Ahaziah of Israel

King of the Kingdom of Israel; son of Ahab and Jezebel

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Lived -870–-851, aged 19

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Era
-870–-851
Aged 19

Summary

Updated 2026-06-10

The eighth king of the northern Kingdom of Israel, remembered less for what he did than for whose son he was: Ahab and Jezebel's. His reign lasted roughly a year in the mid-ninth century BC, and the Biblical account offers almost nothing but condemnation.

Biography

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Ahaziah inherited the throne of the northern Kingdom of Israel from his father Ahab and ruled from Samaria around 850 BC, though scholars differ on the exact dates — William F. Albright places his reign at 850–849 BC, while E. R. Thiele suggests 853–852 BC. The author of the Books of Kings condemned him for following the religious practices of both his father and his mother Jezebel, accusing him of leading Israel into sin "in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat." The phrase "in the way of his mother" appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible — a detail that Biblical commentator Albert Barnes n…

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