“Ahab, the son of Omri, did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all the kings that came before him. And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as a wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which was built in Samaria. And he made a wooden image. Ahab did provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger more than the kings of Israel that came before him.”
So this is the first mention of this name Jezebel, and the name means literally, if you look at the roots of it, it means ‘Baal’, or ‘Baal exalts’. It means: one who has the favour of Baal upon her. It means: one who is un-husbanded; or operates independently. That's the meaning of the name.
The nation of Israel got into an alliance with another nation, the Sidonians - they came into alliance by marriage. The king of Israel, who should have stood up and led the nation of Israel to walk with God, and trusted God for prosperity - instead he entered into an unholy or ungodly alliance. He married this woman Jezebel, and immediately opened his life to the influence of the spirit power behind her. Her father was a priest of Baal, so she introduced the worship of Baal and Ashtaroth.
Baal means literally ‘husband’ or ‘lord’ - so if you said the word ‘Lord’, it's the word ‘Baal’. Baal means: Lord, husband, one who provides.
Baal worship was a problem right through the Bible. Baal was a god of war; and Baal was a god of fertility. Whenever you see the god Baal, there was an introduction of violence, of war, of the slaying of innocent children, of sexual promiscuity, temple worship, temple prostitution. All of those things lay behind that spirit of Baal, so wherever Baal was worshipped or lifted up, the nation became corrupted with the spirit of idolatry, and a spiritual heaviness settled over the nation.
Jezebel was the daughter, and she introduced worship of Baal (worship of Ashtaroth) into the nation. Instead of the nation having an open spiritual heaven, miraculous provision, miracles of God, there was a brass heaven over the nation - no prophetic flow.
Jezebel set out to destroy all messengers of the Lord, so she came against the prophet. She destroyed prophets wherever she could find them, and raised up instead her own prophetic messengers. They brought a message which they called prophecy, but it was actually speaking words that were demonically empowered and seduced the nation. The nation came under it, literally fell asleep spiritually.
In the New Testament, the name Jezebel turns up in Revelations 2:21 - another era in history, another generation, another people - a different person, but the same spirit. It talks in there about that spirit operating prophetically within the church: seducing, causing an influence that drew people away from God, and drew them into sexual sin, and all kinds of independence of God.
God has spoken in the Old Testament, and the New Testament, of same spirit power, the same kind of operation - literally to lead people astray, so they don't walk in the destiny that God had for them. They don't fulfil the plan God had for them. That spirit power is operating, to cause the people of God to be drawn from what they should be doing.
The Bible is very clear - there are spiritual powers. Ephesians 6:2 - there is an invisible spirit world, in which spiritual powers operate. I think anyone who's got any sense or sensitivity, recognises spiritual atmospheres when you go to different places. Some places are very heavy, oppressed, cold; some places you can literally feel the corruption there.