The Palms of Jezebel

In I Kings, 21: 23, the Lord, speaking through Elijah, declares, 'The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel'. In II Kings, 9: 33 we read of Jezebel's death, 'So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses; and he (i.e. Jehu) trode her under foot.' The New English Bible amends this by making the horses tread her underfoot; the next verse continues: '... Go, see now this accursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king's daughter. And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands'. In order to make it quite clear that the disappearance of the rest of the corpse was the fulfilment of Elijah's prophecy, verse 36 gives us Jehu's comment, 'This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel. ' Jewish legend tries to account for the dogs' fastidiousness with characteristic pietism: 'Hardened sinner though Jezebel was', says L. Ginzberg,2 'even she had good qualities. Sympathy in joy and sorrow; she would join a funeral cortege passing the palace and also bridal processions. By way of reward (!) the limbs and organs with which she had executed these good deeds were left intact by the horses that trampled her to death in the portion of Jezreel'. There are several points to criticize: first, the good deeds with which Jezebel is credited have only traditional, not scriptural authority. Secondly, she was thrown down from an upper storey window and

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• The Evil Eye

  Amica Lykiardopoulos•Folklore•1981

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