ETHBAAL

(Eth·baʹal) [With Baal].

King of the Sidonians, the father of Jezebel the wife of King Ahab. (1Ki 16:31) By giving his daughter in marriage to Ahab, Ethbaal entered into a political alliance with him. Ethbaal is evidently the Ithobal mentioned in Josephus’ quotation of historian Menander as being the priest of the goddess Astarte (Ashtoreth). This priest got the kingship by murdering Phelles, a descendant of Hiram the king of Tyre with whom Solomon had had dealings in connection with the building of the temple. Ethbaal is said to have ruled for 32 of the 48 years of his life. (Against Apion, I, 123 [18]) Indicative of the commercial expansion carried on during his reign is Menander’s reference to Ethbaal’s building Auza in Libya. Menander also mentions that a one-year drought occurred during Ethbaal’s reign.​—Jewish Antiquities, VIII, 324 (xiii, 2).