For more than two thousand years, Jezebel has been saddled with a reputation
as the bad girl 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.
But just how depraved was Jezebel?
In recent years, scholars
have tried to reclaim the shadowy female figures whose tales are often
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 like Deborah,
a devoted sister like Miriam or a cherished wife like Ruth. Jezebel cannot
even be compared with the Bible's other bad girls 'Potiphar's wife and
Delilah'for no good comes from Jezebel's deeds. These other women may
be bad, but Jezebel is the worst.(1)
Yet there is more to this
complex ruler than the standard interpretation would allow. To attain
a more positive assessment of Jezebel's troubled
reign and a deeper understanding of her role, we must evaluate the motives
of the biblical authors who condemn the queen. Furthermore, we must reread
the narrative from the queen's vantage point. As we piece together the
world in which Jezebel lived, a fuller picture of this fascinating woman
begins to emerge. The story is not a pretty one, and some -- perhaps most -- readers
will remain disturbed by Jezebel's actions. But her character might not
be as dark as we are accustomed to thinking. Her evilness is not always
as obvious, undisputed and unrivaled as the biblical writer wants it
to appear.
The story of Jezebel, the
Phoenician wife of King Ahab of Israel, is recounted in several brief
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 entire Deuteronomistic History, which includes the seven
books from Deuteronomy through 2 Kings, is to explain Israel's fate in
terms of its apostasy. As the Israelites settle into the Promised Land,
establish a monarchy and separate into a northern and a southern kingdom
after the reign of Solomon, God's chosen people continually go astray.
They sin against Yahweh in many ways, the worst of which is by worshiping
alien deities. The first commandments from Sinai demand monotheism, but
the people are attracted to foreign gods and goddesses. When Jezebel
enters the scene in the ninth century B.C., she provides a perfect
opportunity for the Bible writer to teach a moral lesson about 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 be eliminated from Israel so that
the purity of the cult of Yahweh will not be further contaminated.
As the Books
of Kings recount, the princess Jezebel is brought to the northern
kingdom of Israel to
wed the newly crowned King Ahab, son of
Omri (1 Kings 16:31). Her father is Ethbaal of Tyre, king of the
Phoenicians. The Bible writer's antagonism stems primarily from Jezebel's religion.
The Phoenicians worshiped a swarm of gods and goddesses, chief among
them Baal, the general term for 'lord' given to the head fertility and
agricultural god of the Canaanites. As king of Phoenicia, it is likely
that Ethbaal was also a high priest or had other important religious
duties. According to the first-century A.D. historian Josephus, who drew
on a Greek translation of the now-lost Annals of Tyre, Ethbaal served
as a priest of Astarte, the primary Phoenician goddess. Jezebel, as the
king's daughter, may have served as a priestess as she was growing up.
In any case, she was certainly raised to honor the deities of her native
land.
When Jezebel comes to Israel,
she brings her foreign gods and goddesses -- especially
Baal and his consort Asherah (Canaanite Astarte, often translated in
the Bible as 'sacred post') -- with her. This seems to have an immediate
effect on her new husband, for just as soon as the queen is introduced,
we are told that Ahab builds a sanctuary for Baal in the very heart of
Israel, within his capital city of Samaria: 'He took as 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 built in Samaria. Ahab also made a 'sacred post' (1
Kings 16:31-33).(2)
Jezebel does not accept Ahab's
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 opposite of the one extolled in characters such as Ruth the Moabite,
who is also a foreigner. 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 true to her own beliefs.
Jezebel's marriage to Ahab was a political alliance. The union provided
both peoples with military protection from powerful enemies as well as
valuable trade routes: Israel gained access to the Phoenician ports;
Phoenicia gained passage through Israel's central hill country to Transjordan
and especially to the King's Highway, the heavily traveled inland route
connecting the Gulf of Aqaba in the south with Damascus in the north.
But although the marriage is sound 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's didactic purpose. We are not told
whether Ethbaal consults his daughter, if she departs Phoenicia with
trepidation or enthusiasm, or what she expects from her role as ruler.
Like other highborn daughters of her time, Jezebel is probably a pawn,
packed off to the highest bidder.
Israel's topography, customs and religion would certainly be very different
from those of Jezebel's native land. Instead of the lushness of the moist
seacoast, she would find Israel to be an arid, desert nation. Furthermore,
the Torah shows the Israelites to be an ethnocentric, xenophobic people.
In biblical narratives, foreigners are sometimes unwelcome, and prejudice
against 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,
Israel is home to a state religion featuring a lone, masculine deity.
