- [Narrator] The most
evil queens in the Bible. Some of the wicked kings we know in the Bible were also
married to wicked queens who either encouraged
their husbands to do evil or they themselves did evil
in the name of their husbands. Examples of these wicked queens mentioned in the Bible are Jezebel, Queen of Israel. An Israelite was not
supposed to marry a heathen, so the Lord commanded them to do. Ahab forsook the word of God and went and married
Jezebel, Princess of Sidon, daughter of Ithobaal,
king of the Sidonians. Jezebel and Ahab, her husband, further thrust the kingdom
of Israel deep into idolatry for they established the
religion of Baal in the kingdom. Jezebel was the child of
the priest, King Ithobaal, ruler of the Phoenician
cities of Tyre and Sidon. Her name in Phoenician meant primrose, but the exact name in Hebrew, Jezebel, meant garbage, which
was how she was known. In the Old Testament,
Jezebel was King Ahab's wife. Ahab was the monarch of the kingdom of Israel during that time. Not only did Ahab follow
Jeroboam into idolatry, but he also married Jezebel, who was the daughter of
the king of the Sidonians. Both of these actions contributed to Ahab's reputation as
an extremely wicked king. According to the Book of Kings, Ahab was recognized as the king who was the worst of all the kings. He was able to create a great deal of destruction over his 22 years of rule. This was the man that
Jezebel was married to. It was abundantly evident that she utilized Ahab to
accomplish her nefarious goals, and he did not require much convincing. This was the first time that a king of Israel had allied himself by marriage with a heathen princess. She worshiped Baal. Jezebel came to the conclusion that she would practice
the Satanic cult of Baal in place of the worship of the Lord God. 1 Kings 18:19. "Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel under Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal 450 and the prophets of the groves 400, which eat at Jezebel's table." The practice of Baal
worship became widespread in Israel during the reign of Ahab, and the practice of Baal
worship also affected Judah. Various parts worshiped
Baal in different methods and Baal proved to be
a highly universal God. Various locales highlighted one
or another of his attributes and designed special sects of Baalism. Baal is depicted in the sculptures wearing a helmet embellished
with a bull's horns, a symbol of strength and fertility. He holds a club or mace in one hand, probably representing thunder, and a spear adorned with
leaves in the other, possibly representing both
lightning and vegetation. After they were married, Jezebel was successful in
convincing Ahab to accept Baal. She was a woman who craved more power and sought to silence anybody who tried to challenge her authority. She was not directed by any principles, was not constrained by any
fear of either God or man, and was zealous in her commitment to the pagan worship that she practiced. She spared no effort to retain idolatry in all of its grandeur around her. Her actions were, in many
ways, extremely detrimental to the kingdom of both Israel and Judah. Chapter 21 of Kings traces the events leading up to Jezebel and Ahab's death. There aren't many couples in the Bible that are less appealing to look at than King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. At the conclusion of 1 Kings, we are introduced to their
obscene distasteful crime. Because they suffered from
an almost complete absence of charismatic leadership, they were forced to resort
to deceit, selfishness, and cunning in order
to achieve their goals. The location is Jezreel where
Ahab and Jezebel had a palace. Adjoining the palace was a vineyard possessed by Naboth, the Jezreelite. And Ahab desired to annex the vineyard so he could plant a
vegetable garden there. Naboth refused to sell
or exchange his land since the law of Israel decreed that property should remain in the family to which it was originally assigned. Numbers 36:7, Amplified Bible. "So no inheritance of the Israelites shall be transferred from tribe to tribe for every one of the Israelites shall hold to the inheritance of the tribe of his
father's tribal ancestors." When Jezebel found her
spouse annoyed and grumpy and learned of Naboth's
refusal to sell his vineyard, she assured Ahab that the
vineyard would soon be his. 1 Kings 21:8-16: So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. Now, in the letters she wrote, "Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth
at the head of the people. And seat two worthless and
unprincipled men opposite him and have them testify against him saying, 'You cursed God and the king.' Then take him out and stone him to death." "So the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived there did as Jezebel had sent word to them just as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them." "They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at
