Ahab of Israel: 874-852 BC [I]

‘Where is the Shit?’ An Ode to Queen Jezebel  ∙  The Elijah Chronicles: Yahweh vs. Baal  ∙  Showdown on Mount Carmel  ∙  Elijah the Refugee  ∙  The Siege of Samaria  ∙  The Battle of Aphek  ∙  Naboth’s Vineyard  ∙  The Battle of Qarqar  ∙  Ramoth-Gilead: A Prophecy Fulfilled   ∙  A Tale of Two Chariots

King Ahab of Israel

The Bible is emphatic; Ahab was one of the worst kings of Israel. He became king while Asa was still reigning in Judah and reigned for twenty-two years. His evil far superseded that even of Jeroboam; he provoked the anger of Yahweh more than any other king of Israel before him, and he suffers a stinging indictment in 1 Kings 21.25: ‘Truly, there was no one like Ahab who had sold himself by doing evil in the eyes of the Yahweh, whose wife Jezebel urged him on.” Ahab and Jezebel are approached in scripture as a team; though Jezebel is usually the one orchestrating evil in Israel, Ahab is portrayed as going right along with it. Because he is the head of Israel, and because he is the head of his wife, he is guilty for all that transpires. Ahab’s troubles began when his father betrothed him to Jezebal, daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon, in accordance with a Tyro-Israelite trade agreement. 

When Ahab became king, he, like Solomon before him, made religious provisions for his wife by building a temple and altar for Baal-Melqart in the capital city of Samaria and erecting an Asherah pole. In doing this he was following the dictates of international courtesy that demanded a foreign queen should have a sanctuary of her own religion in an adopted land. Jezebel, likely a high priestess of the Baal-Melqart cult, took advantage of Ahab’s courtesy: he’d given her religion a foot in the door, and she resolved to push that door open wider and wider until her beliefs became Israel’s state religion. Her religious fanaticism isn’t surprising, given who her father was: King Ethbaal of the Sidonians ruled from 887 to 856 BC; he was a capable ruler who made Tyre his capital city and developed it as an inland port (he likely built the city’s southern harbor with its breakwater), but he’s also known for his cruelty and devotion to Phoenicia’s gods. Jewish tradition – passed down to use by the historian Josephus who lived during the early days of the Roman Empire and whose words on Ethbaal are likely derived from Greek translations of Phoenician records – states that Ethbaal was the high priest of the god Astarte, and that Ethbaal assassinated his predecessor and usurped the throne. Jezebel’s fierce character, fanatical devotion to her national gods, and her ‘missionary zeal’ are in keeping with the family lineage and an overflow of her likely identity as Phoenicia’s high priestess of Baal-Melqart. Though Ahab originally built the Baal temple for the use of Jezebel and her imported servants, it would – at her orchestration – become the center of the state cult.

Queen Jezebel of Israel

The only possible contemporary reference to Jezebel from this time period is a seal inscribed with the name ‘yzbl.’ The seal is large and features Egyptian motifs with the Phoenician inscription of the name. Her Phoenician name, ‘Jezebal,’ means ‘Where is the god of the house?’ but in the Bible it’s corrupted into ‘Jezebel,’ which literally means ‘Where is the shit?’, highlighting the Jews’ distaste for this woman because of what she did in Israel. Jezebel was power-hungry, domineering, and controlling. She had her husband Ahab whipped, using him as a pawn to execute her desires; she took the role of the man in the relationship, and he let her. It’s likely that Ahab wasn’t too concerned about religious matters and that he made Israel’s religion her sphere of operations; Ahab was a militant king, more concerned with fighting Israel’s enemies and expanding her holdings. He was obsessed with chariots, as evidenced in his great concern for his horses during Israel’s drought and the vast numbers of chariots he brought against Assyria in 853. As far as religion went, he could take it or leave it; but his wife was very much a taker, and she wanted Phoenicia’s gods to overwhelm Israel’s Yahwism. 

