the dwellers on earth have
become drunk."
The great harlot who is seated
upon many waters is the false religious system.
The verses following explain further the relationship that the kings of
the earth and the beast power have with the false religious system.
Revelation 17:3ff. And he carried me away in the Spirit into a
wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of
blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and
bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full
of abominations and the impurities of her fornication; 5 and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet robes, and she wore jewellery made of gold, precious stones, and pearls. In her hand she held a gold cup filled with the filthy and nasty things she had done. We see this is not one woman but the personification of the false system of worship governed by one main religious system through the ages that will be destroyed in the future.
The following is an excerpt from page 3 of
the paper Introduction to Mysticism (No.
B7_i).
We read:
“The Bible
identifies it as Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots, and the
Abominations of the Earth (Rev. 17:5).
This system is
so great and powerful, that it is identified as the persecutor of the followers
of Jesus Christ. Yet, she is the woman that has power and authority over the
kings of the earth. Thus, she is seen as a religious structure being
represented by a woman symbolic of a religious system in ancient theology.
Bullinger, in The
Companion Bible, has this to say of the text in Revelation 17:5:
MYSTERY: The
verse should be read, "And upon her forehead (she had) a name written, a
secret symbol (musterion), BABYLON THE GREAT, the mother of the harlots
and of the abominations of the earth." The name of the woman is therefore
a secret sign or symbol of "that great city" which she personifies
(v. 18)
HARLOTS = the
harlots.
OF THE EARTH:
Thus,
Bullinger, one of the most respected Bible scholars of Protestantism, saw the
Whore of Babylon as essentially a Christian system, desirous of world
domination. Islam must also follow in its train to achieve this aim.”
Mainstream Christianity does not worship the One True God, nor keep His commandments and proper days of worship. The false religious system will continue to grow and will be powerful and strong; however, in the end it will be completely and utterly destroyed, like Jezebel.
This false system is also
described as having daughters that come from her (Rev. 17:5). Just as a physical mother may have sons and
daughters, so to it is with this false system. The daughter systems share in
many of the same triune and false beliefs as the mother. As previously
described, this can be like the Catholic Church as the “mother” and the
daughters would be the offshoots (i.e. Protestant, Lutheran, Methodist,
Episcopal, etc.)
Anciently, Jezebel led Ahab and then Israel into religious toleration and acceptance. Elijah and the other prophets of Eloah continued to warn the people to return to Eloah’s law and system of worship, yet many did not heed the prophets’ warnings. Likewise, the coming two witnesses will warn the people to return to Eloah’s laws and system of worship.
Eloah clearly tells us not to learn the way of the heathen (Lev. 18:3; 20:23; Jer. 10:2). Where there is no vision the people perish (Pro. 29:18). Do not let any person or organization ever lead you away from the worship of Eloah, and the keeping of His Laws.
The
Destruction of False Religion
As we read further into
Revelation we see the consequences for those that partake of the system of
Jezebel or Babylon the Great.
Revelation
17:15-18 And he said to me, "The waters that you saw, where the harlot is
seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. 16 And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast
will hate the harlot; they will make her desolate and naked, and devour her
flesh and burn her up with fire, 17 for God has put it into their hearts to carry out
his purpose by being of one mind and giving over their royal power to the
beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman that you saw is the great city which
has dominion over the kings of the earth." (RSV)
We see the woman sitting on or controlling multitudes of people. She rides the beast and the beast and whore use each other while it is convenient. However, at a point in the not too distant future, the beast turns on the whore and kills that religious system.
From Revelation 18 we see Babylon will fall; the false system will be destroyed.
Revelation 18:1-24 And after these things I
saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was
lightened with his glory. 2And he cried mightily with a strong
voice, saying,
We again see that those that hurt God’s elect will also be hurt or removed. We also see in Revelation 18 and 19 the saints mentioned in Revelation 6:9 will be avenged. At a point all individuals and groups of people will answer for their positive or negative actions
Revelation 19:2 because his judgments
are honest and fair. That filthy prostitute
ruined the earth with shameful deeds. But
God has judged her and made her pay the price
for murdering his servants." (CEV)
Eloah will not tolerate false
religious systems forever. Eloah is merciful. He gives people a warning, “come
out of her my people be not partakers of her sins”, yet at a point in time He
acts and moves forward with His plan. Mercifully,
the wrong systems and people that partake of them are blotted out and die. The
people will be brought up in the second resurrection when the time is right for
them to learn of Eloah’s Laws and live His way of life under the guidance of
Jesus Christ.
Summary
The first Great Commandment focuses us on our love and obedience to the One True God. We find in today’s world, toleration of various practices, religious and otherwise, are basically the norm. In a short time, we too, like ancient Israel will see where the toleration of beliefs and actions that are against God’s Law will lead us.
We have seen there was a woman in history that actually lived and died who had the name Jezebel. She did not obey Eloah or the laws of the land. She encouraged people to lie, kill and worship a false god. She put many of God’s elect to death yet as she tried to hurt the elect, she too met a violent and ugly death.
Though things will be more challenging in
the future, God does nothing unless He warns His people through the prophets. As
long as we obey Eloah and His Law we will be safe and protected. We are to be a light to the world and people should
know we are servants of the living God by our actions and fruit of the Holy
Spirit. We are to be shining lights of Eloah who is holy, righteous, goodness,
perfect and truth. We are to let our light shine and do as 1Corinthians 10:14
admonishes:
1Corinthians 10:14 Therefore my beloved, flee idolatry NASV
There is never a reason to fear or doubt; Eloah is a
God of truth and never lies. As long as we obey Him, He will protect, comfort
and direct us. Psalm 94, the psalm for the fourth day of the week, is very
encouraging and helps us to keep our focus
Psalm 94:19 When my anxious thoughts multiply with in me, Thy
consolations delight my soul. (NASV)
We have not seen the end of
persecutions; trying times are yet to come on the world but our safety and
protection are sure if we obey Eloah and keep His Law.
Revelation
14:12 here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God
and their faith in Jesus. NASV
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