Alfredstreet Presents OTOG W/ Dr. Judy Fentress-Williams | S.3 Ep. 2

alfred street baptist church would like to welcome everyone who's worshiping with us online as we celebrate the season of lent as well as women's history month make sure you download our linton devotions booklet which is available on our website as well as our asbc app to help combat the covet 19 coronavirus outbreak alfred street baptist church has suspended all in-person worship services activities and events until further notice we know that these are difficult and challenging times we invite you to stay connected by participating in our online worship services and remain faithful in your getting online via our alfred street website asbc app and on our text messaging system if you have any questions about giving please feel free to email our finance department at finance alphastreet.org if you're interested in becoming a member of the historic alpha street baptist church please email deakins with an s at alphastreet.org or complete the membership form on our website or on our asbc app we're hiring that's right alfred street baptist church is hiring visit our website and or iasbc app to check out all of our employment opportunities that we have to offer on tuesday march 16th starting at 7 pm eastern daylight time dr judy fentress williams continues with the theme say her name women in the bible that you should know for her otog old testament original gangster series this week's topic will center around jezebel truth stranger than fiction you don't want to miss another compelling episode of otog so be sure to make plans now to join us virtually on tuesday march 16th at 7 pm every month we try to share with you a book that is worthy of reading and i don't think i've ever been excited as i am right now to introduce our book from march of 2021. the book we're encouraging you to purchase and to begin reading as part of your growth is holy imagination written by our own beloved reverend dr judy french williams her new book is out and available we all know that dr judy is a phenomenal bible teacher and her skills and ability to give clues and cues into the works of god are not simply limited to the old testament but in holy imagination dr judy begins to open up all 66 books of the bible this is worthy to be on your shelf do me a favor let's go ahead and support dr judy as a matter of fact let's get her on the new york times bestseller list as we not only get a copy but we share with family and friends a work that's going to better help them understand the word of god holy imagination dr judy francis williams our christian life institute also known as cli presents a zum bible basic seminar on saturday march 27th at 10 a.m eastern daylight time we invite everyone to join us online to learn about the fundamentals of biblical study and the various approaches to reading and interpreting scripture however you must register on our website and or our asbc app to participate don't miss the small business intellectual property law clinic webinar saturday march 27th from 9 a.m to noon eastern daylight time this law clinic will teach you just about everything you need to know from a to z on how to start and maintain a successful business additionally you'll learn about protecting your intellectual property through copyrighting patenting trademarking as well as how to navigate the government contracting process all participating virginia licensed attorneys will receive two and a half hours of free cle credit as always you must register online and on our asbc app to attend attention all high school seniors our asbc foundation is currently accepting online scholarship applications for the upcoming 2021-2022 academic year however students must reside in specific counties within the washington dc metropolitan area be sure to check out the specific eligibility requirements on both our website and our asbc app deadline to apply is friday april 30th at 11 59 pm eastern daylight time please join our hiv aids ministry as we celebrate the national week of prayer for the healing of aids march 7th through march 14th this is a commemorative week that brings national attention to the hiv epidemic be sure to visit our website to download a copy of the prayer book hey alfred street it's that time of year again girl scout cookie time please visit our website or email girl scouts with an s at alfredstreet.org if you'd like to support our asvc girl scout our office of christian caring counseling would like to remind everyone that march is self-harm self-injury awareness month if you would like additional information about self-harm self-injury and the warning signs to look for please visit our website or download our asbc app kid street crossover and higher ground are back in session at 11 30 a.m eastern standard time on the first third fourth and fifth sundays parents grandparents aunts and uncles and all guardians please make sure that you've registered your child or children for the 2021 year to receive the most up-to-date information on all children and youth programmatic offerings we invite everyone to continue to join us at 7am eastern time for our daily prayer call which takes place monday through friday this will allow you to stay connected to your asvc family through fair you can dial 1-530-881-1212 and enter the id number seven eight eight nine nine nine two zero three pound sign also we invite you to tune in to our faith forward weekly radio broadcast featuring pastor howard john wesley every sunday morning at 7 30 a.m eastern standard time on magic 102.3 fm and 92.7 fm for a powerful sermon that will move you