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How Bad Was Jezebel?
Read Janet Howe Gaines's total article about Jezebel in the Bible and after depictions as it appeared in Bible Review
Janet Howe Gaines March 22, 2022 310 Comments 284485 views
Who Was Jezebel?
State of israel's most accursed queen advisedly fixes a pink rose in her red locks in John Byam Liston Shaw's "Jezebel" from 1896. Jezebel's reputation equally the well-nigh dangerous seductress in the Bible stems from her last appearance: her husband King Ahab is dead; her son has been murdered by Jehu. Every bit Jehu'due south chariot races toward the palace to impale Jezebel, she "painted her eyes with kohl and dressed her pilus, and she looked out of the window" (2 Kings nine:30). Image: Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, Britain/Bridgeman Fine art Library.
For more than two yard years, Jezebel has been saddled with a reputation as the bad daughter of the Bible, the wickedest of women. This ancient queen has been denounced as a murderer, prostitute and enemy of God, and her name has been adopted for lingerie lines and World War II missiles alike. Simply merely how depraved was Jezebel?
In recent years, scholars have tried to reclaim the shadowy female figures whose tales are oft only partially told in the Bible. Rehabilitating Jezebel's stained reputation is an arduous task, however, for she is a difficult woman to like. She is not a heroic fighter similar Deborah, a devoted sister like Miriam or a cherished married woman like Ruth. Jezebel cannot even be compared with the Bible'due south other bad girls—Potiphar's wife and Delilah—for no good comes from Jezebel'southward deeds. These other women may be bad, but Jezebel is the worst.1
Yet at that place is more to this circuitous ruler than the standard interpretation would allow. To achieve a more than positive assessment of Jezebel'due south troubled reign and a deeper understanding of her function, we must evaluate the motives of the Biblical authors who condemn the queen. Furthermore, we must reread the narrative from the queen'south vantage point. Equally we piece together the globe in which Jezebel lived, a fuller picture of this fascinating woman begins to emerge. The story is not a pretty 1, and some—mayhap near—readers will remain disturbed by Jezebel'due south actions. But her character might not be as nighttime as we are accepted to thinking. Her evilness is not always as obvious, undisputed and unrivaled as the Biblical author wants information technology to announced.
Ahab and Jezebel in the Bible
The story of Jezebel, the Phoenician married woman of King Ahab of Israel, is recounted in several cursory passages scattered throughout the Books of Kings. Scholars generally identify 1 and 2 Kings as part of the Deuteronomistic History, attributed either to a single author or to a group of authors and editors collectively known as the Deuteronomist. One of the main purposes of the unabridged Deuteronomistic History, which includes the seven books from Deuteronomy through ii Kings, is to explicate Israel'due south fate in terms of its apostasy. As the Israelites settle into the Promised Land, found a monarchy and separate into a northern and a southern kingdom later on the reign of Solomon, God's called people continually go astray. They sin against Yahweh in many ways, the worst of which is past worshiping conflicting deities. The commencement commandments from Sinai demand monotheism, but the people are attracted to foreign gods and goddesses. When Jezebel enters the scene in the 9th century B.C.Eastward., she provides a perfect opportunity for the Bible writer to teach a moral lesson near the evil outcomes of idolatry, for she is a foreign idol worshiper who seems to be the power behind her husband. From the Deuteronomist's viewpoint, Jezebel embodies everything that must exist eliminated from State of israel then that the purity of the cult of Yahweh volition not exist further contaminated.
The legacy of Jezebel. "In the last days, the daughters of Jezebel shall rule over nations," warns the scrawling inscription that surrounds the confront of Jezebel in this 1993 painting past American folk artist Robert Roberg. The apocalyptic message seems to acquaintance the Biblical queen with the "female parent of whores and of abominations" who "rules over the kings of the earth" and who has committed fornication with them (Revelation 17:two, 5, 18).
Jezebel'due south name appears once in the New Testament Book of Revelation, where information technology is attached to an unrepentant prophetess who has beguiled the people "to practise fornication and to swallow nutrient sacrificed to idols" (Revelation 2:20).
