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Ethbaal

ETHBAAL (ĕth'bā'ăl, Heb. ’ethbaal). A king of Sidon whose daughter Jezebel became the wife of Ahab, king of Israel (1Kgs.16.31).


ETHBAAL ĕth’ bāl (אֶתְבַּ֨עַל, LXX Ιεθεβααλ, with Baal or man of Baal). The king of the Sidonians whose daughter Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab of Israel.

Apart from the one statement about Ethbaal in 1 Kings 16:31, that which is known of him comes from Josephus. This ancient historian cites Menander, who mentioned a drought in the time of Ethbaal which corresponds to 1 Kings 17 (Antiq. VIII. xiii. 2). He states further that Ethbaal built the cities of Botrys in Phoenicia and Auza in Libya. Ethbaal also reigned over Tyre (Antiq., ibid.). In his work against Apion, Josephus calls this king Ithobal. Tyre had withstood a thirteen-year siege by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (I, xxi). Ithobal was first a priest of Astarte. He killed his predecessor on the throne and then went on to reign for thirty-two years, dying at the age of sixty-eight (Apion I, xviii).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

eth-ba’-al, eth’-ba-al (’ethba`al, "with Baal"):

"King of the Sidonians," and father of Jezebel whom Ahab king of Israel took to wife (1Ki 16:31).