the head of the people, two worthless and unprincipled men came in and sat down opposite him and they testified against
Naboth before the people saying, 'Naboth cursed and renounced
God and the king.'" "Then they brought him outside the city and stoned him to death. Then they sent word to Jezebel saying, 'Naboth has been stoned to death.'" "When Jezebel heard that
Naboth had been stoned and was dead she said to
Ahab, 'Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, which he refused to sell you because Naboth is no
longer alive but dead.'" "When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he arose to go down to
the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, to take possession of it." Jezebel, being the devious
person that she was, set up Naboth in such a way that it appeared as though
he was being executed for disobeying the law of Jehovah. Jezebel ordered the
deaths of Naboth's boys because she knew that following
their father's passing the inheritance would go to them. The wicked queen was as methodical as she was evil in her
approach to her evil schemes. Elijah ran into Ahab as he was on his way to seize ownership of the vineyard and he pronounced judgment against Ahab for murder as well as theft. Elijah said that Ahab would be slain, that the body of Jezebel would be devoured by dogs in Jezreel, and that Ahab's descendants would not be given a proper burial. The harshness of Ahab's punishment can be understood by
considering the depths to which he sank in his
pursuit of idolatry. The Bible states that
there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness. After Ahab learned of his
impending destruction, he bowed down before
the Lord in repentance. In response to this,
the Lord issued a decree that the judgements that were to be passed on Ahab's wife and children
would not take place until after Ahab had passed away. She slayed God's prophets. 1 Kings 18:4, Amplified Bible. "For when Jezebel destroyed
the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and provided them with bread and water." 1 Kings 18:13. "Has it not been told to my Lord, Elijah, what I did when Jezebel killed
the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets by fifties in a cave and provided them with bread and water?" She also tried her best to slay Elijah. 1 Kings 19:1-4, Amplified Bible. "Now, Ahab told Jezebel
all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets of Baal with the sword." "Then Jezebel sent a
messenger to Elijah saying, 'So may the Gods do to me and even more if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like
the life of one of them.'" "And Elijah was afraid and
arose and ran for his life, and he came to be Beersheba,
which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there." "But he himself traveled a day's journey into the wilderness, and he came and sat down
under a juniper tree and asked God that he might die." "He said, 'It is enough, now, oh Lord, take my life for I am no
better than my father's.'" Elijah fearing for his
life made his way to Horeb. Her death happened according
to prophecy prophesized. A few years later, Ahab was slain in a battle against the Syrians and Jezebel continued to rule for nearly another 10
years after his death. As Elijah's successor and
a prophet in his own right, Elisha resumed Elijah's crusade
to wipe out worship of Baal. He installed a militant
commander named Jehu to be king of Israel, an
order that prompted civil war as Jehoram, Ahab and
Jezebel's son then ruled. Jehu was a commander of
chariots for the king of Israel, Ahab and his son Jehoram
on Israel's frontier facing Damascus and Assyria. In the annals of history,
Jezebel is remembered as the personification
of all that is cunning, sneaky, nasty, vindictive, and vicious. As Jehu rode into the gates of Jezreel, she looked out to the
palace's window and said, "Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?" He raised his head and
signaled her chamberlains who held her out the window. She was quickly consumed
by the street dogs according to the word
of Elijah, the Tishbite, after the incident of
Naboth and his property. 1 Kings 21:19: And thou shall speak under him saying, "Thus sayeth the Lord, 'Has thou killed and
also taken possession?'" And thou shall speak unto him saying, "Thus sayeth the Lord, 'In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick
thy blood, even thine.'" Her name afterward came to be used as the synonym for a wicked woman. "Nevertheless, I have this against you, you tolerate that woman Jezebel
who calls herself a prophet, by her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality
and the eating of food sacrificed to idols," Revelation 2:20. If you think Jezebel was the worst, let me introduce you to her daughter. Number two, Athaliah, Queen of Judah. Athaliah, she was the daughter
of Ahab, King of Israel. She got married to Jehoram,
the son of Jehoshaphat. She proved herself to be a wicked queen just like her mother, Queen Jezebel, and her father, King Ahab, and her brothers, King