Yet the Book of Kings offers no hint of sexual impropriety on Queen Jezebel's office, argues writer Gaines. She is, if anything, a too-devoted wife, willing even to commit murder in gild to assistance her husband maintain his say-so as king. Image: Robert Roberg
Every bit the Books of Kings recount, the princess Jezebel is brought to the northern kingdom of Israel to wednesday the newly crowned Male monarch Ahab, son of Omri (1 Kings 16:31). Her father is Ethbaal of Tyre, king of the Phoenicians, a grouping of Semites whose ancestors were Canaanites. Phoenicia consisted of a loose confederation of metropolis-states, including the sophisticated maritime trade centers of Tyre and Sidon on the Mediterranean declension. The Bible writer'south antagonism stems primarily from Jezebel's faith. The Phoenicians worshiped a swarm of gods and goddesses, primary among them Baal, the general term for "lord" given to the head fertility and agricultural god of the Canaanites. Equally king of Phoenicia, it is likely that Ethbaal was too a loftier priest or had other important religious duties. According to the outset-century C.E. historian Josephus, who drew on a Greek translation of the now-lost Annals of Tyre, Ethbaal served as a priest of Astarte, the main Phoenician goddess. Jezebel, as the king's girl, may accept served as a priestess as she was growing upwardly. In any case, she was certainly raised to honor the deities of her native state.
When Jezebel comes to State of israel, she brings her foreign gods and goddesses—particularly Baal and his consort Asherah (Canaanite Astarte, often translated in the Bible equally "sacred postal service")—with her. This seems to have an immediate effect on her new hubby, for just as shortly equally the queen is introduced, we are told that Ahab builds a sanctuary for Baal in the very heart of Israel, inside his capital urban center of Samaria: "He took every bit wife Jezebel daughter of King Ethbaal of the Phoenicians, and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. He erected an altar to Baal in the temple of Baal which he congenital in Samaria. Ahab also made a 'sacred mail service'"a (i Kings 16:31–33).ii
Jezebel does not accept Ahab'due south God, Yahweh. Rather, she leads Ahab to tolerate Baal. This is why she is vilified by the Deuteronomist, whose goal is to stamp out polytheism. She represents a view of womanhood that is the reverse of the ane extolled in characters such as Ruth the Moabite, who is also a greenhorn. Ruth surrenders her identity and submerges herself in Israelite ways; she adopts the religious and social norms of the Israelites and is universally praised for her conversion to God. Jezebel steadfastly remains truthful to her own behavior.
Jezebel'southward matrimony to Ahab was a political alliance. The matrimony provided both peoples with war machine protection from powerful enemies equally well every bit valuable merchandise routes: Israel gained access to the Phoenician ports; Phoenicia gained passage through State of israel's central hill country to Transjordan and especially to the King's Highway, the heavily traveled inland road connecting the Gulf of Aqaba in the south with Damascus in the north. But although the marriage is audio foreign policy, it is intolerable to the Deuteronomist because of Jezebel's idol worship.
The Bible does not comment on what the young Jezebel thinks about marrying Ahab and moving to Israel. Her feelings are of no interest to the Deuteronomist, nor are they germane to the story'southward didactic purpose.
To acquire more than about Biblical women with slighted traditions, take a look at the Bible History Daily feature Scandalous Women in the Bible, which includes articles on Mary Magdalene and Lilith.
We are not told whether Ethbaal consults his daughter, if she departs Phoenicia with trepidation or enthusiasm, or what she expects from her role equally ruler. Like other blue-blooded daughters of her fourth dimension, Jezebel is probably a pawn, packed off to the highest bidder.
Israel's topography, community and organized religion would certainly be very unlike from those of Jezebel'south native land. Instead of the lushness of the moist seacoast, she would find State of israel to be an arid, desert nation.
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Furthermore, the Torah shows the Israelites to be an ethnocentric, xenophobic people. In Biblical narratives, foreigners are sometimes unwelcome, and prejudice confronting intermarriage is seen since the day Abraham sought a woman from his own people to marry his son Isaac (Genesis 24:4). In contrast to the familiar gods and goddesses that Jezebel is accustomed to petitioning, State of israel is home to a land organized religion featuring a lonely, masculine deity. Perhaps Jezebel optimistically believes that she tin can encourage religious tolerance and give legitimacy to the worship habits of those Baalites who already reside in Israel. Peradventure Jezebel sees herself as an ambassador who could assistance unite the two lands and bring about cultural pluralism, regional peace and economic prosperity.
What spurs Jezebel to action is unknown and unknowable, but the motives of the Deuteronomist come through plainly in the text. Jezebel is a bold and impious interloper who has to be stopped. From her own point of view, nonetheless, she is no apostate. She remains loyal to her religious upbringing and is adamant to maintain her cultural identity.
Co-ordinate to the Deuteronomist, however, Jezebel's desire is not merely confined to achieving ethnic or religious parity. She too seems driven to eliminate Israel'due south faithful servants of God. Bear witness of Jezebel'due south cruel desire to wipe out Yahweh worship in State of israel is reported in 1 Kings 18:4, at the Bible's second mention of her proper name: "Jezebel was killing off the prophets of the Lord."
