Jez´uh-bel; Heb., “Where is the prince?”
1 A Phoenician princess (daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon) who married King Ahab of Israel and incited him to sin (1Kgs 16:31; 1Kgs 21:25). A devotee of the Phoenician god Baal and a zealous missionary, she supported some 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah (1Kgs 18:19) and sought to suppress worship of Yahweh (1Kgs 18:4; 1Kgs 18:13). Thus she became the formidable adversary of the prophet Elijah (1Kgs 19:1-3). When Jehu seized power (2Kgs 9-10), Jezebel met her death with characteristic audacity: she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and greeted Jehu from her window with a caustic insult (2Kgs 9:30-31). 2 In (Rev 2:20) the name applied to a false prophet.
