NOTES

¹ Besides these two only 1 Kgs 1 deals with a crucial bedroom scene. But Bathsheba is first and foremost a mother and not a wife. On queen-mothers as arbiters of royal succession see H. ZLOTNICK, "Securing the Succession: Mothers and Prophets in 1 Kgs 1" (forthcoming).

² C. SMITH, " ‘Queenship’ in Israel: The cases of Bathsheba, Jezebel and Athaliah", King and Messiah in Israel and the Ancient Near East (ed. J. DAY) (JSOTSS 270; Sheffield 1998) 142-162, on the absence of the concept in the HB and on the queen-mother as the dominant female character at court. Jezebel, however, is not a queen-mother, nor is Esther. Moreover, the only child whose rights Jezebel may have advanced is a daughter rather than a son.

³ R. BOHLEN, Der Fall Naboth. Form, Hintergrund und Werdegang einer alttestamentlichen Erzählung (1 Kön 21) (TThSt 35; Trier 1978), for full analysis. On the three stages of composition/redaction (‘original’, Dtr expansion, and exilic elaboration), W.M. SCHNIEDEWIND, "History and Interpretation: The Religion of Ahab and Manasseh in the Book of Kings", CBQ 55 (1993) 649-661, esp. 655. On scholarly controversies regarding the layering of 1 Kgs 21 see R. MARTIN-ACHARD, "La vigne de Naboth (1 Rois 21) d’après des études récentes", ETR 66 (1991) 1-16, and standard commentaries, including J. GRAY, I & II Kings. A Commentary (OTL; London ²1970); G.H. JONES, 1 and 2 Kings (NCBC; Grand Rapids 1984); J.T. WALSH, 1 Kings (Berit Olam; 1996); and T.E. FRETHEIM, First and Second Kings (Westminster Bible Companion; Louisville 1999).

⁴ Cf. 1 Kgs 20,43, a redactional bridging touch, which uses the same expression to describe Ahab’s reaction to YHWH’s chiding.

⁵ On the hostility of the D theologians to Jezebel and her religious affiliation, P. TRIBLE, "Exegesis for Storytellers and Other Strangers", JBL 114 (1995) 3-19, esp. 4 and passim.

⁶ Cf. Proverbs’ ideal wife (Prov 31,11-12 (trust of husband; rewarding husband with good and not with evil deeds) and 31,16-17 (plotting to obtain a field and to plant a vineyard!).

⁷ Since Jezebel’s ‘foreignness’ was clearly irrelevant in the determination of royal succession, she can be regarded as ‘Israelite’ for all intents and purposes. On Esther see my analysis in H. ZLOTNICK, Dinah’s Daughters. Gender and Judaism from the Hebrew Bible to Late Antiquity (Philadelphia 2001 [in print]).

⁸ My translation is based on J.W.H. VAN WIJK-BOS, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (Westminster Bible Companion; Louisville 1998) but see the comments of Paton in his invaluable commentary on possible corruption and on the elusive structure and meaning of this phrase.

⁹ My comments are based on C.G. CALHOON, "Lucretia, Savior and Scapegoat: The Dynamics of Sacrifice in Livy 1.57-59", Helios 24 (1997) 151-169.

¹⁰ Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 1.47.3-5. Trans.: Titus Livius, Opera. With an English translation by B.O. Foster et al. (LCL 114; Cambridge 1988 [¹1919]) 165, modified.

¹¹ A. FELDHERR, Spectacle and Society in Livy’s History (Berkeley 1998) 190.

¹² Titus Livius, Ab urbe 1.34.3 (Foster’s translation, modified).

¹³ Ibid., 1.41.4 (Foster’s translation, modified).

¹⁴ On the importance of the motif of Jezebel as the proverbial foreign woman, J.A. SOGGIN, "Jezabel oder die fremde Frau", Mélanges bibliques et orientaux en l’honneur de M. Henri Cazelles (AOAT 212; Kevelaer 1981) 453-459.

¹⁵ G. KNOPPERS, "Sex, Religion and Politics: The Deuteronomist on Intermarriage", HAR (1994) 121-142.

¹⁶ On the king’s role of ensuring justice throughout his kingdom, H. SCHULTE, "The End of the Omride Dynasty: Social-Ethical Observations on the Subject of Power and Violence", Semeia 66 (1994) 133-148, esp. 134.

¹⁷ CALHOON, "Lucretia, Savior and Scapegoat", 158 (on Tanaquil). On the heroic quality of Jezebel’s last moments, P.D. ACKROYD, "Goddesses, Women and Jezebel", Images of Women in Antiquity (eds. A. CAMERON – A. KUHRT) (London 1983) 245-249, esp. 246.

¹⁸ Cf. J.L. NELSON, "Queens as Jezebels: The Careers of Brunhild and Balthild", SCH(L)S 1 (1978), 31-77.

