Seems like the Bible is full of women who did not meekly accept their husband's iron fist of authority and were blessed for it...
Badass Female Bible Characters
by Kudra 40 Replies latest jw friends
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cobaltcupcake
Esther
Women who got a raw deal: Too many to count
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fulltimestudent
... and then there is Naomi - who just knew that if she could get Boaz to screw Ruth he'd be hooked. Very interesting text at Ruth ch3.vs8.
Boaz gets a bit pissed (strange how the OT always associates getting pissed with illicit sex - Think Lot's daughters) "and, his heart is feeling good." He finds a place to sleep. Sneaky little Ruthie is watching him and creeps stealthily over to him uncovers his feet and lays down.
Now vs 8 says "and it came about at midnight that the man began to tremble." Tremble seems to a legitimate english word for charad, though to be afraid is also OK.
But why would Boaz be afraid? I think the NWT got it right this time. Why? Well, from personal experience if at night you're having a little personal play with yourself, your sleeping partner is likely to say, "Why's the bed shaking (or, trembling)? See?
So imagine, Boaz wakes up at midnight and he has an erection and does what men do, then that's just what its going to feel like to sneaky little Ruthie, lying at his feet. She moves her body so his feet touch her body, and Boaz sits up, "who the hells there?" he asks. "Only sneaky little Ruthie she says"... and you can read the rest for yourself.
So, isn't Naomi a wonderful example today. When a poor girl, finding herself husbandless among Yahweh's happy people, needs advice on getting a husband, Sister Like-naomi, will tell Sister unmarried just how to get her man.
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blondie
I wouldn't put Jezebel or her daughter Athaliah in the category who did not accept their husband's authority and were blessed for it.
1 Kings 21:1-20 (New American Standard)
Ahab Covets Naboth's Vineyard
1 Now it came about after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria . 2 Ahab spoke to Naboth , saying , " Give me your vineyard , that I may have it for a vegetable garden because it is close beside my house , and I will give you a better vineyard than it in its place ; if you like , I will give you the price of it in money ." 3 But Naboth said to Ahab , "The LORD forbid me that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers ." 4 So Ahab came into his house sullen and vexed because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he said , "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers ." And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and ate no food . 5 But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, "How is it that your spirit is so sullen that you are not eating food ?" 6 So he said to her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, 'Give me your vineyard for money ; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you a vineyard in its place .' But he said , 'I will not give you my vineyard .' " 7 Jezebel his wife said to him, " Do you now reign over Israel ? Arise , eat bread , and let your heart be joyful ; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite ." 8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal , and sent letters to the elders and to the nobles who were living with Naboth in his city . 9 Now she wrote in the letters , saying , "Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people ; 10 and seat two worthless men before him, and let them testify against him, saying , ' You cursed God and the king .' Then take him out and stone him to death ."
Jezebel's Plot
11 So the men of his city , the elders and the nobles who lived in his city , did as Jezebel had sent word to them, just as it was written in the letters which she had sent them. 12 They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the people . 13 Then the two worthless men came in and sat before him; and the worthless men testified against him, even against Naboth , before the people , saying , " Naboth cursed God and the king ." So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones . 14 Then they sent word to Jezebel , saying , "Naboth has been stoned and is dead ." 15 When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead , Jezebel said to Ahab , "Arise , take possession of the vineyard of Naboth , the Jezreelite , which he refused to give you for money ; for Naboth is not alive , but dead ." 16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead , Ahab arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite , to take possession of it. 17 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite , saying , 18 "Arise , go down to meet Ahab king of Israel , who is in Samaria ; behold , he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession of it. 19 "You shall speak to him, saying , 'Thus says the LORD , " Have you murdered and also taken possession ?"' And you shall speak to him, saying , 'Thus says the LORD , " In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth the dogs will lick up your blood , even yours .""' 20 Ahab said to Elijah , " Have you found me, O my enemy ?" And he answered , "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD .
Athaliah
The Woman Who Was a Notorious Murderess
Scripture References— 2 Kings 8:26 ; 11 ; 2 Chronicles 22 ; 23:13-21 ; 24:7
Name Meaning—Taken away of the Lord, or Jehovah has afflicted. Athaliah is also the name of two males ( 1 Chronicles 8:26 , 27 ; Ezra 8:7 ).