Perhaps Jezebel optimistically believes that she can encourage religious
tolerance and give legitimacy to the worship habits of those Baalites
who already reside in Israel. Perhaps Jezebel sees herself as an ambassador
who could help 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,
however, she is no apostate. She remains loyal to her religious upbringing
and is determined to maintain her cultural identity.
According to the Deuteronomist,
however, Jezebel's desire is not merely
confined to achieving ethnic or religious parity. She also seems driven
to eliminate Israel's faithful servants of God. Evidence of Jezebel's
cruel desire to wipe out Yahweh worship in Israel is reported in 1 Kings
18:4, at the Bible's second mention of her name: 'Jezebel was killing
off the prophets of the Lord.'
The threat of Jezebel is
so great that later in the same 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 will be the winner,
the one true God. It is only then that we learn just how many followers
of Jezebel's gods and goddesses are near her at court. Elijah challenges
them: 'Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, together with
the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets
of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table' (1 Kings 18:19). Whether the grand
total of 850 is a symbolic or literal number, it is impressive.
Yet their superior numbers
can do nothing to ensure victory; nor can petitions to their god. The
prophets of Baal 'performed a hopping dance
about the altar' and 'kept raving' (1 Kings 18:26,29) all day long in
a vain attempt to rouse Baal. They even gash themselves with knives and
whoop it up in a heightened emotional state, hoping to incite Baal to
unleash a great fire. But Baal does not respond to the ecstatic ranting
of Jezebel's prophets. At the end of the day, it is Elijah's single plea
to God that is answered.
Standing alone before Jezebel's host of visionaries, Elijah cries out: 'O
Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel! Let it be known today that You
are God in Israel and that I am Your servant, and that I have done all
these things at Your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this
people may know that You, O Lord, are God; for You have turned their
hearts backward' (1 Kings 18:36-37). At once, 'fire from the Lord descended
and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones and the earth;
... When they saw this, all the people flung themselves on their faces
and cried out: 'The Lord alone is God, the Lord alone is God!'
' (1 Kings
18:38-39). Elijah's 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 event. Nevertheless, her presence is felt and
the Deuteronomist's message is clear. Jezebel's
deities and the huge number of prophets loyal to her are powerless against
the omnipotent Yahweh, who is proven by the tournament to be ruler of
all the forces of nature.
Ironically, at the conclusion
of the Carmel episode, Elijah proves capable of the same murderous
inclinations that have previously characterized
Jezebel, though it is only she that the Deuteronomist criticizes. After
winning the Carmel contest, Elijah immediately orders the assembly to
capture all of Jezebel's prophets. Elijah emphatically declares: 'Seize
the prophets of Baal, let not a single one of them get away' (1 Kings
18:40). Elijah leads his 450 prisoners to the Wadi Kishon, where he slaughters
them (1 Kings 18:40). 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 similar religious fervor,
though their loyalties differ greatly. They are also equally determined
to eliminate one another's followers, even if it means murdering them.
The difference is that the Deuteronomist decries Jezebel's killing of
God's servants (at 1 Kings 18:4) but now sanctions Elijah's decision
to massacre hundreds of Jezebel's prophets. Indeed, once Elijah kills
Jezebel's prophets, God rewards him by sending a much-needed rain, ending
a three-year drought in Israel. There is a definite double standard here.
Murder seems to be accepted, even venerated, as long as it is done in
the name of the right deity.
After 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's prophets are dead. Jezebel sends Elijah
a menacing message, threatening to slaughter him just as he has slaughtered
her prophets: 'Thus and more may the gods do if by this time tomorrow
I have not made you like one of them' (1 Kings 19:2). The Septuagint,
a third- to second-century B.C. Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible,
prefaces Jezebel's threat with an additional insult to the prophet. Here
Jezebel establishes herself as Elijah's equal: 'If you are Elijah, so
I am Jezebel' (3 Kings 19:2**).(3)
In both versions the queen's meaning is unmistakable: Elijah should
fear for his life.
These are the first words the Deuteronomist records from Jezebel, and
they are filled with venom. Unlike the many voiceless biblical wives
and concubines whose muteness reminds us of the powerlessness of women
in ancient Israel, Jezebel has a tongue. While her verbal acuity shows
that she is more daring, clever and independent than most women of her
time, her withering words also demonstrate her sinfulness. Jezebel transforms
the precious instrument of language into an evil device to blaspheme
God and defy the prophet.
So frightened is Elijah by
Jezebel's threatening words that he flees
to Mt. Horeb (Sinai). Despite what he has witnessed on Carmel, Elijah
seems to falter in his faith that the Almighty will protect him. As a
literary device, Elijah's 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's flight south makes him look suspiciously like he is afraid
of a mere woman.
