Jezebel

This post related/influenced by my book "When Will Eve Be Forgiven?"

    The sinful women of the Bible are legendary, so much so, people rarely name their daughter after them. These fallen women names are of equal sinister affiliation as the name Benedict Arnold is in American History. If I say the name Eve, her sin quickly comes to mind. If I say the name Dalilah, we automictically think of Samson. Each of these women have been accused of using their sexuality to cause the fall of a man. This is the typical portrayal of women in the Bible, apt to use sex to influence the better judgement of men. Her archetype is femme fatale. Our movie industry continued this portrayal of women for decades. 

    But there is another named woman of the Bible no woman dares to name her daughter after and would recoil if she was herself called by her name - Jezebel. Who was Jezebel and how did she become so infamous? 

    We meet Jezebel in the Christian Bible, books of Kings. Jezebel was married to King Ahab who worshipped the Hebrew God, Yahweh. She was a 9th Century pagan queen. As a queen she would be viewed as a woman of high status in the kingdom. She is described as a woman with fierce energy. I find that an unusual way to describe a person. What does fierce energy mean? It is said she destroyed those who opposed her in any way in cruel manners. I'm sure kings did the same as they ruled to protect their laws and proclamations, the difference being Jezebel was not the king. Jezebel persuaded her husband to allow the worship of a Tyrian nature god, Baal-Melkart. Baal was a fertility god, and several minor gods/goddesses came along with the worship of him which included ritual sex and temple prostitution. Christianity is one of the various religions in the world that does not have a goddess or reverence for the female body as giver of life or rebirth. Jezebel would also be called a prostitute even without evidence. The prophets of Yahweh did not like her god/goddess worship and she had them killed which made a major prophet Elijah angry. He predicted a 3-year drought would occur as punishment for her actions. 

    When her husband wanted a commoner's vineyard the commoner refused. King Ahab response to not getting the vineyard was to whine, take to his bed, and not eat. Jezebel told her husband, "Now is the time to show yourself as King over all of Israel. I will get the vineyard for you." Jezebel lied to the townspeople by forging a letter saying the man blasphemed against Yahweh and the king. The commoner was killed by the townspeople with Jezebel's support, and the king got the vineyard. The prophet told the king all his heirs would be destroyed, and dogs would devour his wife for the killing (no direct punishment for the king though). Later her husband died, and her son became king. The then prophet anointed another man king causing a civil war defeating Jezebel's son. Jezebel put on her finest clothes, makeup, and styled her hair, went to her balcony to meet the newly crowned king, taunting him, not cowering in fear. The new king ordered her eunuchs to throw her from the balcony killing her. When the king went to retrieve the body to give her a burial fitting of a daughter of a king (not former queen), the dogs had eaten most of her body. All that was left was her skull, feet, and palms of her hands. This leaves the image of her being completely erased in people's minds and history.

    Does this sound like a high energy woman? She could be described as strong willed, politically astute, loyal to her husband, and a courageous woman. She was a Phoenician princess before marriage becoming the power behind a throne in a politically advantageous (alliance) marriage helping two countries (Phoenicia and Northern Israel). He husband Ahab, who was aware of God's admonishment to only have one God, knowingly took a wife who did not worship his God and worshipped many different gods/goddesses. Then he proceeded to build temples for his wife to worship those pagan gods. When he was faced with difficulties, he behaved less like a king but more like an impotent man. His energy is not described. It is always suggested sex is used to control and manipulate men when on closer inspection, the men possessed character flaws before/upon having women in their lives. 

    Jezebel remains history's most evil and wicked persona of a woman. Feminist Christian women make an effort and suggest we rewrite the male penned narratives of women in the Bible. I do not believe that is necessary. If we are to view the characters of the Bible as humans, then we should recognize none were all good and none were all bad. Ahab would go on to be described as a king who did evil in the sight of the Lord more than any king before him, but none of the kings were perfect. Men as the head and the leader from the beginning of Genesis focuses the attention on the shortcoming of the women like Eve and not Adam. Here both men abdicate their authority as decision makers and trickery by a woman is blamed absolving the men. No rewrite is necessary. Plain good old Bible study is all that is called for. I happen to love the song Jezebel by songstress Sade.

DON'T FORGET to purchase my book "When Will Eve Be Forgiven?" available on amazon.com

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