The threat of Jezebel is so dandy that after in the aforementioned chapter, the mythic prophet Elijah summons the acolytes of Jezebel to a tournament on Mt. Carmel to determine which deity is supreme: God or Baal.
Whichever deity is capable of setting a sacrificial bull on fire volition exist the winner, the one truthful God. Information technology is only so that nosotros larn just how many followers of Jezebel'south gods and goddesses are near her at court. Elijah challenges them: "Now summon all Israel to bring together me at Mount Carmel, together with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the 4 hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's tabular array" (1 Kings 18:19). Whether the grand total of 850 is a symbolic or literal number, information technology is impressive.
| Glass jewels and glitter adorn the veiled crown of Jezebel and twisted branches speckled with pigment form the queen's torso in this sculpture past Bessie Harvey. Photo by Ron Lee, The Silvery Factory/The Arnett Drove, Atlanta, GA | Item of veiled crown of Jezebel (compare with photo of veiled crown of Jezebel). Photo by Ron Lee, The Silver Factory/The Arnett Collection, Atlanta, GA. |
Yet their superior numbers can exercise nothing to ensure victory; nor can petitions to their god. The prophets of Baal "performed a hopping trip the light fantastic toe about the altar" and "kept raving" (ane Kings 18:26, 29) all day long in a vain endeavor to rouse Baal. They fifty-fifty gash themselves with knives and whoop it up in a heightened emotional state, hoping to incite Baal to unleash a great burn. But Baal does not respond to the ecstatic ranting of Jezebel'south prophets. At the end of the twenty-four hour period, information technology is Elijah's unmarried plea to God that is answered.
Learn about the excavations at Jezreel in "Jezreel Expedition 2016: You Don't Have to Exist an Archaeologist to Dig the Bible" and "Jezreel Trek Sheds New Light on Ahab and Jezebel'due south Metropolis."
Standing lone before Jezebel'south host of visionaries, Elijah cries out: "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel! Permit it be known today that Y'all are God in Israel and that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your behest. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that Yous, O Lord, are God; for You accept turned their hearts astern" (1 Kings 18:36–37). At once, "burn down from the Lord descended and consumed the burnt offering, the woods, the stones and the world;…When they saw this, all the people flung themselves on their faces and cried out: 'The Lord alone is God, the Lord solitary is God!'" (1 Kings xviii:38–39). Elijah'due south solitary entreaty to Yahweh serves as a foil to the hours of appeals made by Baal's followers.
Jezebel herself is absent during this all-male consequence. Withal, her presence is felt and the Deuteronomist'southward message is articulate. Jezebel'due south deities and the huge number of prophets loyal to her are powerless confronting the almighty Yahweh, who is proven by the tournament to exist ruler of all the forces of nature.
Ironically, at the conclusion of the Carmel episode, Elijah proves capable of the same murderous inclinations that accept previously characterized Jezebel, though information technology is merely she that the Deuteronomist criticizes. After winning the Carmel competition, Elijah immediately orders the assembly to capture all of Jezebel'southward prophets. Elijah emphatically declares: "Seize the prophets of Baal, let non a single one of them get away" (1 Kings xviii:xl). Elijah leads his 450 prisoners to the Wadi Kishon, where he slaughters them (1 Kings 18:xl). Though they will never meet in person, Elijah and Jezebel are engaged in a hard-fought struggle for religious supremacy. Here Elijah reveals that he and Jezebel possess a like religious fervor, though their loyalties differ greatly. They are too equally adamant to eliminate ane another's followers, even if information technology means murdering them. The divergence is that the Deuteronomist decries Jezebel's killing of God's servants (at 1 Kings xviii:iv) just at present sanctions Elijah's decision to massacre hundreds of Jezebel's prophets. Indeed, one time Elijah kills Jezebel'south prophets, God rewards him past sending a much-needed rain, catastrophe a three-year drought in Israel. There is a definite double standard here. Murder seems to be accustomed, fifty-fifty venerated, as long as it is done in the proper noun of the correct deity.
Subsequently Elijah's triumph on Mt. Carmel, King Ahab returns home to give his queen the news that Baal is defeated, Yahweh is the undisputed master of the universe and Jezebel'due south prophets are dead. Jezebel sends Elijah a menacing bulletin, threatening to slaughter him just equally he has slaughtered her prophets: "Thus and more than may the gods practise if past this time tomorrow I accept non made you similar one of them" (1 Kings nineteen:2). The Septuagint, a third- to second-century B.C.E. Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, prefaces Jezebel's threat with an boosted insult to the prophet. Here Jezebel establishes herself every bit Elijah's equal: "If you are Elijah, so I am Jezebel" (1 Kings xix:2b).3 In both versions the queen's pregnant is unmistakable: Elijah should fear for his life.
