Jezebel

   ,JEZEBELIAN, JEHU

   The adjective form Jezebelian characterizes a woman who is wicked and shameless. Jezebel was a Phoenician princess who became the wife of Ahab, king of Israel, and attempted to convert Ahab to worship Baal, the god of the Phoenicians, above Jehovah. Jezebel was not a character to be admired. She arranged for the wholesale slaughter of the Lord's prophets. Indeed, she was known as "the wanton woman of the painted face." But the rebel general Jehu, a politically ambitious follower of the Lord, destroyed the Baal devotees, and proclaimed himself king of Israel. Jezebel put on makeup ("painted her face," Kings II, ix, 30) and was then trampled by horses and eaten by dogs—a quite vengeful ending to ". . . the whoredom of Jezebel and her witchcraft" (Kings II, ix, 22). Today, a woman who flaunts her bold spirits and loose morals may be called a Jezebel.

   Jehu, King of Israel (845-816), was renowned for driving his chariot at high speeds. According to the Bible, when he went to war, he rode in. a chariot which he drove furiously.

   Any fast, reckless driver today may be called a Jehu, but formerly a Jehu was a coachman who drove at a rattling pace.