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KING AHAB AND JEZEBEL
INFOBOX
Summary: King Ahab of Israel and his wife Jezebel
Date: Either 918-897 BC or 874-853 BC (Ahab) during the Monarchy of Israel
Location: Israel, the Middle East
Family: Ahab's Father: Omri; Ahab's Mother: Unknown; Jezebel's Father: Ithobaal I; Jezebel's Mother: Unknown
- Introduction -
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King Ahab of Israel began his reign in either 918 BC (according to Ussher) or 874 BC (according to Thiele) and died in 897 or 853 BC. We do not know when Ahab was born but he was married to Jezebel, princess of Phoenicia and daughter of King Ithobal I, seven to nine years before his reign began.
Jezebel powerfully influenced Ahab during his reign and she soon began promoting her own gods in Israel. She also campaigned to eliminate all prophets of Yahweh the God of Israel.
Ahab had seventy sons including two with Jezebel. Ahaziah (898-896 or 853-852 BC), Joram or Jehoram (896-884 or 841-835 BC) and their daughter, Athaliah (884-878 or 841-835 BC), all ruled on the throne of Israel.
Not long after Ahab's death his General, Jehu, carried out a military coupe against Joram, who was reigning at the time, and killed him as well as Ahab's other sons. Jezebel was then violently thrown from from her palace window by conspiring servants.
Thus ended the lives of some of the most wicked people in Israel's colourful history.
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Written and Researched By
Cody B. Mitchell