Jezebel indeed shows herself
as a person to be feared in the next episode. The story of Naboth,
an Israelite who owns a plot of land adjacent to
the royal palace in Jezreel, provides an excellent occasion for the Deuteronomist
to propose that Jezebel is not only the foe of Israel's God, but an enemy
of the government.
In 1 Kings 21:2, Ahab requests
that Naboth give him his vineyard: 'Give
me your vineyard, so that I may have it as a vegetable garden, since
it is right next to my palace.' Ahab promises to pay Naboth for the land
or to provide him with an even better vineyard. But at 1 Kings 21:3,
Naboth refuses to sell or trade: 'The Lord forbid that I should give
up to you what I have inherited from my fathers!' The king whines and
refuses to eat after Naboth's rebuff: 'Ahab went home dispirited and
sullen because of the answer that Naboth the Jezreelite had given him
... He lay down on his bed and turned away his face, and he would not
eat' (1 Kings 21:4). Apparently perturbed by her husband's political
impotence and sulking demeanor, Jezebel steps in, proudly asserting: 'Now
is the time to show yourself king over Israel. Rise and eat something,
and be cheerful; I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for
you' (1 Kings 21:7).
Naboth is fully within his rights to hold onto his family plot. Israelite
law and custom dictate that his family should maintain their land (nachalah)
in perpetuity (Numbers 27:5-11). As a Torah-bound king of Israel, Ahab
should understand Naboth's legitimate desire to keep his inheritance.
Jezebel, on the other hand, hails from Phoenicia, where a monarch's whim
is often tantamount to law.(4) Having
been raised in a land of absolute autocrats, where few dared to question
a ruler's 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 according to her upbringing and expectations
regarding royal prerogative.
Without Ahab's direct knowledge, 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 name and stamps the letters
with the king's 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 (1 Kings 21:10). So Naboth is murdered,
and the vineyard automatically escheats to the throne, as is customary
when a person is found guilty of a serious crime. If Naboth has relatives,
they are now in no position to protest the passing of their family land
to Ahab.
Yet the details of Jezebel's underhanded plot against Naboth do not
always ring true. The Bible maintains that 'the elders and nobles who
lived in [Naboth's] town ... did as Jezebel had instructed them' (1 Kings
21:11). If the trickster queen is able to enlist the support of so 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 go
wrong at any moment but somehow does not -- stretches the reader's credulity.
If Jezebel were as hateful as the Deuteronomist claims, surely at least
one nobleman in Jezreel would have refused to assist in the nefarious
scheme. Surely one individual would have had the courage to expose the
detestable deed and become the Deuteronomist's hero by spoiling the plan.(5)
Perhaps the biblical compiler
is using Jezebel as a scapegoat for his outrage at her influence over
the king, meaning that she herself is being
framed in the tale. Traditionally thought to be a narrative about how
innocent Naboth is falsely accused, the story could instead be an exaggeration
of fact, fabricated to demonstrate the Deuteronomist's continued wrath
against Jezebel.
As a result of
this incident, Elijah reappears on the scene. First Yahweh tells Elijah how Ahab
will
die: 'The word of the Lord came to Elijah
the Tishbite: 'Go down and confront King Ahab of Israel who [resides]
in Samaria. He is now in Naboth's vineyard; he has gone down there to
take possession of it. Say to him, 'Thus said the Lord: Would you murder
and take possession' Thus said the Lord: In the very place where the
dogs lapped up Naboth's blood, the dogs will lap up your blood too' (1
Kings 21:17-19). But when Elijah confronts Ahab, the prophet predicts
instead how the queen will die: 'The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the
field of Jezreel' (1 Kings 21:23).* Poetic
justice, as the Deuteronomist sees it, demands that Jezebel end up as
dog food. Ashamed of what has happened and fearful of the future, Ahab
humbles himself by assuming outward signs of mourning, fasting and donning
sackcloth. Prayer accompanies fasting, whether the Bible explicitly says
so or not, 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.
When Jezebel's name is mentioned again, the Bible writer makes his
most alarming accusation against her. Ahab has died, as has the couple's
eldest son, who followed his father to the throne. Their second son,
Joram, rules. But even though Israel has a sitting monarch, a servant
of the prophet Elisha crowns Jehu, Joram's military commander, king of
Israel and commissions Jehu to eradicate the House of Ahab: 'I anoint
you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. You shall strike down
the House of Ahab your master; 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 9:6-7).
