Alternate Viewpoints: The "Jezebel Spirit" Doesn't Exist

     [Welcome, all! I hope this post turned out well (heh heh). It took me awhile to write, longer than usual, thanks to a couple of factors. First and foremost; the research for this post was difficult. As it deals with a pervasive but undefined belief, it was really hard to find good expository sources. Secondly, this topic makes me angry, so there were a couple stop-and-starts involved in the writing process. Anyway, I hope it's informative, persuasive, and entertaining!]

The perfect representation of the 'Jezebel Spirit'--enticing, cold, and deadly (source)

     As mentioned before in my marriage posts, there is religion and belief, and there is culture accompanying religion and belief. Latching itself on to the Israelite religion is a defined belief in spirits. It differs from the general Christian belief in spirits, "There were spirits, and Jesus cast them out of people," the more specific Catholic belief in spirits, "Priests can exorcise demons using a set of steps," and the general non-religious feelings about spirits, "I dunno? Ghosts? With unfinished business?".
     The Israelite cultural belief in spirits doesn't come from any one source, and as a result, information is spotty, irregular, and non-consistent. There are mundane "anger" spirits, frightening "murder" spirits, medical "arthritis" spirits, and even spirits with names! There is one thread of consistency, though, a strong belief (and focus) on the so-called "Jezebel Spirit", summed up by this handy picture.

(Source)

     If you search for general articles about "spirits", you'll find a disproportionate amount of articles about the Jezebel spirit; though there are possibly hundreds of types of spirits, depending on one's beliefs, rather than being written about 1/100 of the time, the Jezebel spirit can take up to 1/3 of the limelight.
     On paper, the Jezebel spirit can possess a man or a woman, and the spirit itself is sexless. However, when talked about, this spirit is almost always considered female and found in females. Though the generalized definition of Jezebel spirit could be, "A person who is a jerk", in practice, it is applied to "bossy" women who "wear the pants" or "won't let her husband have any control."It is also used for women in positions of power, learning, or independence. I have even heard a woman's strong charisma attributed to the Jezebel Spirit. Also to said to be caused by the Jezebel Spirit? .......wait for it......menstrual cramps. You know. The thing affecting more than half the women in the world? Yup. It's not anatomy; it's the Jezebel Spirit.
     There is a link between the Jezebel Spirit and the Bible, but it is tenuous at best.

Jezebel the Woman
     Jezebel was a queen of ancient Israel, in the time of Elijah. She was married to Ahab, an evil king (1 Kings 16:30). Jezebel was largely responsible for the persecution of the prophets of Israel at the time, most notably Elijah (1 Kings 17-2 Kings 9). Eventually, she is killed by her own eunuchs at the behest of Jehu (II Kings 9:32-33), and her body is eaten by dogs (II Kings 9:36-37).

Even the way she combs her hair is sinful! (source)

From Woman to Spirit
     There are many things that irk me about the belief in the Jezebel spirit. This is one of them. Jezebel was a woman. She lived. She died. End of story. So how is it that a spirit bears her name?
     From what I have read and inquired of, there's no solid answer (this is a refrain in the studies of "spirits") about why the spirit and Jezebel have the same name. Do they believe a spirit inhabited Jezebel and caused her to do evil? No, certainly not; she did all that on her own. Did her soul become a spirit to continue her evil in perpetuity? No, that's not possible; she did, y'know, die. Was a spirit nameless and bored and took her as an inspiration? No, no. That's silly. How could a mere human woman inspire a demon? Well, then, what? The most popular answer I've heard is something like, "Well, it's called the Jezebel Spirit (by us) because of its similarities to Jezebel. It's not the spirit's actual name. It's more a labeling of a symptom."

(Source)

Symptoms of Jezebel (revisited)
Compared to the Story of Jezebel (revisited)
     Alright, so, the spirit is nicknamed the "Jezebel Spirit" because it is similar to the woman named Jezebel. Let's see how that bears up.

• The Spirit: Seeks to manipulate the weak/charismatic
• The woman: Eh....there's not much to point to manipulation or charisma in her story. She seems a rather straight-forward sort of person who used her power as the queen to just command people to do what she wanted. Some people argue that it was Ahab, her husband, who was weak, but from his introduction, he was evil before he met her; she did not make him evil, and when comparing the amount of times his name is said in their story vs. hers......let's just say Ahab was more of a player than she was, and he bore more responsibility. Granted, in 1 Kings 21:25, it does say Jezebel encouraged her husband, but as he was evil before, she was only encouraging him to do what he wanted to do anyway*.
• The Spirit: Void of empathy, but will fake it to further manipulate
• The woman: Maybe I'm missing something, but Jezebel the woman never seemed sympathetic in her story. She was always kind of mean and nasty. There is one moment of her showing sympathy, in 1 Kings 21:5-7. Context: Ahab is sulking because Naboth won't trade him a vineyard. Ahab is so upset that he takes to his bed and refuses to eat. Hearing about this, Jezebel comes to talk to him, asks him what the matter, taunts him a bit, and promises to get him the vineyard. Later in the chapter, Jezebel throws a feast for Naboth, has him falsely accused of blasphemy, and then has him executed. Then, Jezebel turned the vineyard of Naboth over to her husband.* Her sympathy for her husband is real enough. She notices he is upset and uses her power to fix it. Now, throwing a feast for Naboth in order to set him up is certainly dishonest, but is it false "sympathy"? No. Throwing someone a party is not "sympathetic".
• The Spirit: Believes itself to be superior to others and only able to be understood by superior people.
• The woman: Well, in terms of status and power, Jezebel was superior to other people. That's what being queen is all about. However, as far as "only can be understood by superior people".....no. There's just nothing to support that in her story. 
• The Spirit: Sexually promiscuous/manipulative
• the woman: there is no mention in Jezebel's story of her being promiscuous (not surprising, considering the punishment for adultery). 
• [And while she tends to be portrayed/painted as a good-looking/sexual woman, the Bible does not treat us to a description of her appearance the way it does of other women like Sarah, Rachel, Tamar, Bathsheba, Abigail, Abishag, Vasti, Job's daughters, Esther....(source), ergo, her looks were not that important to her being/story.]
• I believe a lot of people tie Jezebel to sexual manipulation thanks to Revelation 2:20, "But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols". To blame are our old friends "mistranslation" and "misogyny". The word translated as "seduce" is "planaw", which, rather than "use one's sexy wiles to trick, manipulate, etc", means "to lead astray". (Notice the distinct lack of sexual connotation). As the verses go on, we see Jezebel accused of fornication and adultery, but, based on the context of her actual story, it's easy to see it's the metaphorical style of fornication and adultery. Her story never mentions her sleeping around, but it definitely mentions false religion and idols. Funny how "fornication" and "adultery" are used in a figurative sense to refer to just those practices.
• The Spirit: leads women to undermine their husbands/grasp at power/wear the pants
• *The woman: This is the part I find the most ironic about the belief in the Jezebel Spirit. It is often blamed for women being headstrong, but nothing about Jezebel herself suggests she was. It was Ahab who "....did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." (I Kings 16:33). It was Ahab who started the worship of Baal and built groves (I Kings 16:32-33). It was Ahab who caused the kingdom to be cursed with drought (I Kings 17:1). It was Ahab who was hunting Elijah (I Kings 18:8-17). It was Ahab with whom Elijah had the contest-of-the-bull-burning (I Kings 18:20-42), and it was for Ahab that the kingdom of Israel was cursed (I Kings 21:20-29). Jezebel's actions are secondary to Ahab's. He worships Baal and builds groves, and she supports this (I Kings 18:19). Elijah beats Ahab in the bull-burning, so Jezebel sends death threats to Elijah (I Kings 19:1-2). Ahab wants a vineyard but can't get it, so Jezebel gets it for him (I Kings 21). All evidence points to Jezebel being a follower, not a leader. In fact, she bears more of a resemblance to a "proper Hebrew Israelite woman" than I do--She supports her husband in everything, never questioning the rightness or wrongness of his actions. Her whole life was devoted to making sure he got what he wanted. Now, was she an evil person? Yeah, most likely. "Good" people, no matter how malleable, don't tend to persecute hundreds with an aim of killing them. But was she "independent"? Did she "wear the pants"? No. No she did not. 
• The Spirit: causes menstrual cramps...?
• Sorry. I just can't. Does Jezebel pre-date the female reproductive system? No, she does not. Is there any tie with Jezebel and the uterus/menstruation? No, no there is not.

So....she was not like this? (source)

So What is the Jezebel Spirit???
     Dearly beloved, I fear I must answer thusly, "a myth". The spirit known by the name "Jezebel" has little to nothing to do with the woman, Jezebel. There is no Biblical support for its existence. The whole foundation the belief in this spirit rests on is smoke and fog--a nice gust blows it away.
     So why do so many people latch onto this idea of a sexually manipulative, evil, murderous woman? Why are they so quick to attach other women to this idea? Well, y'see, there's this thing called an "archetype", being a pattern of story-telling/character existing in all of human story-telling. And one of the most popular archetypal characters is the "femme fatale", or "deadly woman". She's the woman in the red dress with a pistol in her garter. She's the evil snake-in-the-grass the hero just can't resist. She's the poison princess of myth, the shape-shifting witch, the hollow-backed fairy woman, the deer-woman of the plains. She's the twisted woman who wants to bring about the downfall of all mankind, but only after she sleeps with most of them.

(source)

     Many women in history have had their stories twisted to make them fit this type. The best example is Cleopatra. She is portrayed as a sexy siren, luring men to their doom (for what reason? I dunno! She just does!). However, actual historical sources paint Cleopatra not as a beautiful woman, but as an intelligent one (source). Jezebel is just another victim of this tendency. Influential and powerful women are portrayed as manipulative/motiveless/sexual creatures to minimize them and to spice up their stories. For many, it is impossible to believe a woman could be powerful through anything other than her sexuality, so the stories are re-written to have a sexual cast. "Lead astray" becomes "seduce". A possibly-evil woman with a definitely-evil husband becomes a sexy, manipulative, string-pulling man-underminer.
     Thus, the Jezebel Spirit becomes the scapegoat for everything considered "unattractive" in women to the people who buy into this belief (regardless of lack of Biblical support). She's immodest, sexual (hello, Shulamite, hello, Ruth), powerful (hello, Esther, Deborah, and Jael), and acts against her husband (hello again Jael and Esther, and welcome to the party, Zipporah). She's a convenient excuse and method of social policing rolled up into one. She's a way to keep women following rules that don't even exist. As per usual, if people spent more time studying and less fearmongering, we'd be much better off, but ain't that always the way?