The Bible tells a lot about Ahab. He was king of the Ten Tribe kingdom for twenty-two years. But the description immediately opens with the statement that his behaviour was even worse than that of his predecessors. For he took Jezebel, a princess of Sidon, as his wife. This would have been an arranged marriage, a union for political reasons. In the political context of those years, it was important for small states to strengthen themselves together against the great powers of Egypt and Assyria. A marriage between a king and a princess from two neighbouring royal houses speaks of unity, stronger together.
But with Jezebel, the idolatry for Baal also entered the land of Israel. The worship of Baal was a fertility religion. This deity gave the rain and the sunshine in time. You depended on this god for a good harvest. A lot of sacrifices were needed to appease him for that. The most extreme thing this Baal religion demanded is the sacrifice of children. In the eyes of the God of Israel, this is an abomination, repugnant. We also read about a temple and an altar for Baal and about an Asherah pole. Asherah is the name of a female goddess, the equivalent of the male god Baal. Sometimes Asherah is also mentioned as the mother god of Baal. The male and female elements also indicate another aspect of the Baal religion: sexual fertility, reproduction. Temple prostitution was also common in this religion. The Baal religion was full of sexual innuendos and acts, thus representing desire and divine-human passion.
29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.