King Joram and General Jehu
meet on the battlefield. Unaware that he is about to be usurped by
his military commander, Joram calls out: 'Is
all well, Jehu'? Jehu responds: 'How can all be well as long as your
mother Jezebel carries on her countless harlotries and sorceries'? (2
Kings 9:22). Jehu then shoots an arrow through Joram's heart and, in
a moment of stinging irony, orders the body to be dumped on Naboth's
land.
From these words alone -- uttered by the man who is about to kill Jezebel's
son -- stems Jezebel's long-standing reputation as a witch and a whore.
The Bible occasionally connects harlotry and idol worship, as in Hosea
1:3, where the prophet is told to marry a 'wife of whoredom,' who symbolically
represents the people who 'stray from following the Lord' (Hosea 1:3).
Lusting after false 'lords' can be seen as either adulterous or idolatrous.
Yet throughout the millennia, Jezebel's harlotry has not been identified
as mere idolatry. 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 man to
his death, is evidence that this ancient judgment against Jezebel has
been transmitted to this century. Nevertheless, the Bible never offers
evidence that Jezebel is unfaithful to her husband while he is alive
or loose in her morals after his death. In fact, she is always shown
to be a loyal and helpful spouse, though her brand of assistance is deplored
by the Deuteronomist. Jehu's charge of harlotry is unsubstantiated, but
it has stuck anyway and her reputation has been egregiously damaged by
the allegation.
When Jezebel herself finally
appears again in the pages of the Bible, it is for her death scene.
Jehu, with the blood of Joram still on his
hands, races his chariot into Jezreel to continue the insurrection by
assassinating Jezebel. Ironically, this is her finest hour, though the
Deuteronomist intends the queen to appear haughty and imperious to the
end. Realizing that Jehu is on his way to kill her, Jezebel does not
disguise herself and flee the city, as a more cowardly person might do.
Instead, she calmly prepares for his arrival by performing three 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 part of his harem in order
to save her own life, such treachery indicating Jezebel's dastardly betrayal
of deceased family members. According to this reading, Jezebel sheds
familial loyalty as easily as a snake sheds its skin in an attempt to
ensure her continued pleasure and safety at court.
Applying eye makeup (kohl)
and brushing one's hair are often connected
to flirting in Hebraic thinking. Isaiah 3:16, Jeremiah 4:30, 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 paint the area above and below the eyelids is
generally considered part of a woman's arsenal of artifice. In Jezebel's
case, however, the cosmetic is more than just an attempt to accentuate
the eyes. Jezebel is donning the female version of armor as she prepares
to do battle. She is a woman warrior, waging war in the only way a woman
can. Whatever fear she may have of Jehu is camouflaged by her war paint.
Her grooming continues as
she dresses her hair, symbol of a woman's
seductive power. When she dies, she wants to look her queenly best. She
is in control here, choosing the manner in which her attacker will last
see and remember her.
The third action Jezebel
takes before Jehu arrives is to sit at her upper window. The Deuteronomist
may be deliberately conjuring up images
to associate Jezebel with other disfavored women. For example, contained
within Deborah's victory ode is the story of the unfortunate mother of
the enemy general Sisera. Waiting at home, Sisera's 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 because he is raping Israelite
women and collecting booty (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 also looks through her window, watching her
husband dance around the Ark of the Covenant as it is triumphantly brought
into Jerusalem, 'and she despised him for it' (2 Samuel 6:16). Michal
does not understand the people's euphoria over the arrival of the Ark
in David's new capital; she can only feel anger that her husband is dancing
about like one of the 'riffraff' (2 Samuel 6:20). Generations later,
Jezebel also appears at her window, conjuring up images of Sisera's mother
and Michal, two unpopular biblical women.
The image of the woman at
the window also suggests fertility goddesses, abominations to the Deuteronomist
and well known to the general public
in ancient Israel. Ivory plaques, dating to the Iron Age and depicting
a woman peering through a window, have been discovered in Khorsabad,
Nimrud and Samaria, Jezebel's second home.(6)
The connection between idol worship, goddesses and the woman seated at
the window would not have been lost on the Deuteronomist's audience.
Sitting at her window, Jezebel is seemingly rendered powerless while
the active patriarchal world functions beyond her reach.(7)
But a more sympathetic reading of the situation 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 balcony
window, the queen does not remain silent as the usurper Jehu arrives
into town. 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 master'? Jezebel
asks Jehu (2 Kings 9:31). Jezebel knows that all is not well, and her
sarcastic, sharp-tongued insult of Jehu disproves any interpretation
that she has dressed in her finest to seduce him. She has contempt for
Jehu. Unlike 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 authority,
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 once 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 place as one of the Bible's most influential
women.
Jezebel's body is left in the street as Jehu celebrates his victory.
