Jezebel

[visionary]

I think there is more to this woman at the window. The image of the woman at the window also suggests fertility goddesses. Ivory plaques, dating to the Iron Age and depicting a woman peering through a window, have been discovered in Khorsabad, Nimrud and Samaria which is Jezebel’s second home. The connection between idol worship, goddesses and the woman seated at the window would not have been lost on the Jewish people who are true to YHWH.

Sitting at her window, 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.

2 Kings 9:31 “Is all well, Zimri, murderer of your master?” Jezebel asks Jehu.

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.

2 Kings 9:33–34 “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”

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. When the king’s men come to bury Jezebel, it is too late.

2 Kings 9:35 “All they found of her were the skull, the feet, and the hands”.

Jehu’s men inform the king that Elijah’s prophecies have been fulfilled.

2 Kings 9:36 “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’”

 

[visionary]

The final images of Jezebel memorialize her as a brazen hussy. 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? When Ahab dies, the Bible states

1 Kings 21:25 “there never was anyone like Ahab, who committed himself to doing what was displeasing to the Lord, at the instigation of his wife Jezebel”.

It is interesting that Ahab is not held responsible for his own actions. He goes astray because of a wicked woman. LIke the man had no backbone of his own. Someone has to bear responsibility 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 male dominate land. an idol worshiper in a place with a YHWH-based, state-sponsored religion, she is a murderer and meddler in political affairs in a nation of strong patriarchs, she is a traitor in a country where no ruler is above the law; and a harlot in the territory where the Ten Commandments originate. Is there anything I missed?

Yet there is much to admire in this ancient queen. Jezebel is as a fiery, smart, 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.