God eagerly cautioned the Israelites against marrying foreign women because they would bring about religious, cultural, and moral corruption (Deuteronomy 7:3-4). However, King Ahab did otherwise, just like King Solomon and King David, who ruled before him. Ahab paid a bitter price for his defiance of the word of God, just like King Solomon.
When Ahab became king of Israel, he married Jezebel, a princess and daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon. It was a usual thing for ancient kings to marry women of royal birth from other kingdoms for political advantage. However, Ahab’s marriage to Jezebel was more disastrous than advantageous, as Jezebel wreaked great havoc in Israel.
At that time, Israel was already grappling with the problem of idolatry—the worship of the golden calves. Then, at her coming to Israel in the name of marriage, Jezebel brought with her hundreds of Canaanite priests and prophets of Baal and Asherah and established the cult of Baal in Israel, leading the entire nation further down a dark path of idolatry and its associated bizarre rituals.
While she supported the cult of Baal and its prophets, she turned against the prophets of God and persecuted them to their death, forcing the prophets who remained to go into hiding. When Naboth refused to sell his vineyard to King Ahab, Jezebel orchestrated his death by setting up false witnesses to accuse Naboth of cursing God, leading to Naboth’s death by stoning (1 Kings 21:1-16).
It was shocking how this woman exercised so much power in a country not her own and how she had everyone at her mercy. She shed blood and wreaked havoc to the extent that Jehu referred to her as a witch (2 Kings 9:22). By Jezebel’s counsel and influence, King Ahab did not fare well as a king, and his every deed was perpetually evil in the sight of God.
After Naboth’s death, Jezebel seized his vineyard and gave it to King Ahab. At this point, God had had enough of Ahab and his witch queen. While Ahab was inspecting Naboth’s vineyard, God sent Elijah to confront him and proclaim a prophecy of doom upon his household—that he would be stripped of the kingdom and his male lineage would be slaughtered (1 Kings 21:17-24).
In the fulfillment of the prophecy of doom, Ahab died in battle (1 Kings 22:34-38), and some years later, Jehu was anointed king to bring judgment on the house of Ahab. Jezebel met her end at the hands of Jehu at Jezreel. At Jehu’s command, she was thrown down from a window, and her body was trampled by horses and devoured by dogs, fulfilling Elijah’s prophecy (2 Kings 9:30-37).
Jezebel’s three children, whom she had with Ahab, were no better and fared no better in life, and they ended on a sad note. Her son Ahaziah, who succeeded Ahab, fell from a story building and died some days later from the effect (2 Kings 1:2-17). Her son Joram met his end at the hands of Jehu even before Jezebel was killed (2 Kings 9:24). Her daughter, Queen Athaliah, who usurped the throne of Judah, was overthrown and executed years later (2 Kings 11:1-16).