Full Episode: Jezebel's Reign of Power | Parable

I'm going on an adventure. So there's only one way to figure it all out. Unzip the archeology. Make it naked. Some names are puzzles, revealing more than the obvious. Take Jezebel. Ahab did. This is how her name was spelt outside of the Bible. It means Virgin of Baal. Baal was a pagan god. The Bible didn't like pagan gods, and it didn't like Jezebel. So the biblical writers added one letter to her name. Now it means Whore of Baal. Jezebel, a name handed down in infamy. She was Queen of Israel, and one of the Bible's wickedest women. So here are our questions. One, was Jezebel really so bad? Two, who were her people, the so-called Phoenicians? And three, does a tiny, mysterious piece of ivory... ...hold the key to Jezebel's legend? Is it an image matching the biblical description... ...of Jezebel's cold-blooded preparation for death? She painted her face and looked out a window. They threw her down and her blood was sprayed on the wall. That's Jezebel's end. But let's start at the beginning. This is Jezebel's biblical tale. Ahab married Jezebel. Ahab, King of Israel. Jezebel, Phoenician princess and pagan priestess. Phoenicia bordered Israel, but they were very different lands. The Israelites worshipped one god. The Phoenicians preferred a pantheon of pagan idols. So when Ahab married this pagan queen, she became a threat to the one God of Israel. Jezebel brought pagan worship into Israel. And who would answer that threat? Jezebel's mortal enemy, the prophet Elijah. But what's in a name? Actually, everything you need... ...to figure out why these two couldn't get along. Jezebel and Elijah fought one of the Bible's greatest battles, a fiery fight for Israel's soul. Finally, Jezebel meets a ghastly end, thrown from a window and eaten by dogs. That's what the Bible says. But first things first. We start our search for Jezebel... ...here on the Mediterranean seashore in northern Israel. Who was Jezebel? Who were her people? Right there. See there, where the tents are? Right there, next to that beach. These people don't even know it. They're sitting around, they're bazing. They don't understand that right over there, they're unearthing the biblical city of Dor. Three thousand years ago, Dor was a great port. At Digs Like Dor, we learned that the Phoenicians were expert architects. In its heyday, Dor had some of the biggest buildings in the Mediterranean. If you're looking for Jezebel, my best guess is I'm standing on her wall, or a wall of her period. This is Jezebel's wall? That's the best candidate I have so far for Jezebel. Professor Sharon directs the dig here at Dor. He's uncovered pottery from Greece, Italy and even North Africa, proving why Jezebel's people are so famous... ...for their trading and seafaring. Jezebel is famous for her sultry ways. Oh great, like you found like slinky lingerie. How do you know that it's Jezebel's? Well, no, we found just the boring potsherds. This is a fragment of a cooking pot. Oh, so what does this tell you? This is a cooking pot. This you saw, picked up right here by Professor Sharon, as we speak. Now when Jezebel went shopping for cooking pots- I doubt she went shopping. She had somebody shop for cooking pots. She probably shopped for finer things. But she sent out her maid and she said, Could you please pick up, I'm short on Iron Age 2A cooking pots. Bring some over. And that's how you know that this- Right, she probably wouldn't have found... ...anything else in the market. It would have all been because she was living in Iron Age 2A. Right, so- I see. This dig has taught archaeologists a lot... ...about Phoenicia's trading empire. Jezebel wasn't just a religious threat. Her people, the Phoenicians, were a commercial threat, because they were the most advanced sailors of the time. 3,000 years ago they sailed from the coast of Israel to Spain, connecting east to west. The amazing thing is that they did it during the Dark Ages. Hmm? No, much darker than that. A dark ages of biblical proportions. It happened around 3,200 years ago. Around 1,200 there's this huge worldwide, or at least Mediterranean-wide catastrophe. We don't know what really happened, do we? We don't know what really happened. No one knows what caused the biblical dark ages. Theories range from plagues to barbarian invasion. Whatever it was, it was serious enough... ...to knock the reigning empires out of the picture. All the big empires- All the big empires basically collapsed. And new players enter the scene. Two of the new nations on the block... ...are the Israelites and the Phoenicians. From the start, they competed for land and power. Here at Dor, we're digging up clues to that power... ...3,000 years later. But what are we going to find? Archaeology is made up of bits of pottery, but we're lucky with the Phoenicians. They left us something interesting. The Phoenicians settled across the Mediterranean, as far as North Africa. Here, in today's Tunisia, we find part of the reason for Jezebel's bad image. Here, the Phoenicians sacrificed their own children. The Phoenicians set up colonies as far as North Africa, founding the famous city of Carthage in today's Tunisia. Carthage later grew powerful enough... ...to challenge Rome itself. But here in Tunisia, we uncover part of the reason... ...why Jezebel's clan has such a bad image. On these altars, Jezebel's people sacrificed their own children. Gabi Barkay is an archaeologist... ...at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv. The very fundamental and basic thing of Phoenician cult... ...is human sacrifice. Human sacrifice existed