Dethrone Jezebel: Exposing This Demon’s Ancient Agenda to Control Your Region

Jezebel is the wicked woman from the Word of God we have all grown to dislike.

Why? Because this spirit is very alive and active in our culture. The meaning of her name is, “where is the prince?” or also “un-husbanded.” Isn’t it interesting that even the meaning of her name depicts the truly demonic lack of reverence for the Prince of Peace and our Heavenly Father who is a covenant-keeping God. Jezebel, or the one un-husbanded, will always aggressively attack covenants made in righteousness. Her name was actually the ritual cry in the worship of Baal.

Jezebel’s story is told in the Books of Kings. She was a Phoenician princess, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre. First Kings 16:31 says she was “Sidonian,” from Zidon, which is generally a biblical term for Phoenicians. In this city and culture of her upbringing and royal influence, the Queen of Heaven was the eminent and supreme ruler. “Ethbaal, also called Ithobalus… was a priest of Astarte, and, having put the king, Pheles, to death, assumed the scepter of Tyre and Sidon, lived sixty-eight years, and reigned thirty-two.” We see here the reason Jezebel, the daughter of a priest of Astarte, was so zealous in her promotion of idolatry.

Jezebel married King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He was the son of King Omri, who had brought the northern Kingdom of Israel to great power and established Samaria as his capital. This marriage was the culmination of the friendly relations existing between Israel and Phoenicia during Omri’s reign, and possibly cemented important political designs. This was the first time that a king of Israel had allied himself by marriage with a heathen princess; and the alliance was, in this case, disastrous. Let’s discuss the two demonic entities that Jezebel in essence sold her soul to.

Baal

Jezebel, like the foreign wives of Solomon, required facilities and temples for carrying on her forms of worship. Therefore, Ahab made an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria employing 450 prophets in the worship of this principality. He was the supreme male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanite nations, also known as the sun god. Baal worship is ancient. This practice prevailed in the time of Moses through the Moabites and Midianites. Unfortunately, it spread to the Israelites. Sadly, in the time of the kings it became the religion of the court and people of the ten tribes. Temples were erected to Baal in Judah where he was worshipped with great ceremony. The worship to this principality was wicked and lustful in nature and in many forms, sacrifice and child sacrifice were required. Other names for Baal are Bel, Molech, Marduk, Chemosh.

He was the chief god of the pantheon and celebrated in the spring of the year to venerate the awakening and conception of nature. The medieval Druids, who saw his name as meaning “the shining one,” adopted his worship. In his demonic belief, he earned his ranking position in the Babylon pantheon by killing the goddess of chaos, Tiamet (Isaiah 46:1; Jeremiah 50:2 and 51:44). By studying the Word of God we learn that he was worshipped under different adaptations and manifestations according to people, cities, and regions.

1. Baal-Berith: the covenant Baal

2. Baal-Zebub: lord of the fly

3. Baal-Hanan: the name of the early kings of Edom

4. Baal-Peor: lord of the opening

5. Baalath-Beer: lord of the well

6. Baal-Gad: lord of fortune

7. Baal-Hamon: lord of the multitude

8. Baal-Hazor: village of Baal

9. Mount Baal-Hermon: lord of Hermon

10. Baal-Zephon: lord of the hidden things, north and darkness

This ancient principality has also fortified strongholds throughout the nations. But that is another book! Other sun god names are Ra, Osiris, Horus, Apollo, Zeus, Hercules, Nike, Helios, Dazhbog, Sunna, Mithras, Shamash.

Asherah

To further meet Jezebel’s demands, Ahab also built the cultic symbol of worship to the goddess Asherah. Most scholars and archaeologists agree temples or idols to her were also erected. The cult of Asherah is ancient. In a Sumerian inscription, she is known as the bride of Anu (heaven). In Ugaritic literature she is called Lady Asherah of the sea, a title signifying that she was one who treads on the sea.

Tyre was a major center for her veneration as she was the chief goddess of the region. Here she was revered as consort or wife of El, and the mother of seventy gods, including Baal. Animal sacrifices were offered to her; sexual perversion including temple prostitution with homosexuality were very prevalent. She also bore the title “Holiness” as attested by an Egyptian nude figure of her bearing that inscription.

Her name is frequently translated as groves and her worship, rituals, and ceremonies would frequently occur in groves of trees. The object of her veneration was also called an Asherah meaning a sacred pillar. These Asherah poles were erected at sacred sites and alongside altars throughout the land of Canaan “on every high hill and under every green tree” (1 Kings 14:23, ESV). The Baal temple at Samaria had an Asherah pole.

In ancient times these altars were typically built under green trees. The city of Tyre on the Mediterranean coast was home to the best cedars of Lebanon and seemed to have been an important center for the worship of Asherah.