These are the starting time words the Deuteronomist records from Jezebel, and they are filled with venom. Dissimilar the many voiceless Biblical wives and concubines whose muteness reminds usa of the powerlessness of women in ancient State of israel, Jezebel has a natural language. While her verbal vigil shows that she is more daring, clever and contained than near women of her fourth dimension, her withering words likewise demonstrate her sinfulness. Jezebel transforms the precious instrument of linguistic communication into an evil device to blaspheme God and defy the prophet.
So frightened is Elijah past Jezebel'due south threatening words that he flees to Mt. Horeb (Sinai). Despite what he has witnessed on Carmel, Elijah seems to falter in his religion that the Almighty volition protect him. As a literary device, Elijah'south sojourn at Horeb gives the Deuteronomist an opportunity to imply parallels between the careers of Moses and Elijah, thus reinforcing Elijah's exalted reputation. Nevertheless, the timing of Elijah'southward flight south makes him look suspiciously like he is afraid of a mere adult female.
Jezebel indeed shows herself equally a person to be feared in the next episode. The story of Naboth, an Israelite who owns a plot of land next to the royal palace in Jezreel, provides an excellent occasion for the Deuteronomist to propose that Jezebel is non only the foe of Israel'south God, but an enemy of the government.
In one Kings 21:2, Ahab requests that Naboth give him his vineyard: "Requite me your vineyard, then that I may have it as a vegetable garden, since it is correct next to my palace." Ahab promises to pay Naboth for the country or to provide him with an even meliorate vineyard. Simply at ane Kings 21:three, Naboth refuses to sell or merchandise: "The Lord forbid that I should give up to yous what I accept inherited from my fathers!" The king whines and refuses to eat subsequently Naboth's rebuff: "Ahab went home dispirited and sullen because of the answer that Naboth the Jezreelite had given him…He lay downwardly on his bed and turned away his face, and he would not consume" (i Kings 21:4). Apparently perturbed by her married man's political impotence and sulking demeanor, Jezebel steps in, proudly asserting: "At present is the time to testify yourself king over Israel. Ascension and eat something, and be cheerful; I volition get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you" (i Kings 21:seven).
Naboth is fully within his rights to concord onto his family unit plot. Israelite law and custom dictate that his family should maintain their country (nachalah) in perpetuity (Numbers 27:5–xi). As a Torah-leap rex of Israel, Ahab should sympathize Naboth's legitimate desire to keep his inheritance. Jezebel, on the other paw, hails from Phoenicia, where a monarch's whim is oftentimes tantamount to law.four Having been raised in a country of absolute autocrats, where few dared to question a ruler'southward wish or decree, Jezebel might naturally feel annoyance and frustration at Naboth's resistance to his sovereign's proposal. In this context, Jezebel's reaction becomes more understandable, though perhaps no more admirable, for she behaves co-ordinate to her upbringing and expectations regarding royal prerogative.
Elijah's challenge of "the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table" (ane Kings 18:19) is depicted in two scenes on the walls of the third-century C.E. synagogue at Dura-Europos in mod Syria. According to 1 Kings 18, Elijah proposed that both he and the prophets of Baal lay a single bull on an altar and then pray to their respective deities to ignite the sacrificial animal. Whichever deity responded would be deemed the more powerful and the i truthful God. In the painting shown here, the priests of Baal gather effectually their altar, crying out, "O, Baal, answer us," only their sacrifice remains untouched. The small homo continuing within the altar in this painting does not announced in the Biblical story, but rather in a later midrash. According to this midrash, when the prophets of Baal realized they would fail, a man named Hiel agreed to hide inside the altar to ignite the heifer from below. The Israelite God foiled their plan by sending a snake to bite Hiel, who later on died. Image: E. Goodenough, Symbolism in the Dura Synogogue (Princeton Univ. Press)
Without Ahab'due south direct cognition, Jezebel writes letters to her townsmen, enlisting them in an elaborate ruse to frame the innocent Naboth. To ensure their compliance, she signs Ahab's proper noun and stamps the letters with the king'southward seal. Jezebel encourages the townsmen to publicly (and falsely) accuse Naboth of blaspheming God and king. "Then take him out and stone him to death," she commands (one Kings 21:10). So Naboth is murdered, and the vineyard automatically escheats to the throne, equally is customary when a person is found guilty of a serious crime. If Naboth has relatives, they are at present in no position to protest the passing of their family land to Ahab.