among the Phoenicians... ...till quite a late period of time. We have tofet structures where children and babies... ...were sacrificed in different centers of the Phoenicians. Tofet, Phoenician altar... ...where children were sacrificed to the god Ba'al. But is this story true? Professor Gilboa says no. She says these ghastly tales are part of a slander campaign... ...against Jezebel's people. The Phoenicians' great navy and trading power... ...made them a threat not just to the Israelites, but to the Greeks and Romans as well. So they made up a few nasty rumors. Actually, all our sources telling us... ...about Phoenician child sacrifices... ...are Greek and Roman, which didn't really like the Phoenicians. So you think they're just giving them a bad name? Basically yes, and we don't really have till now any real... But in Tunis, in Tunis, in Carthage, you find... Yes, there were child burials. The big question is whether those children were buried alive or dead. That's the big question, and no one really has an answer. Because if they were buried after death, then you know it's not child sacrifice anymore. So we don't know. So we don't really know. Did the Greeks and Israelites make up... ...these tales of child sacrifice, slander against powerful Phoenician rivals? Professor Barkay doesn't think so. Not only does he think the Phoenicians... ...sacrificed their own children, but he says the Israelites followed this bad example. Look, the human sacrifice existed. Let us not cover our eyes and assume it did not exist. It existed, it was part of the practices of people... ...surrounding the Israelites, and sometimes it penetrated among the Israelites as well. In Jerusalem, in the late 8th and 7th centuries BC, certain fractions of the civilization in Jerusalem, they practiced human sacrifices in this valley. They slaughtered children. The whole story of the binding of Isaac... ...is an attempt to fight that phenomenon. Is the tale of Abraham and Isaac... ...a general warning to the Israelites? Abraham bound Isaac to sacrifice him to God, but God said no. A cautionary tale? Don't act like the Phoenicians? Don't sacrifice your children? The Phoenicians didn't just influence... ...the Israelites with violence. There was also sex. So this is it. These are Celtic objects. And this one dates from the time of Jezebel, right? And it's ivory, complete with pubic hair, and a necklace. And otherwise completely naked. So we've got here something that, you know... Reflects a fertility cult. These idols were foreign to Israelites. The Israelites weren't supposed to worship fertility goddesses. But these are the idols that the Queen of Israel, Jezebel, would have worshipped. So Jezebel was into that kind of stuff. Yep. And Ahab married her and he didn't mind. Obviously not. You find these things, very similar figurines, in Israel and in Judah. So apparently the prophets... ...may not have been very happy about it, but these types of cults were going on all the time. And they were heavily Phoenician-influenced. And you assume that they thought that having these things at home, maybe under your bed or over your bed, would help with fertility. Probably. Or improve your sex life. Who knows? Because of fertility, they probably didn't separate that from... I mean, it's connected to life, giving life. It's connected to life, to giving life, and it's connected to religion. Again, you're looking at it from a modern Judeo-Christian... ...morality point of view, which was completely foreign to them. Phoenicians influenced the Israelites. King Ahab's marriage to Jezebel personified this. As Queen of Israel, Jezebel was a unique threat. Most threats came from outside. There were military, Egyptians attacking with chariots. But Phoenicians threatened from inside. Intermarriage, a blending of faiths. The prophets didn't like this. What could they do? Jezebel held the power. The conflict is about to go electric. Jezebel held the power. Power to bring pagan priests and altars... ...into the Israelite kingdom. The prophet Elijah resented Jezebel's power over King Ahab. Dear, I think we ought to put a pagan altar over the window. It would make it more dramatic. Don't you think a pagan altar would be effective? The Phoenicians' influence went way beyond Israel. In fact, we're still feeling it today. There's a few good things the Phoenicians did for you. They gave us the word Bible. It comes from the Phoenician city of Byblos. They also taught the Greeks the alphabet. And the Phoenicians perfected glass making. Glass, pottery. They've been digging a door for 20 years. But are there many Phoenician treasures left to find? Can I try my hand at finding a treasure, a Phoenician treasure? Sure. Am I doing a good job? You are. This is the excitement of archaeology, folks. Oh, I hit something. Listen, it looks like a sculpture. A Phoenician sculpture of Jezebel. I keep hitting it. It's just a rock. This is tedious, you know. It's like hard. In the movies, they just like, they find it instantly. Oh, don't give up. So let me get this straight. I found something here? And enough of it to be able to determine what the entire vessel is. Ladies and gentlemen, naked archaeology in action. This is actually a nice piece. Look at it. Isn't that beautiful? I can't believe you really came here for just a few seconds and found these beautiful things. Yeah, it's a handle. And it's intact. I hope you'll come back sometime. Bring your good luck with you. I'm good to go? Good to go. That's nice, eh? Simcha's treasure. Could my treasure actually help fill in My treasure was quickly analyzed and it turns out to