1 Kings 16:33 kjv
And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
1 Kings 16:33 nkjv
And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
1 Kings 16:33 niv
Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.
1 Kings 16:33 esv
And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
1 Kings 16:33 nlt
Then he set up an Asherah pole. He did more to provoke the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than any of the other kings of Israel before him.
1 Kings 16 33 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Exo 20:3-5 | “You shall have no other gods... You shall not make for yourself an idol..." | Prohibition against idolatry & other gods. |
| Deut 4:16 | "...make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape..." | Specific command against image making. |
| Deut 7:5 | "...pull down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles..." | Command to destroy pagan cult objects. |
| Deut 16:21-22 | "Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build..." | Specific prohibition of Asherah near God's altar. |
| Judg 3:7 | "The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs." | Early Israelite falling into Baal & Asherah worship. |
| 1 Kgs 14:15 | "...because they made their Asherah poles and aroused the Lord’s anger." | Jeroboam's descendants causing God's anger with Asherah. |
| 1 Kgs 16:30 | "Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him." | Immediate preceding verse highlighting Ahab's supreme wickedness. |
| 1 Kgs 16:31 | "He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam... but he also married Jezebel... and began to serve Baal..." | Details of Ahab's progressive and aggravated sin. |
| 1 Kgs 18:19 | "Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel, together with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah..." | Mention of a large number of Asherah prophets in Israel. |
| 1 Kgs 21:25 | "There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel..." | Further emphatic condemnation of Ahab's unmatched evil. |
| 2 Kgs 13:6 | "...they continued to sin and also to set up Asherah poles in Samaria." | Later Israelite kings continuing Asherah worship. |
| 2 Kgs 18:4 | "He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles..." | Hezekiah's reforms, destroying Asherah poles. |
| 2 Kgs 21:3 | "Manasseh rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed... He also set up Asherah poles..." | Manasseh's extreme sin, rebuilding Asherah. |
| 2 Kgs 21:9 | "...Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites." | Manasseh's evil surpassing even gentiles (similar to Ahab's benchmark). |
| 2 Kgs 23:4 | "The king ordered Hilkiah... to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah..." | Josiah's reform removing Asherah from the Temple itself. |
| 2 Chr 15:16 | "...and also deposed Maacah her grandmother from her position as queen mother for having made an Asherah pole..." | Asa's reform, even against royal family for Asherah. |
| 2 Chr 33:3 | "He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had torn down; he also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles..." | Another account of Manasseh's grievous Asherah sin. |
| Jer 17:2 | "...they make altars to their Baals and Asherah poles beside every green tree..." | Jeremiah condemning pervasive idolatry in Judah. |
| Psa 78:58 | "They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols." | Israel angering God with high places and idols. |
| Rom 1:21-23 | "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God... they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man..." | Universal condemnation of idolatry as forsaking God. |
| 1 Cor 10:14 | "Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry." | New Testament warning against idolatry. |
| 1 Jn 5:21 | "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols." | New Testament emphasis on avoiding idol worship. |
1 Kings 16 verses
1 Kings 16 33 Meaning
Ahab, the king of Israel, actively created an Asherah pole, signifying his full embrace and promotion of pagan idol worship. This act, coupled with his overall reign, resulted in a level of spiritual evil in God's sight that surpassed the wickedness of all his predecessors among the kings of Israel.
1 Kings 16 33 Context
1 Kings 16 begins with the continued rapid succession of sinful kings in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, highlighting a downward spiritual spiral initiated by Jeroboam I. It describes short reigns marred by conspiracy, murder, and deep apostasy. King Omri, Ahab's father, is noted as having done "more evil than all who were before him" (1 Kgs 16:25). Verse 33, however, marks an unprecedented escalation of wickedness under Ahab. His marriage to Jezebel, a Sidonian princess, directly introduced and vehemently promoted Baal and Asherah worship as state religion, moving beyond Jeroboam's pragmatic (but still sinful) calf worship to overt polytheism. This verse encapsulates the climax of Israel's spiritual decline up to this point, setting the stage for the dramatic prophetic confrontation between Yahwism and Canaanite paganism, primarily through Elijah's ministry, which begins in the subsequent chapter.
