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Jezebel Taught Ahab How a Kingdom Falls Apart

Jezebel did not merely tempt Ahab. She instructed him. A king who takes lessons in idolatry from his wife becomes a nation's teacher in ruin.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Queen Who Taught a King
  2. The Rain Stopped Coming
  3. The Contest at Carmel
  4. The Vineyard and What Followed

The Queen Who Taught a King

Ahab is already king when Jezebel arrives. He has the throne, the army, the ivory house, the capacity for every kind of political decision. He is not a weak man who happened to marry a stronger one. He is a king who chose to become a student. Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah, the early medieval midrashic work, says Jezebel taught him the ways of idolaters. Not led, not persuaded, not seduced in the way legends usually describe foreign queens and their influence. Taught. As in instructor and student, as in a lesson given and received and remembered.

That choice of verb sets the terms of Ahab's guilt. Ahab is not innocent. He is fully responsible for every choice he made. But the tradition is tracing something specific about how the corruption spread: it entered through the person closest to the king and spread outward through the authority a king carries. Once Ahab learned the lesson, idolatry was no longer one household's private failure. It had budget, personnel, law, and royal protection. Jezebel taught one man. That one man taught a nation.

The Rain Stopped Coming

Elijah arrives in Israel's worst drought. He has already announced to Ahab that no rain or dew will fall except at his word, a prophetic declaration that makes him personally responsible for the weather until God decides otherwise. He then disappears, fed by ravens beside the Wadi Cherith, and later by a widow's endless jar and jug in Zarephath.

The drought is the consequence of the idolatry, and Elijah embodies the drought. While Baal's prophets preside over altars that do not answer, while Jezebel's table supports four hundred and fifty prophets of a god who cannot send rain, Elijah is the living proof that Israel's God still controls what Baal is supposed to control. The absence of rain is not a natural disaster. It is a three-year argument about whose God is real, conducted in the bodies of every starving animal and every cracked field in Israel.

The Contest at Carmel

The argument comes to a head on Mount Carmel. Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal against one prophet of God. Both sides build an altar. Both sides sacrifice a bull. Neither side lights a fire. The gods are supposed to answer with fire.

The prophets of Baal cry and cut themselves from morning to afternoon. They limp around the altar. They shout louder. Elijah watches them and calls out suggestions. Maybe your god is asleep. Maybe he is busy. Maybe he is traveling. The cruelty of the mockery is the point. A god who cannot hear his prophets screaming has no standing to compete with the God who holds back rain.

When it is Elijah's turn, he repairs the broken altar, digs a trench around it, and soaks the offering with water until the trench runs over. Then he prays. One prayer, not a day of screaming. Fire falls and consumes the offering and the wood and the stones and the water. The four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal are seized and killed at the Wadi Kishon. The rain comes back.

The Vineyard and What Followed

Jezebel's real lesson to Ahab is not about Baal. It is about property and what a king owes a subject. Naboth owns a vineyard adjacent to the palace, and Ahab wants it. Naboth refuses to sell his ancestral land, which he has every legal right to refuse. Ahab goes home sullen and fasting. Jezebel finds him on his bed facing the wall and asks why the king of Israel cannot have what he wants.

She writes letters in Ahab's name to the elders of Naboth's city, arranges false witnesses, has Naboth stoned on a charge of cursing God and king. Then she tells Ahab the vineyard is vacant. The lesson she taught him in the palace is now fully operational: a king who worships foreign gods is also a king who does not recognize the legal protections God gave the people. Idolatry and injustice travel together in the tradition because they come from the same refusal to acknowledge divine authority over human conduct.

JezebelAhabElijahIdolatryKingsProphetsRepentance
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From the tradition

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Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 9:1Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah

"And Deborah, a woman, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time" (Judges 4). What was the nature of Deborah, that she judged Israel at that time and prophesied over them? Was not Phinehas son of Eleazar alive in those days? I call heaven and earth to witness for me: whether Israel or gentile, whether man or woman, whether manservant or maidservant, all is according to the deed that one does; accordingly the Holy Spirit rests upon him. Thus they said: Deborah's husband was an ignoramus. His wife said to him: Come, and let me make you wicks, and bring them to the house of God that is in Shiloh; perhaps your portion will be among the worthy men there, and you will merit the world to come. And he would make thick wicks so that their light would be abundant; therefore his name was called Lappidoth (torches). And thus they said: he had three names, Barak, Lappidoth, and Michael. Barak, because his face was like lightning (barak); Lappidoth, because he made thick torches; and what was his name? Michael was his name. The Holy One, blessed be He, who tests hearts and minds, said to Deborah: You intended for the sake of Heaven and made thick wicks so that their light would be abundant; I too will increase (arbeh) you among Israel and among Judah and among the twelve tribes of Israel. And who caused Lappidoth to have his portion among worthy men and to merit the world to come? You must say: Deborah his wife. Thus they said concerning Deborah, the wife of Barak; and concerning one like her it says: "The wisest of women builds her house" (Proverbs 14).

