1 Kings 16:31

And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him [Heb. as marg. was it a light thing? Ewald explains this to mean "because it was." But it seems better to understand, "was it such a light thing… that he must needs also?" etc.] to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat [ i.e; the sins of heresy and schism], that he took to wife Jezebel [= "Without cohabitation," "chaste," Gesenius, who compares it with Agnes . It is hardly the original of Isabella] the daughter of Ethbaal [= "With Baal." The Greek form ἰθόβαλος or εἰθώβαλος , found in Jos; Ant. 8.13.1; cf. Contr. Ap. 1.18, suggests as its original אִתּוֹ בַּעַל i.e; "with him is Baal." In either case the name well became him, for, according to Menander ( apud Jos. l.c. ), he was the priest of Astarte, who gained for himself the throne of the Zidonians by the assassination of Pheles. He is further said to have reigned thirty-two years, and to have lived sixty-eight years. He would therefore be thirty-six years old at the time of his accession. It does not appear that (Keil) he was the brother of Pheles. Pheles, however, was certainly a fratricide. (Rawlinson reminds us that Jezebel was great-aunt to Pygmalion and Dido.) This statement helps to explain Jezebel's fierce and sanguinary character, and at the same time accounts for her great devotion to the gods of her country, and for her determined efforts to establish their impure rites in her husband's kingdom. It was only what one would expect from the child of such a parent] king of the Zidonians [This alliance, it is extremely probable, was made for purely political reasons, as a counterpoise against the active, ambitious, and encroaching power which had arisen in Damascene Syria. The army which had already humbled Omri (ch. 20:34) could not fail to be a source of danger to Tyre], and went and served Baal [Heb. the Baal, i.e; the lord or master; cf. ὁ κύριος . The name appears among the Babylonians as Bel ( Isaiah 46:1 )—Greek βῆλος . Reference has already been made to the frequent recurrence of the word in different compound names, and in different parts of Palestine, as showing how widespread must have been his worship at an earlier age. We are also familiar with the word in the names Hanni bal, Hasdru bal, etc. Baal was the supreme male god of the Canaanitish races, as Ashtoreth was their great female divinity. The former was regarded, not only as the possessor, but as the generator, of all], worshipped him