Family Connections—She was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and so was half Israelite and half Phoenician, and she personified all the evil of her ill-famed parents and transferred the poison of idolatry into Jerusalem’s veins. She was the granddaughter of Omri, 6th king of Israel, “who waded through slaughter to a throne he never inherited.” Athaliah married Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat. After many years of strife between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel political relations were more friendly, and as a mother of political expediency on the part of Jehoshaphat—which remains a blot upon his otherwise good memory—he gave his eldest son, Jehoram, in marriage to Athaliah whose brothers, loyal to the worship of Jehovah were murdered by Jehoram. Of this union Ahaziah was born who, with such a revolting figure as a mother, licentious and the personification of despicable arrogance, never had a chance to develop finer qualities of character. With such a mother as his wicked counselor what else could he do but walk in the ways of godless Ahab ( 2 Chronicles 22:3 ).
After reigning for eight years Jehoram died, unmourned, of a predicted incurable disease. While he reigned, he was dominated by Athaliah who had the stronger character of the two, and who, having inherited from her evil mother strength of will and fanatical devtion to the worship of Baal, made Judah idolatrous. Ahaziah only reigned for a year. Wounded in battle by Jehu, he fled to Megiddo, where he died, and his wicked mother ( 2 Chronicles 24:7 ) became envious of the throne. But the sons of Ahaziah stood in her way, and with fanatical ambition she seized the opportunity and massacred all the legal heirs—so she thought. This wholesale, merciless, cruel-hearted murderess sought to exterminate the last vestiges of the House of David through which the promised Messiah was to come. Behind her dastardly crime to destroy “The Seed Royal” we can detect the evil machinations of the devil—a murderer from the beginning—to annihilate the promised seed of the woman predestined to bruise the satanic head. A bad woman bent on destruction is doubly dangerous.
After putting to death her young grandsons, Athaliah reigned for six years, and was the only woman to reign as queen of Judah. The daughter of a king, wife of a king, mother of a king, she is now queen. While her husband reigned she was the power behind the throne—now she is the power on the throne, and proof of her energy, forcefulness and ability are seen in the length of her reign. A despotic ruler, her every gesture had to be obeyed. During her reign part of the Temple of Jehovah was pulled down and the material used in the building of a temple of Baal. But the God who over-rules in the destinies of men and nations, intervened to redeem His promise of a Saviour from the tribe of Judah.
Unknown to Athaliah as she set out to massacre all her grandsons, the youngest was hid from the orgy of destruction. The sister of Ahaziah, Jehosheba, wife of Jehoiada the high priest hid Joash until he was seven years old ( 2 Kings 11:2 ; 2 Chronicles 22:11 ). Jehoiada had plotted to put Joash (Jehoash) on the throne and waited for the opportune moment to declare the remaining son of Ahaziah the lawful king of Judah. Athaliah came into the Temple as the coronation of Joash took place, and rending her robe, cried: “Treason!” To save the Temple from being defiled with her evil blood she was slain just outside the door where the avenging guards waited to end her infamous life. Thus, as Edith Deen expresses it,
The horses trampled over her body where she lay dead at the gates. In her miserable end Athaliah bore a singular resemblance to her mother Jezebel, who was abandoned to the dogs. Athaliah was left in a horse-path, to be trampled upon. Like her mother she died a queen, but without a hand to help her or an eye to pity her.
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brizzzy
Why Jezebel was a badass:
http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/how-bad-was-jezebel.asp
Speaking of Jael, does anybody else think that My Book of Bible stories borrowed a liiiiiittle too heavily from James Tissot's rendition?
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cofty
haha good catch!
Another example of Watchtower plagiarism
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GLTirebiter
Judith was a legendary bad-ass. When the male leaders were fearful and ready to capitulate to Nebuchadnezzar's general Holoferenes, she took matters into her own hands. She doffed her widow's garb of mourning and donned her finest clothes, went to the enemy camp "seeking refuge." There she enticed the opposing commander, and his drunken delusion he brought her to his tent thinking she desired him. Instead, she beheaded him with his own sword, returned to the Isrealite camp carrying his head as a trophy. Her taking of Holofernes rallied the Israelite warriors to rout the invaders.
For their mighty one did not fall by young men, neither did the sons of Titan strike him, nor tall giants oppose themselves to him, but Judith the daughter of Merari weakened him with the beauty of her face.
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jgnat
2 Kings 4
27 And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” 28 Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me?’”
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Kudra
Oo -I like Judith!
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fulltimestudent
Blondie, I was just going to acknowledge my failure to cite my sources, when Yahweh, knowing how much I delight in truth, inspired brizzzy to post my BAR source. The Janet Gaines' article was a good one. Thnx for posting it Brizzzy.
and, Brizzzy - nice to see another BAR reader. Its a useful journal, isn't it?
I should also have noted Revelation 2:20 which pungently summarises all the Judaism saw wrong about "THAT woman Jezebel."
