Bad Queens: Jezebel, Athaliah, and the Queen of Heaven

(30) Ahab son of Omri did what was displeasing to GOD, more than all who preceded him. (31) Not content to follow the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel daughter of King Ethbaal of the Phoenicians, and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. (32) He erected an altar to Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria.

(4) When Jezebel was killing off the prophets of GOD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and provided them with food and drink.) ...

(17) When Ahab caught sight of Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” (18) He retorted, “It is not I who have brought trouble on Israel, but you and your father’s House, by forsaking the commandments of GOD and going after the Baalim. (19) Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, together with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

(1) When Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had put all the prophets to the sword, (2) Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “Thus and more may the gods do if by this time tomorrow I have not made you like one of them.” (3) Frightened, he fled at once for his life. He came to Beer-sheba, which is in Judah, and left his servant there;

(1) [The following events] occurred some time afterward: Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel, adjoining the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. (2) Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it as a vegetable garden, since it is right next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in exchange; or, if you prefer, I will pay you the price in money.” (3) But Naboth replied, “GOD forbid that I should give up to you what I have inherited from my fathers!” (4) Ahab went home dispirited and sullen because of the answer that Naboth the Jezreelite had given him: “I will not give up to you what I have inherited from my fathers!” He lay down on his bed and turned away his face, and he would not eat. (5) His wife Jezebel came to him and asked him, “Why are you so dispirited that you won’t eat?” (6) So he told her, “I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and proposed to him, ‘Sell me your vineyard for money, or if you prefer, I’ll give you another vineyard in exchange’; but he answered, ‘I will not give my vineyard to you.’” (7) His wife Jezebel said to him, “Now is the time to show yourself king over Israel. Rise and eat something, and be cheerful; I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you.” (8) So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who lived in the same town with Naboth. (9) In the letters she wrote as follows: “Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the front of the assembly. (10) And seat two scoundrels opposite him, and let them testify against him: ‘You have reviled God and king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.” (11) The people of his town—the elders and nobles who lived in his town—did as Jezebel had instructed them, just as was written in the letters she had sent them: (12) They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the front of the assembly. (13) Then the two scoundrels came and sat down opposite him; and those scoundrels testified against Naboth publicly as follows: “Naboth has reviled God and king.” Then they took him outside the town and stoned him to death. (14) Word was sent to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.” (15) As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Go and take possession of the vineyard that Naboth the Jezreelite refused to sell you for money; for Naboth is no longer alive, he is dead.” (16) When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab set out for the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it. (17) Then the word of GOD came to Elijah the Tishbite: (18) “Go down and confront King Ahab of Israel who [resides] in Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard; he has gone down there to take possession of it. (19) Say to him, ‘Thus said GOD: Would you murder and take possession? Thus said GOD: In the very place where the dogs lapped up Naboth’s blood, the dogs will lap up your blood too.’” (20) Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy?” “Yes, I have found you,” he replied. “Because you have committed yourself to doing what is evil in the sight of GOD, (21) I will bring disaster upon you. I will make a clean sweep of you, I will cut off from Israel every male belonging to Ahab, bond and free. (22) And I will make your house like the House of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the House of Baasha son of Ahijah, because of the provocation you have caused by leading Israel to sin. (23) And GOD has also spoken concerning Jezebel: ‘The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the field of Jezreel. (24) All of Ahab’s line who die in the town shall be devoured by dogs, and all who die in the open country shall be devoured by the birds of the sky.’” (25) (Indeed, there never was anyone like Ahab, who committed himself to doing what was displeasing to GOD, at the instigation of his wife Jezebel. (26) He acted most abominably, straying after the fetishes just like the Amorites, whom GOD had dispossessed before the Israelites.) (27) When Ahab heard these words, he rent his clothes and put sackcloth on his body. He fasted and lay in sackcloth and walked about subdued. (28) Then the word of GOD came to Elijah the Tishbite: (29) “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the disaster in his lifetime; I will bring the disaster upon his house in his son’s time.”

(22) When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Is all well, Jehu?” But Jehu replied, “How can all be well as long as your mother Jezebel carries on her countless whoredoms and sorceries?” (23) Thereupon Joram turned his horses around and fled, crying out to Ahaziah, “Treason, Ahaziah!” (24) But Jehu drew his bow and hit Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart; and he collapsed in his chariot.

(30) Jehu went on to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard of it, she painted her eyes with kohl and dressed her hair, and she looked out of the window. (31) As Jehu entered the gate, she called out, “Is all well, Zimri, murderer of your master?” (32) He looked up toward the window and said, “Who is on my side, who?” And two or three eunuchs leaned out toward him. (33) “Throw her down,” he said. They threw her down; and her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her. (34) Then he went inside and ate and drank. And he said, “Attend to that cursed woman and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.” (35) So they went to bury her; but all they found of her were the skull, the feet, and the hands. (36) They came back and reported to him; and he said, “It is just as GOD spoke through Elijah the Tishbite—God’s servant: The dogs shall devour the flesh of Jezebel in the field of Jezreel; (37) and the carcass of Jezebel shall be like dung on the ground, in the field of Jezreel, so that none will be able to say: ‘This was Jezebel.’”

(1) When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, learned that her son was dead, she promptly killed off all who were of royal stock. (2) But Jehosheba, daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah, secretly took Ahaziah’s son Joash away from among the princes who were being slain, and [put] him and his nurse in a bedroom. And they kept him hidden from Athaliah so that he was not put to death. (3) He stayed with her for six years, hidden in the House of GOD, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

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(12) [Jehoiada] then brought out the king’s son, and placed upon him the crown and the insignia. They anointed him and proclaimed him king; they clapped their hands and shouted, “Long live the king!” (13) When Athaliah heard the shouting of the guards [and] the people, she came out to the people in the House of GOD. (14) She looked about and saw the king standing by the pillar, as was the custom, the chiefs with their trumpets beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah rent her garments and cried out, “Treason, treason!” (15) Then the priest Jehoiada gave the command to the army officers, the chiefs of hundreds, and said to them, “Take her out between the ranks and, if anyone follows her, put him to the sword.” For the priest thought: “Let her not be put to death in the House of GOD.” (16) They cleared a passageway for her and she entered the royal palace through the horses’ entrance: there she was put to death. (17) And Jehoiada solemnized the covenant between GOD, on the one hand, and the king and the people, on the other—as well as between the king and the people—that they should be the people of GOD. (18) Thereupon all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal. They tore it down and smashed its altars and images to bits, and they slew Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. [Jehoiada] the priest then placed guards over the House of GOD. (19) He took the chiefs of hundreds, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they escorted the king from the House of GOD into the royal palace by the gate of the guards. And he ascended the royal throne. (20) All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. As for Athaliah, she had been put to the sword in the royal palace.

"In addition, Queen Vashti gave a banquet for women (Esther 1:9)": Rabbi Yehudah the son of Rabbi Simon began his sermon: ""My people’s rulers are babes, it is governed by women (Isaiah 3:12)". ...

Another interpretation: "It is governed by women": four women gained rulership in the world, and they were Jezebel and Athaliah from Israel and Semiramis and Vashti from the gentile nations of the world.