As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 31. Jezabel, whose name is become proverbial, to designate a proud, lewd, cruel, and impious woman. Revelation 2:20. Grotius compares her with Tullia, Fulvia, and Eudoxia, the respective wives of Tarquin, Anthony, and Arcadius. She was the chief promoter of all the evils of Achab’s reign. He did not insist that she should embrace the true religion, when he married her; as it is supposed former kings had done, when they espoused women who had been brought up in idolatry. Calmet.—He even introduced her country’s idols, and thus enhanced upon the wickedness of his predecessors. Bible.—Ethbaal. Menander (ap. Jos. c. Ap. i.) calls him Ithobaal, and remarks that his reign was memorable for a year’s drought; probably that of three years, under Achaz. Calmet. 17:1. Ethbaal was king of Tyre, and ruled over the Sidonians likewise. Calmet. 5:6.