She didn’t want the Baal-Melqart cult to simply coexist with the worship of Yahweh: she wanted it to supplant Yahwism in its totality. She wanted to enthrone Baal as the king and national god of Israel, and she made this her mission. The prophets of Yahweh would, of course, be opposed to her goals, and they’d oppose it on traditional, personal, religious, and political grounds; they’d be capable of mobilizing extreme opposition to her programs among the general population – and thus they had to be eliminated. The Bible mentions, almost in an off-hand manner, how she viciously hunted down and killed God’s prophets. Her relative success is surprising, if only because ancient peoples tended to react violently when their native clergy were persecuted by outsiders; even for Jezebel to attempt it, she must have been confident that the people wouldn’t rise against her. The fact that there was no widespread revolt against this persecution indicates that support for traditional Yahwism was close to nonexistent, but is that really surprising given the religious nature of Israel? They had been getting comfortable with paganism and idolatry since the days long past when Jeroboam inaugurated the Golden Calves worship; all Jezebel had to do was take the already-corrupt Golden Calves and reorient them towards Baal worship. In doing this – and in slaughtering the prophets of Yahweh – she gave Israel a new god and a new religion; she made Israel an extension of Phoenicia. She stocked the capital city with pagan prophets, and the Israelites, for the most part, went along with it. Her religion – the Baal-Melqart cult, the Phoenician variant of Canaanite Baal worship – became official in Israel, and it would soon bleed into Judah: she and Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah, would marry Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram, according to a peace treaty made between Jehoshaphat and Ahab early in the Judean king’s reign. Athaliah’s presence in Judah put Baal worshippers in both kingly houses of the divided kingdom, and Athaliah embraced the ‘missionary prerogatives’ of her mother, corrupting her husband Jehoram who, in turn, promoted the corruption of all Judah. 

an idol of Baal-Melqart from ancient Phoenicia

It would do us well to examine the Baal-Melqart cult as practiced in Phoenicia and imported to Israel. Baalism (the worship of Baal and his entourage) was one of the most common pagan religions in the Old Testament world. The name of the most revered god was Baal, whose name means ‘Master, Possessor, or Husband.’ Most of the time he’s a version of the Western-Semitic storm-god Hadad, the chief deity of the Canaanite pantheon. The name Baal, however, was often used for other chief deities (such as Melqart, the chief god of Tyre; and Molech, the chief god of the Ammonites). In the Phoenician form of Baalism, the god El ruled as the father of the Canaanite pantheon. His son Baal ruled as one of the chief male deities and served as the god of agriculture; as such he was responsible for the fertility of fields and was associated with human and animal reproduction. His consort Baalath represented fertility and generation (in Phoenician, Baal means ‘lord’ and Baalath ‘lady’). Though Baal was viewed as the son of El, he was treated as ‘the king of the gods’ in Phoenician mythology. In the Canaanite pantheon, he was associated with Ashtaroth and Asherah and considered the son of the Philistine god Dagon.

archaeological remains of Phoenician Baal-Melqart temple
in Byblos

The Baal whom the Phoenicians worshipped was a nature deity: he was god over the rain and the weather. Ancient mythologies depict him dealing in conflict with death, infertility, and flood waters. Baal worshippers often worshipped on mountains at sacred places marked with a heavy stone altar, a sacred tree or pole, and a stone pillar. The stone pillar symbolized Baal, and the sacred tree or pole (called an Asherah pole) symbolized the fertility goddess Asherah. In urban centers, this worship often took place in temples with a courtyard or enclosure. The temple would include a roofed shrine with a porch and a pillared hall. The altar, stone pillar, and Asherah pole were kept in the middle of the courtyard, and statues of the deities were kept in the sacred shrines. Because the Phoenicians were an urban people, they tended more towards worshipping their gods in temples rather than in outdoor shrines (though outdoor shrines, already common in Israel, continued unabated – though illegal shrines to Yahweh were destroyed). In a Phoenician temple excavated at Byblos, about twenty stone pillars were discovered; they were cut in the form of obelisks, and the highest was ten feet high. 

The worship of Baal and his entourage involved libations (liquid offerings), the offering of food, the sacrifice of animals, and even (sometimes) the sacrifice of children. Baal worship went in seasonal spurts: the gods ‘died’ in autumn and were ‘reborn’ in the spring. During autumn the worshippers celebrated the gods’ deaths through rituals of mourning, funeral rites, and self-torture and mutilation (it may have been during this season that Elijah set up his Baal-vs.-Yahweh contest on Mount Carmel). In the spring, in celebration of the gods’ rebirths, the worshippers celebrated with sacred sexual indulgence. The temples often contributed to this by having male and female prostitutes and special chambers available for religious fornication. Women often sacrificed their virginity to the Canaanite goddess Asherah in hope of winning her favor in fertility. 

