You Reap What You SowSample

Jezebel was more concerned about outer beauty instead of inner beauty

Jehu had been appointed and anointed as the avenger of Jehovah, and he set about his grim task of meting out justice to those who had polluted the land. Jezebel’s son and grandson met Jehu in the blood-stained vineyard Naboth had once possessed. Jehu slew Jezebel’s son, the king of Israel, and her grandson was overtaken in flight and was slain. 

The still proud, defiant queen-mother knew her last hour was not far away, and great-grandmother though she was, she took time to arrange her hair and paint her face and looked out at a window to greet Jehu as he passed by. 

A Bible commentator suggests, “Jezebel did not paint her face from any motive of coquetry or vanity. She knew that death was ready to take her. Therefore, she determined to die like a queen.... As Cleopatra, when about to die, robed herself in festal garments, so Jezebel painted her eyes with antimony and placed her jewelled crown upon her head; then, mounting to the palace tower, she watched the thundering advance of Jehu’s chariot.”

This last touch of grandeur in her foul life gave rise to the bitter taunt, “a painted Jezebel,” which came into vogue in England during the sixteenth century when “painting the face was accepted as prima-facie evidence that a woman had loose morals.” Certainly no other woman’s name in history has become as commonly accepted as a synonym for wickedness.

Her last moments revealed her to be as incapable of remorse as of fear. There was no sign of repentance in her, as she went out proudly to meet her prophesied doom. 

Even in her dying moments, her concern was to appear pretty before people and not to get it right before her Creator in repentance.

In 1 Peter 3:3–4 we read, Do not let your adorning be external — the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear — but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 

This is in no way meant as a ban on braiding or jewelry. Rather, it's a warning about using external things in an attempt to find true beauty. That which is on the inside will shine on the outside. No amount of make-up or clothing will make up for inner ugliness. God tells us where true beauty lies – within your heart.

Sin bottled up on the inside, concealed from everyone else's view, will eat you up from within. Don’t hide your inner sin by external appearances of holiness. When God confronts you from His Word about sin in your life, be willing to repent and forsake it, rather than cover it.

Don’t be like Jezebel.

Quote: A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her – Max Lucado

Prayer: Lord, help me to focus on inner beauty, rather than external beauty. Amen