Likewise you say concerning Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, wife of Ahab. Thus they said: In the first hour that she came in to Ahab, she taught him the way of the worship of idolatry, and through her he sold himself to idolatry, as it is said (1 Kings 21): "But there was none like unto Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up," and so forth. And because of her deeds and the deeds of her husband, the two of them were lost from this world and from the world to come, and they destroyed their children with them. A parable: to a king to whom his servant brought a gift of seventy jars of oil; when he heard from him excessive words, he flung them down before him. So who caused Ahab to be lost from this world and from the world to come, he and his children? You must say: Jezebel his wife. And concerning her and concerning one like her it says (Proverbs 4): "But folly tears it down with her hands." And concerning them it says (Psalms 37): "Fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked devices," and so forth; "For yet a little while, and the wicked shall be no more," and so forth; "I have seen the wicked in great power," and so forth; "Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not," and so forth (variant reading: "The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him"; after him it says, "The LORD will not leave him in his hand," and so forth; "The LORD shall laugh at him").

Once I was sitting in the great house of study that is in Jerusalem before the sages. I said to them: My masters, what was different concerning Omri, commander of the army of the king of Israel, from all those who were before him, that no king who was the son of a king had been seated upon the throne until Omri came, and three kings sat for him upon his throne? They said to me: We have not heard. I said to them: His reward was because he ceded a great city in the land of Israel like Jerusalem, for it was in his mind that just as Jerusalem belongs to the kings of Judah, so Samaria should belong to the kings of Israel, as it is said (1 Kings 16): "And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill, Samaria." And it says (Ezekiel 23): "Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother," and so forth; "and their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister," and so forth; "and their names were, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah." His reward was for ceding a great city in the land of Israel; therefore three kings sat for him upon his throne. They said concerning Omri that he was not as rich as Ahab, king of Israel, his son. Two hundred and thirty-two kings served him, not to mention the ivory house that he built. When Ahab heard from the people that these two hundred and thirty-two kings sought to rebel against him, he sent and brought the son of each one and seated them under his hand in Jerusalem and in Samaria. And the sages said: All those two hundred and thirty-two sons of kings were idolaters, and when they came to Jerusalem and to Samaria they became truly God-fearing.

Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, before whom there is no favoritism. Their reward was because they were truly God-fearing; through them a great deliverance came to Israel, as it is said (1 Kings 20): "And Ben-hadad the king of Aram gathered all his host together, and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses and chariots; and he went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it," and so forth. "And behold, a prophet drew near unto Ahab king of Israel, and said, Thus says the LORD, Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand," and so forth. "And Ahab said, By whom? And he said," and so forth, "By the young men of the princes of the provinces," and so forth. And it says (2 Kings 3): "And Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master, and he rendered unto the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams, with the wool; but it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel." There gathered against him, against the king of Moab, three kings together, the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, "and they smote Moab, and they fled before them," and so forth. "And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him," and so forth, "then he took his eldest son," and so forth, "and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall." And when he slaughtered his son and offered him up as a burnt-offering, he said: Master of the universe, Abraham offered his son upon the altar and did not slaughter him, but I will slaughter my son and offer him up as a whole burnt-offering before You, for whatever You say to me I will do (variant reading: as it is said, "then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead"). At that hour Israel descended from the upper rung to the lower rung, as it is said: "And there was great wrath against Israel; and they departed from him, and returned to their own land." And when Ahab died, the young men of the princes of the provinces departed, each one, and went to his house. Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, who repays the children of men, to every man according to his ways, and fulfills concerning them: In the measure that a man measures, so is it measured out to him. Therefore it is said: "And Deborah, a woman, a prophetess," and so forth.

