Elijah, Jezebel and the Battle for the Household

Gather a group of university humanities professors and ask them to give you one word to describe the root of the problems in Western culture and the word you’ll most often get back in response is this one: Patriarchy.

They use this word as a way of describing historic systems created by men for men to dominate and subjugate women and other minorities.

But what’s strange about this theory is the word patriarchy literally means “father rule”.

What’s terribly ironic about the use of this word is we live in an era where father rule has almost entirely broken down. Sociologists have told us that there’s likely never been a larger epidemic of fatherlessness in the history of western civilization. 

So just when we need our culture to encourage men to stand up and have a vision for their families we’re being told that fathers with a vision are at the root of all of our problems.

How did that happen?

Well if someone wanted to ensure that the cure to a disease would never be found one of the best ways would be to hide the cure in plain sight but simply convince the world that the CURE of the disease is actually its CAUSE. Once this deception is complete no one would ever think to look there for the cure.

However, one advantage of such a bold-faced lie is that this also tips the enemy’s hand. This kind of switch could not have happened by accident. This is clear evidence of a coordinated spiritual deception.

What do we do when we’re dealing with cunning deceitful spirits?

We must understand the nature of the spirits we’re dealing with and the weapons given to the church to counter these strongholds.

And Scripture defines for us the spirit that stirs up the patriarchs to love and lead their families: The Spirit of Elijah.

After Elijah appeared to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples asked Jesus, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

Jesus’ response is fascinating, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things…”

Elijah will come.

But Jesus also points out “But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but have done to him everything they wished.”

“Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.”

So it’s clear from this depiction that Elijah came as recorded in the book of 1 Kings. 

Elijah came through John the Baptist in Jesus’ lifetime and was killed by Herod at the instigation of his wife.

In other words, Elijah is a spirit that came, a spirit that comes, and a spirit that is coming to “restore all things”.

So just like the Kingdom came, is coming, and someday will come the same can be said about the spirit of Elijah.

I’d like to explore what we can know from the Scripture about the nature of this restoring spirit that God sends into the world. 

And to understand what this spirit of Elijah is doing it’s helpful to note that this spirit is not alone.

Elijah is always opposed by another spirit, Jezebel.

It’s in the interplay and contrast between these two spirits that we can begin to fully understand how each works and identify these spirits at work in the world in our day.

First, let’s understand what is revealed about the spirit of Elijah.

Just before the 400 silent years between the Old and New Testament Malachi gave the last prophet before the birth of the Messiah and it was to reveal the essential nature of the spirit of Elijah.

Malachi wrote, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:5-6 ESV)

The New King James translates that last land, “Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

So the restoring work of Elijah must be received and successful or a destroying curse will move through the land.

Moving to the New Testament, when the Messiah was about to enter the world this spirit of Elijah had to first do its work as Gabriel prophesied to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist by saying about his son, “he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:17)

This spirit of Elijah targets and challenges fathers to build their families. 

This is what got John the Baptist in trouble.

He was extraordinarily successful in his ministry, being widely held up as a prophet who was finally bringing the word of the Lord to Israel until he encountered the spirit of Jezebel embodied through the political power structure of his day “John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife” (Luke 3:19)

This was John’s battle with the Ahab under the controlling spirit of his wife “Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.” (Matthew 14:3-4).

The spirit of Elijah loves and zealously defends the multigenerational family.

He turns the hearts of fathers to the children and through calling fathers to lead their families this begins the healing process that restores all things and prepares the way of the Lord.

It is through the father that families restore justice and peace to the land. 

But there is another way to try and create justice and peace that is not through fathers training children. 

There’s the political way. The way of control. The way of Jezebel.

Jezebel hates the spirit of Elijah because Jezebel hates the way of the multigenerational patriarch.

We are given a vivid display of this violent hatred in a scene from Jezebel’s life when she encountered the spirit of the noble father in a man named Naboth.

Ahab, the king, and husband of Jezebel coveted the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which was beside his palace. He wanted to turn it into a vegetable garden. He went to Naboth and said he would give him either a better vineyard or the value of the field in money.

Check out Naboth’s response, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And Ahab went into his house vexed and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food. (1 Kings 21:3-4)

Why wouldn’t Naboth just take another even better vineyard?

Simple, loyalty toward his multigenerational family.