In Scripture the Baal-Melqart cult is condemned not merely because it is idolatry (the worship of false gods) but because of its inherent sinfulness and depravity. The brutal ugliness of Canaanite religion is expertly described by Howard E. Vos in An Introduction to Biblical Archaeology, in which he writes:

One may question that those ancient enemies of Israel were as evil as the Bible claims they were but even a superficial glance at Canaanite religion alone ably demonstrates their iniquity. Base sex-worship was prevalent, and religious prostitution even commanded; human sacrifice was common; and it was a frequent practice – in an effort to placate their gods – to kill young children and bury them in the foundations of a house of public building at the time of construction.

the remains of ancient Jericho

Evidence of such barbaric practices as killing children and burying them in the foundations of a building project are seen at the beginning of the 1 Kings narrative of the reign of Ahab. That the author puts this here is indicative of the fact that he is seeking to highlight the moral degradation and religious corruption of Israel. Jezebel’s programs were successful, and Baal worship was spreading through the land. In 1 Kings 16.34 we read that a man named Hiel, from Bethel, went about rebuilding Jericho. Jericho was habituated, but the fortifications hadn’t been rebuilt since their destruction during the days of the Conquest of Canaan; Ahab, aiming to refortify his southern border, commissioned Hiel to rebuild Jericho’s walls. In Joshua 6.26-27 Joshua prophesied, ‘Cursed is anyone before Yahweh who gets up and [rebuilds the walls of] Jericho, this city. At the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.’ 1 Kings 16.34 tells us that Hiel lost his oldest son Abiram with the laying of the foundation and his younger son Segub at setting up the gates; though some argue this is due to sickness (perhaps schistosomiasis, a disease caused by a blood fluke carried by snails of a type found in abundance at Jericho that infects the urinary tract, affecting fertility and child mortality), the placement of this narrative after the ‘spread’ of paganism through Israel indicates that Hiel was paganized and practicing Phoenician paganism in his building project. ‘As the king goes, so goes the land.’ Hiel likely slew his own children as offerings to Baal when rebuilding the city’s defenses.

Bit did King Ahab convert to the Baal-Melqart cult? The Bible, as we have seen, is quite clear about his low standing before Yahweh; it’s clear that, as king, he failed to follow God’s law – but, in the final analysis, did he become thoroughly pagan? It’s likely the answer is no. Though he did become a Baal worshipper, he continued worshipping Yahweh, too, at least sporadically. Jezebel didn’t worship Yahweh, of course; she was fiercely loyal to Baal-Melqart and aimed to snuff Yahwism from the land. Ahab, however, seems to be less fanatical. His interests were geared less towards religious matters and more towards state matters: increasing Israel’s power and prestige, waging war on her enemies (both Aram and Assyria), building up his beloved chariot corps, and commissioning building projects. That he didn’t go ‘full pagan’ is seen in the fact that the crown prince was given a Hebrew name: ‘Ahaziah’ means ‘whom Yahweh upholds,’ and his name suggests that, notwithstanding his flirtations with Baal worship, Ahab retained a belief in the existence of Israel’s national deity. Ahaziah may have had a pious name, but he took after his mother and would be identified as a supremely wicked king.

Nevertheless, from a secular point-of-view, Ahab was a decent and capable ruler. He was successful in military exploits against Aram and Assyria and became known as a ‘city-builder’: he built several towns, most famous of which was his ivory palace (that is, a house with ivory inlays). In Samaria he built a casemate wall around the acropolis (or royal quarter of the city), and he commissioned new fortifications and extra fortifications on the southern border (such as Jericho, addressed above). His ‘ivory palace’ won international renown, and ivory became the hottest rage in Israel. Ivory plaques and fragments have been found throughout ancient Samaria, and they were used as inlays in paneling and furniture. The ivory décor reflects cosmopolitan influences from Egypt, Phoenicia, and Mesopotamia. The principal source of ivory was elephant tusks, which were imported from Aram where Syrian elephants had yet to go extinct. Elephant hides and tusks – even, at times, live elephants – were included in tribute payments from various regions around Israel. Ivory became a staple of ‘the good life,’ and the prophet Amos criticizes such luxurious ‘high living’ in Amos 3.15 and 6.4. The very fact that ivory began to spread throughout Israel indicates she was reaching a level of power and prestige to be envied by her neighbors; a ‘Golden Age’ of Northern Israel was on the horizon.