Ethbaal

Eth'baal (Hebrews Ethba'al, אֶתבִּעִל, with Baal, i.e., enjoying his favor and help; Sept. Ε᾿θβάαλ), a king of Sidon, father of the infamous Jezebel, the wife of Ahab (1Ki 16:31). According to Josephus (Ant. 8:13, 1 and 2; Apion, 1:18), Ethbaal is called Ithobalus (Ι᾿θόβαλος or Εἰθώβαλος, i.e., אַתּוֹבִעִל=Baal with him) by Menander, who also says that he was a priest of Astarte, and, having put the king Pheles to death, assumed the scepter of Tyre and Sidon, lived sixty-eight years, and reigned thirty-two (comp. Theophil. Autol. 3, page 132). As fifty years elapsed between the deaths of Hiram and Pheles, the date of Ethbaal's reign may be given as about B.C. 940-908. The worship of Baal was no doubt closely allied to that of Astarte, and it is even possible that a priest of Astarte might have been dedicated also to the service of Baal, and borne his name. We here see the reason why Jezebel, the daughter of a priest of Astarte, was so zealous a promoter of idolatry, the taint of which, with its attendant tyranny, eventually extended to the throne of Judah in the person of Athaliah; and as, twenty-one years after the death of Ethbaal, his granddaughter Dido built Carthage, and founded that celebrated commonwealth (Josephus, as above), we may judge what sort of a spirit animated the females of this royal family. SEE AHAB. Another Phoenician king of the same name (Ι᾿θόβαλος or Εἰθώβαλος) appears as a contemporary of Nebuchadnezzar (Josephus, Ant. 10:11, 1; Apion, 1:21; Eusebius, Chron. Armen. 1:74). SEE PHOENICIA.