Jezebel: A Rebellious Spirit

God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.”

~Psalm 68:6

The Bible gives many examples of virtuous women, but it also gives examples of women who rebel against God. Their hearts say “I want to do it my way.”  We are all sinners and will all fall short. Each of us will see parts of our hearts in the woman who struggles to follow God’s way.  As women seeking wisdom as if it is the greatest treasure, we can study and learn from the woman who rebels against God's ways.

“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,

   and the one who gets understanding,

for the gain from her is better than gain from silver

   and her profit better than gold.

She is more precious than jewels,

   and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Long life is in her right hand;

   in her left hand are riches and honor.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness,

   and all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;

   those who hold her fast are called blessed.” Proverbs 3:13-18

Jezebel was a pagan woman who was determined that all of Israel would worship her gods. “...he (Ahab) married Jezebel,  the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and he began to worship Baal.” Instead of influencing her husband toward God’s way, she influenced him away from God and towards pagan gods. Jezebel worshipped Baal, and in order to ‘make her happy’ Ahab built a temple and altar for Baal. By her worship of pagan gods, her focus on herself and what she wanted, she denied the true God in her heart and her life bore no fruit. She tried to kill God’s prophets, she ‘framed’ a man to be murdered because he did not do what she wanted, and she influenced her husband and her people away from the one true God.

Even though she worshipped pagan gods and had pagan priests under her control, she also worshipped herself. Her way was better; she was determined that she could have whatever she wanted. Instead of a submissive spirit to God and His way, she had a spirit of rebellion towards self sacrifice and love. She didn’t know it because she was too hard hearted, but she was in rebellion dwelling in a ‘dry land.’ Many times we can be living in our own rebellion, causing us to dwell in a dry land of our own. We are crying out to God asking Him for wisdom, and yet still unwilling to truly turn and follow HIs way. While we are asking God for His mercy and solutions, we are also still turning to ourselves and our own wisdom, because we want our way and we want God’s way all wrapped into one answer.

“Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as worshipping idols. So because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being king.” 1 Samuel 15:22-23

God desires an attitude of love and obedience. Constant rebellion and stubbornness is compared to witchcraft and idolatry. Why? Because we are idolizing ourselves, and worshipping our own way. When we live in rebellion, our heart begins to harden over time, and slowly we are closing the door to God. Jezebel lived this way and her heart was closed to God. She put emphasis on her fame, fortune, beauty, and control over others. In her heart and mind she had herself as a god, and put herself in God’s place. She wanted to “be” God by taking over the control that was His.

When Jezebel was living, there was no peace. Her spirit of rebellion was so prevalent that she wreaked havoc and damage on individual lives and on her whole kingdom. Jezebel died a gruesome death at the city wall, thrown from a window. The Bible says that before Jezebel was thrown to her death she had “painted her face.” Moments away from death she was still convinced of her own beauty and power.

Jezebel was vain, set herself on a pedestal, was determined to get her own way, and had a rebellious and stubborn spirit dead set on serving herself. She would never think of humbling herself before God, and submitting her heart to be renewed to follow only God’s way. She would have had to have let her ways completely go, and been transformed by the renewing of her mind. She would have had to realize her ‘power’ was not in her beauty, but in a broken and contrite heart, offering a sacrifice of praise to God.

Claiming God’s name while still following our own way, debating whether we worship idols, or worship God and not fully submitting leads us off of God’s path. He offers us mercy and redemption when we are fully willing to follow His way and turn from our own. Unlike Jezebel, we are to adorn ourselves with a trusting heart, a gentle and quiet spirit, be self controlled, pure and kind. We will not point others towards the way of the world, but towards God’s way, by demonstrating the change and transformation in our own hearts. With God’s help, we can let go of our rebellion and stubbornness and allow Him to change us. Studying the word of God for ourselves, spending time in prayer allowing the Holy Spirit to teach and guide us, and being open to learning new ways (the ways of God) and throwing out the old ways brings transformation and freedom. Jezebel followed her own way and lived her whole life in an evil prison of her own making.  Following God’s way will ‘bringeth out those who are bound with chains.’

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

   a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” ~

Psalm 51:17

“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” ~

2 Corinthians 7:10

“Those who submit like a child do it because they know that the Father wants only the happiness of His children and that only He knows the way. That is the testimony we must have to keep praying like a submissive child, in the good times as well as the times of trouble.” ~ Henry B. Eyring