This specific piece of land wasn’t his to sell it was only his to steward. Why? Because he inherited this field the “inheritance of my fathers”.

The more generations own, steward, and pass on a particular piece of the land the deeper the roots of that family.

To sell a piece of land like that is to uproot the work of many generations which could end a multigenerational family line. The new vineyard has no history, no roots, no family story, and can be sold again. This would likely disperse the family from its inheritance and the family would lose its story, identity, and foundation. A piece of land contains the memory and tells the story of the family and his land may have been in Naboth’s family all the way back to the inheritance distributed to the families of Israel during the time of Joshua.

Ahab likely has some understanding of this and knows that if Naboth says the land is not for sale there’s really nothing more he can do.

But there’s another character in the story who has no concern for the value of multigenerational continuity. In fact, she despises this kind of family because it directly opposes the absolute use of political power.

This is how the story continues, “But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, “Why is your spirit so vexed that you eat no food?” After Ahab gives her all the details this is her response, “Do you now govern Israel? Arise and eat bread and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

Political power directly opposes the family.

It’s the one stronghold it struggles to overthrow. 

As long as families are strong and fathers rule the spirit of Jezebel is checked.

That’s why there is no better slogan for the spirit of Jezebel than “Down with the Patriarchy”.

Translated she says, “Down with the fathers ruling multigenerational families”.

Her version of justice can only be realized when faithful patriarchs are thrown down.

So Jezebel devised a scheme to have Naboth stoned to death. We discover later in 2 Kings 9 that not only was Naboth killed but all of his sons which wiped out this entire family from among the families of Israel.

This stirs up the spirit of Elijah.

Elijah confronts Ahab for his part in the conspiracy and declares the end of Ahab’s line on the field of Naboth.

But what’s wrong with trusting political power as the primary vehicle for justice in society? To understand the core contrast being father rule and political power we need to see how these systems are directly opposed to one another.

What made Elijah so unique was he was the first in a line of multigenerational prophets.

He sets up schools of prophets throughout Israel, treats those prophets like his sons, and then passes down a double portion, the portion of the firstborn son, to one of his spiritual sons Elisha. 

The Jezebel pattern in contrast seeks to gain control through a three-part process that starts with declaring perverse sexual practices as moral, canceling patriarchs and setting up a new religion of idolatry.

Jesus confronted the first-century church of Thyatira that was giving into this pattern when he said, “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. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works” (Revelation 2:20-22)

I used to think the Elijah and Jezebel spirits were ancient history but now I’m becoming aware that this may be the primary spiritual battle in our day.

What does that mean?

And most importantly what can we do when battling with Jezebel?

1. Prepare to Suffer - Jezebel is powerful and dangerous particularly to prophets and patriarchs standing in her way. She will try to cancel you and she will often succeed.

2. Remain Sexually Pure - Refuse to give in to her seductions or into the ways she will seek to alter the definition of what practices are sexually immoral.

3. Love Your Children - The spirit of Elijah causes the HEARTS of the fathers to turn to their children and HEARTS of the children to turn to their fathers to create an unshakable multigenerational bond that heals the land. 

4. Encourage Fathers - Never let the spirit of Jezebel in a culture diminish how critical fatherhood is. Even the idea that children need fathers is being questioned today. We must stand up for fathers and fatherhood every chance we get.

5. Rescue the Deceived - We struggle NOT against flesh and blood Paul tells us and when we discern that we’re fighting a spiritual battle we need to love those caught up in the deception. If a doorway opens up in the life of someone under the spell of Jezebel carefully and prayerfully try and open their eyes to see the truth.

6. Defend the Church - Jesus is clear that the church must be a light to the culture by never tolerating Jezebel. She’s going to do her worst in the culture but she absolutely must never be given a platform within the church by the direct command of Jesus.

7. Tend the Wounded - In a battle like this, there will be casualties. If you see someone taking hits from Jezebel ask what you can do to help. Elijah created a whole network of safe houses in his day to try and help those being ravaged by Jezebel. What will you do?

And please remember that while Jezebel always tries to make this a fight between men and women, we as men are never fighting for male power but for the flourishing of our families for the sake of our wives and our sons and daughters, our future grandchildren and our King. We rule to serve. We aren’t seeking to swing the pendulum the other direction but to establish the kind of society that is optimal for flourishing which must be undergirded by stable multigenerational households.

Be courageous my brothers because this fight is on.