"And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment." The sages said: Just as Samuel sat in Ramah, so Deborah sat in Ramah (variant reading: therefore it is said) "and she dwelt under the palm tree." The sages said: there were no disciples of the wise in Israel at that time except as much as fills (variant: half) a palm tree alone; therefore it is said "under the palm tree." Another interpretation: "and she dwelt under the palm tree," because it is not the way of a woman to be secluded inside the house; therefore Deborah went and sat under the shade of the palm tree and taught Torah in public; therefore it is said "and she dwelt under the palm tree." "And she sent and called Barak son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Has not the LORD commanded," and so forth, "and take with you ten thousand men," and so forth. What is taught by "Has not the LORD commanded"? Rather, thus she said to him: It is written in the Torah, "And the judges shall inquire diligently," and so forth (Deuteronomy 19); and what is the matter written after it? "When you go forth to battle against your enemies," and so forth, "you shall not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God is with you," and so forth (Deuteronomy 20). And what is the nature of Deborah being with Barak? Was not Deborah in her place and Barak in his place? Rather, thus the sages said: Barak served the elders in the lifetime of Joshua, and so he continued to serve after his death; therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, brought him and placed him with Deborah. At that hour it was shown to Deborah by what means the Holy One, blessed be He, saves Israel from among the idolaters: by sons who rise early and stay late at the synagogue and the house of study and busy themselves with the words of Torah every day continually.

And why were Zebulun and Naphtali different from all the tribes, that a great deliverance came to Israel through them, as it is said (Deuteronomy 4 [Judges 4]): "and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun"? Thus the sages said: Naphtali served Jacob our father, and contentment of spirit came from him; and Zebulun served Issachar, and because he made him a lodging-place, and because Barak trusted in the God of Israel and believed in the prophecy of Deborah, as it is said: "And Barak said unto her, If you will go with me, then I will go," and so forth, "and she said, I will surely go with you," and so forth; therefore he was given a portion in the song with her, as it is said: "Then sang Deborah and Barak," and so forth. And why was Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, different from all women, that a great deliverance came to Israel through her, as it is said: "And Jael took the tent-pin," and so forth, "and she smote the pin into his temple," and so forth, "and he was in a deep sleep and weary; so he died"? Thus the sages said: Jael was a worthy woman, and she did the will of her husband. From here the sages said: You have no worthy woman among women except a woman who does the will of her husband.

Once I was sitting in the great house of study that is in Jerusalem before the sages, and I said to them: My masters, I am dust beneath your feet; I will say before you one thing. They said to me: Speak. And I said: My Father in heaven, may Your great name be blessed forever and to all eternity, and may You have contentment of spirit from Israel in all the places of their dwellings, for all the good things (variant: and the comforts) You said to man, You said only with wisdom and understanding and knowledge and intelligence, as it is said (Genesis 2:18): "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help to match him," a help to set him on his feet and a help to give light to his eyes. They said to me: Give a reason for your words. I said to them: I will give a reason for my words. And I said to them: My masters, wheat and barley, before they are processed and ground in the mill, are nothing but wood alone. And they said to me: Yes. And I said to them: If a man gives them to his wife, and she sets them in order and processes them and grinds them in the mill, and brings forth from them bread, fine bread; or if she made him fat meat or fat milk dishes, the best foods in the world, and he eats. And likewise flax is nothing but grass. And they said to me: Yes. And I said to them: If a man gives flax to his wife, she weaves from it a garment. And not only this, but she brings forth from her fruitfulness and increase for the world; and further, so that he will not commit adultery, going from place to place. These are the four things that a woman does for her husband. And if he (variant: indeed) gives her bread and feeds her, behold, to cattle and to beasts and to birds the whole world gives food. Therefore it is said: "I will make him a help to match him," a help to set him on his feet, a help to give light to his eyes.

And I further said before them words of the Holy One, blessed be He: The Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to sit in His great house, and the righteous of the world sit before Him, and He will say to them: To what are you likened? A man marries a good and beautiful wife; he rejoices in her. If her beauty changes, then he seeks to marry another in addition to her. But you are not so; you are beloved to Me from beginning to end, forever and to all eternity, as it is said (Hosea 3): "And the LORD said to me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods," and so forth, until "afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God," and so forth. And it says (Jeremiah 3): "If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again?" and so forth, "but you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to Me, says the LORD." And are they truly lovers to Him, God forbid, or is there substance in them, God forbid, to set up idolatry, that it is said "many lovers"? Rather, Israel made them into idolatry as though they were lovers to Him, God forbid; and even so He passes over the iniquities of Israel and does not keep jealousy and vengeance against them in all the places of their dwellings, and He has not withheld the words of Torah from them, and He passes over their iniquities one by one from before His face (variant: as it is said (Jeremiah 33): Thus says the LORD, If the heavens above can be measured; and the sufferings scour away their iniquities); and His deeds are not like their deeds. If so, to what are you likened? The verse therefore teaches (Deuteronomy 33): "And of Asher he said, Blessed be Asher above sons; let him be acceptable to his brothers," and so forth, "and as your days, so shall your strength be." The sages said this concerning the daughters of Asher, that the old one was like a virgin, and a virgin has no menstrual flow, as it is said: "Your bars shall be iron and brass, and as your days, so shall your strength be." And it says: "There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides upon the heaven for your help, and in His excellency on the skies." Happy is he who has not come to transgression, nor to sin and iniquity, and has not departed from the good way; even if he is an Israelite, he is fit to offer a burnt-offering upon the altar as though he were a high priest, as it is said: "And he sent young men of the children of Israel, and they offered burnt-offerings," and so forth (Exodus 24). But this one who set himself idle from transgression and does not commit the transgression, behold, he is prepared like the ministering angels, as it is said: "And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand; and they beheld God, and did eat and drink."

