Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen

by Lesley Hazleton (Goodreads author)

book data

52 ratings, 3.87 average rating, 21 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		25%
4		44%
3		23%
2		7%
1		0%

edit

published

October 16th 2007 by Doubleday

binding

Hardcover, 272 pages

isbn

0385516142 (isbn13: 9780385516143)

description

There is no woman with a worse reputation than Jezebel, the ancient queen who corrupted a nation and met one of the most gruesome fates in the Bible.

...more

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | compare prices ($10.00)…

new topic
discuss this book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

friend reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

lists with this book

This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists. Add this book to your favorite list »

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 131)

sort: default (?) | date
filters: all | text-only

12/20/07

Jason Pettus rated it:

Read in December, 2007

(The full review I wrote of this book is much larger than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

So are you familiar already with the story of Jezebel? It appears in both the Jewish bible (Tanakh) and the Christian one (Old Testament, Books of Kings), based extremely loosely on the real woman who served as one of the queens of Israel back in ancient times. As the traditional legend goes, Jezebel...more (The full review I wrote of this book is much larger than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

So are you familiar already with the story of Jezebel? It appears in both the Jewish bible (Tanakh) and the Christian one (Old Testament, Books of Kings), based extremely loosely on the real woman who served as one of the queens of Israel back in ancient times. As the traditional legend goes, Jezebel was originally a pagan Phoenician, married off by her father to Israel's King Ahab for political reasons; it was her meddling ways, according to Jewish and Christian scripture, that led the king away from worshipping the One True God (Yahweh) and to instead focus on the Phoenician "heathen" god Baal. Eventually, however, the power couple was finally confronted by one of the most important early prophets of the Jewish religion, the poverty-embracing, desert-roaming Elijah; it was he who predicted the downfall of Israel because of Jezebel's influence, he who first called her the "harlot queen." And thus, traditional lore has it, did Israel indeed fall to the Assyrians roughly around 900 BC, and thus was Jezebel's body literally eaten by dogs after her death, and thus has her name itself become synonymous over the years with the wanton heretic hussy, using her body and her wily sexual charms to ridicule everything that Good True Christians hold dear.

But there's a problem with this story, or so claims psychologist, Hebrew scholar and Middle East journalist Lesley Hazleton, which is that it simply isn't true; as she details in her new "speculative nonfiction" book Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen, the story itself wasn't even written until 300 years after her death, by a group of Judeans who had never even been to Israel, at a time when Judea itself was under the looming threat of extinction just like had been Israel's fate several centuries earlier. So yes, in other words, there was a political agenda attached to the writing of Kings, a plea from that generation's faithful to take heed of the pagan hoards at Judea's borders; and there was no better way to get that message across than through an alarmist retelling of the Jezebel myth, painting her as a singular creature of evil when in fact she was no particularly worse or better than any of the other Middle Eastern queens of her time. And not only that, but that the very definition of the word "harlot" has changed profoundly since ancient times, with the original authors of Kings meaning nothing sexual at all when first using it themselves. And not only that, but that the prophet Elijah was not really a savior but in actuality Judaism's (and therefore Christianity's) very first radical fundamentalist, the start of an ugly tradition in those religions that in our modern age has brought us televangelists, abortion-clinic bombers, and people obsessed with the Rapture and subsequent Apocalypse.

Yeah, I know, it's a lot of challenges to traditional Western religious thought that Hazleton is throwing out...(less)

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment

10/19/07

Janeadams Adams added it

Janeadams's review
recommended for: everyone

Here's what I learned from JEZEBEL, Leslie Hazelton's fascinating new book!
1. My favorite Passover prophet was a fire-breathing fundamentalist - I'm not inviting him to my next Seder.

2. The authors of the Book of Kings had a political agenda in portraying Jezebel as an evil harlot bent on destroying monotheism and the ruination of Israel.

3. Far from being a Harlot, Jezebel was a vulnerable, virgin...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

05/14/09

Laura rated it:

Read in May, 2009

I really got into this book. I picked it up because I was curious about the name Jezebel. Why don't you ever meet people with this name? I thought it was a pretty name, so why wouldn't it be used? As it turns out, it is not a pretty name and there is good reason for not giving this name to little girls. As you can tell I am not a bible reader. I didn't know about King Ahab and Jezebel. All of my questions were answered in this book to my satisfaction, and better.

