Ahab or Ach'av (אַחְאָב "Brother of the father", Standard Hebrew Aḥʼav, Tiberian Hebrew ʼAḥăʼāḇ, ʼAḫʼāḇ) was King of the Kingdom of Israel and the province of Samaria, and the son and successor of Omri (1 Kings 16:29-34). William F. Albright dated his reign to 869 BCE-850 BCE, while E. R. Thiele offered the dates 874 BCE-853 BCE.

He married Jezebel, the daughter of king Ithobaal I of Tyre, and the alliance was doubtless the means of procuring him great riches, which brought pomp and luxury in their train. We read of his building an ivory palace (1 Kings 22:39; Amos 3:15), and founding new cities, the effect perhaps of a share in the flourishing commerce of Phoenicia, who supplied the ivory for his palace.

The material prosperity of his reign, which is comparable with that of Solomon a century before, was overshadowed by the religious changes which his marriage involved. Although he worshipped YHWH, as the names of his children prove (1 Kings 22:5ff), his wife was firmly attached to the worship of the Melkart (the Tyrian Ba'al), and led by her he gave a great impulse to this cult by building a temple in honour of Baal in Samaria. This roused the indignation of the Jewish prophets and Priests whose aim it was to purify the worship of God. (See Elijah)

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