Later, perhaps because the new monarch does not wish to begin his reign
with such a disrespectful act against a woman, or perhaps because he
realizes the danger in setting a precedent for ill treatment of a dead
ruler's remains, Jehu orders Jezebel's burial: 'Attend to that cursed
woman and bury her, for she was a king's daughter' (2 Kings 9:34). Jezebel
is not to be remembered as a queen or even as the wife of a king. She
is only the daughter of a foreign despot. This is intended as another
blow by the Deuteronomist, an attempt to marginalize a formidable woman.
When the king's men come to bury Jezebel, it is too late: 'All they found
of her were the skull, the feet, and the hands' (2 Kings 9:35). Jehu's
men inform the king that Elijah's prophecies have been fulfilled: 'It
is just as 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 be like dung on the ground, in the field of
Jezreel, so that none will be able to say: 'This was Jezebel' (2 Kings
9:36-37).
While the biblical storyteller
wants the final images of Jezebel to memorialize her as 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 about her
character. Jezebel departs this earth every inch a queen. Now an aging
grandmother, it is highly unlikely that she has libidinous designs on
Jehu or even entertains the notion of becoming the young king's paramour.
As the daughter, wife, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother of kings,
Jezebel would understand 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's reign. The queen harbors no illusions about her chances of
surviving Jehu's bloody coup d'état.
How bad was Jezebel? The
Deuteronomist uses every possible argument 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' (1 Kings 21:25). It is interesting that Ahab is not held
responsible for his own actions.(8)
He goes astray because of a wicked woman. Someone has to bear the writer's
vituperation concerning Israel's apostasy, and Jezebel is chosen for
the job.
Every biblical word 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 strong patriarchs; a traitor in a country where no ruler
is above the law; and a whore in the territory where the Ten Commandments
originate.
Yet 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 true to her native religion and customs. She
is even more loyal to her husband. Throughout her reign, she boldly exercises
what power she has. And in the end, having lived her life on her own
terms, Jezebel faces certain death with dignity.
Janet
Howe Gaines
© Bible Review, October 2000
Reproduced
without permission
Sources:
The
dark queen of Israel
The
Phoenician queen of Israel is known as the most evil woman in the
Bible: A prophet of false and foreign gods. A witch, whore and a
killer of innocents. But between the lines of the Bible another woman
appears, fearless and dedicated to the last.
Jezebel
enters Israel in the 9th century before the death of Christ when she marries the newly crowned
king Ahab. “And Ahab did more to provoke The Lord God of Israel to
anger than all the kings that were before him… There had never been
a king like Ahab, who sold himself to wickedness in the sight of the
Lord, tempted by his wife Jezebel.” Jezebel was at this
time a young princess from the great kingdom of Phoenicia, north of
Israel. By marrying Ahab the two countries became aligned, doubling
their military strength. The alliance also opened important trade
routes. But with foreign allies came foreign influences. Jezebel had
grown up as a priestess of Baal, the most powerful god in the region.
Even before her time Baal was highly popular when the Israelis went
“whoring after other gods”. The story of Baal
tells of a god that dies in the spring. Anat, the goddess of love and
war, mourns and bury him. But after an endless summer with drought
and famine Baal is resurrected in the fall bringing with him rain and
storm. Baal was the god of fall and autumn rain and therefore the god
of melancholia and sorrow. He was the god of storm, the maker of
thunder and lightning bolts. And the god of fertility and sex. He was
also known as Prince Baal or The Rider of the Clouds. In the Bible he
is often called Baalzebub, changed to Beelzebub in the New Testament.
He brings with him
several goddesses such as Ashera, The Queen of the Sky and Astarte,
the lunar goddess symbolized as a star within a circle. She also was
a goddess of fertility and sex. And war. This was not only a
sexualized religion, but a violent one to. Slashing and cutting
oneself was a part of the religious ceremonies, as was human
sacrifices, sometimes even child sacrifices.
This was the beliefs
Jezebel grew up with, and she would stay true to background until the
end. Her marriage with Ahab was properly nothing more than a seal of
the alliance between Israel and Phoenicia. Still, the king seems to
have felt a genuine affection, love even, for the queen. Not only
that, he was highly influenced by Jezebel as well, only a truly
magnetic personality could have attained such power in Israel, which
was not only male dominated, but ethnocentric and xenophobic as well.