Lesley Hazle...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

01/08/09

A.C. rated it:

bookshelves: biography

Read in January, 2009

An interesting historical biography of one of the Bible's greatest villains. Hazleton examines archeological findings, current Holy Land environs, biblical and modern sociology, and historical texts in her exploration of Jezebel as a woman, character, and ruler.
The book is written from a clearly modern and clearly feminist perspective, giving a refreshing and occasionally jarring view of what it means to be a harlot. So much is explored through language and derivative meaning that at poi...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

05/08/08

Jessica rated it:

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: people interested in the people in the Bible

Jezebel was a very interesting book about an infamous woman from the Old Testament of the Bible. Jezebel was known as the "Harlot Queen", so this book seeks to find out who Jezebel really was. The history of Jezebel's family and where she came from was very interesting. But, the most interesting thing about her is that she was thought to be seductive and an overly sexualized woman (especially for her day) and her name is still used today as an insult to women. But, in the Bible the...more

Like this review? yes

1 comment

11/03/07

Carol Orlock added it

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: all readers

With Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen, Lesley Hazleton has done it again.
Maybe she's succeeded even more -- it's hard to judge because both her recent books are so stunningly good.

Her last -- Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of The Virgin Mother -- looked beneath the myth
of "the perfect woman," discovering the reality behind someone that history re-crafted and cult-ified for a symbol of purity. Jezebel explores the other side of the ...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

10/22/07

Morgan Kellock rated it:

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: anyone

Let us thank Lesley Hazleton for bringing the logic of drama--character, motivation, plot--to the Bible stories of saints and sinners. The sketchy saga of Jezebel as we know it, filled with historical inconsistency, linguistic inaccuracy, and moral nonsense, swells with detail as Hazleton frames Jezebel's life and death in the religious and economic politics of her time.

Using impeccable scholarship and direct translation from Hebrew texts, Hazleton explores Jezebel as a political her...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

10/22/07

Kate Mcleod rated it:

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: everyone

Lesley Hazleton tells readers the story of a 15-year-old girl, branded like Kleenex as a harlot. But through her scholarship and use of “historical imagination” the story becomes much more layered. Married off to Ahab, the King of Israel by her father, Jezebel comes from her seaside home of Tyre to the harsh desert. She brings with her, her polytheistic beliefs and that is when Elijah, Israel’s ragged prophet of Yahweh, the one and only god, goes to war against her. Sound familiar?
...more

Like this review? yes

1 comment

10/21/07

Lesley rated it:

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: everyone

It's a pleasure to read this hot-off-the-press, gorgeous creative work of nonfiction. Hazleton is a magical writer who brings long-dead women and men and cultures back to life with evocative, sensual prose and imagery that seems to breathe and flower like a garden. I wish I'd had history books like this - Jezebel and Hazleton's earlier award-winning Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother- when I was a young girl intrigued by the ancient world but repelled by the arid, patriarchal...more It's a pleasure to read this hot-off-the-press, gorgeous creative work of nonfiction. Hazleton is a magical writer who brings long-dead women and men and cultures back to life with evocative, sensual prose and imagery that seems to breathe and flower like a garden. I wish I'd had history books like this - Jezebel and Hazleton's earlier award-winning Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother- when I was a young girl intrigued by the ancient world but repelled by the arid, patriarchal tomes available then (including the Old Testament).
The research in Jezebel is erudite, far-reaching and - as far I can tell - impeccable, and it is enrichened by Hazletons' own knowledge and authentic feel for the land, where she lived in its modern version. Yet the details are never overwhelming, academic or dry. This secular book is aimed to entertain and titillate while it re-educates us and digs up long-buried and misundertood artifacts and characters. It is not propaganda or a spiritual tract. It is good, fun, sexy, sometimes shocking and gory history that sheds light on one of the most fascinating aspects of human culture played out time and time again: how a polytheistic, goddess-oriented society loses out to a monotheistic, patriarchal society and how this power play becomes reflected in a re-writing of history and a debasement of the feminine, of women, of goddesses and animals gods, and of ancient queens.
Not raised in any of the religious traditions originating in the Middle East, I'd had little exposure to Jezebel and the other characters in this vast cast,(however, I did gather that a "Jezebel" was apparently an "evil slut". Now I know where that term comes from). My lack of judeo-christian background didn't make this book any less intriguing; I appreciate it as I do any well-told epic story of any culture. I feel less ignorant now. I especially appreciate the retelling of history/myths from a nonstrident "feminist" viewpoint such as Hazleton's. (By "feminist" I mean from the point of view of a woman - or seeing women as fully fledged and important human beings, not mere stage props, vessels for ancient semen, son-bearers, or passive victims of massacres. And "feminist" as understanding the ancient female experience as one that is interesting and worthy of meticulous study.
I am going to put Jezebel on my book shelf next to The Underside of History: A View of Women Through Time Volume 1,The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets,and The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future
By Lesley Thomas, author of Flight of the Goose
(less)