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Antiquities VIII.12-13Antiquities of the Jews (Josephus)

A single prophet against four hundred. That was the lineup on Mount Carmel, and Elijah liked his odds.

The backstory is bleak. King Ahab had married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Tyrians and Sidonians. She built a temple to Baal, planted sacred groves, appointed false prophets by the hundreds, and hunted down the prophets of God. So God sent Elijah with one devastating sentence: no rain, no dew, until the prophet says otherwise.

The drought was total. Rivers dried up. The land couldn't feed horses, let alone people. God kept Elijah alive through miracles: ravens brought him bread by a brook, and when that dried, a widow in Zarephath fed him from a jar of meal and cruse of oil that never ran out. When her son died, Elijah prayed until the child's soul returned.

Then came the showdown. Elijah gathered all Israel to Mount Carmel and put the question plainly: how long will you waver between two gods? Both sides would prepare a sacrifice but light no fire. Whichever god answered with flame was the true God. Baal's four hundred prophets went first. They prayed from morning to noon. Nothing. Elijah mocked them. They screamed louder, cut themselves with swords. Still nothing.

Elijah built an altar of twelve stones, one for each tribe. He drenched the sacrifice and wood with water, filling even the trench around it. Then he prayed once. Fire fell from heaven and consumed everything, the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, even the water. The people fell on their faces and declared the God of Israel alone was true. Elijah ordered Baal's prophets seized and killed, every one of them.

Then Elijah told Ahab to eat, because rain was coming. He climbed to Carmel's peak, put his head between his knees, and sent his servant to watch the horizon. Six times, nothing. On the seventh look, a cloud no bigger than a man's foot. The sky went black, the wind roared, rain poured down. And Elijah, seized by divine power, ran ahead of the king's chariot all the way to Jezreel.

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Antiquities VIII.14-15Antiquities of the Jews (Josephus)

King Ahab wanted a vineyard. Its owner, Naboth, said no. That refusal ended with Ahab dead in his chariot, his blood licked by dogs exactly where the prophet said it would happen.

Naboth's vineyard sat next to the royal estate in Jezreel. Ahab offered to buy it or trade a better field. Naboth refused. It was ancestral land, inherited from his father. Ahab went to bed, turned his face to the wall, and refused to eat.

Jezebel took matters into her own hands. She wrote letters under Ahab's seal to the elders of Jezreel: declare a fast, seat Naboth at the head of the assembly, then produce three men to testify he had blasphemed against God and the king. The elders obeyed. Naboth was stoned to death. Jezebel told Ahab the vineyard was his.

God sent Elijah to meet Ahab at the stolen vineyard. The prophet's words were devastating: in the very place where dogs consumed Naboth's blood, Ahab's blood and Jezebel's would be shed. His entire family would perish. When Ahab heard this, he tore his garments, put on sackcloth, went barefoot, and fasted. His repentance was genuine enough that God delayed the punishment to the next generation.

War came anyway. Benhadad, king of Syria, besieged Samaria with thirty-two allied kings. God sent a prophet to promise Ahab victory, and he won twice, proving God's power ruled plains as well as mountains. But Ahab spared Benhadad's life when God wanted him destroyed. The prophet Micaiah declared Ahab would die in his place.

Before the final battle at Ramoth-gilead, Ahab tried to cheat fate. He disguised himself and sent King Jehoshaphat of Jerusalem into battle wearing the royal robes. Benhadad had ordered his men to kill only the king of Israel. They swarmed Jehoshaphat, then pulled back when they realized he was the wrong king. But a young Syrian nobleman named Naaman drew his bow at random. The arrow pierced Ahab through a gap in his armor, into his lungs. He sat bleeding in his chariot until sunset, then died. When they washed the chariot at the fountain of Jezreel, dogs licked his blood, exactly as Elijah had foretold.

