Ithobaal I

He wanted to do even worse.

And so what he did was he took as wife Jezebel, daughter of Etbaal of the Phoenicians, and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.

Okay, now, this is like the worst king we ever had.

And he was especially bad because not only did he do all those terrible things, but he went and he married the daughter of an idolatrous king.

And Ahab the son of Amri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.

And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him.

He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria.

And Ahab made an Asherah, Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

About 870 BC, he transferred his capital from Tiritsa, which faced eastwards towards the desert, to the splendid new site of Samaria facing westwards toward the Mediterranean and towards Phoenicia.

Omri's friendly relationship to Phoenicia was sealed by the marriage of his crown prince to Jezebel, daughter of Etbaal, the Sidonian king of Tyre.

One important reason for this alliance was undoubtedly the common danger to both constituted by the steady expansion of the power of Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram.

In other words, after decades of instability in the north, along comes a new crisis.

We talked about him when we were in Chronicles because he is married to Jezebel.

She was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians.

And he was a priest of Ashtroth, Together, Ahab and Jezebel, really kind of an idolatrous Bonnie and Clyde, proliferated idolatry in Israel, making Baal worship the national religion.

Now that takes us to chapter 17, where we meet Elijah for the very first time.

Jezebel was a seductive prophetess of the false god Baal.

She was the daughter of a king priest of Sidon named Ethbaal.

In 1 Kings 16 30, the Bible says, but Ahab, son of Omri, did what was evil in the Lord's sight even more than any of the kings before him.

And as though it were not enough to follow the examples of Jeroboam, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians.

And he began to bow down in worship of Baal.

Jezebel means without dwelling or cohabitation.

And I said, Jezebel, come out.

But Jezebel had a religion that the historical person of Jezebel was a real person.

And Ahab, son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.

He took for his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.

Again, weak male, beta male, follows the advice of his wife and commits, you know, idolatry.

I mean, one of the...

Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than than any of those before him.

He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him.

He builds Baal, a temple in Samaria, sets up Asherah poles and does more to arouse the anger of the Lord than did all the kings of Israel before him.

And I start singing.