Queens and Concubines in Samuel, Kings and Chronicles

Abigail: Midrash and Aggadah

by Tamar Kadari, Jewish Women's Archive

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/abigail-midrash-and-aggadah

The Rabbis depict Abigail as a wise and practical woman, capable of acting at the right moment and in the right way. She saves David from committing unnecessary bloodshed, while at the same time assuring her future. This good woman and David were suited for one another, and their marriage was ordained by Heaven; it was not based on political or economic considerations, but rather on love and mutual appreciation, the roots of which had already been planted the first time they met.

The Rabbis’ positive attitude to Abigail is evident from their deliberations about the number of wives that a king may take. The Torah (Deut. 17:17) mandates that the king “shall not have many wives,” which the Rabbis understood as limiting him to eighteen wives. In this context they add the proviso: “‘he shall not have many wives’—even though they be like Abigail” (M Sanhedrin 2:4). In other words, even if the king’s wives are blessed with good traits and are as righteous as Abigail, he may not take too many. Another view, however, understands that this prohibition is meant to prevent the king from leaving the path of the Lord. Consequently, if a person has wives like Abigail, there is no reason to limit the number of his spouses (T Sanhedrin 4:5; BT Bava Mezia 115a). Both approaches, regardless of the differences between their interpretations, highlight Abigail’s uniqueness: she is the only one of David’s wives mentioned in this context and she symbolizes positiveness and goodness.

The Rabbis include Abigail among the four most beautiful women who ever lived. The mere thought of her, even without seeing her, inspired lust (BT Megillah 15a). She is also mentioned among the seven women prophets of Israel (BT Megillah 14a). Although the Bible does not depict her as such, Abigail’s entreaty to David in I Sam. 25:24–31, which forecasts his military victory over his enemies and his future as king over Israel, was perceived as prophecy (Seder Eliyahu Rabbah 21). Since she was blessed with divine inspiration, the Rabbis learned of the afterlife from what Abigail pronounced. She tells David (v. 29): “the life of my lord will be bound up in the bundle of life,” from which the Rabbis derive that God bundles up the souls of the righteous with pleasure and honor (Sifrei Zuta on Numbers, 27:12).

Maacah the wife of David: Midrash and Aggadah

by Tamar Kadari

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/maacah-wife-of-david-midrash-and-aggadah

Maacah, the daughter of King Talmi of Geshur, was married to King David and bore him his son Absalom. In the Midrashic account, David saw Maacah when he went forth to war; he desired her and he took her as an eshet yefat to’ar (Tanhuma [ed. Buber], Ki Teze 1)—a non-Jewish woman taken captive during wartime and who is desired by her Israelite captor, who wants to marry her. He may do so under the conditions that are specified in Deut. 21:10–14. The woman must first shave her hair and pare her nails, then wear mourning clothing and lament for her parents’ home for a month. Only after all these steps is her captor permitted to take her as his wife. The Rabbis did not look favorably on the man who took an eshet yefat to’ar for himself; they say that the disfigurement of the shaving of her hair was meant to make her repulsive to her captor (BT Yevamot 48a).

The Rabbis severely criticize David for taking to himself an eshet yefat to’ar. Deut. 21 speaks of three topics in succession: the eshet yefat to’ar (21:10–14); the instance of a man who has two wives, one loved and the other unloved (vv. 15–17); and the “wayward and defiant son” (vv. 18–21; for the meaning of this term, see below). The Rabbis derive from this juxtaposition that one transgression leads to another. If a person brings an eshet yefat to’ar into his home, he introduces dissension. The eshet yefat to’ar with shaven head is not desirable to him, and so he becomes the husband of two wives, only one of whom he loves. This complicated family situation with two wives, one of whom he hates, leads to his child being a “wayward and defiant son.” The Rabbis exemplify such a process with the marriage of David and Maacah. Maacah, an eshet yefat to’ar, bore Absalom, who acted as a “wayward and defiant son.” Deut. 21:18–21 defines such a child as one who does not heed his parents, throws off all restraints and lives a riotous life, gorging himself on meat and drinking large quantities of wine. The Rabbis provide detailed (halakhic) definitions of the transgressions ascribed to such a son (M Sanhedrin 8; BT Sanhedrin 71a), and they portray Absalom as acting like such a son, as is attested by his extreme actions: he sought to kill his father David; he slept with his father’s wives, “in the sight of all Israel and in broad daylight” (II Sam. 12:12); because of him, several myriads of Israelites fell in his war against David; he also caused dissension in Israel, between his followers and David’s loyalists.

Bathsheba: Bible

by Rachel Adelman

Jewish Women's Archive

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/bathsheba-bible

In Brief

The biblical narratives featuring Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12; 1 Kings 1-2) entail adultery and bloodshed, prophetic rebuke and tragic consequences, and the breaking and making of the throne. From his roof, King David (reigns c. 1005–965 BCE) sees beautiful Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, bathing, and he lies with her. Uriah is summoned from the front to cover for the resulting pregnancy, but when he refuses to go home, the king has him slain in battle. David then marries the widowed Bathsheba, who bears a son. In response to the adultery and murder, the prophet curses David’s House, the first consequence being the death of the infant conceived in adultery. Yet Bathsheba ensures that their second son, Solomon (reigns c. 968–928 BCE), becomes successor to the throne.