Yet the details of Jezebel'due south underhanded plot against Naboth do not always ring true. The Bible maintains that "the elders and nobles who lived in [Naboth'southward] town…did every bit Jezebel had instructed them" (1 Kings 21:11). If the trickster queen is able to enlist the support of and then many people, none of whom betrays her, to kill a man whom they have probably known all their lives and whom they realize is innocent, then she has astonishing power.
The fantastical tale of Naboth's death—in which something could get wrong at any moment but somehow does not—stretches the reader's credulity. If Jezebel were as mean as the Deuteronomist claims, surely at to the lowest degree i nobleman in Jezreel would have refused to assist in the nefarious scheme. Surely i individual would accept had the courage to expose the detestable human action and become the Deuteronomist's hero past spoiling the plan.five
Shown here, Elijah and his followers have hands conjured up a blazing fire, which engulfs their white bull. Seeing the flames, the Israelites call out, "Yahweh alone is God, Yahweh alone is God" (i Kings 18:39).
Jezebel herself is not present during the consequence. And yet Elijah's contest is a directly claiming to the queen who has brought the worship of Baal to the forefront in Israel by inviting the heathen prophets to the palace (compare with painting of the priests of Baal). Image: The Jewish Mesuem, NY/Art Resources, NY.
Maybe the Biblical compiler is using Jezebel every bit a scapegoat for his outrage at her influence over the king, pregnant that she herself is existence framed in the tale. Traditionally thought to be a narrative about how innocent Naboth is falsely defendant, the story could instead be an exaggeration of fact, made to demonstrate the Deuteronomist'due south continued wrath confronting Jezebel.
Equally a result of this incident, Elijah reappears on the scene. Offset Yahweh tells Elijah how Ahab will dice: "The discussion of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 'Go down and face up King Ahab of Israel who [resides] in Samaria. He is now in Naboth'southward vineyard; he has gone downward there to take possession of information technology. Say to him, "Thus said the Lord: Would you murder and have possession? Thus said the Lord: In the very place where the dogs lapped up Naboth'southward blood, the dogs will lap up your blood too"'" (1 Kings 21:17–19). Merely when Elijah confronts Ahab, the prophet predicts instead how the queen volition dice: "The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the field of Jezreel" (1 Kings 21:23).c Poetic justice, as the Deuteronomist sees information technology, demands that Jezebel end upwards as dog food. Ashamed of what has happened and fearful of the future, Ahab humbles himself by bold outward signs of mourning, fasting and donning sackcloth. Prayer accompanies fasting, whether the Bible explicitly says so or non, so we may assume that Ahab raises his penitential voice to a forgiving Yahweh. For once, Jezebel does not speak; her lack of repentance is implicit in her silence.
After the Death of Ahab: The Ill Repute of Jezebel in the Bible
When Jezebel's proper noun is mentioned again, the Bible writer makes his about alarming allegation against her. Ahab has died, as has the couple'due south eldest son, who followed his father to the throne. Their 2nd son, Joram, rules. But even though Israel has a sitting monarch, a retainer of the prophet Elisha crowns Jehu, Joram's military commander, king of State of israel and commissions Jehu to eradicate the House of Ahab: "I anoint you rex over the people of the Lord, over State of israel. You shall strike down the House of Ahab your primary; thus will I avenge on Jezebel the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of the other servants of the Lord" (2 Kings 9:six–7).
Four paleo-Hebrew letters—two just beneath the winged sun disk at center, 2 at bottom left and right—spell out the name YZBL, or Jezebel, on this seal. The Phoenician pattern, the dating of the seal to the ninth or early on eighth century B.C.E. and, of course, the name, have led scholars to speculate that the Biblical queen may one time accept used this gray opal to seal her documents. In the Phoenician linguistic communication, Jezebel'south name may have meant "Where is the Prince?" which was the cry of Baal's subjects. But the spelling of the Phoenician name has been contradistinct in the Hebrew Bible, perhaps in order to read equally "Where is the excrement (zebel, manure)?"—a reference to Elijah's prediction that "her carcass shall be similar dung on the footing" (2 Kings 9:36). Collection Israel Museum/Photo Zev Radovan.