The dryness of this
desert country would have been very different from the seacoast where
Jezebel grew up. The Yahweh religion would have been an enemy of
everything she believed in, and she soon introduce her husband to the
Rider of the Clouds. Their wedding night is hardly over before Ahab
starts whoring after other gods. He erects a temple for both Prince
Baal and Astarte right in Samaria, the capital. And then he gives the
queen a free hand against the Yahweh followers, which she does not
hesitate to use. Jezebel goes to war, civil war, against this enemy
religion and declares the prophets of god legitimate targets. All
over Israel they are hunted down and given to the sword. But when
they are all dead or scattered one opponent remains: Elijah. A fiery
and determinated man, in possession of willpower equal to the queen,
he was Jezebels equal in every aspect but one.
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Elijah invites the
whole of Israel to a confrontation with the Baal followers at Mount
Carmel, a duel that will decide who is the true god. “Now therefore
send to me all of Israel to Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal
four hundred and fifty and the prophets of Astarte four hundred who
eat at Jezebels table.” This impressive number clearly demonstrates
that the country is now under a different kind of queen.But they’re down shit
creek when they face Elijah at Mount Carmel. An altar is made for
both Yahweh and Baal / Astarte, and the god who answers with fire
shall be the true god. The Baal followers start the tournament in
early morning, chanting and calling for Baal who seems too busy to
answer. At noon Elijah starts mocking them: “Shout louder! He is
god, isn’t he? Maybe he is on vacation, or he might be sleeping?
Shout yet a bit louder! – “And they cried aloud and cut
themselves after their manner with knifes and lancets, till the blood
gushed out upon them.” Finally they give up. Elijah then calls to
Yahweh and “then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt
sacrifice.” Everyone falls to their knees shouting, “The Lord is
God, the Lord is God!” Elijah don’t waste any time, but tells
them to “Seize the Baal prophets; let not one of them escape!”
And on Elijah’s orders the prophets are taken to brook Kishon and
there they die. The believers are slaughtered, not a single one
survives, the duel ends with blood, bodies and body parts floating in
the river now turned red.
A shocked Ahab returns
to the city Jezreel and tells Jezebel all that happened. But even in
the face of such a defeat the queen of Israel is without a trace of
hesitation or fear. With the king shell shocked Jezebel is the one to
take a stand. She sends a messenger to Elijah with the first words
she says in the Bible and they are spoken with merciless pride –“If
you are Elijah then I am Jezebel. Tomorrow I will make your soul like
the souls of my prophets.” One might wonder why the queen would
warn Elijah instead of executing him outright, but killing Elijah at
this point could have led to an uprising. Instead her aim is to
terrorize and demoralize him, and she succeeds spectacularly. Just
days after his victory at Carmel a single threat from the queen sends
the prophet into hiding. Before the whole of Israel Elijah flees in
fear into the desert. And there he spend his time with a girlie
whining that the lord has left him and everyone is against him and
that the Israelis are back whoring with Baal again. Many years later
Jezebel would herself face death and react in a very different way.
Miracles on Mount Carmel or not, in fearlessness she was Elijah
superior.
The next episode shows
Jezebel at her most ruthless. A local Yahweh worshiper, Nabot, owns a
vineyard next to the palace. King Ahab wants the vineyard himself and
offers to trade it for a better one or buy it. Nabot however refuse,
the vineyard has been in his family for generations. Ahab goes
straight back to palace and acts like a spoiled little baby. He goes
right to bed, refuses to eat, and is “heavy and displeased”. This
is when Jezebel shows up –“Why is your spirit so sad?” Ahab
tells her about the vineyard he can’t get and his loyal wife calms
him, “Are you king of Israel or are you not? Arise and be cheerful,
I will give you Nabots vineyard.” Again it is the queen that takes
action. She writes a letter in Ahab’s name to the leading townsmen
ordering them to find false witnesses and accuse Nabot of blaspheming
god and the king. Nabot is sentenced to death by stoning and Jezebel
gives the news to Ahab herself, “Arise and take possession of the
vineyard for Nabot is no more, he is dead”. This is seen as a
prime example of Jezebels wickedness, but it the queen came from
another upbringing where the king’s words were orders. Being
refused by a Yahweh believer would have been an insult, a
provocation. She might also have feared that it would make the king
look weak. And weakness is the first step towards revolt. From this
perspective, Nabot is no innocent man but an insurgent, his execution
is not murder, but a show of strength to defend the royal family. Ahab goes straight to
his new vineyard and that is when Elijah reappears. The lord god is
not pleased in the slightest, and Elijah promise that the king will
die a brutal and violent death. Dogs shall lick his blood and every
man in Ahabs family are to be murdered. “As for Jezebel the Lord
has said this: The dogs shall devour Jezebels flesh in Jisreel. There
shall be none to bury her.”
