Lady Danger: Jezebel
In this episode, Caz and Em take a closer look at the infamous figure of Jezebel, queen of Israel and scourge of the prophet Elijah. They explore how Jezebel’s intersecting identities as a powerful female foreign leader shape her representations in the Hebrew Bible and in New Testament texts. They also consider the ways that her reception over the centuries has operated to perpetuate misogynistic and racist stereotypes about women’s sexuality.
Show notes
Find us on Twitter @BloodyBiblePod, on Facebook @TheBloodyBiblePodcast, and on Instagram @bloodybiblepodcast. You can also email the podcast at BloodyBiblePodcast@gmail.com.
The Bloody Bible podcast is produced by Caroline Blyth, Emily Colgan and Richard Bonifant
Episodes are recorded and edited by Richard Bonifant
Our podcast music is ‘Stalker’ by Alexis Ortiz Sofield, courtesy of Pixabay music https://pixabay.com/music/search/stalker/
Our podcast art was created by Sarah Lea West
Resources for this episode
Melissa Archer, “The S/spirit of Jezebel and the Spirit of Prophecy: A Pentecostal Reading of Revelation 2:18–29.” Pneuma 44 (2022): 159–82.
Eileen Berrington & Päivi Honkatukia, “An Evil Monster and a Poor Thing: Female Violence in the Media.” Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention 3, no. 1 (2002): 50–72.
Athalya Brenner, “Jezebel: Bible.” Jewish Women’s Archive. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/jezebel-bible
Bradley L. Crowell. “Good Girl, Bad Girl: Foreign Women of the Deuteronomistic History in Postcolonial Perspective.” Biblical Interpretation 21, no. 1 (2013): 1–11.
Janet S. Everhart, “Jezebel: Framed by Eunuchs?” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 72 (2010): 688–98.
Wilda C. Gafney, Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne. Westminster John Knox Press, 2017.
Janet Howe Gaines, “How Bad Was Jezebel?” Biblical History Daily, 1 April 2023. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/how-bad-was-jezebel/
Else Holt, “‘Urged On by His Wife Jezebel’: A Literary Reading of 1 Kgs 18 in Context,” JSOT 9 (1995) 83-96.
Melissa Jackson, Comedy and Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible: A Subversive Collaboration. Oxford University Press, 2012.
Helena Kennedy, Misjustice: How British Law is Failing Women. Vintage, 2019.
Leath, Jennifer S. ‘Revising Jezebel Politics: Towards a New Black Sexual Ethic’ in Black Intersectionalities: A Critique for the 21st Century, 195–210. Liverpool University Press, 2017.
Mark McEntire, “Cozbi, Achan, and Jezebel: Executions in the Hebrew Bible and Modern Lynching.” Review and Expositor 118, no. 1 ( 2021): 21–31.
Judith E. McKinley, “Negotiating the Frame for Viewing the Death of Jezebel.” Biblical Interpretation 10, no. 3 (2002): 305–23.
Jonathan O’Donnell, “The Body Politic(s) of the Jezebel Spirit.” Religion & Gender 7, no. 2 (2017), 240–55. https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/rag/7/2/article-p240_7.xml
David Pilgrim, “The Jezebel Stereotype.” Jim Crow Museum. https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/jezebel/index.htm
Phyllis Trible, “Exegesis for Storytellers and Other Strangers.” Journal of Biblical Literature 114, no. 1 (1995): 3–19.
Robyn J. Whitaker, “Invoking Jezebel, Invoking Terror: The Threat of Sexual Violence in the Apocalypse to John.” In Terror in the Bible: Rhetoric, Gender, and Violence, ed. Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon and Robyn J. Whitaker, 107–120. SBL, 2021.
“Black Girl Gone” podcast https://blackgirlgonepodcast.com/
Support Services
List of sexual assault support services (NZ) – https://sexualabuse.org.nz/resources/find-sexual-assault-support-near-you/
RAINN (USA) – https://www.rainn.org/
For US listeners, to find a sexual assault support provider in your area, call 800.656.HOPE (4673)
Helping Survivors (USA) – https://helpingsurvivors.org/
Rape Crisis (UK) – https://rapecrisis.org.uk/
Rape Crisis Scotland – https://www.rapecrisisscotland.org.uk/
Full Stop (Australia) – https://fullstop.org.au/
Find a Helpline (lists helplines internationally) https://findahelpline.com/