forward in your faith we invite you to join us and alfred street baptist church on sunday evenings from 7 p.m to 7 30 p.m for our faith forward show on praise 104.1 fm dc's inspiration station be sure to visit our website or your asbc app for the latest asbc updates regarding covet 19 and to find out what to do if you think that you've been exposed to the coronavirus for more information on these and all the exciting events taking place here at alfred street please log on to alfredstreet.org [Music] alfred street baptist church would like to welcome everyone who's worshiping with us online as we celebrate the season of lent as well as women's history month make sure you download our linton devotions booklet which is available on our website as well as our asbc app to help combat the covet 19 coronavirus outbreak alfred street baptist church has suspended all in-person worship services activities and events until further notice we know that these are difficult and challenging times we invite you to stay connected by participating in our online worship services and remain faithful in your getting online via our alfred street website asbc app and on our text messaging system if you have any questions about giving please feel free to email our finance department at finance alphastreet.org if you're interested in becoming a member of the historic alpha street baptist church please email deacons with an s at alphastreet.org or complete the membership form on our website or on our asbc app we're hiring that's right alfred street baptist church is hiring visit our website and oriasbc app to check out all of our employment opportunities that we have to offer on tuesday march 16th starting at 7 pm eastern daylight time dr judy fentress williams continues with the theme say her name women in the bible that you should know for her otog old testament original gangster series this week's topic will center around jezebel truth stranger than fiction you don't want to miss another compelling episode of otog so be sure to make plans now to join us virtually on tuesday march 16th at 7 pm every month we try to share with you a book that is worthy of reading and i don't think i've ever been excited as i am right now to introduce our book from march of 2021. the book we're encouraging you to purchase and to begin reading as part of your growth is holy imagination written by our own beloved reverend dr judy princess williams her new book is out and available we all know that dr judy is a phenomenal bible teacher and her skills and ability to give clues and cues into the works of god are not simply limited to the old testament but in holy imagination dr judy begins to open up all 66 books of the bible this is worthy to be on your shelf do me a favor let's go ahead and support dr judy as a matter of fact let's get her on the new york times best seller list as we not only get a copy but we share with family and friends a work that's going to better help them understand the word of god holy imagination dr judy francis williams our christian life institute also known as cli presents a zoom bible basic seminar on saturday march 27th at 10 a.m eastern daylight time we invite everyone to join us online to learn about the fundamentals of biblical study and the various approaches to reading and interpreting scripture however you must register on our website and or our asbc app to participate don't miss the small business intellectual property law clinic webinar saturday march 27th from 9 am to noon eastern daylight time this law clinic will teach you just about everything you need to know from a to z on how to start and maintain a successful business additionally you'll learn about protecting your intellectual property through copywriting patenting trademarking as well as how to navigate the government contracting process all participating virginia license attorneys will receive two and a half hours of free cle credit as always you must register online and on our asbc app to attend attention all high school seniors our asbc foundation is currently accepting online scholarship applications for the upcoming 2021-2022 academic year however students must reside in specific counties within the washington d.c metropolitan area be sure to check out the specific eligibility requirements on both our website and our asbc app deadline to apply is friday april 30th at 11 59 pm eastern daylight time please join our hiv aids ministry as we celebrate the national week of prayer for the healing of aids march 7th through march 14th this is a commemorative week that brings national attention to the hiv epidemic be sure to visit our website to download a copy of the prayer book hey alfred street it's that time of year again girl scout cookie time please visit our website or email girl scouts with an s at alphastreet.org if you'd like to support our asvc girl scout our office of christian caring counseling would like to remind everyone that march is self-harm self-injury awareness month if you would like additional information about self-harm self-injury and the warning signs to look for please visit our website or download our asbc app kid street crossover and higher ground are back in session at 11 30 a.m eastern standard time on the first third fourth and fifth sundays parents grandparents aunts and uncles and all guardians please make sure that you've registered your child or children for the 2021 year to receive the most up-to-date information on all children and youth programmatic offerings we invite everyone to continue to join us at 7am eastern time for our daily prayer call which takes place