What do spotted hyenas and the ancient Queen Jezebel have in common? This article shall discuss ten similarities so that the man or woman of God may become equipped with greater knowledge and discernment to overcome shame (or self-hatred), intimidation, rejection, depression, narcissistic manipulation, and more.
Similarity #1: Spotted hyenas and Jezebel intimidate (or bully), wearing out their victims.
One day (7-20-22), shortly after I woke up, I asked my Google Home Mini how hyenas kill their prey. It responded that hyenas will chase and wear out their prey before they attack and eat them alive (Wikipedia). (1) This reminded me of a couple instances in the Ancient Writings detailing how certain narcissistic ladies in positions of power operated towards those who got in their way.
After the prophet Elijah had Queen Jezebel’s prophets of Baal slain for their moral crimes and rebellion that supernaturally brought great poverty, famine, and death upon the nation of Israel, Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with a death threat. Although Elijah had just experienced unprecedented spiritual victories where the power of God manifested physically for all to see, Elijah fled away in fear. His anxiety turned into depression (see Proverbs 12:25) such that he wanted to die. It was as if in the invisible spiritual realm, “the spirit of Jezebel” was like a hyena who intimidated Elijah, hounded him into the wilderness, and wore him out in order that he might die. See 1 Kings 18-19.
In the New Testament, there is another biblical character with the personality of “Jezebel.” Just as Jesus compared John the Baptist to Elijah, the woman in power who opposed John the Baptist was very similar in deed and character to “the woman Jezebel” who opposed Elijah. See Matthew 17:10-13; Revelation 2:20ff. King Herod was much like King Ahab, a man who was spiritually passive in his marriage who turned to fleshly pleasures to bring him comfort and satisfaction. Herod unlawfully married Herodias (his brother Philip’s wife), similar to how Ahab foolishly married a spiritually lawless Sidonian princess named Jezebel.
Both Herodias and Jezebel sought to control and manipulate their husbands in order to feel powerful and to get their way, and their spiritually passive husbands couldn’t refuse their wishes and went along with their every whim. Just as Jezebel’s intimidating message worked to wear the prophet Elijah out spiritually, emotionally, and then physically, so also did Herodias work to wear out John the Baptist spiritually and emotionally.
Although John the Baptist used to boldly proclaim that Jesus was the Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, now he began to have doubts. From prison, where Herod had put John in custody out of submission to the will of Herodias, John sent messengers to ask Jesus if He was the [promised Messiah] to come, or if they should expect someone else.
Similarity #2: Spotted hyenas and Jezebel challenge the idea of “male headship” in the home.
What are spotted hyenas like in the wild? What are their communal or family dynamics? Spotted hyenas are a female-dominant society. Physically, female spotted hyenas may even be as strong and aggressive as males, as they have similar levels of androgens or testosterone (2). According to sciencedaily.com, new research suggests that the social dominance of female spotted hyenas may not necessarily be due to superior physical strength or ferocity, but because they have better organized themselves to rule their clans. Female spotted hyenas band together in greater numbers with better communication than the males, who tend to disperse or to isolate themselves socially (3).
This brings to mind another aspect of the story of Herodias. Herodias had cleverly manipulated the situation where she could get what she wanted. King Herod in his drunken state told the daughter of Herodias that he would give her whatever she asked, up to half his kingdom. This daughter isn’t given a name, unlike the other characters in the drama, implying that she struggled with a lack of identity. After all, she asks her mother what she should ask for rather than being confident about her own dreams, hopes, desires.
Similarity #3: Female spotted hyenas raise their pups without the male. (1) Likewise, the narcissistic family model suffers from the lack of encouraging, involved, present, equipping, loving, courageous fathers or father-figures who establish healthy boundaries and discipline for the protection, provision, and prosperity of the family unit.
The will of Herodias’ daughter was bound or tied up with the will of her mother; such that the girl lived under a kind of possessiveness and control that smothered healthy personal boundaries and relationships with God, herself, and others. The lack of identity and lack of encouragement to grow up into her own person was no doubt a byproduct of the lack of healthy fathering in her life. Both the girl’s father (Philip) and her step-father (Herod) were likely absent and uninvolved in many ways, such that Herodias was forming her daughter’s identity into Herodias’ own brokenness, bent personality, and her own desires and dreams for her daughter.
So when the daughter of Herodias asked her mother what she should ask for, Herodias replied, “the head of John the Baptist.” Without the slightest hesitation, the daughter immediately went to Herod requesting “the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oath and his dinner guests, he did not want to lose face socially by refusing her, so he complied with her wishes just as she said.
It is as if the family dynamics of spotted hyenas was at play. The females in the story had a network and bond of close-knit communication and positioned themselves in such a way that the passive, isolated, disconnected male would remain subservient to their wishes and desires. King Herod, in his carnal, self-indulgent lifestyle, did not lead his family with the kind of courage, love, discipline, encouragement, instruction, wisdom, self-control, healthy boundaries, boldness, authority, humility, and leadership that is present within the Godhead (the ordered harmony of relationship among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).
For further information about the story of Herod, Herodias, and her daughter, so that you can discern the dynamics of narcissism in your family history and/or in others’ lives, see this post: Herodias’ Daughter.
The mindset of Jezebel may scoff at and despite the notion of “male headship,” criticizing it as oppressive, backwards, and enabling of abuses towards wives and children. It confuses the true implications of “godly order” described in various biblical passages with the abuses of male chauvinism. If a young lady who has been hurt by men in some way due to neglect or abuse comes across Bible passages about God’s order within marriage relationships and church leadership, she filters those passages through the lenses that were crafted by her negative or traumatic experiences.
