And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him — Ahab erects an Asherah pole (אֲשֵׁרָה—a sacred tree symbol of the goddess Asherah, Baal's consort). The phrase summarizes his reign's trajectory: deliberate, systematic provocation of God through foreign cult worship. His actions constitute the nadir of northern apostasy before Elijah's intervention.

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