monday through friday this will allow you to stay connected to your asvc family through fair you can dial 1-530-881-1212 and enter the id number 788-999-203 pound sign also we invite you to tune in to our faith forward weekly radio broadcast featuring pastor howard john wesley every sunday morning at 7 30 a.m eastern standard time on magic 102.3 fm and 92.7 fm for a powerful sermon that will move you forward in your faith we invite you to join us and alfred street baptist church on sunday evenings from 7 pm to 7 30 pm for our faith forward show on praise 104.1 fm dc's inspiration station be sure to visit our website or your asbc app for the latest asbc updates regarding covid19 and to find out what to do if you think that you've been exposed to the coronavirus for more information on these and all the exciting events taking place here at alfred street please log on to alfredstreet.org [Music] alfred street baptist church would like to welcome everyone who's worshiping with us online as we celebrate the season of lent as well as women's history month make sure you download our linton devotions booklet which is available on our website as well as our asbc app to help combat the covet 19 coronavirus outbreak alpha street baptist church has suspended all in-person worship services activities and events until further notice we know that these are difficult and challenging times we invite you to stay connected by participating in our online worship services and remain faithful in your giving online via our alfred street website asbc app and on our text messaging system if you have any questions about giving please feel free to email our finance department at finance alphastreet.org if you're interested in becoming a member of the historic alpha street baptist church please email deacons with an s at alphastreet.org or complete the membership form on our website or on our asbc app we're hiring that's right alfred street baptist church is hiring visit our website noiasbc app to check out all of our employment opportunities that we have to offer on tuesday march 16th starting at 7 pm eastern daylight time dr judy fentress williams continues with the theme say her name women in the bible that you should know for her otog old testament original gangster series this week's topic will center around jezebel truth stranger than fiction you don't want to miss another compelling episode of otog so be sure to make plans now to join us virtually on tuesday march 16th at 7 pm every month we try to share with you a book that is worthy of reading and i don't think i've ever been excited as i am right now to introduce our book for march of 2021. the book we're encouraging you to purchase and to begin reading as part of your growth is holy imagination written by our own beloved reverend dr judy fentress williams her new book is out and available we all know that dr judy is a phenomenal bible teacher and her skills and ability to give clues and cues into the works of god are not simply limited to the old testament but in holy imagination dr judy begins to open up all 66 books of the bible this is worthy to be on your shelf do me a favor let's go ahead and support dr judy as matter of fact let's get her on the new york times bestseller list as we not only get a copy but we share with family and friends a work that's going to better help them understand the word of god holy imagination dr judy francis williams our christian life institute also known as cli presents a zoom bible basic seminar on saturday march 27th at 10 a.m eastern daylight time we invite everyone to join us online to learn about the fundamentals of biblical study and the various approaches to reading and interpreting scripture however you must register on our website and or our asbc app to participate don't miss the small business intellectual property law clinic webinar saturday march 27th from 9 am to noon eastern daylight time this law clinic will teach you just about everything you need to know from a to z on how to start and maintain a successful business additionally you'll learn about protecting your intellectual property through copyrighting patenting trademarking as well as how to navigate the government contracting process all participating virginia license attorneys will receive two and a half hours of free cle credit as always you must register online and on our asbc app to attend attention all high school seniors our asbc foundation is currently accepting online scholarship applications for the upcoming 2021 2021-2022 academic year however students must reside in specific counties within the washington dc metropolitan area be sure to check out the specific eligibility requirements on both our website and our asbc app deadline to apply is friday april 30th at 11 59 pm eastern daylight time please join our hiv aids ministry as we celebrate the national week of prayer for the healing of aids march 7th through march 14th this is a commemorative week that brings national attention to the hiv epidemic be sure to visit our website to download a copy of the prayer book hey alfred street it's that time of year again girl scout cookie time please visit our website or email girl scouts with an s at alfredstreet.org if you'd like to support our asvc girl scouts our office of christian caring counseling would like to remind everyone that march is self-harm self-injury awareness month if you would like additional information about self-harm self-injury and the warning signs to look for please visit our website or download our asbc app kid street crossover at higher ground are back in session at 11 30 a.m eastern