Gezabele

The Bible is filled with great concern for foreigners, especially because they bring idol worship to the country. Several times the Lord recommends not associating with foreigners because they are bearers of gods that distance us from the true God. This recommendation even Solomon, famous for his wisdom, forgot and at the end of his life "loved many foreign women".
And precisely against a foreigner and, above all against idolatry, the prophet Elijah fought: Jezebel, Phoenician, daughter of the king of Sidon, educated to the cult of Baal and the divinities of his Pantheon, marrying Ahab, king of Israel, brings division and death , fruit of the idolatry that inspired his life. She was unscrupulous and she made royal power the heart of her actions and allowed no opposition. She never accepted that the monarchy in Israel was not absolute, as in other countries, because she had the limit of God's authority. On the contrary, she instigated her husband to evil, so much so that their couple is considered the worst in history. .

Elijah wants to bring the people back to the one God, so he organizes a sacrifice on Mount Carmel around which he gathers "all Israel ... together with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Ascera, who eat at the Jezebel ». The rite begins, the devotees of Baal celebrate first as they dance, carving their flesh, as they invoke "Baal, answer us! ... but there was no voice, no answer, no sign of attention". "He'll be sleeping," Elijah jokes, and advises them to cry out louder. After midday, Elijah invites the people to draw near and invokes the Lord: "Answer me, Lord and this people know that you are God in Israel". The fire of the Lord falls and consumes the holocaust; the people prostrate in adoration exclaim: "The Lord is God". The sacrifice ends with the killing of the prophets of Baal, friends of Queen Jezebel. The reaction appears to be too violent, but it expresses the gravity of the idolatry that leads the people astray, leading them to ruin. In Baal there is no possible life and the choice of idolatry is the choice of death. The wrath of Jezebel is unleashed against the prophet who threatens with an even worse death.

We find Jezebel in support of her husband against Naboth's refusal to sell the vineyard, the inheritance of her fathers. Her arrogance cannot bear rejection and she hatches a false and violent plan. She convinces two false witnesses to claim that Naboth cursed God and the king. The accusation is deemed true and Naboth is sentenced to death and stoned.
Jezebel appears to be a particularly negative character: she is the idolater who leads to iniquity, the foreigner who opens the door to misfortune that will also involve her husband in a violent end, as Elijah prophesies: "In the place where the dogs lapped the blood of Naboth , they will also lick your blood ». The same fate will befall Jezebel who died, thrown out of the window by order of King Jehu and her remains were devoured by dogs. The author concludes with sadness: "No one has ever sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord like Ahab because his wife Jezebel had instigated him" (1Ki 21:25) .


Anna Maria Del Prete
NP December 2020