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Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Masei 6:1Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Masei

(Numbers 34:2:) "WHEN YOU COME INTO THE LAND." [What is written above on this matter? "And you shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land from before you" (Numbers 33:52).] This is what Scripture says (Job 35:11): "Who teaches us from the beasts of the earth." He said to Israel: Learn from the bull of Elijah; for at the hour that Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose for yourselves the one bull and prepare it first" (1 Kings 18:25), at that hour the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah gathered together, and they could not budge its foot from the ground. See what is written there: "And let them give us two bulls" etc. (1 Kings 18:23). Elijah said to them: Choose for yourselves two bulls, twins from one mother, raised at one manger, and cast lots over them, one for the Name and one for Baal. They chose for themselves the one bull, and Elijah's bull was being drawn along and following after him; but that bull which fell to the name of Baal, all those prophets of Baal and prophets of Asherah gathered to move its foot from the ground, and they could not, until Elijah opened and said to it: Go with them. The bull answered and said to Elijah, before the eyes of all the people, and said to him: I and my fellow came out from one belly, and we were raised in one pasture, at one manger; he came up in the portion of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, is sanctified over him, while I came up in the portion of Baal, to provoke my Creator. Elijah said to him: Go with them, and let them not find a pretext; just as the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, is sanctified over this one that is with me, so it is sanctified over you. It said to him: And is this how you advise me? An oath that I will not move from here until you hand me over into their hand, as it is said: "And they took the bull which he gave to them and they prepared it" (1 Kings 18:26). And who gave it to them? Elijah. And you learn that Elijah said to them, "Choose for yourselves the one bull" (1 Kings 18:25), and at the end it is written, "And they took the bull which he gave to them" (1 Kings 18:26). Therefore it is said: "Who teaches us from the beasts of the earth." "And from the birds of the heavens He makes us wise" (Job 35:11). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Learn from the ravens, who sustained Elijah, as it is said: "And I have commanded the ravens to sustain you there [and the ravens brought him bread and meat]" etc. (1 Kings 17:4, 6). From where did they bring him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening? From the table of Jehoshaphat, because those ravens did not want to enter into the house of Ahab, to bring out from the table of that wicked man anything for that righteous man, because his house was full of idolatry. Thus, "From the birds of the heavens He makes us wise." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: Learn from the bull and from the ravens, and do not turn unto the idols to gaze at them. [From where is this shown? From what they read on the matter:] "And you shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land" (Numbers 33:52).

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Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 17:5Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

Sometimes, the source is more surprising than it first appears. The concept of showing loving-kindness, or chesed, to mourners. Where do we learn about the importance of comforting those who grieve?

Yes, that Jezebel, the infamous daughter of Ethbaal, King of Sidon.

I know what you're thinking. Jezebel? The woman who, in the biblical narrative, promotes idol worship and persecutes prophets? How could she possibly be a model for chesed?

That Jezebel's palace was located near the marketplace. And whenever a funeral procession passed by, she would emerge from her palace. But instead of ignoring it, or worse, she would clap her hands, offer words of praise, and accompany the deceased for ten steps. Regardless of her other actions, Jezebel recognized the fundamental human need for dignity and respect, even in death. She understood the importance of acknowledging loss and offering comfort to those who mourned.

So, what happened to Jezebel? As we know from the Book of Kings (2 (Kings 9:3)6), Elijah prophesied a grim end for her: "In the portion of Jezreel shall the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel.” A pretty harsh prophecy!

But here’s where the story gets really interesting. When they went to bury her, the biblical text tells us (2 (Kings 9:3)5), “they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.”

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer connects this to her acts of chesed. The text suggests that the dogs had no power over the limbs she used to show kindness. Her hands, which clapped in respect, and her feet, which followed the dead, were spared.

It's a powerful message, isn't it? Even in a figure often portrayed as villainous, we can find glimmers of humanity and acts of kindness that resonate. The text isn't trying to excuse Jezebel's overall behavior, of course. Rather, it's highlighting a specific instance where she acted with compassion, suggesting that such acts have a lasting impact.

What does this teach us? Perhaps it's that even those who seem furthest from righteousness are capable of good. Or maybe it’s that even small acts of chesed can have a profound effect, so much so that they can transcend even death. It reminds us that acts of kindness, no matter how small, leave an indelible mark on the world.

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