standard time on the first third fourth and fifth sundays parents grandparents aunts and uncles and all guardians please make sure that you've registered your child or children for the 2021 year to receive the most up-to-date information on all children and youth programmatic offerings we invite everyone to continue to join us at 7 a.m eastern time for our daily prayer call which takes place monday through friday this will allow you to stay connected to your asbc family through prayer you can dial 1-530-881-1212 and enter the id number 788-999 203 pound sign also we invite you to tune in to our faith forward weekly radio broadcast featuring pastor howard john wesley every sunday morning at 7 30 a.m eastern standard time on magic 102.3 fm and 92.7 fm for a powerful sermon that will move you forward in your faith we invite you to join us and alfred street baptist church on sunday evenings from 7 p.m to 7 30 pm for our faith forward show on praise 104.1 fm dc's inspiration station [Music] be sure to visit our website or your asbc app for the latest asbc updates regarding covet 19 and to find out what to do if you think that you've been exposed to the coronavirus for more information on these and all the exciting events taking place here at alfred street please log on to alfredstreet.org alfred street baptist church would like to welcome everyone who's worshiping with us online as we celebrate the season of lent as well as women's history month make sure you download our linton devotions booklet which is available on our website as well as our asbc app to help combat the covet 19 coronavirus outbreak alfred street baptist church has suspended all in-person worship services activities and events until further notice we know that these are difficult and challenging times we invite you to stay connected by participating in our online worship services and remain faithful in your getting online via our alfred street website asbc app and on our text messaging system if you have any questions about giving please feel free to email our finance department at finance alphastreet.org if you're interested in becoming a member of the historic alpha street baptist church please email deacons with an s at alphastreet.org or complete the membership form on our website or on our asbc app we're hiring that's right albert street baptist church is hiring visit our website and oriasbc app to check out all of our employment opportunities that we have to offer on tuesday march 16th starting at 7 pm eastern daylight time dr judy centrist williams continues with the theme say her name women in the bible that you should know for her otog old testament original gangster series this week's topic will center around jezebel truth stranger than fiction you don't want to miss another compelling episode of otog so be sure to make plans now to join us virtually on tuesday march 16th at 7 pm every month we try to share with you a book that is worthy of reading and i don't think i've ever been excited as i am right now to introduce our book from march of 2021. the book we're encouraging you to purchase and to begin reading as part of your growth is holy imagination written by our own beloved reverend dr judy frentress williams her new book is out and available we all know that dr judy is a phenomenal bible teacher and her skills and ability to give clues and cues into the works of god are not simply limited to the old testament but in holy imagination dr judy begins to open up all 66 books of the bible this is worthy to be on your shelf do me a favor let's go ahead and support dr judy as matter of fact let's get her on the new york times bestseller list as we not only get a copy but we share with family and friends a work that's going to better help them understand the word of god holy imagination dr judy francis williams our christian life institute also known as cli presents a zum bible basic seminar on saturday march 27 at 10 a.m eastern daylight time we invite everyone to join us online to learn about the fundamentals of biblical study and the various approaches to reading and interpreting scripture however you must register on our website and or our asbc app to participate don't miss the small business and intellectual property law clinic webinar saturday march 27th from 9 a.m to noon eastern daylight time this law clinic will teach you just about everything you need to know from a to z on how to start and maintain a successful business additionally you'll learn about protecting your intellectual property through copyrighting patenting trademarking as well as how to navigate the government contracting process all participating virginia license attorneys will receive two and a half hours of free cle credit as always you must register online and on our asbc app to attend attention all high school seniors our asbc foundation is currently accepting online scholarship applications for the upcoming 2021 2020 academic year however students must reside in specific counties within the washington dc metropolitan area be sure to check out the specific eligibility requirements on both our website and our asbc app deadline to apply is friday april 30th at 11 59 pm eastern daylight time please join our hiv aids ministry as we celebrate the national week of prayer for the healing of aids march 7th through march 14th this is a commemorative week that brings national attention to the hiv epidemic be sure to visit our website to download a copy of the prayer book hey alfred street it's that time of year again girl scout cookie time please visit our website or email girl scouts with an s at alfredstreet.org