ISABEL

Lehite PN

1.

Harlot of the land of SIRON, 1st c. BC (Alma 39:3)

This name is the same as the biblical name Jezebel, wife of the Israelite king Ahab and daughter of Ethbaal, King of Tyre and Sidon (cp. Phoenician yzbl). In the LXX of 1 Kings 16:31 her name is rendered as iezabel, the identical vocalization as the Book of Mormon version. The standard biblical commentaries give various etymologies.

The name may be a case of metonymy, comparing the harlot of SIRON with the wicked Phoenician princess of the Bible who, with her husband Ahab, corrupted ISRAEL (RFS). Reynolds, Story of the Book of Mormon, p. 298, suggests “Jezebel” = “the chaste” or, as in ISAIAH, “the delight of Bel” (“Her lord, husband, or possessor”).

Bibliography

• Ariel L. Crowley About the Book of Mormon. Idaho City, ID: Deseret News, 1961.