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Tucked away in II Kings 11 is the story of a mother-daughter feud that’s private, political, and in the end deadly. Jehu, a charismatic navy commander, is anointed by Elisha as the following king of the northern kingdom of Israel. Jehu kills the earlier king of Israel, Jehoram, and likewise Jehoram’s mom Jezebel (sure, that Jezebel—the well-known/notorious queen). As a part of his violent rise to energy, Jehu additionally kills Ahaziah, king of the southern kingdom of Judah. Ahaziah’s demise ought to imply that Athaliah (Atalya), who’s queen mom of Judah in addition to the daughter of Jezebel, cedes energy to a brand new king and a brand new queen mom. As a substitute, in response to the Guide of Kings, Athaliah has the remainder of the king’s sons and grandsons murdered, and seizes the throne for herself.
All appears misplaced for the Judean line, besides that Jehosheba (Yehosheva), spouse of the excessive priest Jehoiada and sister of the murdered King Ahaziah, saves certainly one of Ahaziah’s sons, together with the kid’s wetnurse, and hides them each within the Temple. Jehosehba retains the boy, Joash, and his nurse within the Temple till he’s six years previous. At the moment, Jehosheba’s husband, the excessive priest, anoints Joash king, levels a coup, and executes Athaliah as a usurper. Jehosheba’s motion saves the Davidic line. The gathering of Jewish legends referred to as Otzar Midrashim lists Jehosheba as one of many righteous girls of the Jewish individuals.
Jehosheba, princess of Judah, has all the time introduced me with an interpretive downside. On the one hand, this character is clearly a biblical heroine. Jehosheba bravely stands up in opposition to Athaliah, a murderous queen who could also be Jehosheba’s personal mom. Although it’s additionally doable Jehosheba may very well be a daughter of a distinct spouse of King Ahaziah, Jewish custom tends to see Jehosheba because the daughter of Athaliah—and this daughter acts in opposition to her dad or mum to avoid wasting the newborn Joash. It’s even doable that Jehosheba is popping down her probability to be her mom’s inheritor in an effort to enact this rescue.
Just like the daughter of Pharaoh, Jehosheba hides the weak baby till he’s sufficiently old to assert his inheritance. She dangers her personal life and breaches the Temple’s sanctity. Joash here’s a sort of second Moses, and Jehosheba is a remake of Pharaoh’s daughter, referred to as Batya in later Jewish legend.
One may additionally see Jehosheba as a priestess kind, since she is the spouse of the excessive priest, and in response to Jewish legislation, that will make her a kohenet—a priestess or priestly girl, entitled to eat from the sacrificial meals. The medieval Jewish scholar Abravanel provides that Jehosheba lives within the Temple and thus has a better time hiding the kid in a spot the place laypeople can not go; many interpreters say she hid the boy and his nurse within the Holy of Holies itself. This means Jehosheba holds life sacred above all else.
However, Jehosheba is a part of a story wherein the one good girl is the one who helps male-centered monarchy. Scholar Cat Quine calls Jehosheba a mannequin of “good femininity”—“prioritizing the security of the male…and retiring appropriately from the foreground of occasions.” Athaliah, the feminine monarch who has taken on a historically male function, is portrayed as usurping and monstrous—equally to Jezebel who can be portrayed as murderous and unrighteous—whereas the motherly Jehosheba, who has no public function besides because the spouse of a robust man, is portrayed as virtuous. As students Judith Maeryam Wouk and Kuloba Wagyanga Robert level out, we don’t know whether or not Jezebel or Athaliah had been as unhealthy because the biblical textual content makes them out to be—it’s doable these feminine characters are demonized to advertise a patriarchal narrative. Robert even factors out that since Jehu has already killed “the brothers of Ahaziah,” the story that Athaliah killed the identical individuals in a murderous rampage doesn’t make sense. It may very well be that Athaliah was the final member of the Home of Judah left who might take the reins of the dominion—and that this was later portrayed by her enemies as an illegitimate seizure of energy.
In the meantime, the actual fact that Yehosheva will not be reported killed within the purge means that she might by no means be queen, although she is the king’s daughter. A six-year-old boy is taken into account a extra professional ruler than her. We would see Jehosheba as a personality meant to valorize “good girls” who settle for and promote the authority of males. Serious about her this fashion, I really feel much less enthusiastic about her character.
So is Jehosheba a hero, or a sellout? Maybe we will’t resolve the query. Both of the readings I’ve introduced may very well be considered a feminist studying of this enigmatic character: Jehosheba the lifesaving priestess, or Jehosheba the betrayer of feminine energy. Some days I really feel pulled to admire Jehosheba. Who can’t relate to a daughter who stands as much as her oppressive mom, and saves a child? Different days I really feel like Jehosheba is a straw determine positioned to cover what actually occurred to Judah’s solely girl ruler in biblical days. And there are, after all, different readings I haven’t considered, that will additional complicate this image. (For instance, what’s the perspective of the wetnurse who will get caught up in all this?) In the long run, the story of Jehosheba jogs my memory each of how tough it’s to interpret textual content and historical past—and of what number of prospects are current inside the file of the previous.
Sources
II Kings 1
I Chronicles 22
Otzar haMidrashim, Baraita of Rabbi Pinchas ben Ya’ir 1
Abarbanel on II Kings 11:2:1
Hayyim Joseph David Azulay on II Kings 11:2
Jill Hammer, “Queen Moms and Matriarchs: How the Function of the Gevirah Helps Us Perceive Moms in Genesis,” in G’vanim, vol. 4, no. 1 (2008), p. 13-29.
Cat Quine, “Bereaved Moms and Masculine Queens: The Political Makes use of of Maternal Grief in 1-2 Kings,” in Open Theology, vol. 6 situation 1 (2020), 407-422.
Kuloba Wagyanga Robert, “Athaliah of Judah (2 Kings 11): A Political Anomaly or Ideological Sufferer?” in Wanting By way of a Glass Bible, eds. A.Okay.M Adam and Samuel Tongue (Brill, 2014), p. 139-152.
Judith Maeryam Wouk, “Jezebel and Moral Resolution-Making,” Presentation, American Academy of Faith, March 19-21, 2021.
Classes: Bible, Feminism, Feminism and Faith, Feminism and Spirituality, Common
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