Jezebel in the Bible: Queen, Idolater, and Warning to the Church
Jezebel in the Bible appears both as a historical queen in the Old Testament and as a symbolic nickname for a false prophetess in the New Testament. As queen Jezebel, the daughter of Eth-Baal, king of Sidon, and wife of Ahab, king of Israel, she becomes the leading figure of Baal worship in the northern kingdom and a bitter enemy of the prophets of Yahweh. In Revelation 2, “Jezebel” reappears as the derogatory name for a woman within the church at Thyatira who promotes idolatry and immorality. Together these portraits make Jezebel a lasting symbol of spiritual compromise, false prophecy, and judgment.
The meaning of Jezebel’s Phoenician name is disputed. A common proposal takes it as something like “Where is the Prince?” where “Prince” is an epithet of Baal, reflecting the cry “Where is Baal, the Prince?” used in Canaanite religion. In Hebrew it appears as ʾîzebel (pause form ʾîzābel); the Greek forms in LXX and the New Testament are Iezabel (Ιεζαβελ) or similar.
1. Jezebel in the Old Testament: Queen of Israel and Promoter of Baal Worship
In 1 Kings 16–21 and 2 Kings 9, Jezebel stands as one of the most notorious figures in the story of Israel’s monarchy.
A. Her background and position
She is the daughter of Eth-Baal, king of Sidon (1 Kings 16:31).
She marries Ahab, king of the northern kingdom of Israel.
Through this marriage, political alliance and religious influence intertwine.
B. Jezebel and Baal worship
Jezebel is described as an active promoter of the Baal cult:
Ahab sets up a Baal altar and house in Samaria under her influence (1 Kings 16:31–33).
She supports Baal’s prophets (1 Kings 18:19).
She opposes and persecutes the prophets of Yahweh: “Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD” (1 Kings 18:4).
Her actions represent a direct assault on the covenant identity of Israel, replacing loyalty to Yahweh with the worship of Baal and Asherah.
C. Jezebel’s persecution and defiance
Key episodes include:
Her threat against Elijah after the contest on Mount Carmel: she vows to kill him (1 Kings 19:1–2).
Her role in the judicial murder of Naboth to secure his vineyard for Ahab (1 Kings 21).
The prophetic word against Ahab’s house and against Jezebel herself (1 Kings 21:23).
In 2 Kings 9, Jezebel’s death under Jehu fulfills the prophetic judgment:
She is thrown from a window.
Dogs devour her body (2 Kings 9:30–37).
In the Greek text (4 Kgdms 9:22), Jezebel is explicitly accused of fornications (πορνεῖαι) and sorceries (φάρμακα), language that will echo in later uses of “Jezebel” as a symbol of spiritual infidelity.
2. Jezebel as a Symbol of Idolatry and Spiritual Adultery
In biblical language, idolatry is frequently portrayed as sexual sin in metaphorical form.
A. Fornication and adultery as metaphors
In many prophetic texts:
“Fornication” and “adultery” depict Israel’s idolatry (e.g., Jeremiah 3:6–10 LXX).
Turning to other gods is described as breaking covenant like an unfaithful spouse.
Jezebel embodies this pattern:
She leads Israel into Baal worship.
She suppresses true worship of Yahweh.
She uses power and manipulation to maintain idolatrous practices.
B. Jezebel as a type
Because of this, Jezebel in the Bible becomes:
A type of the apostate queen who allies political power with false religion.
A symbol of spiritual compromise that looks powerful in the present but ends in judgment.
A warning image for later readers when the church faces similar pressures to blend with surrounding idolatry.
3. Jezebel in Revelation 2: The False Prophetess in Thyatira
In Revelation 2:18–29, “Jezebel” is used as a deliberate nickname for a woman in the church at Thyatira.
A. Her role in the church
The risen Christ rebukes the church:
“You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess” (Revelation 2:20).
She teaches and seduces Christ’s servants “to fornicate (πορνεῦσαι) and to eat food sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20).
In this context, “fornication” and “committing adultery with her” (Revelation 2:22) likely function as metaphors for idolatrous compromise, especially in trade-guild and civic contexts where eating idol food was normal.
B. Parallels with Pergamum and Balaam
In the letter to Pergamum, similar teaching is tied to:
Balaam (Numbers 25; Revelation 2:14).
The Nicolaitans (Revelation 2:14–15).
This suggests a broader pattern in some Asia Minor churches:
Certain leaders used “prophetic” claims to justify participating in pagan feasts.
Sexual and cultic compromise blurred the line between the church and the surrounding culture.
C. Jezebel as an insider, not an outsider
Some have suggested that this New Testament Jezebel was an outsider, such as a priestess of a local Sibylline or Chaldaean cult. But several details in Revelation 2 argue that she belonged to the Christian community itself:
She “teaches” and has followers inside the church.
Christ gives her time “to repent” (Revelation 2:21).
Her influence is described as something the congregation has “tolerated,” not as an external threat alone.
This makes her more like queen Jezebel in function: a powerful insider who leads God’s people into idolatry.
4. The Sambêthê Theory and Why It Is Unlikely
In 1892, E. Schürer proposed that the New Testament “Jezebel” was a priestess of the Oriental Sibyl named Sambêthê, based on an inscription from Thyatira mentioning a sambatheion.
A. The basic idea
Schürer suggested:
The sambatheion was a sanctuary of the Sibyl Sambêthê.
The Sibyl was tied to Chaldaean–Jewish traditions and viewed as related to Noah.
Jezebel might have functioned toward the end of the first century like a Sibylline priestess delivering oracles.
B. Problems with this theory
The theory rests on several fragile assumptions:
The word sambatheion may just as well refer to a synagogue (similar to sabbatheion), especially given known usage in Josephus.
The presence of a tomb near the building does not necessarily rule out it being a synagogue, since impurity concerns had defined limits.
There is no evidence that consultants of such a Sibylline oracle formed a regular congregation like the church in Revelation 2.
Revelation’s picture of Jezebel as teaching within the Christian community, being given time to repent, and influencing believers fits a church member, not an external cultic functionary.
More likely, the “Jezebel” of Thyatira was a woman within the congregation, whose teaching encouraged believers to compromise with idolatrous practices, much as queen Jezebel had entangled Israel with Baal.
C. Sabbatists rather than Sambêthê-adherents
Likewise, the phrase σύνοδος σαμβαθική in an inscription from Naucratis is best understood as:
An “assembly of Sabbatists” or God-fearers.
Possibly an ordinary synagogue meeting.
It is unlikely to point to a Sambêthê sect.
Bible verses about Jezebel and idolatry
“And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam… he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians and went and served Baal and worshiped him.” (1 Kings 16:31)
“For when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.” (1 Kings 18:4)
“Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’” (1 Kings 19:2)
“Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him.” (1 Kings 21:25)
“When Joram saw Jehu, he said, ‘Is it peace, Jehu?’ And he answered, ‘What peace, so long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her sorceries are so many?’” (2 Kings 9:22)
“But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.” (Revelation 2:20)
“I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.” (Revelation 2:21)
“Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works.” (Revelation 2:22)
“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:21)
“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