Because Jezebel was not protected, cherished, “covered spiritually” with loving discipline and nurture, or encouraged with a healthy identity by her controlling, overbearing, perfectionistic, depraved, religious, narcissistic father, Jezebel grew up with a mindset of rejection and self-hatred that saw God and all men as “just like her father.” She cultivated a resentment and hatred of men out of a deep root of bitterness. Thus she sought to control men in order to gain some sense of power, control, and stability in her life and marriage.
Similarity #4: Just as spotted hyenas are more easily identified by their spots, Jezebel struggled deeply with guilt, shame, and self-hatred, for which “spots” can be metaphoric.
When Jezebel was a little girl, she grew up in a toxic religious environment as she was groomed by her father to be high priestess for the demon gods whom he worshiped. The gods Baal and Ashtoreth were married and had similar marital dynamics as that of Jezebel and Ahab. (4) As “spots” can sometimes represent defilement or blemish in the Ancient Writings, one could use an analogy that the spots of the spotted hyena could symbolize the feelings of blemish, shame, dirtiness, or self-hatred with which Jezebel secretly struggled. Spotted hyenas have also been used symbolically for debauchery and sexual confusion; for it may be difficult for the average safari-goer to distinguish between male and female spotted hyenas due to close similarities in their protruded genitalia. (1)
As Jezebel grew up, she dealt with a great deal of rejection and self-hatred from her parents and religious background. She felt a pressure to perform her religious rituals in such a way that would not provoke the anger of her father and of the gods whom he served. Consequently, Jezebel likely cultivated a hatred of men (greatly despising any idea of “male headship”) that would lie deeply buried within her conscience. Her father, Ethbaal, the king of the Sidonians, gave her in marriage to Ahab, king of Israel. Jezebel sought to control Ahab and incited him to follow the gods whom she served throughout her life.
Similarity #5: Spotted hyenas are prone to practice infanticide (1), an act of pagan worship that Jezebel championed.
The god Molech (or “Moloch”) is a version of the god Baal to whom ancient people would sacrifice their babies. A primary motivator for infanticide is anxiety (or fear of the future), as parents doubt that God can or will provide the financial resources to sustain their family as they learn to trust and obey Him in submission. That same core motivator could also be applied to abortion. Other motivators for abortion include shame, fear of criticism, and/or fear of rejection from others in their lives should they hear about the unplanned pregnancy. Jezebel was a huge proponent for the worship of Molech, that is, the practice of sacrificing one’s children upon the altar of convenience.
Similarity #6: Hyenas effectively network to bring down their prey as a team, a characteristic of Queen Jezebel that narcissists may practice today in the family, church, and business world through gossip, slander, and accusation. (1)
For more information about narcissism or a self-centered mindset, see “10 Sign You’re a Slave to Narcissism.”
Similarity #7: Hyenas giggle or cackle. Likewise, narcissists may laugh as a protective mechanism when they are challenged and found to be in error.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, spotted hyenas make their giggling sound not because they are having a good time, but when they are threatened, under attack, or frustrated. (5)
The following translations of Proverbs 29:9 convey an idea about a certain kind of laughter:
“When a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man, the foolish man either rages or laughs, and there is no rest.”
--Proverbs 29:9 NASB1995
“A sage trying to work things out with a fool gets only scorn and sarcasm for his trouble.”
--Proverbs 29:9 MSG
“If a wise person goes to court with a fool, the fool rages and scoffs, and there is no peace.”
--Proverbs 29:9 NIV
Similarity #8: Culturally, hyenas were associated with sorcery and occultism. (1) Likewise, Jezebel practiced sorcery, witchcraft, and occultism in order to maintain her sense of control so that she might feel powerful and significant apart from the Creator God.
Similarity #9: Hyenas are terrified of male lions, (1) and narcissists like Jezebel live in fear of God’s righteous ways which will hold them accountable if they continue in their rebellion and resistance to His leadership and authority.
“The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.”
--Proverbs 19:12 NASB1995
“The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
--Proverbs 28:1 NASB1995
“and one of the elders *said to me, ‘Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.’ 6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”
--Revelation 5:5-7 NASB1995
Similarity #10: Hyenas have strong jaws that crush bones. Likewise, various spiritual conditions and toxic, narcissistic, and/or Jezebelic mindsets can produce similar results physiologically.
It is written that a cheerful heart works good like a medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones (see Proverbs 17:22). Elsewhere it says that by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed (see Proverbs 15:13). Spiritually speaking, how might having something in common with an “invisible hyena” crush a person’s spirit?
Perverseness crushes the spirit, according to Proverbs 15:4. When a person becomes sad and depressed as a result of lies and broken relationships, their physical health may suffer as stress compromises their immune system. Behind the broken relationships or broken hearts is usually the disappointment that comes from placing one’s trust in some created person or thing that could never truly satisfy. See Jeremiah 2:13; John 7:37-39; John 4:10.
The good news is that Jesus said, “If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples. Then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (see John 8:31ff). Good news refreshes the bones according to Proverbs 15:30, reversing the bone dryness that comes from stress, shame, self-hatred, guilt, chronic grief, anxiety, fear, and depression.
For more information about this good news, see “Four Spiritual Laws for Healing a Broken Heart.”
The 2007 Wikipedia Selection for schools. https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/h/Hyena.htm#:~:text=Like%20dogs%2C%20but%20unlike%20some,and%20eaten%20while%20still%20alive.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181120073651.htm
https://www.gotquestions.org/Baal-and-Asherah.html Accessed August 5, 2022. http://www.rebelliousbeauty.com/2014/08/who-is-asherah.html. Accessed August 5, 2022.
https://www.britannica.com/story/do-hyenas-really-laugh#:~:text=The%20%E2%80%9Claughter%E2%80%9D%20vocalization%20for%20which,sound%20when%20it%20is%20frustrated. Accessed August 5, 2022.
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