Asherah worship was deeply sensual, involving illicit acts of perversion and ritual prostitution. It was closely associated with the worship of Baal: “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They forgot about the Lord their God, and they served the images of Baal and the Asherah poles” (Judges 3:7 NLT). “At times, to appease Baal and Asherah, human sacrifices were made. These sacrifices usually consisted of the firstborn child of the person making the sacrifice,”3 as stated in Jeremiah 19:5 (NASB):

And have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind.

All idol and demonic worship and veneration was explicitly forbidden by the Lord: “You must never set up a wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build for the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 16:21 NLT). When Asa reigned in Judah:

He banished the male and female shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made. He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene Asherah pole. He cut down her obscene pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley (1 Kings 15:12-13 NLT).

Jezebel highly venerated Asherah and ensured her worship by commissioning four hundred prophets. These prophets were welcomed to have a close relationship with Jezebel as they ate at her table, which would involve eating a meal, but also an invitation into the bedroom for licentious encounters. Jezebel stamped her name on history as the representative of all that is designing, crafty, malicious, revengeful, and cruel believing she was the human manifestation and personification of the Queen of Heaven. Jezebel went so far as to require that her religion should be the national religion of Israel. After all, in her culture, the Queen of Heaven was ruler of all.

Jezebel Killed Prophets

We see in scripture that Jezebel also killed prophets of Israel: “When Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them in groups of fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water” (1 Kings 18:4 MEV), positioning her as the first great instigator of persecution against the children of Israel. She was guided by no principle, restrained by no fear of either God or man, passionate in her attachment to her heathen worship; she spared no limits to maintain idolatry around her in all its demonic splendor. The idolatry, as we have discussed, was of the most debased and sensual kind in which their rituals involved depraved and licentious practices and abominations. Human sacrifice, sometimes child sacrifice, was often made to appease Jezebel’s pagan desires.

 You see, when the sun god Baal, lord of all, and the moon goddess Asherah, queen of all, are given the place of rulership by those in authority, the prophets and prophetic voice will be silenced or killed. Why? They zealously opposed all that Jezebel and Ahab believed and were perpetuating. The prophets posed a threat to Jezebel’s religious or, better stated, diabolical spiritual agenda. Their rule faced opposition from these prophets, who spoke out against their policies, particularly those that promoted idolatry, human sacrifice, and injustice. The prophets were seen as threats to her and her husband’s authority; therefore, she sought to suppress and completely kill off their influence. She and Ahab sought to control religious practices and beliefs as a means of securing power, maintaining social order, and political control. The prophets’ messages condemned her actions and lifestyle, including her promotion of idol worship, manipulation of political power, and persecution of the followers of the God of Israel.

Jezebel Steals Inheritance

We are all familiar with her disdain toward Elijah and her plot to destroy and kill him after his defeat of Baal and the prophets of Baal. In 1 Kings 21, we then learn of another deplorable act. Ahab desired to have Naboth’s vineyard as his own.

Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel right by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And after this Ahab spoke to Naboth saying, “Give me your vineyard…. I will give you a better vineyard for it, or if you prefer, I will give you its worth in money” (1 Kings 21:1-2 MEV).

Naboth refused to sell his birthright inheritance to the king. Ahab was upset and began to pout. Look at the depth of entitlement that is present when rulers aligned with demonic principalities are in power.

Jezebel his wife said to him, “Are you not the governor of the kingdom of Israel? Get up and eat bread, and let your heart be happy, for I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you” (1 Kings 21:7 MEV).

It is important to state here that Ahab was weak. A Jezebel spirit and principality will look for someone weak to empower her agenda. We will discuss this below, but a Jezebel spirit can operate through a man or a woman.

Jezebel and the Sons of Belial’s Evil Plot

Jezebel through her cruel abuse of power as queen set her depraved and evil plot to kill Naboth in motion to ensure that Ahab got what he wanted.

So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles that were in the city where Naboth lived. In the letters she wrote, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people, and set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, ‘ You blasphemed God and the king.’ And then carry him out and stone him, so that he will die” (1 Kings 21:8-10 MEV).

The sons of Belial are ones who are mentioned throughout the Old Testament. They were considered scoundrels and were ones who operated in deceit, accusation, and evil acts. Belial is defined as “wickedness, what does not conform to a right standard, of no worth, evil person, troublemaker, vile thing” (Strong’s #H1100). Obviously, this spirit operating through these two evil and deceitful men partnered with Jezebel in her evil plot to kill Naboth. They carried it through without hesitation. Just to give two more examples, they also stood against David and his kingdom and stirred up strife and dissension between Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. This spirit is a destiny and inheritance robber and killer and will speak blatant lies and promote lawlessness through its demonic agenda.