And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him.
Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. The worship of God by symbols had hitherto been the offensive form of apostasy in Israel; but now gross idolatry is openly patronized by the court. This was done through the influence of the bigoted and blood-thirsty Jezebel Ahab's queen. She was "the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians." He was priest of Ashtaroth, or Astarte, who, having murdered Philetes, king of Tyre, ascended the throne of that kingdom, being the eighth king since Hiram. Jezebel was the worthy daughter of this regicide and idol priest; and, on her marriage with Ahab, never rested until she had gotten all the forms of her native Tyrian worship introduced into her adopted country. The name of this furious idolatress and wicked woman is used as the type of a corrupt influence and mischievous teaching (Revelation 2:24).