Depths of Satan

Jezebel and her children are ostensibly the ones who are obsessed with the “deep things (bathea) of Satan” (Revelation 3:24). That fits into the letter to Thyatira in various ways.

For starters, Jehu accused Jezebel of being involved in sorcery (2 Kings 9:22), and the church’s counterpart to Jezebel is likewise a sorceress. Pharaoh had sorcerers, and so purging sorcerers from Israel is a way of purging Egypt.

The Greek word bathea appears only twice in the LXX (Job 12:22; Daniel 2:22), both times referring to the deep darkness that only Yahweh can reveal (apocalypto). To explore the deep things of Satan is to attempt to peer beyond the clouds and darkness into things that only God can reveal. Jezebel and her children act as if they too have eyes of fire that can see to the bottom of the abyss.

Twice the Proverbs speak of harlots as “deep pits” (Heb. ‘amoq; LXX bathus). The adulteress’s mouth is a pit (Proverbs 22:14); her words entice the unsuspecting into a trap, she devours men like a lioness devouring prey, her seductive mouth is a gateway to hell. Jezebel is such an adulteress, with a mouth that leads to the pit.

Jezebel is also incestuous: She has “children” who are her followers, but these are the same who “commit adultery with her.” And that incestuous note in the letter takes us back to Leviticus 18 and 20, where “uncovering nakedness” is the technical term for incest violations. False apocalypse and sexual infidelity are once again in parallel.