if you'd like to support our asvc girl scouts our office of christian caring counseling would like to remind everyone that march is self-harm self-injury awareness month if you would like additional information about self-harm self-injury and the warning signs to look for please visit our website or download our asbc app kid street crossover at higher ground are back in session at 11 30 a.m eastern standard time on the first third fourth and fifth sundays parents grandparents aunts and uncles and all guardians please make sure that you've registered your child or children for the 2021 year to receive the most up-to-date information on all children and youth programmatic offerings we invite everyone to continue to join us at 7am eastern time for our daily prayer call which takes place monday through friday this will allow you to stay connected to your asbc family through claire you can dial 1-530-881-1212 and enter the id number 788-999 203 pound sign also we invite you to tune in to our faith forward weekly radio broadcast featuring pastor howard john wesley every sunday morning at 7 30 a.m eastern standard time on magic 102.3 fm and 92.7 fm for a powerful sermon that will move you forward in your faith we invite you to join us and alfred street baptist church on sunday evenings from 7 p.m to 7 30 pm for our faith forward show on praise 104.1 fm dc's inspiration station [Music] be sure to visit our website or your asbc app for the latest asbc updates regarding covet 19 and to find out what to do if you think that you've been exposed to the coronavirus for more information on these and all the exciting events taking place here at alfred street please log on to alfredstreet.org [Music] oh [Music] hey everyone welcome to another edition of otog your opportunity to study the old testament with me and o.g my name is judy fentress williams and it is my joy to join you on tuesday nights where we get to study the word of god and during the month of march because it's women's history month our theme is say her name and as i was thinking about the people that i wanted to include in our study one name that i knew i wanted to focus on was the name jezebel and right around that time when i was thinking about the names that i wanted to bring up it came up in the news that two southern baptists pastors two southern baptist preachers made the news because they referred to kamala harris as a jezebel and so that recent course of events raises the question around what are we doing with names like jezebel what is the tradition of interpretation for me it raises a question around the history of biblical interpretation that someone would refer to vice president kamala harris as a jezebel i don't have an opportunity to talk to either tom buck or steve swafford the two preach preachers i'm sorry who called her out of her name but what i can say is i suspect that when they used that terminology that they were making an assumption that their audience knew who jezebel was and that that name is more than an individual that it's something that speaks to character or behaviors so that this name jezebel carries so much meaning her name is loaded or fraught with meaning and when we call someone a jezebel we're conveying a set of values that i'd like for us to unpack a little bit in our time together if we were all together and i had a chance to pull the audience i would ask you when you hear the name jezebel what comes to mind feel free to put what comes to your mind in the chat while i give a list of things that i have heard so we know that jezebel was the wife of ahab and usually when people use the term jezebel they're referring to a wicked woman she is also someone who was an opponent of god's prophet elijah and she is a part of the story of that big showdown in first kings 18 between the prophets of baal and the prophet elijah we also know from that story that when she threatened the great prophet elijah he ran for his life which means that jezebel was a woman to be feared and we know that she worshipped baal and other gods jezebel also comes up in the story of nabith's vineyard and we know that here is a character who in the bible died a grisly death the dogs ate her remains but some other things that come up about jezebel if you haven't put it in the chat already is jezebel is known for her sexuality and if you look at the slide that comes up i put it in italics in italics because i want to challenge you to see where in the bible there are references to jezebel's sexuality where does that come from why is it that we call someone who is sexually promiscuous a jezebel when in fact we cannot find references to jezebel as promiscuous in the bible and don't forget those of you who grew up in evangelical or fundamentalist households jezebel is known for eye shadow um women in church were told not to wear um eye shadow because jezebel did and so we want to unpack that one as well so by the list of things that i've shared with you and the ones that you may have put in the chat what we know for sure is that jezebel is a character in the bible but she's also what we call a byword or a catchword you call someone a jezebel these preachers called kamala harris a jezebel so that this name is an archetype it is an embodiment of evil we see that even in the bible itself in the new testament in the book of revelation where the word jezebel becomes another word for a whoring non-believing female adversary all right we know from our book by tamora lomax entitled jezebel unhinged that during slavery black women were characterized as jezebels and that when they were called jezebels this was a reference