Male monarch Joram and General Jehu run across on the battleground. Unaware that he is near to be usurped by his military machine commander, Joram calls out: "Is all well, Jehu?" Jehu responds: "How tin all be well as long as your mother Jezebel carries on her countless harlotries and sorceries?" (2 Kings 9:22). Jehu so shoots an arrow through Joram's heart and, in a moment of stinging irony, orders the torso to be dumped on Naboth's land.
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From these words solitary—uttered by the human being who is about to kill Jezebel'due south son—stems Jezebel's long-standing reputation as a witch and a whore. The Bible occasionally connects harlotry and idol worship, every bit in Hosea 1:3, where the prophet is told to marry a "wife of whoredom," who symbolically represents the people who "stray from post-obit the Lord" (Hosea 1:3). Lusting after faux "lords" can exist seen as either adulterous or idolatrous. Yet throughout the millennia, Jezebel's harlotry has not been identified as mere dolatry. Rather, she has been considered the slut of Samaria, the lecherous wife of a pouting potentate. The 1938 film Jezebel, starring Bette Davis as the destructive temptress who leads a homo to his death, is evidence that this aboriginal judgment against Jezebel has been transmitted to this century. Nevertheless, the Bible never offers show that Jezebel is unfaithful to her married man while he is alive or loose in her morals after his death. In fact, she is e'er shown to be a loyal and helpful spouse, though her make of assistance is deplored by the Deuteronomist. Jehu'south accuse of harlotry is unsubstantiated, simply it has stuck anyway and her reputation has been egregiously damaged by the allegation.
When Jezebel herself finally appears over again in the pages of the Bible, it is for her death scene. Jehu, with the claret of Joram still on his easily, races his chariot into Jezreel to keep the insurrection by assassinating Jezebel. Ironically, this is her finest hour, though the Deuteronomist intends the queen to announced haughty and imperious to the end. Realizing that Jehu is on his way to kill her, Jezebel does not disguise herself and abscond the urban center, every bit a more cowardly person might do. Instead, she calmly prepares for his inflow by performing 3 acts: "She painted her eyes with kohl and dressed her hair, and she looked out of the window" (2 Kings 9:30). The traditional interpretation is that Jezebel primps and coquettishly looks out the window in an effort to seduce Jehu, that she wishes to win his favor and become role of his harem in guild to relieve her own life, such treachery indicating Jezebel's dastardly expose of deceased family members. According to this reading, Jezebel sheds familial loyalty every bit easily as a ophidian sheds its skin in an attempt to ensure her continued pleasure and condom at courtroom.
| This ivory comes from Arslan Tash, in northern Syrian arab republic. The most common motif constitute on Phoenician ivories, the adult female at the window may correspond the goddess Astarte (Biblical Asherah) looking out a palace window. Peradventure this widespread imagery influenced the Biblical author's description of Jezebel, a follower of Astarte, looking out the palace window every bit Jehu approached (two Kings 9:30). Photograph: Erich Lessing | Ivory fragment discovered in Samaria (compare with photo of ivory from Arslan Tash). Photo: State of israel Antiquities Authority. |
Applying centre makeup (kohl) and brushing one's hair are oft connected to flirting in Hebraic thinking. Isaiah iii:16, Jeremiah four:xxx, Ezekiel 23:40 and Proverbs 6:24–26 provide examples of women who bat their painted eyes to lure innocent men into adulterous beds. Black kohl is widely incorporated in Bible passages as a symbol of feminine deception and trickery, and its use to pigment the expanse above and below the eyelids is generally considered office of a woman'due south armory of artifice. In Jezebel'due south case, nonetheless, the corrective is more than than just an attempt to accentuate the eyes. Jezebel is donning the female version of armor every bit she prepares to practice battle. She is a woman warrior, waging war in the only mode a adult female tin. Whatever fright she may take of Jehu is camouflaged past her war pigment.
Her grooming continues as she dresses her hair, symbol of a adult female's seductive power. When she dies, she wants to wait her queenly best. She is in control here, choosing the manner in which her attacker will last run into and remember her.
The third activity Jezebel takes before Jehu arrives is to sit down at her upper window. The Deuteronomist may exist deliberately conjuring up images to associate Jezebel with other disfavored women. For example, contained inside Deborah'due south victory ode is the story of the unfortunate female parent of the enemy general Sisera. Waiting at home, Sisera'due south unnamed mother looks out the window for her son to return: "Through the window peered Sisera's mother, behind the lattice she whined" (Judges 5:28). Her ladies-in-waiting express the hope that Sisera is detained considering he is raping Israelite women and collecting haul (Judges 5:29–30). In truth, Sisera is already dead, his skull shattered by Jael and her tent peg (Judges 5:24–27). King David's wife Michal as well looks through her window, watching her husband dance effectually the Ark of the Covenant as it is triumphantly brought into Jerusalem, "and she despised him for it" (two Samuel 6:16). Michal does non sympathize the people's euphoria over the arrival of the Ark in David'south new capital; she can only feel anger that her married man is dancing about like one of the "riffraff" (2 Samuel six:20). Generations later, Jezebel also appears at her window, conjuring up images of Sisera'due south mother and Michal, ii unpopular Biblical women.