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Soon after war breaks
out between Israel and Syria and Ahab leads the army towards the
battlefield. On his way he becomes afraid, and instead of wearing the
royal garment he dresses himself as an ordinary soldier so the
Syrians won’t recognize him. They don’t, but during the battle a
stray arrow hits the king and gives him a mortal wound. Ahab stays
conscious and follows the battle from a distance, but gets steadily
weaker, and has to be propped up in his chariot by his men. He holds
on until dusk, but then he dies “and the blood ran out of the wound
into the midst of the chariot.” The Israelis retreat
and Ahab is taken back to Samaria so his body can be washed before
the burial. And dogs climb into the chariot and lick the king’s
blood, and the local whores bathes in the water that’s been used to
cleanse his body.
Soon after his
archenemy Elijah too leaves the scene. He is taken alive to heaven,
riding in a burning chariot. The only character in the Bible to not
actually die. His student Elisa becomes the new leader of the
prophets of god. Like his predecessor he is a fiery and dedicated
man, a true believer. He’s not afraid to go straight to the heathen
kings and deliver death threats from lord god himself. He has just
one little problem: he has lost all his hair and seems to have gotten
some serious self-esteem problems. Still, he is not a man to fuck
around with as evidenced in the next episode, (presented in the Bible
under the headline “Elisa makes miracles in Jericho and Betel”):
“There came forth little children out of the city, and they mocked
him, and said unto him, “Go away you baldhead, go away you
baldhead!” Then he turned back, looked at them, and cursed them in
the name of the Lord. Suddenly there came two she bears out of the
wood, and they tore apart forty two of the children and killed them”. With Ahab dead his son
Ahazia becomes the new king of Israel. “And he did evil in the
sight of the Lord and walked in the sins of his father and mother. He
served Baal and worshipped him and provoked to anger the Lord God of
Israel.” Ahazia reigns for less than two years before he manages to
fall out of his own window in the castle and he dies shortly
thereafter. His brother Joram becomes king. A new queen is also
crowned, but Jezebel still stays in power, ruling from behind the
throne.
But when Joram has
reined for twelve years everything his mother ever believed is torn
apart. The Yahweh worshippers have gradually become stronger, and
their influence has now reached to the top commanders in the army. So
when Joram is in Jisreel, resting from a war wound, his own army
declares war on him. A servant of Elisa crowns the army commander
Jehu the new king of Israel, “And you shall destroy Ahab’s family
and avenge the blood of all my servants the prophets at the hand of
Jezebel. The whole family of Ahab shall perish, and the dogs shall
devour Jezebel.” Jehu rides with his men towards Jesreel and king
Joram comes out to meet him together with Ahazia, the king of Judah.
“Is it peace Jehu?” “How can you talk
about peace as long as your mother Jezebel continues her whoredoms
and witchcrafts?” Jehu then murders both him and king Ahazia with
arrows. Afterwards they dump his body in Nabots old vineyard. Even
fifteen years later this incident was still remembered.
Then they ride to
Jisreel to murder Jezebel herself. With the king dead, in her final
minutes Jezebel becomes the sole ruler of Israel. She is told the
news of the coup and her son’s death shortly before Jehu arrives.
She does not disguise herself and try to flee, as a weaker person
would have done, as Elijah did. Instead she calmly awaits her death
in the palace. She dresses in her best, she brushes her hair, crowns
her head and paints her eyes with black makeup. When her murderer
rides through the gates she taunts and mocks him from the tower –“Did
Zimri find peace, he who murdered his master?”, a reference to the
unfortunate army commander who killed the king and ruled for seven
days before he himself was killed. Jezebel meets her
death like a queen, fearless and proud to the last. That is however
more than can be said of the others in the palace. Jehu looks up and
shouts, “Who is with me? Who?” Three eunuchs looks out and Jehu
calls to them “Let her fall!” And in an act of cowardice and
betrayal they shows the queen out of the window and she falls to her
death like the devil fell to hell when he was cast out of heaven. She
crashes into the ground, and Jehu’s horses tramples her so the
walls are sprayed with blood. Jehu himself stomps on her corpse –“See
now this cursed woman!”
Jezebel enters the
death dimension and Israel loses the most charismatic woman it ever
had. She ruled for 36 years, never again was there a queen like
Jezebel.
Her death is only the
start of Jehu’s reign of horror. He intends to murder Ahab’s
entire family. Like the other kings Ahab had a harem. Other gods
wasn’t the only thing the kings of Israel where whoring after, and
Ahab produced a staggering 70 sons and a equal number of daughters. A
true whore. Jehu sends messages to the townsmen in the towns where
Ahab’s sons resides daring them to defend them. Not a single one
stands up against him, “They were exceedingly afraid, and said,
Behold, two kings couldn’t stand before him: how then shall we
stand?” Jehu then orders them to slaughter Ahabs sons and their
heads are delivered and dumped in piles outside Jehus headquarters. For anyone associated
with Ahab there is not a whisper of mercy in Jehus heart. His
violence is extended to the rest of Ahabs family, his priests and
anyone who held position under him. Jehu orders them dead, and all
across Israel they are hunted down, murdered and mutilated.