¹⁹ Note the absence of the title ‘queen’ in the narrative versus its ubiquitous use in the Esther narrative (Esth 2,22; 4,4; 5,2 and passim)

²⁰ M. BAL, "Lots of Writing", Ruth and Esther (ed. A. BRENNER) (A Feminist Companion to the Bible 3; Sheffield 1999) 212-238.

²¹ A. ROFÉ, "The Vineyard of Naboth: The Origin and Message of the Story", VT 38 (1988) 92, on the proclamation of fasts in times of national crisis. Cf. Elijah’s summoning the people to put an end to the drought, E.K. HOLT, "‘Urged on by his Wife Jezebel...’ A literary Reading of 1 Kgs 18 in Context", SJOT 9 (1995) 85.

²² Their behavior contrasts with the resistance to submission exhibited by the ‘elders’ whom Ahab had summoned to discuss Ben Hadad’s demands (1 Kgs 20,7). On the expanding ‘circle of guilt’, J.T. WALSH, "Methods and Meanings: Multiple Studies of I Kings 21", JBL 111 (1992) 199, 201.

²³ On the legal aspects of the accusation, F.I. ANDERSEN, "Socio-Juridical Background of the Naboth Incident", JBL 85 (1966) 46-57, concluding that Naboth had actually promised to sell but reneged and that his refusal was presented at the ‘trial’ as a blasphemy justifying the forfeiture of his land by the intended buyer.

²⁴ Assuming that the text separates between God and king, although it can also be taken as a standard formula linking the two. Exod 22,27, invoked by all commentators, merely prohibits the cursing of God and of )y#&n (king?) without imposing penalty. Nor are the verbs describing the banned action in Exod the same employed to describe Naboth’s alleged crime. Supporting, indirectly, Rofé’s assumption of a late (5–4 centuries BCE) date for the redaction of 1 Kgs 21 (ROFÉ, "Vineyard", 97-101).

²⁵ Hence the seemingly irrelevant appeal of Naboth to YHWH in the initial encounter between him and Ahab for no law prohibited the alienation of ancestral property. However, as FRETHEIM, First and Second Kings, 118, correctly emphasizes, priestly law (Lev 25,23) insists that all the land belonged to YHWH and, by implication, cannot be sold for any reason or in perpetuity.

²⁶ WALSH, "Methods", 204, on fasting as a component of penitential practices and religious observances that furnishes a bond between the two parts of 1 Kgs 21 and as a clue to deciphering the tale as an attack on the stability of society that laws and religious practices guarantee. On eating and drinking as paralleling the motifs of life and death, ibid., 205, 207-208.

²⁷ A rare word, used mostly in prescriptions regarding cities of refuge and, of course, in the Decalogue. See H. ZLOTNICK, Covenant of Words. A Feminist Reading of the Ten Commandments (forthcoming).

²⁸ M. WHITE, "Naboth’s Vineyard and Jehu’s Coup: The Legitimation of a Dynastic Extermination", VT 44 (1994) 68-69, on parallels between the two tales and the casting of 1 Kgs in the mold of the David-Bathsheba-Uriah tale.

²⁹ Titus Livius, Ab urbe 1.34.9 (Foster’s translation).

³⁰ SCHULTE, "The End", 142, interprets the phrase as a reflection on Jezebel’s role as a priestess of fertility cults.

³¹ N. NA’AMAN, "Prophetic Stories as Sources for the Histories of Jehoshaphat and the Omrides", Bib 78 (1997) 160, on the shaping of the negative evaluation of Ahab’s reign through their embedding in the Elijah cycle.

³² The notice in 1 Kgs 22,53, in itself an exception to the rule of recording exclusive male succession, seems to support the assumption of Jezebel’s success and status.

³³ Blood and prostitution/prostitutes constitute another underlying redactional theme, beginning with 1 Kgs 22,38 where the blood washed off Ahab’s chariot washed prostitutes in Samaria and ending with 2 Kgs 9,22b. On the former as a late insertion, I. BENZINGER, Die Bücher der Könige erklärt (KHC 9; Leipzig 1899).

³⁴ Jezebel’s sorcery or witchcraft, in other words the attribution of supernatural powers through her links with the Baal, must be contrasted with the functions of YHWH’s prophets, above all with the supernatural qualities that they possess through their faith in YHWH. On the latter see the remarks of C. GROTTANELLI, Kings and Prophets. Monarchic Power, Inspired Leadership, and Sacred Text in Biblical Narrative (New York 1998) 134-135.

³⁵ ROFÉ, "Vineyard", 102, briefly noted the text’s ‘protest against intermarriage’ that texts of the period voice. On Ezra-Nehemiah’s attitude to intermarriage see H. ZLOTNICK "The Silent Women of Yehud", JJS 51 (2000) 3-18.

³⁶ M.Z. BRETTLER, The Creation of History in Ancient Israel (London 1995) 122.