ABSTRACT
The Deuteronomists sought, and found, in Jezebel, the foreign woman, and her devotion to her foreign gods, the reason why their nations had been overrun by the heathen armies. King Ahab, the husband, committed all his evil acts at the instigation of Jezebel. The Jezebel narrative is part of the Deuteronomistic answer to the challenge posed by the exile. According to the Deuteronomists, the crime that led to the catastrophe was apostasy. They found the culprit in Jezebel, the Baal-worshipping foreign woman who introduced the worship of false gods in the kingdom of Israel. Jezebel had the disadvantage of being a (powerful) woman, a foreigner, an adherent of a foreign religion and of being “close at hand.” She is clearly the “Other” in these critical respects. These made her a prime target of scapegoating. Jezebel is ethnically and religiously the “Other,” a powerful queen who transgresses proper gender roles.
