How Old Was Queen Jezebel at the Time of Her Death?

Jezebel—a name that even to this day triggers the spirit of fear. She’s one of those biblical figures who’s remembered for all the wrong reasons: For this particular character, greedy, cunning, and merciless.

While we have had a fairly good glimpse of the depravity of her character, there is still something that is not very clear, at least not in great detail and that is the age of her when she was killed metaphorically speaking. Well, let’s head to the Bible, search for some hints, and try to estimate Jezebel’s age at the time of her death.

Who Was Jezebel, Really?

First of all, beloved reader, let me make you more familiar with Jezebel. Jezebel was not only a queen, she was a queen of Sidonian descent, being the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of Sidon. She was born in the Phoenician city of Tyre where her dad was influential and she therefore introduced the same kind of lifestyle when she married Ahab, the king of Israel. She did not visit Israel just to sit back and drink wine and enjoy her new life as a queen. She was, however, quite domineering particularly when it came to issues of religion and faith. It was high time that a woman became involved with the worship of this fertility goddess known as Baal and it was high time that this woman was not hasty in making sure everyone else was involved as well.

Well, Ahab, her husband, was not the most remarkable patriarch around; nor was he really forceful. In the Bible he is portrayed as a king who was controlled by Jezebel, not exactly a word of praise for anyone. Jezebel’s role includes removing all the prophets of God and the subsequent replacement of the worship of an Israelite deity by the worship of Baal. That I am sure did not go down well with the prophets, especially Elijah who had heavyweight battles against her and her prophets.

How old was the Infamous Queen when she Died?

Okay, time to roll up the sleeves and do some real detective work, with an attempt at timelining Jezebel’s life and her death. The Bible itself doesn’t provide her age in figures of speech or literally, rather it provides a chronology of events from which one could deduce her approximate age at death. So, let’s see one by one..

1. Jezebel’s Marriage to Ahab

Jezebel marries Ahab around 874 BC If we consider her as a lady of marriageable age – late teens or even early adulthood then she was born not earlier than 880-890 BC This means that she is young when she becomes a queen and thus has lots of years in her ahead of her both in contributing to the kingdom and being contributory to the kingdom.

Kings 16:31 NKJV ³¹ And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.”

2. Ahab’s Reign and Beyond

Ahab reigned over Israel for 22 years and Jezebel was his wife and counselor as well as accomplice to all that he did wrong. After Ahab died, their son Ahaziah reigned but he too reigned for only two years and then he also died. Following him, one of his other sons, Joram or Jehoram was on the throne for about 12 years.

This is where real investigation begins. Since Jezebel was alive during Joram’s rule, she survived her husband Ahab for another 14 years at least. If we shall add that 14 years to the 22 years in which Ahab reigned, then Jezebel could have been present in the scene at least 36 years since her marriage.

If Jezebel was around 20 when she married Ahab and she lived for 36 more years it means that she died at the age of 56. But that is just the average – she could have been older, if she got married before starting to bear children or if she lived longer after Joram took the throne.

3. Queen Mother Role

The other hint is the fact that Jezebel was not idle knitting garments throughout the remainder of Ahab’s reign and beyond. However, during her sons’ reigns, she continued to play a big part in the kingdom. One day she even uses cosmetics, dresses up to know that Jehu (the man who was to kill her) was in town. This indicates that she was still a strong and possibly conceited woman, not some old lady as would be expected.

Putting the puzzle pieces together to calculate her age at the time of her passing:

Because Jezebel was around 20 when she got married to Ahab and the scriptures suggest that she lived for another 36 or more years she must have been in her mid to late 50s when she died. But what if she was a little older when she married Ahab or longevity would have been noted if she was alive much after Joram was on the throne? If that is true she may have been in her 60s or even pushing 70.

Well, to cut a long story short, Jezebel was not just any queen, was she? She was one of those narcissistic women who enjoyed power to the last drop. And as we talk about that … what a bitter and dark end?

4. Jezebel’s Death – The Final Chapter

If indeed you have heard or read anything about Jezebel’s story, then you are aware that the story does not have a happy ending for Jezebel. For a pretty gnarly scene the Bible in 2 Kings 9:30-37 reveals that Jehu left the scene and barely survived. Here’s how it goes down: Jehu who has been anointed as the next king by the Prophet Elisha gets into Jezreel where Jezebel was dwelling. Instead of getting scared and running for the hills when she hears that he is on his way, she opens her door. But she applies her makeup, Arranges her hair and then sits beside the window waiting for him. This wasn’t self importance – Jezebel was making a point here. She was not going to leave without saying something.

But all Jehu wanted was not to engage in a conversation. So, he commands Jezebel’s servants to throw her out of the window, and they obediently cast her out. Finally, Jezebel dies by falling off the walls, her dead body is scattered by horses and after that her dead body is eaten by the dogs. The whole thing is brutal, but, it is also, as precise as it gets, what has been actually predicted by Elijah way back.

Kings 9:30-37 NKJV: ³⁰ Now when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head, and looked through a window. ³¹ Then, as Jehu entered at the gate, she said, “Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?” ³² And he looked up at the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” So two or three eunuchs looked out at him. ³³ Then he said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot. ³⁴ And when he had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, “Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.” ³⁵ So they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. ³⁶ Therefore they came back and told him. And he said, “This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; ³⁷ and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as refuse on the surface of the field, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, “Here lies Jezebel.”

My Personal opinion on Jezebel’s Age at Death

After piecing together the timeline and looking at the clues, here’s my take: It is easy to deduce that Jezebel was in her fifties or maybe in her early sixties when she died. She was not a woman of today’s kind, however she was not a youth either; she was a woman in between ages. What has remained appealing to me is that though she was in her later years of her life, she remained a very strong woman. Jezebel was not a woman who knew how to withdraw as she aged— rather she remained as rebellious as ever to her death.

Ultimately, the age that Jezebel died at is just another part of the big picture but it’s a part that helps to paint the picture just a little slightly. Despite a long and intense life full of power struggle and conflicts, she finally got her tragic end. Whether she was 56, 60, or even 70 when she died, one thing is clear: Jezebel’s story is one of the most famous in the Holy Scripture among theology fans. Well, that brings me to the end of their story and a little closer look at how old Jezebel might have been when she was beaten to death. Of course the Bible didn’t relate all the particulars but if we were to bet or the odds of it we could make a pretty good guess. And in doing so, the reader gets an insight of one of the most infamous characters in the Bible.