The image of the woman at the window also suggests fertility goddesses, abominations to the Deuteronomist and well known to the full general public in ancient Israel. Ivory plaques, dating to the Fe Age and depicting a woman peering through a window, have been discovered in Khorsabad, Nimrud and Samaria, Jezebel's 2d dwelling house.6 The connection between idol worship, goddesses and the adult female seated at the window would not have been lost on the Deuteronomist's audition.
Sitting at her window, Jezebel is seemingly rendered powerless while the active patriarchal earth functions beyond her reach.7 Merely a more sympathetic reading of the state of affairs suggests that Jezebel has determined the superior angle from which she will be viewed by Jehu, thus giving the queen mastery of the situation.
Positioned at the balustrade window, the queen does not remain silent as the usurper Jehu arrives into boondocks. She taunts him by calling him Zimri, the name of the unscrupulous predecessor of Omri, Jezebel's father-in-law. Zimri ruled Israel for only seven days after murdering the king (Elah) and usurping the throne. "Is all well, Zimri, murderer of your main?" Jezebel asks Jehu (2 Kings ix:31). Jezebel knows that all is non well, and her sarcastic, precipitous-tongued insult of Jehu disproves any interpretation that she has dressed in her finest to seduce him. She has contempt for Jehu. Dissimilar many Biblical wives, who remain silent, Jezebel has a distinct voice, and she is unafraid to articulate her view of Jehu as a renegade and regicide.
To demonstrate his dominance, Jehu orders Jezebel's eunuchs to throw her out of the window: "They threw her down; and her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her. Then [Jehu] went inside and ate and drank" (2 Kings 9:33–34). In this highly symbolic political action, the in one case mighty Jezebel is shoved out of her high station to the ground below. Her ejection from the window represents an eternal demotion from her proper identify equally one of the Bible's most influential women.
Jezebel's torso is left in the street as Jehu celebrates his victory. Later, maybe because the new monarch does non wish to begin his reign with such a disrespectful act against a woman, or peradventure because he realizes the danger in setting a precedent for ill handling of a dead ruler's remains, Jehu orders Jezebel'south burial: "Attend to that cursed adult female and bury her, for she was a rex's girl" (ii Kings 9:34). Jezebel is not to be remembered every bit a queen or even as the wife of a king. She is simply the daughter of a foreign despot. This is intended as some other blow by the Deuteronomist, an attempt to marginalize a formidable adult female. When the king's men come to bury Jezebel, it is too belatedly: "All they constitute of her were the skull, the feet, and the easily" (2 Kings 9:35). Jehu's men inform the rex that Elijah'south prophecies take been fulfilled: "It is just every bit the Lord spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: The dogs shall devour the flesh of Jezebel in the field of Jezreel; and the carcass of Jezebel shall exist like dung on the ground, in the field of Jezreel, so that none will be able to say: 'This was Jezebel'" (two Kings 9:36–37).
How Bad Was Jezebel?
With its green hills, fecund grapevines and arable flowers, the scene depicted in this early-17th-century silk embroidery would appear peaceful—if not for the gruesome detail at left, which shows a woman being pushed out the palace window to a pack of hungry dogs. According to 2 Kings 9, Jehu orders the palace eunuchs to throw Jezebel out a window. When he later commands his men to bury her, petty remains: "All they institute of her were the skull, the feet and the hands" (2 Kings 9:35). Jehu's men inform the new king that Elijah's prophecies have been fulfilled: The queen's corpse has been devoured by dogs; her body is mutilated beyond recognition, so that "none will exist able to say 'This was Jezebel'" (2 Kings ix:37). Death of Jezebel/Holburne Museum, Bath, Britain/Bridgeman Art Library
While the Biblical storyteller wants the terminal images of Jezebel to memorialize her equally a brazen hussy, a sympathetic interpretation of her behavior has more credibility. When all a person has left in life is the way she faces her death, her final actions speak volumes near her character. Jezebel departs this earth every inch a queen. Now an aging grandmother, information technology is highly unlikely that she has libidinous designs on Jehu or even entertains the notion of becoming the immature rex's paramour. Equally the daughter, married woman, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother of kings, Jezebel would empathize court politics well enough to realize that Jehu has far more to gain by killing her than by keeping her alive. Alive, the dowager queen could always serve as a rallying point for anyone unhappy with Jehu'due south reign. The queen harbors no illusions about her chances of surviving Jehu's bloody insurrection d'état.
