1 Kings 16:33

33 Ahab also made the sacred pole, and {he continued to provoke} Yahweh the God of Israel more 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 {If it wasn't enough that he went} after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he also took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal the king of the Sidonians. He went and served Baal and bowed down to him.

32 And he built an altar to Baal in the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria.

33 Ahab also made the sacred pole, and {he continued to provoke} Yahweh the God of Israel more than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

34 In his days, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho; at the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his younger sibling, he set up its gates, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of Joshua the son of Nun.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "Ahab added to make to provoke"