Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Gregory and Carol Yeager <cgyeager AT mwci.net>]

"L.M. Barre"  writes:

> It is my considered opinion that the encounter between Jehu ben Nimshi and 
> Jezebel of Sidon constitutes the most dramatic confrontation portrayed in 
> the Hebrew Bible.

I think the "most dramatic confrontation" in the HB is that between
Pharoah and Moses and YHWH.  Jehu and Jezebel is bloody, and violent,
but hardly dramatic.  Jezebel has one line of comment, Jehu speaks in
short clipped commands, and there is no allowing for tension to grow or
drama to occur.  Also, this is just an episode of Jehu's coup.  Phyllis
Trible treats it fairly in "Exegesis for Storytellers and other
strangers, in the JBL recently (95 - present) but she treats it as a
final confrontation between Elijah and Jezebel.  That relation is far
more dramatic than the one dimensional Jehu can offer.

Peace,
Greg Yeager
Dubuque Iowa