In an important and engaging new book, biblical scholar Eleanor Beach reframes the notorious figure of Jezebel, the much-maligned Israelite queen whose very name has come to stand for license and depravity.

        The Jezebel Letters combines top-notch biblical scholarship with a fictionalized first-person account of the infamous biblical character. Beach transforms the stereotype of the wanton and manipulative queen into a more historically based portrayal of a powerful, literate royal woman.

        Presented as a collection of “recently discovered” ninth-century documents, The Jezebel Letters entices readers into an assassination plot supported by the conniving Queen Jezebel. The well-researched fictional letters and memoirs, interwoven with sometimes conflicting biblical and ancient Near Eastern accounts, document the religious and political developments in Israel and Judah. But these public aspects, traditionally narrated as men’s actions, are told from a royal woman’s perspective.        

        Generously illustrated with drawings of contemporary artifacts, The Jezebel Letters incorporates historical and archaeological findings and the author’s familiarity with the region’s geography, climate, plants, and animals. General readers interested biblical studies, ancient history, archaeology, and women’s issues will find the story to be an engaging as well as informative experience. The book will prove useful as an accompanying reading for classes in biblical studies, Israelite history, women’s studies, women’s history, and women and the Bible, with sections of maps, chronology, genealogy, notes, and glossary.

        The Jezebel Letters also offers perspectives on conditions in an ancient culture and century that may prove enlightening for those concerned with modern Middle Eastern politics. It explores how resistance arises when kinship-based political loyalties and local economies, both embedded in religious traditions, are reshaped under a more global economy and centralized control perceived as serving foreign interests.

Comments

        “Although biblical narrative castigates Ahab and his Queen Jezebel as depraved idol worshipers who led their country to ruin, recent historical and archeological study points to the reign of the Omride dynasty as a period that saw the rise and fall of northern Israel as a major regional power.  Eleanor Ferris Beach, in her provocative and insightful construction of the lost archive of Queen Jezebel, provides readers with an alternative account of the events of this crucial period in Israel’s and Judah’s history…. Jezebel emerges not as the notorious and despised ‘painted lady’ of biblical narrative and later tradition, but as the urbane and thoughtful Queen of Israel who gives voice to her efforts and those of her family in guiding Israel through one of its most challenging—and least understood—periods.”

        Marvin A. Sweeney, Professor of Hebrew Bible, Claremont School of Religion, and Professor of Religion, Claremont Graduate University
 

        “The author weaves a tapestry of biblical passages, Ancient Near Eastern documents, and archaeological finds together with fictional but not fictitious letters and memoirs written by the ancient Queen herself.  The resulting mosaic is colorful and fresh, letting us reverse our cultural opinion of ‘Jezebel’ and see her for what she probably was:  a regal, wise, politically active wife, mother and queen in Israel.”

        Athalya Brenner, Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands