• Athaliah and the Theopolitics of Royal Assassination

    Author(s):
    Cat Quine (see profile)
    Date:
    2020
    Group(s):
    Biblical Studies, Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    1-2 Kings, gender and narrative, queens
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/514e-mt37
    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 also 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.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.2143/SE.62.0.3288854
    Publisher:
    Peeters
    Pub. Date:
    16/12/2020
    Journal:
    Semitica
    Volume:
    62
    Page Range:
    111 - 127
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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