Like this review? yes

2 comments

12/03/07

Monty rated it:

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: Anyone looking for a balanced side to what the Bible says

I read this book soon after reading Mary: a flesh-and-blood biography of the virgin mother. Both books add a balance to the Bible stories by putting them into historical perspective and correcting some of the faulty translations. It turns out that Jezebel was no harlot and Elijah was a crazed fundamentalist. I'm not sure about inviting him to our next Seder table after reading this book. Towards the end of the book, the author describes how true monotheism originated, how about 150 years aft...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

04/07/08

Marie rated it:

bookshelves: biography, nonfiction, spirituality-religion, women

Read in February, 2008

Lesley Hazelton was a visiting professor at PLU when I was there--an expert in Israeli culture and history--so I was particularly interested in this book. I read one of her earlier books, Israeli Women, years ago.

Outstanding biography of the woman whose name has come to symbolize harlotry and idolatry. Through historical research and analysis, Hazleton proves that Jezebel represented tolerance and open-mindedness, and she was framed in the bible. And Elijah, who has come to be consid...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

07/17/08

Kate rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in September, 2008

This was a very interesting historical look at the infamous Jezebel. The author describes what was going on that the Bible doesn't go into detail over. I thought she was a bit reluctant to show her in any sort of negative light, but she did point out biases that the authors would have thrown in. But having a contextual look at the Bible and such a well-known woman of the Bible is always interesting. Very interesting if you like reading the background information about what was happening and why ...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

07/19/08

Susan rated it:

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in July, 2008

I thought this was a fiction book (the librarian mistakenly had it labeled as such, but I'll get that changed), but it's one of those tricky books that mixes biblical information with other facts. It's not fiction, but it's not fact either. It assumes that Jezebel was called a harlot on trumped up charges, then makes the case for her being a powerful leader, and worthy of our respect, not contempt. Not recommended as Judaica non-fiction.

Like this review? yes

add a comment

05/10/08

Daelith added it

bookshelves: bookcrossing, did-not-finish

Read in October, 2008

I finally called it quits on this book at page 130. This is just not my cup of tea. I prefer fiction though this seem to have snippets of fiction when the author interjected emotions and thoughts onto people who lived thousands of years ago. There a few interesting tidbits of info and theories, but overall not enough to hold my attention.

Like this review? yes

1 comment

02/10/09

Michalea rated it:

Read in April, 2009

Fiction and fact about another one those badly-behaved women. Interesting juxtaposition of ancient and modern middle-eastern sensibilities. And a rather sobering view that things haven't changed all that much when it comes to politics, gender, and religious fanaticism. Who knew the ancient Israelites had fatwahs and jihads?

Like this review? yes

add a comment

04/12/08

Anita rated it:

bookshelves: biography, religion

Read in April, 2008

Although you'll never look at Elijah quite the same way again, this author has a fascinating perspective and well-written approach to the Omrid dynasty and gives us a look at the agenda of the authors of Kings. Really enjoyed her insights.

Like this review? yes

add a comment

10/22/07

Joan Bailey rated it:

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: My Book Club

This is a wonderful, captivating, hard-to-put-down book. The story of Jezebel is a brillant eye opener! This will be on every Book Club's list in 2008. Lesley Hazleton has written a masterpiece. I recommend it to everyone !

Like this review? yes

add a comment

08/19/08

Bocephus rated it:

What I learned - Everything. Must read for any woman who was ever 1) forced to go to church, 2) called a slut, whore, Jezebel, etc., and any guy who has ever called a woman such a name.

Like this review? yes

add a comment

09/02/08

Tessha rated it:

bookshelves: historical-fiction

Enjoyed the historical insite. I feel like I know her and a piece of Israel better. If anyone is going to call someone a "Jezebel," they had better read this book first.

Like this review? yes

add a comment

11/07/07

Maeve rated it:

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: Most anyone

Be careful of slogans -- political, sales, personal -- This book resurected the term "harlot" and the woman, Jezebel. It is a lively and incredibly interesting read.

Like this review? yes

add a comment