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Jezebel as she really was?
“This is the story of a woman who lived and died over twenty seven centuries ago.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-04-23.
She was a daughter to a Tyrian King. She was wife to an Israeli King. And she even made the Bible!
She was Jezebel and according to biblical lore she was a harlot queen whose presence swayed her husband, King Ahab, from worshipping the one true God YHWH to allow polythietic observation in ancient Israel. It was this practice which the Bible writers said led to Israel's downfall.
Yet for all the allegations of her harlotry, the Bible failed to note any instances wherein Jezebel was anything but faithful to her husband. Significantly however, the meaningful harlotry for them was her faithlessness to YHWH which was punished with her untimely execution by King Jehu, Ahab's successor.
With every twist and turn of the story, Lesley Hazleton writes with that particular sensitivity and understanding that female biblical historians so often manage. In this way, this book is reminiscent of Anita Diamont's Red Tent and also Ann Wroe's Pontius Pilate...two other women writers who stand out for their exceptional treatment of Biblical characters.
In all it makes one seriously reconsider the thesis of Harold Bloom who's Book of J advanced the thesis that the original biblical writer was female.
But regardless of the resolution of that issue, this book is great reading, rivaling the original Biblical account itself for its eloquence, power and perhaps even accuracy.
Were the Bible writers right? Is Hazleton right? Who was Jezebel as she really was?” -
A Biblical retelling
“Was Jezebel really evil? Or has she been misconstrued throughout the ages? In this retelling of the biblical woman's life Lesley Hazleton takes the position that Jezebel was not a bad woman and that her life, like that of many women of the bible, has been changed to suit those who wrote the bible centuries after the actual events. Portraying Elijah not as the savior of the Jewish people, but as a fundamentalist religious fanatic, she turns the known story topsy-turvy. Although this is fiction she uses the device of historical imagination to determine the thoughts and emotions of the characters in reaction to the events surrounding them. I found that a little distracting, thinking it was more on the lines of fiction. Though I did learn a great deal about Elijah and Elisha, I didn't really learn as much about Jezebel as I would have liked, it seemed whole decades of her life were skipped over until we got to the more tantalizing parts of her story-in particular her brutal death. While the reviews on Amazon have been raves, I found the book at times a bit boring and I think the historical imagination device led to a lot of leeway with the story. ”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-03-29. -
Hazleton just keeps getting better
“Jezebel is a captivating read, but more importantly, it illuminates a period of human history fraught with religious prejudices, and it does it in the best way possible--by exploring the original documents. Hazleton's research was exhaustive and everything she says is explained in the context of the times. It's like she was there and witness to the dawn of monotheism. Anyone who includes religion in their conversation ought to read Jezebel.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2008-08-17. -
2 of 2 members found this review helpful.
I found this a hard read......
“This book came highly recommended and I was expecting a lot more out of it than I received. I was hoping for more factual content instead of a "story" that was, albeit somewhat entertaining, hardly believable. I found it difficult to get through the story line.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2008-07-25. -
An Excellent Historical Reinterpretation of Jezebel, by someone who actually knows Hebrew.
“Hazelton's book is rich in detail and authentic due to it's authors knowledge of the land of the bible which she lived in for many years and her fluency in Hebrew. Religious fundamentalists will be challenged by this book because it challenges the traditional view of the Hebrew prophet Elijah and challenges fundamentalists from all religions of the dangers of their extremist views in the judgement of others. It also gives an empowering view of Jezebel as a woman, a queen, and a wife to Ahab. It is totally relevant to our time in its challenges to the consequences of religious fundamentalism whether it comes from Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. Good work, and much needed at this time!”
An amazon user wrote this on 2008-04-30.