Ahaziah and King Jehoram. Athaliah, whose name
means afflicted by God, reigned as queen of Judah between the years 841 and 835 BC. She sat on King David's throne. Her name means afflicted by God. Athaliah's reign as queen was sandwiched between several centuries
during which Judah and Israel were ruled by
wicked kings and queens. Athaliah was a fervent follower of Baal, and as a result, she
was every bit as wicked as the monarchs who came
before and after her. Athaliah's husband,
Jehoram, was king of Judah until he passed in 841 BC. Unlike his father,
Jehoram was a wicked king. Athaliah's son, Ahaziah, ascended to the throne at the age of 22 and established himself
just as evil as his father. Athaliah guided her son
in his devilish schemes. 2 Chronicles 22:3, Amplified Bible. "He also walked in the
ways of the house of Ahab for his mother was his advisor and she encouraged him to act wickedly." Ahaziah served as king of Judah for less than one year
for he was assassinated along with Israel's ailing King Joram. Their assassin was Jehu, who had originally been a
commander in King Ahab's army. 2 Kings 9:25. "Then Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, 'Pick him up and throw him on the property of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite for I remember when you and I were riding together
after his father Ahab that the Lord uttered this
prophecy against him.'" Jehu was anointed as the new king of Israel by the prophet Elisha, who also commissioned him
as an instrument of the Lord to carry out the punishment that God had pronounced against King Ahab and his entire family
because of their idolatry. As part of Jehu's goal to put an end to the dynasty established by Ahab, Jezebel and her sons were put to death. It just so happened that her son, Ahaziah, was visiting Joram when Jehu arrived to carry out the plot to kill Joram. As a result, Ahaziah also lost his life. 2 Chronicles 22:10-12. "When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy
the whole royal family of the house of Judah." "But Jehosheba, the
daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah
and stole him away from among the royal princes
who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom." "Because Jehosheba, the
daughter of King Jehoram, and his wife of the priest,
Jehoiada, was Ahaziah's sister, she hid the child from Athaliah
so she could not kill him." "He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land." Athaliah, who had already lost her husband and then her son took
the kingdom for herself by executing her own grandchildren after she had already
lost her husband and son. Satan was the hidden force behind this savage massacre
of the royal family, and he was seeking to cut
off the Messianic line as he had attempted to do in the past and would strive to do in the future. Jehovah moved Jehoshabeath
to hide her nephew Joash because the promise in
Genesis 3:15 guaranteed that the Lord would preserve the line through which the Lord
Jesus would eventually come. Jehoshabeath's husband,
Jehoiada, who was a priest, took care of him for the next six years while he was hidden away in the temple. 2 Kings 11:2. "But Jehosheba, the daughter
of King Joram of Judah, and half sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of
Ahaziah, and abducted him from among the king's
sons who were to be killed and hid him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid from Athaliah
and he was not put to death." 2 Chronicles 24:7. "For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman had
broken into the house of God and also had used all the
holy and dedicated things of the house of the Lord for the Baals." Unbeknownst to Athaliah, a single grandchild escaped the massacre. Just like her mother, she
worshiped the God known as Baal. During the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, at the peak of Baal worship in Israel, God directly confronted paganism
through his prophet Elijah. First, God showed that He,
not Baal, controlled the rain by sending a drought lasting
three and one half years. Baal was the name of the God who was worshiped throughout Canaan and Phoenicia in old times. During the judges period, the practice of Baal worship
entered Jewish religious life. After Athaliah had reigned for six years, the high priest Jehoiada
placed guards around the temple and publicly crowned the young
Joash as the fitting king. As the new king was anointed, the people clapped
their hands and shouted, "Long live the king." 2 Kings 11:12. "Then Jehoiada brought out the king's son and put the crown on him
and gave him the testimony, a copy of the Mosaic Law." "And they have made him
king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, 'Long live the king.'" 2 Chronicles 23:12-13. "When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running
and cheering the king, she went to them at
the temple of the Lord. She looked and there was the king, standing by his pillar at the entrance." "The officers and the
trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises." "Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted, 'Treason, treason!'" Queen Athaliah came to
the people in the temple to investigate the cheering and shouting only to find a child rival
she thought long dead now wearing a royal crown. But what must have alarmed her
even more was the realization that the people were solidly behind him. No one listened to her charge of treason. After all, she was the usurper, not Joash. Jehoiada ordered her to be slain, but not just inside the temple. She was taken to the horse gate where she was slain for
her atrocities in Judah. Some people rise to positions of authority because of their passion for their cause and their feeling of duty. Others want leadership
positions for no other reason than to achieve power over others and to enjoy the arrogant feeling that comes with being in
a position of superiority. In most situations, figuring out what kind of leader you have won't
take you very long at all. In the case of Athaliah, coming to a decision did
not take any time at all. As soon as she learned that Jehu had taken the life
of her son, King Ahaziah, she arose and destroyed
all the royal heirs of the House of Judah, which included all of her grandchildren. She failed to slay Joash,
the only child left alive because a devout young
woman named Jehoshabeath concealed him in the temple of God for a period of six years, allowing him to escape
her homicidal rampage. The acts that God had promised His people, that the Messiah would come
via the royal line of David, made absolutely no difference
to Athaliah in the least. This is a picture of a
leader so thirsty for power that she would do anything to attain and hold her illegitimate title, including murdering her own kin. Athaliah ruled over Judah for seven years. In the end, the people violently
removed her from power. Queen Athaliah is an extreme example of a leader motivated not by love, but by power, prestige, and position. It never takes long to
spot the difference. Number three, Herodias, Queen of Galilee. Herodias is known as an evil queen. And the fact that she was
responsible for the execution of John the Baptist will ensure
that she is never forgotten. In the Bible, she is
referred to as Philip's wife, who also happens to be Herod
the Tetrarch's brother. Despite this, Herod the Tetrarch, also known as Herod Antipas, married her in violation of the law while her brother Philip was still alive. John the Baptist had the audacity to preach against this adultery, and Herodias was so
enraged by John the Baptist that she even wanted
him to be put to death. She persuaded Herod Antipas to arrest John and throw him in jail, which Herod did as a
result of her efforts. In point of fact, she had desired for John to be put to death. However, Herod Antipas was
hesitant to carry out such a plan because he dreaded the
reaction of the people. And also, because he believed
John to be a virtuous man. At one point, Herod
celebrated his birthday by hosting a feast, and
during the celebration, the daughter of Herodias came in, danced and delighted both Herod and the guests who were with him. Herod made a rash promise
in the form of an oath that he would grant her
any request she might have. Mark 6:17-28, Amplified Bible. "For Herod himself had sent
guards and had John arrested and shackled in prison
because of Herodias, the wife of his half brother Philip, because he, Herod, had married her." "For John had been saying to Herod, 'It is not lawful under Mosaic Law for you to have your brother's wife.'" "Herodias had a grudge against
John and wanted to kill him, but she could not because
Herod feared John, knowing that he was a
righteous and holy man, and he continually kept him safe." "When he heard John speak,
he was very perplexed, but he enjoyed listening to him. But an opportune time
finally came for Herodias." "Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his officials, nobles, courtiers, and military commanders and
the leading men of Galilee." "Now, Salome, the daughter of Herodias came in and danced for the men. She pleased and beguiled
Herod and his dinner guests." "And the king said to the girl, 'Ask me for whatever you want
and I will give it to you.'" "And he swore to her,
'Whatever you ask me, I will give it to you, up
to half of my kingdom.'" "She went out and said to her mother, 'What shall I ask for?'" "And Herodias replied, 'The
head of John the Baptist.'" "And she rushed back to
the king and asked, saying, 'I want you to give me right now the head of John the
Baptist on a platter.'" "The king was deeply grieved,
but because of his oaths and his dinner guests who might
have regarded him as weak, he was unwilling to break
his word and refuse her." "So the king immediately
sent for an executioner and commanded him to
bring back John's head." "And he went and had John
beheaded in the prison and brought back his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother."
