Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Chaste, the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the Zidonians, and the wife of Ahab, the king of Israel (1 Kings 16:31). 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 of a peculiarly disastrous kind. Jezebel has stamped her name on history as the representative of all that is designing, crafty, malicious, revengeful, and cruel. She is the first great instigator of persecution against the saints of God.
Guided by no principle, restrained by no fear of either God or man, passionate in her attachment to her heathen worship, she spared no pains to maintain idolatry around her in all its splendour. , ’prophets of the Asherah’], which ate at her table (1 Kings 18:19). ” Her conduct was in many respects very disastrous to the kingdom both of Israel and Judah (21:1-29). At length she came to an untimely end. ” He looked up and called to her chamberlains, who instantly threw her from the window, so that she was dashed in pieces on the street, and his horses trod her under their feet.
She was immediately consumed by the dogs of the street (2 Kings 9:7-37), according to the word of Elijah the Tishbite (1 Kings 21:19). Her name afterwards came to be used as the synonym for a wicked woman (Rev. 2: 20). It may be noted that she is said to have been the grand-aunt of Dido, the founder of Carthage.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
(chaste), wife of Ahab king of Israel. ) She was a Phoenician princess, daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians. In her hands her husband became a mere puppet. (1 Kings 21:25) The first effect of her influence was the immediate establishment of the Phoenician worship on a grand scale in the court of Ahab. At her table were supported no less than 450 prophets of Baal and 400 of Eastward. (1 Kings 16:31,21; 18:19) The prophets of Jehovah were attacked by her orders and put to the sword.
(1 Kings 18:13; 2 Kings 9:7) At last the people, at the instigation of Elijah, rose against her ministers and slaughtered them at the foot of Carmel. When she found her husband east down by his disappointment at being thwarted by Naboth, (1 Kings 21:7) she wrote a warrant in Ahab’s name, and sealed it with his seal.
To her, and not to Ahab, was sent the announcement that the royal wishes were accomplished, (1 Kings 21:14) and on her accordingly fell the prophet’s curse, as well as on her husband, (1 Kings 21:23) a curse fulfilled so literally by Jehu, whose chariot-horses trampled out her life. The body was left in that open space called in modern eastern language “the mounds,” where offal is thrown from the city walls.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
JEZ'EBEL (chaste), the wife of Ahab, king of Israel, was the daughter of a Zidonian king, 1 Kgs 16:31, and of course educated in the idolatrous practices of her native country. She was the virtual ruler of Israel. She introduced the worship of Baal and other idols, maintaining 400 priests of Astarte at her own expense, while Ahab maintained 450 priests of Baal. 1 Kgs 18:19. She resolved on the extermination of all the prophets of God.
Obadiah, who was a pious man and principal officer of Ahab's household, rescued one hundred of them at one time from her grasp, and supplied them with bread and water while they were concealed in caves. 1 Kgs 18:3-4, 1 Kgs 18:13. Soon after this, Elijah caused the 450 priests of Baal supported by Ahab to be put to death. For this proceeding Jezebel threatened to take the life of Elijah, but her purpose was frustrated.
Soon afterward she planned and perpetrated the murder of Naboth; and by using the king's name and authority with the leading men of Jezreel, she secured their co-operation in the flagrant crime. 1 Kgs 21:1-13. Her doom was predicted by Elijah, and was in due time visited upon her to the very letter. 2 Kgs 9:30-37. See Ahab, Elijah, Jehu. In Rev 2:20 the name Jezebel is used symbolically, and with us it is common as a name of infamy. Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth is often, though improperly, compared to Jezebel.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
chaste