1 Kings 16:33

33 Ahab also made 1the Asherah. Thus 2Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

1 Kings 16:33 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 16:33

And Ahab made a grove
About the temple of Baal, or elsewhere, in which he placed an idol, and where all manner of filthiness was secretly committed; or rather "Asherah", rendered "grove", is Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians, an image of which Ahab made:

and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all
the kings of Israel that were before him:
his idolatries being more open and barefaced, and without any excuse, presence, or colour, as well as more numerous.

1 Kings 16:33 In-Context

31 It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him.
32 So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria.
33 Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
34 In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD , which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Cross References 2

  • 1. 2 Kings 13:6
  • 2. 1 Kings 14:9; 1 Kings 16:29, 30; 1 Kings 21:25

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. I.e. wooden symbol of a female deity
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