ABSTRACT
Our final female character is not traditionally counted among the victims of the Bible's “texts of terror,” despite the violence done to her. Jezebel's characterization in the Bible comes from a handful of passages, but primarily from just two texts: the story of Naboth's vineyard, and the story of her death. These tales take place at two very different points—and, I will demonstrate, through inverted metaphorical lenses. In the first story, Jezebel's husband Ahab covets the land owned by a man named Naboth; Jezebel thus orchestrates the death of Naboth and the deliverance of the land into Ahab's hands. In the second story, Jezebel waits in her palace for the usurper Jehu, who has already killed her son. After an exchange of words, she is pushed from a window to fall to her death, after which her body is eaten by dogs.
