This Cursed Woman

by Micky Galloway

“And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at the window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Is it peace, thou Zimri, thy master's murderer?” (II Kings 9:30-31). Jehu calls her the “cursed woman” (II Kings 9:34). Her name has become a synonym for all that is base and evil. How did Jezebel come to be a name that makes us shudder? How can we train our daughters that they NOT grow up into the cursed woman that Jezebel was?

She was not born the cruel, evil woman that she became, but what she became may very well have been determined by the early teaching she had. She came from Phoenicia and was nurtured in an atmosphere that was foul and filthy. The idol gods to whom she was introduced were gods of filth and lusts. They made no claim to make men good.

Jezebel made an unfortunate choice for a marriage companion. She married Ahab, king of Israel who half-heartedly was a follower of the Lord. The biggest difference between Ahab and Jezebel was that while he was weak and wicked, she was strong and wicked. Jezebel dominated Ahab and turned him to her religion away from the God of his fathers instead of him turning her to serve Jehovah. The apostle Paul warned in the N.T., “Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals” (I Corinthians 15:33). How rare it is to find a man who will hold on his way when his wife does not support him. How many have been destroyed because of a poor choice for a companion?

Not only did Jezebel influence her husband and dominate him, but she influenced the court the same way, thus dominating the nation of Israel. She was so active and aggressive that she swept the nation into idolatry.

The more Jezebel sinned, the more she seemed to prosper. The more one prospers in wrong doing, the greater danger of becoming permanently married to the thing that will ultimately bring about his ruin. The deeper involved in sin she became the more her anger raged toward Elijah who rebuked her sin. Anger at the preacher is no substitute for repentance. She had seen the failure of her own gods at Carmel (I Kings 18) and she had witnessed the fire of Jehovah consuming the offering of Elijah. She had heard his powerful words, “Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” She knew that, “Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there” (I Kings 18:40). However, she was not softened. Instead, she threatened the life of Elijah saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time” (I Kings 19:2). This caused Elijah to flee for his life into the wilderness, discouraged and distraught, “and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, O Jehovah, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers … And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (I Kings 19:4,10).

Time passes. Ahab, King of Israel is slain in battle and the dogs lick up his blood, “according unto the word of Jehovah which he spake” (I Kings 22:37-38; cf 21:19). Elijah appointed Jehu, to be King over Israel. Jehu would destroy all that remained of the house of Ahab (II Kings 10:7-17). Now, old wicked Jezebel must face the man who would be the instrument of her death. Rather than appear in sackcloth and ashes begging for mercy she paints her face and stands in the window as a preacher of righteousness (II Kings 9:30-37). What arrogance! She does not yet realize that her sin is her doom. For a lifetime she has sown seeds of lust, hate and murder. Now she will reap the harvest.

Jehu shouts, “Who is on my side?” Those who show their faces are instructed, “Throw her down.” As she is thrown from the wall, blood is spattered on the wall of the building and on the hoofs of the horses and the wheels of the chariot as Jehu repeatedly drives over this evil woman and “trod her under foot.” After Jehu feasts in the palace he says to the servants, “See now to this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king's daughter.” As the servants went out to bury her body, all that was found was her skull, the soles of her feet and the palms of her hands. The dogs had eaten her exactly as Elijah, the prophet had foretold saying, “In the portion of Jezreel shall the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel; and the body of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel” (I Kings 21:23). Certainly, we are reminded, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

In all this one can not help but wonder, “What could have been” if Jezebel had given herself with this same devotion and enthusiasm to serving God. What a waste of a life. She ruined her home, destroyed her husband, led Israel into idolatry and was ultimately thrown into the street to become dog meat. What a legacy. Is it any wonder why no one names their daughter “Jezebel?”