CAIN
AND ABEL
JAEL AND SISERA
THE LEVITE'S CONCUBINE
EHUD ASSASSINATES EGLON
ABSALOM'S DEATH
JEHU
MURDERS JEZEBEL
JEHU AND THE ROYAL CHILDREN
JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES
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On one level this story is about the deadly rivalry between two brothers; on a second level, it is about the struggle between two ways of life: nomadic herding of flocks, and farming. Abel represents the herdsmen, Cain the farmers. There is constant friction between the two groups, both of them fighting for the limited resources of the land. The herdsmen are angry when the farmers take over the best land for their crops; the farmers retaliate when the flocks trample their crops. This friction leads to violence, in which people are killed.
'Now
Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course
of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground,
and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat
portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain
and his offering he had no regards. So Cain was very angry, and his
countenance fell....
Cain said to his brother Abel "Let us go out to the field." And
when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and
killed him."'
(Genesis 4:3-7)
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JAEL AND SISERA (Judges 4 & 5)
Sisera, the defeated enemy general, flees from the scene of battle. He goes into the tent of a woman who is friendly with the Israelites, and wants to help them. She offers the exhausted soldier some milk to drink, then when he falls asleep she takes a tent peg and a mallet, and drives the peg through the side of his skull. He dies instantly. She is praised, in poetry and prose, as one of the great heroines of the beleaguered Israelites.
'She put her hand to the tent peg
and her right hand to the workmen's mallet;
she struck Sisera a blow, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced
his temple.
He sank, he fell, he lay still at her feet; at her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell dead.'
(Judges 5:26-27)
For more on this story, see BIBLE WOMEN: JAEL
'Jael and Sisera', Neil Cuthbert
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THE
LEVITE'S CONCUBINE
(Judges 19)
A Levite man and his concubine (a secondary wife without the legal status of a wife) were traveling through the hill country of Judah. They spent the night at a little village, where they were attacked by some of the villagers who wanted to rape the man. The old man who was the Levite's host offered the men his own daughter instead, as well as the concubine, but the men outside would not listen. The Levite then pushed the concubine out the door, giving her to the men who raped her. She died the next morning.
'In the morning her master got up, opened the doors of the house, and when he went out to go on his way, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 'Get up' he said to her, 'we are going'. But there was no answer.' (Judges 19:27-28)
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EHUD ASSASSINATES EGLON (Judges 3)
Ehud, an Israelite, carries tribute to the Moabite king Eglon, and as he hands it over he whispers to the king that he has secret information for him. The king, intrigued, invites him into a private room upstairs, where Ehud draws out a sword he has strapped to his inside thigh and plunges it into the king's very fat body. Then he leaves, locking the door after him so that the servants think the king must be relieving himself - the private room had a commode toilet for the use of the king. Ehud escapes, and when the servants finally check on their king, he is dead.
'Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into Eglon's belly; the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the faeces came out. The Ehud went out into the vestibule, and closed the doors of the roof chamber on him, and locked them.' (Judges 3:21-23)
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ABSALOM'S DEATH (2 Samuel 18)
Absalom's seething resentment about the rape of his sister eventually spills out in open rebellion against his father David, who has never punished the rapist. But Absalom is defeated when he faces his father in battle, which takes place in the forest of Ephraim. Absalom's untrained militia are at a disadvantage against David's highly trained mercenaries, and they get cut to pieces. In the melee, Absalom's long unbound hair gets caught in the low branches of a tree, and he is left helpless, swinging from the tree. David's field commander, Joab, hears of this, rides to the spot and plunges a spear into Absalom's heart. Then Joab's body-guards finish off the job.
'Absalom was riding on his mule,
and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. His head caught
fast in the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while
the mule that was under him went on....... Joab took three spears in his
hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom, while he was still alive
in the oak. And ten young men, Joab's armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom
and struck him, and killed him.'
(2 Samuel 18:9-15)
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JEHU
MURDERS JEZEBEL
(2 Kings 9)
Jezebel was the powerful queen of Israel during the reign of King Ahab. When her husband was killed in battle, the throne passed to Ahab's son Ahaziah. Fairly soon, Ahaziah died in an accidental (?) fall through a lattice window in his palace, and was succeeded by his brother Jehoram. During this period Jezebel was the powerful Queen Mother, the alpha female of Israel. Then an army captain called Jehu led a coup d'etat against the royal house of Israel, and killed Jehoram. Now alone, Jezebel faced certain death. Jehu was merciless, and Jezebel died horribly.
'When Jehu came to Jezreel,
Jezebel heard of it; she painted her eyes and adorned her head, and looked
out of the window. As Jehu entered the gate, she said "Is it peace,
Zimri, murderer of your master?" He looked up to the window and said
"Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked out at
him. He said "Throw her down." So they threw her down; some of
her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, which trampled on her.
Then he went in to dinner. ..... When they went to bury her, they found no
more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands' (the
dogs ate her flesh)
(2 Kings 9:31-37)
For more about Jezebel, see BIBLE
PEOPLE: JEZEBEL
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JEHU AND THE ROYAL CHILDREN (2 Kings 10)
After Jehu killed Jezebel, he rounded up all the family, friends and supporters of the royal family and slaughtered them. Male children were included in this mass murder, since they would one day grow up and perhaps seek revenge.
'Then Jehu wrote them a second
letter, saying "If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey
me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me at Jezreel
tomorrow at this time." Now the king's sons, seventy persons, were
with the leaders of the city, who were charged with their upbringing. When
the letter reached them, they took the king's sons and killed them,
seventy persons; the put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at
Jezreel. When the messenger came and told him "They have brought the
heads of the king's sons" he Jehu said "Lay them in two heaps at
the entrance of the gate".'
(2 Kings 10:6-8)
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JUDITH
AND HOLOFERNES
(Judith 13)
Judith was a rich and beautiful widow who lived in a town besieged by Nebuchadnezzar's general, Holofernes. She went into the enemy camp and offered Holofernes information that would help him defeat her own people - he may or may not have believed her, but her beauty made her a sexual fly-trap, and he allowed her to stay. In the ensuring battle of wits, Judith managed to outwit her prey. While he was drunk, she hacked his head off with his own sword, then escaped back to her people. When the murder was discovered the enemy soldiers fled in panic, and so Judith was proclaimed as the savior of her people.
'She went to the bedpost near
Holofernes' head, and took down his sword that hung there. She came close
to his bed, took hold of the hair of his head, and said "Give me
strength today, O Lord God of Israel!" Then she struck his neck twice
with all her might, and cut off his head. Next she rolled his body off the
bed and pulled down the canopy from the posts. Soon afterward she went out
and gave Holofernes' head to her maid, who placed it in her food bag.'
(Judith 13:6-10)
For Judith's story, see BIBLE PEOPLE: JUDITH
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