son of Omri, and seventh king of Israel, reigned twenty-one years, from B.C. 918 to 897. Many of the evils of his reign may be ascribed to the close connection he formed with the Phoenicians, between whom and the Jews there had long been a beneficial commercial intercourse. Having married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, or Ithobal, king of Tyre, Ahab was entirely under her control, and sanctioned the introduction, and eventually established the worship, of the Phoenician idols, and especially of the sun-god Baal. Hitherto the golden calves in Dan and Bethel had been the only objects of idolatrous worship in Israel, and they were intended as symbols of Jehovah. But all reserve and limitation were now abandoned. The king built a temple at Samaria, and erected an image, and consecrated a grove to Baal. Idolatry became the predominant religion; and so strong was the tide of corruption, that it appeared as if the knowledge of the true God was soon to be for ever lost among the Israelites. But Elijah the prophet boldly opposing himself to the regal authority, succeeded in retaining many of his countrymen in the worship of the true God. At length the judgment of God on Ahab and on his house was pronounced by Elijah, that, during the reign of his son, his whole race should be exterminated. Ahab died of the wounds he received in a battle with the Syrians, according to a prediction of Micahiah, which he refused to credit, yet endeavoured to avert, by disguising himself in the action.—1 Kings xvi. 29, xxii. 40.