be incredibly rare. The funnel you found up on the tail, here are its brothers. Oh, so this is very similar to what I found, right? Almost identical to what you found. We have fragments of others, but these are the only, these and the one you found, you found the third complete one so far. In 20 years of excavation, that's pretty spectacular. Are you serious? Almost. That's pretty good. So in 20 years of excavation, mine was only the third one of its kind? Of its kind in this site. My discovery won't rewrite history, but its rarity demonstrates that there was both common and elite pottery. Speaking of the elite, Jezebel didn't just bring fancy pottery into Israel, but also the worship of Baal. Things got so bad that Elijah finally took a stand. It was a battle for the soul of the nation, Elijah versus Jezebel, a showdown with all the eastern fixings. And now the story of a barbecue of biblical proportions. Elijah decides to take on, in a kind of super bowl of prophecy, 400 of Baal prophets. So what he does, he challenges them. All the people of Israel are all around. They go on top of Mount Carmel, right down the coast. He stands there, he says, okay, here's the deal. We'll build altars. I'll put my bull on my altar. You put your bulls on your altars. Call on your God to throw fire from heaven. If he's really God, he should do it. If not, we'll see who the real God of Israel, the real God of the universe is. Imagine the scene, all the Israelites around the mountain, these altars, bulls on top. Those guys are jumping and they're screaming and they're yelling, come on fire. Come on, God of Baal. Come on, do your thing. Nothing. He starts taunting them, Elijah. They try everything, no fire. And he says, now watch this. He raises his hands, he calls on the God of Israel. Bam, fire, consumes the bull. All the people go, we were making a big mistake. Not Jezebel, Elijah. And then he kills all the prophets of Baal. That really makes Queen Jezebel mad. And she goes chasing after the prophet Elijah. Elijah's bull went up in smoke. He won the battle of the barbecue. He defeated Jezebel's pagan prophets. Jezebel flew into a rage, vowing to kill Elijah. But Elijah the prophet made a prophecy that Jezebel would be eaten by dogs. Some ancestor of yours had a really great Jezebel meal, didn't he? And when we come back, Queen Jezebel's nasty end. And the mystery of the ivory. Come to a head, Elijah and Jezebel fought one of the Bible's greatest battles. Elijah won, Jezebel swore to kill the prophet. But I will stop you. Then Elijah prophesied a nasty end for Jezebel. Dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel and the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field. Jezebel's final act went like this. Ahab dies in battle. Jezebel reigns briefly as queen mother. But certainly, I've been told that before. The Israelite soldiers rebel and set out to get rid of their pagan queen. Our combined armies have never been as strong and united as they are now. Our men have never been more anxious to fight. Jezebel sees her assassins coming. She does something, well, peculiar. Something that would frame her image for all time. She doesn't run, hide, fight, negotiate. Instead, she painted her face, tied her hair and looked out a window. This is one of the most outstanding examples of a Biblical image matched by the archaeology. That is an absolute icon. It's a central image that comes up over and over and over in the ancient Near East. The woman at the window. Joanna Stuckey, professor of women's studies, York University. The Phoenicians particularly were expert ivory carvers. And we have found, I wouldn't say hundreds, but innumerable beautiful small furniture appliques and furniture designs that have the woman at the window. Professor Stuckey says our image of Jezebel as vixen comes from her final moment in that window. There isn't any evidence, at least the way I read the Bible, of her being a sexual temptress until you get to just before her death when she dresses up and stands on the balcony at the window. What is that all about? Well, she has been interpreted by many scholars, especially in the 19th and early 20th century, as a prostitute, standing at the window looking for clients. In my opinion, she is not a prostitute. Now, what she is doing at the window is, I mean, there are a number of explanations. A queen displaying herself for the people to see her. A priestess displaying herself for the people to see her. A woman waiting for someone to come back. The goddess waiting for the dying God to return. I mean, there's a whole possible series of reasons. Does this mean that we've got Jezebel all wrong? She wasn't a temptress after all? Are you saying it's not true? They were just totally boring inside those pagan temples? Well, they could have been having orgies, but they wouldn't have been prostitution and they wouldn't have been orgies in the same sense that we talk about them. It's not true? Well, I don't think so. Jezebel was like knitting? I always imagined her being quite the wild woman. I bet she was, with Ahab. That's one of the reasons he was keen on her. I bet she was really good. Okay. The biblical narrative solves the mystery of the woman in the window, framing Jezebel as a pagan priestess. Her fall from that window demonstrates the defeat of the pagans, the triumph of the God of Israel over Baal. Today, the Judeo-Christian world is so monumental, it's difficult to imagine how serious the pagan threat once was. But in the beginning, it was a woman powerful enough to threaten the very roots of the Judeo-Christian edifice. Such was Jezebel.