1 Kings 16 33 Word analysis
- Ahab (Hebrew: אָחָאב, ’Aḥ’ab): Meaning "father's brother." He was the seventh king of Israel and son of Omri. Ahab's reign is depicted as the epitome of spiritual wickedness in Israel's history due to his zealous promotion of Baal worship, driven largely by his Phoenician wife Jezebel. His name becomes synonymous with grave sin and direct opposition to Yahweh.
- also made: Implies active participation and leadership in idolatry, not passive acceptance. It indicates a deliberate effort to institutionalize pagan practices within the kingdom. This act follows his prior adoption of Baal worship (1 Kgs 16:31), suggesting a progression in his apostasy.
- an Asherah pole (Hebrew: אֲשֵׁרָה, ’asherah): Refers to a wooden pole or tree sacred to the Canaanite goddess Asherah. She was a prominent goddess, often considered the consort of El or Baal, associated with fertility. The setting up of an Asherah pole involved active participation in her cult, often including ritual prostitution and other abominations explicitly forbidden in the Torah (Exo 34:13; Deut 12:3; 16:21). Its presence signified national apostasy and a rejection of Yahweh's exclusive worship.
- did more evil: This phrase conveys a severe divine indictment. Ahab's actions were not merely bad but exceptionally, superlatively evil from God's perspective. It highlights a standard of escalating moral and spiritual decline. The word "evil" (רָע, ra’) signifies wickedness, calamity, or misfortune, underscoring the corrupting nature of his reign.
- in the eyes of the Lord: This signifies divine judgment and evaluation. It contrasts human or political assessments, indicating that God, the true and ultimate Judge, saw and condemned Ahab's actions according to His absolute moral standard. It implies that nothing escapes God's discerning gaze.
- than all who were before him: This hyperbolic phrase emphasizes the extreme extent of Ahab's depravity. It positions him as the benchmark for unparalleled wickedness among Israel's kings, surpassing Jeroboam I (who introduced the golden calves) and Omri (who bought Samaria). His sins were more pervasive, insidious, and systematically defiant, impacting the nation more profoundly.
- Ahab also made an Asherah pole: This phrase groups two distinct but related acts of egregious sin. Making an Asherah pole denotes a direct, overt act of idolatry, personally orchestrated by the king. It establishes a top-down endorsement of Canaanite paganism, turning a national sin into royal policy, fundamentally undermining the covenant with Yahweh.
- did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than all who were before him: This constitutes a solemn, comprehensive divine verdict. It establishes a narrative and theological precedent for wickedness in Israel's history. It is a damning summary judgment, indicating that Ahab’s reign reached an unprecedented peak of apostasy, setting the stage for significant divine intervention and judgment through the prophets.
1 Kings 16 33 Bonus section
The strong condemnation of Ahab in this verse (and 1 Kgs 16:30-31) forms a theological high point in the Deuteronomistic History, preparing the reader for the monumental conflict between Elijah, the prophet of Yahweh, and the Baal/Asherah prophets under Ahab and Jezebel's patronage. This explicit "more evil" comparison implies a deepening cycle of spiritual decline, where each successive king in Israel (often apart from brief exceptions) seemed to outdo their predecessors in apostasy. Ahab's particular brand of wickedness was characterized by the full integration of pagan worship into Israelite life, threatening to erase the distinctive worship of Yahweh. The specific mention of "Asherah pole" signifies not only the worship of the deity but also the cultic objects used in perverse rituals, emphasizing the total moral degradation associated with Ahab's reign. This historical benchmark is later used to describe the sin of kings like Manasseh in Judah, who similarly plunged his kingdom into extreme idolatry (2 Kgs 21:3, 9-11).
1 Kings 16 33 Commentary
1 Kings 16:33 serves as a profound condemnation of King Ahab, establishing him as the nadir of spiritual leadership in Israel up to his time. His construction of an Asherah pole was not merely a passive act of tolerance but an active state-sponsored promotion of fertility cults, which included ritual practices fundamentally opposed to Yahweh's exclusive worship. This direct defiance of God's covenant commands (against idolatry and the sacred poles) elevated his sin beyond simple disobedience to aggressive opposition against the Almighty. The biblical writer's verdict that he "did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than all who were before him" underscores the unprecedented depth of his apostasy, setting a dire precedent for the nation's spiritual future and paving the way for inevitable divine judgment and the confrontations with Elijah. It illustrates the compounding nature of sin and leadership's profound impact on national piety.