How bad was Jezebel? The Deuteronomist uses every possible statement to make the case against her. When Ahab dies, the Deuteronomist is determined to show that "there never was anyone like Ahab, who committed himself to doing what was displeasing to the Lord, at the instigation of his wife Jezebel" (one Kings 21:25). It is interesting that Ahab is not held responsible for his own actions.viii He goes astray because of a wicked adult female. Someone has to bear the writer's vituperation concerning State of israel'southward apostasy, and Jezebel is called for the job.
Every Biblical give-and-take condemns her: Jezebel is an outspoken woman in a time when females have little status and few rights; a foreigner in a xenophobic land; an idol worshiper in a place with a Yahweh-based, state-sponsored religion; a murderer and meddler in political affairs in a nation of potent patriarchs; a traitor in a country where no ruler is above the law; and a whore in the territory where the 10 Commandments originate.
Nonetheless there is much to admire in this ancient queen. In a kinder analysis, Jezebel emerges as a fiery and determined person, with an intensity matched only by Elijah's. She is truthful to her native faith and customs. She is even more than loyal to her husband. Throughout her reign, she boldly exercises what ability she has. And in the end, having lived her life on her ain terms, Jezebel faces certain death with dignity.
"How Bad Was Jezebel?" past Janet Howe Gaines originally appeared in Bible Review, Oct 2000. The article was starting time republished in Bible History Daily in June 2010.
Janet Howe Gaines is a specialist in the Bible equally literature in the Department of English at the University of New Mexico. She recently published Music in the Old Bones: Jezebel Through the Ages (Southern Illinois Univ. Press).
Notes:
a. Asherah is the Biblical name for Astarte, a Canaanite fertility goddess and consort of Baal. The term asherah, which appears at least 50 times in the Hebrew Bible (it is oftentimes translated as "sacred post"), is used to refer to three manifestations of this goddess: an image (probably a figurine) of the goddess (eg., 2 Kings 21:vii); a tree (Deuteronomy 16:21); and a tree body, or sacred postal service (Deuteronomy 7:v, 12:iii). See Ruth Hestrin, "Agreement Asherah—Exploring Semitic Iconography," BAR, September/October 1991.
b. In the Septuagint, one and ii Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings are all included in Kings, which therefore has four books, 1–4 Kings.
c. A similar statement is made past the unnamed prophet who anoints Jehu male monarch of State of israel in 2 Kings 9:x.
one. For a fuller treatment of Jezebel, meet Janet Howe Gaines, Music in the Old Bones: Jezebel Through the Ages (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1999).
2. All references to the Bible, unless otherwise noted, are to Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures: The New JPS Translation Co-ordinate to the Traditional Hebrew Text (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Guild, 1985).
three. The translation of the Greek text is my ain. According to Sir Lancelot C.L. Brenton (The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English, 3rd ed. [Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1990], p. 478), the translation of the unabridged line is "And Jezabel sent to Eliu, and said, If thou fine art Eliu and I am Jezabel, God practise so to me, and more also, if I do not make thy life by this time tomorrow every bit the life of one of them."
four. For a discussion of Phoenician community, see George Rawlinson, History of Phoenicia (London: Longmans, 1889).
5. As corroborating testify, encounter the story of David's plot to kill Uriah the Hittite in 2 Samuel eleven:14–17. Like Jezebel, David writes letters that contain details of his scheme. David intends to enlist help from the unabridged regiment as confederates who are to "describe dorsum from" Uriah, but Joab makes a shrewd and subtle change in the programme so that it is less probable to be discovered.
6. Eleanor Ferris Beach, "The Samaria Ivories, Marzeah, and Biblical Text," Biblical Archaeologist 56:ii (1993), pp. 94–104.
7. For an fantabulous, detailed discussion of Biblical imagery apropos women seated at windows, come across Nehama Aschkenasy, Woman at the Window (Detroit: Wayne Land Univ. Press, 1998).
8. For a reassessment of Ahab's graphic symbol based on the archaeological remains of his building projects and extrabiblical texts, see Ephraim Stern, "The Many Masters of Dor, Part 2: How Bad Was Ahab?" BAR, March/Apr 1993.
Source: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/how-bad-was-jezebel/
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