Jezebel: Bible

by Athalya Brenner

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/jezebel-bible

Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre, and wife of Ahab, king of Israel (1 Kgs 16:31), in the mid-ninth century BCE. She was undoubtedly the chief wife of Ahab and co-ruler with him. It is implied that she was the mother of Ahab’s son and successor Ahaziah (1 Kgs 22:53) and alternately implied and stated that she was mother of the next king, Jehoram (2 Kgs 3:2, 13; 9:22). Ahab had other unnamed wives as well and many unnamed sons (1 Kgs 20:3, 5, 7; 2 Kings 10). Hence, whether Jezebel had other children or, specifically, was Athaliah’s mother is unclear.

The extent of Jezebel’s power is evidenced by the necessity for Jehu, the founder of the next royal dynasty in Israel, to murder her before his rule can be established (2 Kgs 9:30–37)—even though her royal husband and sons are by now dead. The biblical text insists that she is evil through and through.

Jezebel is the enemy of YHWH’s prophets: she “killed the prophets of the Lord” (1 Kgs 18:13). On the other hand, there are “the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table” (v. 19). Elijah kills Jezebel’s prophets on Mount Carmel (chap. 18). As a result, she swears that she will kill him (19:3). He takes her threat seriously and flees to the south, beyond the Israelite territory. His fleeing indicates Jezebel’s power in the realm.

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It seems reasonable that Jezebel, a foreign royal princess by birth, was highly educated and efficient. Also, although her son’s theophoric names have the element yah or yahu (referring to YHWH) in them, she seems to have been a patron and devotee of the Baal cult. It is not incomprehensible that, whereas Ahab devoted himself to military and foreign affairs, Jezebel acted as his deputy for internal affairs: the Naboth report comes back to her, as if the king’s seal was hers (see Avigad’s identification of a seal, “lyzbl,” as possibly Jezebel’s); she has her own “table,” that is her own economic establishment and budget; she has her own “prophets,” probably a religious establishment that she controls. All these point toward an official or semiofficial position that Jezebel held by virtue of her character, her royal origin and connections, her husband’s and later her children’s esteem, and her religious affiliation to the Baal (possibly also Asherah) cult. Perhaps she had the status of gebira “queen mother” (Ben-Barak), or of “co-regent” (Brenner).

At any rate, there is no doubt that the biblical and later accounts distort her portrait for several reasons, among which we can list her monarchic power, deemed unfit in a woman; her reported devotion to the Baal and Asherah cult and her objection to Elijah and other prophets of YHWH; her education and legal know-how (shown in the Naboth affair); and her foreign origin. Ultimately, the same passages that disclaim Jezebel as evil, “whoring,” and immoral are witness to her power and the need to curb it.

Athaliah: Bible

by Athalya Brenner

Jewish Women's Archive

↗https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/athaliah-bible

Queen Athaliah is the only woman in the Hebrew Bible reported as having reigned as a monarch within Israel/Judah. She is the daughter of either Omri, king of Israel (2 Kgs 8:26; 2 Chr 22:2), or, more probably, of his son King Ahab (2 Kgs 8:18; 2 Chr 21:6; the Jewish historian Josephus cites this in Antiquities), who ruled from 873 to 852 b.c.e. There is no evidence that she was the daughter of Ahab’s chief wife, Jezebel. Athaliah married Jehoram (reigned 851–843 B.C.E.) of Judah (2 Kgs 8:18; 2 Chr 21:6). After Jehoram’s death, their son Ahaziah reigned for one year, and “his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly” (2 Chr 22:3).

After Ahaziah is killed in a dynastic struggle (2 Kings 9), Athaliah sets out to kill the rest of the royal dynasty and seizes the throne of Judah in Jerusalem (2 Kings 9; 2 Chr 22:10–23:21). She manages to remain sole monarch for six years (842–836 B.C.E.). In the seventh year a revolution led by Jehoiada the priest puts on the throne the seven-year-old Joash, Ahaziah’s child who was rescued by his paternal aunt (and Jehoiada’s wife) Jehosheba from the royal bloodbath six years earlier. The overthrow takes place in the Jerusalem temple. Athaliah is killed in what she terms “treason” (2 Kgs 11:14; 2 Chr 23:13) against her reign.

The biblical evaluation of her rule is negative. Both 2 Kings 11 and 1 Chronicles (especially chap. 24) connect Athaliah with Baal worship, even though her name contains the theophoric element yah[u] (yhwh), like the names of other figures in the story. The priestly objection to her could also be motivated by hatred for a non-Davidic ruler and, particularly, a woman ruler. However, that she managed to sustain her reign for six years can be attributed to her successful use of various sources of power: her royal origins and connections, involvement in her husband’s and son’s reigns, economic independence, personal ability, and political knowledge—all of which are not mentioned, apart from notes on her wicked influence on her husband and son.