Horror piles on horror
now. “And Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them:
Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants
and all his priests; let none be wanting (missing): for I have a
great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting he shall
not live.” Jehu has indeed
planned a sacrifice, but not to Prince Baal, but to a god even more
gruesome than Beelzebub himself. When all the Baal believers are
inside the temple Jehu gathers his soldiers and orders them to go in
and murder every man. His final words to his men are a warning that
if so much as a single man escapes he who let him go shall himself
die. When the soldiers are finished the walls of the temple are
dripping blood. Mutilated bodies lies in piles, some still moving.
Torn heads and amputated limbs, some still twitching, floats in pools
of blood. The images of Astarte and Prince Baal are burned, the
temple destroyed and “turned into a latrine to which it is to this
day.”
And still the horror
continues. Further south, in Judah, the deaths of Joram and Jezebel
triggers a new wave of violence as Jezebels daughter Atalja is
instated queen of Judah. Judah was a part of Israel that broke out to
form an independent country. But the two countries were aligned, and
the Bible always view Judah as a part of the holy land. King Ahaziah
was in the north when Jehu struck and was killed together with Joram.
He had no brothers and his sons are too young to rule, so his mother
Atalja declares her grandsons legitimate targets so she can rule
alone. And the kings sons are all executed, or so she thinks.
Like Nabots vineyard
this is seen as an example of evil, but a closer examination could
reveal a more complex picture. The queen could not have given such an
order without the full support of the “government” and the
military. And they would have strong reasons to support Atalja.
Kingdoms differ from dictatorships in one important aspect: If a
dictator dies his second in command assumes power, but if a king dies
his successor has to be his son. And with all the kings sons to young
to rein Judah found itself in the worst position a kingdom could be.
The door would be opened to politics at its most sickening and dirty.
A queen who would only be in power temporarily would rule the
country. Various factions would compete for the kings favors, like
eating candy and playing with toy soldiers with the child king, just
so they could give the impression of being close to him. They would
compete with each other and fight against each other while Atalja
would be played steadily over the sidelines, leaving the country weak
and vulnerable. This would have been bad enough under ordinary
circumstances, but Ahaziahs death comes at the worst possible moment.
With Yahweh worshippers rising to power in Israel there would have
been serious concerns for an insurrection from within. The leaders of
Judah would also have every reason to fear that Jehu would extend his
war across the border. He had, after all, not only killed the king,
but later murdered forty-two of his visiting relatives too. Therefore
they crown Atalja to queen in defense of their country, their beliefs
and their way of life.
Atalja rules Judah for
six years. The Bible says nothing about her achievements, but she
became the only woman ever to hold sole power in either Israel or
Judah (apart from Jezebels final minutes). The Yahweh worshippers
steadily gets stronger and in Ataljas sixth year the army sides with
Yahweh, and the priests organize a revolt against the queen. Unknown
to Atalja one of her grandsons is still alive, having been hidden in
the temple and raised to honor Yahweh. The priest and the army
leaders assemble in the temple where ten-year-old Joas is crowned.
When Atalja hears the noise she comes to the temple, and seeing the
child being crowned she knows what awaits her. But like her mother
from the north she reacts without a trace of fear. She faces her
murderers with defiance and rage, ripping her clothes and shouting
“treason, treason!” Then she is taken out of the temple and
slain. A lynch mob swarms into Prince Baals temple “and they broke
it down; his altar and his images broke they in pieces and
thoroughly, and they slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the
altars.”
And it was all for
nothing. In the end king Joas too would start worshipping The Rider
of the Clouds and both he and Astarte were dominant figures in the
holy land until both Israel and Judah were finally wiped off the map.
As for Jezebel herself:
When Jehu’s men came to bury her they found that dogs had eaten the
carcass. The hands, feet and the skull were all that was left of her.
And so the prophecy was fulfilled:
“Jezebels corpse
shall be like excrement on the fields of Israel. No one shall be able
to say: This was Jezebel”
“There
will be none to bury her.”
* Some of the bible quotes has been slightly
changed to make them more accessible and modern.
* The story of Jezebel is from 1 and 2 Kings. Ataljas story is told in 2 Kings 11 and 2 Chronicles 22 – 23.
© Thomas F, Dynamo 2009
