Lausanne World Pulse – Jezebel: Unusual Missionary

August 2007

By Ferdinand Nweke

Pretty Princess
She was born in Sidon with a silver spoon in her mouth, raised a princess and lacked nothing. Her father, a regicide, was both king and high priest, with the powers of life and death over his subjects. Their god was Baal.

As she grew, she loved the benefits of her noble birth. However, she also became increasingly intrigued by the varied rituals she attended with dad in the shady groves of Astarte on the hilltops. In time, she began to participate in the orgies and witchcrafts that formed integral parts of the worship of Baal and the fertility goddess. She enjoyed it, relished it, believed in it and became increasingly persuaded that Baal was the panacea for the world. She desired everyone, especially young women, to know the “highs” she had experienced. In her thinking, this was just what the world needed. Her name was Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians (see 1 Kings).

Her name, Jezebel, meaning “chaste, free from carnal connection,” was everything she was not. The name belied the person: “a zealous idolater, extremely imperious and malicious in her natural temper, addicted to witchcrafts and whoredoms, and every way vicious.”¹ When Ahab, king of historically monotheistic Israel, came asking for her hand in marriage, she sensed the tug of destiny. Somehow, through her marriage to Ahab, and her position as queen, she would “evangelize” Israel. She could import her cohorts, convictions, priests and prophets into Israel. Her ministry had begun.

Ahab did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, even more than any of the kings before him. And as though it were not enough to live like Jeroboam, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and he began to worship Baal. First he built a temple and an altar for Baal in Samaria. Then he set up an Asherah pole. He did more to arouse the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than any of the other kings of Israel before him. (1 Kings 16:30-33)

Unusual Missionary
Jezebel was a “cross-cultural, tentmaking missionary.” Her vision was to establish exclusive Baal worship in Jehovah’s own Israel. Her ministry platform was her position as housewife and queen, with the influence that went with both. Together with a retinue of prophets, all supported and sustained by her (I Kings 18:19 says “they ate at Jezebel’s table”), Jezebel pursued her mission relentlessly, even succeeding in driving God’s prophets underground! If Israel had been another nation, “missionary” Jezebel would have succeeded in foisting her version of reality on the people.

At the 1997 Tentmakers Consultation at the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, Illinois, USA, the term “tentmakers” was defined as “Christian witnesses from any nation who, because of their skills or expertise, gain access and maintain themselves in another culture with the primary intention of making disciples for Christ Jesus and where possible, establish and strengthen churches.” Don Hamilton offers this definition for tentmaker: “A Christian who works in a cross-cultural situation and is recognized by members of the host culture as something other than a religious professional, and yet in terms of his or her commitment, calling, motivation and training is a missionary in every way.”

Dr. Ferdinand Nweke, a medical doctor in Nigeria, coordinates Eternity Ministries, which focuses on maximizing Calvary and living with eternity in view. He has authored several books and songs.