Language:
English
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
Semitica
Angaben zur Quelle:
62 (2020) 111-127
Keywords:
Athaliah,
;
Assassination Biblical teaching
;
Politics in the Bible
;
Kings and rulers Biblical teaching
Abstract:
While the kingdom of Israel experienced eight military coups in its shorter history, the kingdom of Judah saw only four assassinations of its monarchs, three of which were Athaliah, her usurper, and his successor. This sequence of untimely royal deaths in Judah stands in contrast to the stability of Israel’s royal line under the Jehuite dynasty, whose kings are said to have entreated Yahweh, sought advice from prophets, and defeated Judah at Beth-Shemesh. From a later perspective it seems that whereas Yahweh previously protected the Judahite kings, in the ninth-eighth centuries BCE the Jehuite kings enjoyed Yahweh’s favour more than the Davidides. This paper thus considers the theopolitical impact of untimely royal deaths in ninth-eighth century Judah and argues that the instability of the Judahite royal line after her marriage contributed to the negative biblical portrayal of Athaliah and the Omride-Judahite alliance.
DOI:
10.2143/SE.62.0.3288854
URL:
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