to their unbridled sexuality which invited and justified the unwanted sexual advances of their masters so hear me when slave masters wanted to justify the fact that they were um sleeping with black women against their will it was because these women emitted a spirit of jezebel so when someone calls a woman a jezebel it is loaded language so here's the moment where we want to stop and survey all that i've said so far and ask ourselves as people who want to be good students of bible those who aspire to rightly divide the word of truth what does the bible actually say about jezebel and as an interpreter we want to first just do a survey of the material what does the bible say and what doesn't it say and this is one of those great moments where we realize the difference between the tradition and the text i'll never forget years ago when i first started working as a ta and i was working with my students on the book of exodus and i invited them to read the story of the exodus and when they came to class the next day one of my students said i read this story through three times and i couldn't find nefertieri and here was someone who whose understanding of the story was shaped by the movie cecil b demille's ten commandments and he just assumed that that was a part of the biblical narrative and it's not it's something that was added so i want to invite you to be open to the possibility that there are things you've heard about jezebel that may not actually be in the text but someone added them and then we want to be able to separate between the two so that when we speak of jezebel we're speaking based on what we know when you read the bible i always invite you after you get a sense of what happened if you don't know what else to do we can always ask these simple questions who is speaking to whom and then if we can determine it why who is speaking to whom and why let me give you a little bit of background before we do our scripture survey who is jezebel the bible tells us that jezebel was a phoenician princess the daughter of a king named ethba al and you'll notice in his name ba'al which is the name of the god that would have been worshipped we call him baal all right this phoenician princess gets married to ahab king of israel in first kings 16. and we're going to look at that passage in just a moment so if you don't have your bibles out get ready so what we have here is a political marriage where an israelite king marries the daughter of a phoenician king so that they can have an alliance or to seal the alliance and we also know from the biblical narrative that jezebel and elijah are enemies now let's look at the name itself jezebel there are a couple of possible meanings for jezebel the first one literally means heap of dung heap of dung that is one word that's one possible meaning for the name of jezebel another comes from the second half of her name which is zebul which is another name for bal so remember her father's name is ethba al and zebul is another form of ba'al so it's possible that jezebel means zebel or or ball or baal is um that this god exists all right or it could mean where is zabul where is ba'al or there's another possibility that it means zebul is not bail is not so the first possible name pile of dung that's just that's just bad all right that's just a negative possible meaning for her name it's a disparaging name the other possibilities are word plays on the god bail and so i want you to think about these these possible meanings as we work through jezebel's story because there are times when jezebel's name might mean baal is or baal is not that there are times when her name or her presence in the story is begging the question of is baal the true god or not that in conversation with the prophet elijah's name eli yah or eli yahoo means yahweh is my god so that when you have jezebel and elijah in a story it's not simply two characters it's baal versus yahweh think about an old old old old book called pilgrim's progress where the characters actually stood for virtues or vices those were their names some of that is happening in this story so pay get attention again because in this narrative jezebel is rarely just jezebel she represents all kinds of things and there are moments in the story where she's going to be a representative of the god baal and whether or not baal wins in this battle between the god of israel and the god of these other nations so we talked about jezebel's name that more often than not may refer to baal elijah's name which refers to yahweh the god of israel and then there's ahab he actually after all is the king and ahab's name simply means uncle another piece of background i want you to have is where we find the book of kings the book of kings is a part of a unit in the old testament that some people refer to as the deuteronomistic history the books of joshua judges samuel and kings as a unit describe the way in which israel came into the land that god promised them how they became a nation and things were going well for a few minutes and then things fell apart and so we have this movement towards a unified nation a unified kingdom then the division of that kingdom and then the slow deterioration until the northern kingdom falls to the assyrians and the southern kingdom falls to the babylonians the deuteronomistic history chronicles how the nation of israel became and then was not all right and from the perspective of the deuteronomistic history the demise of the northern kingdom and the exile of the southern kingdom is not a political occurrence it's a theological event in other words the deuteronomistic historian looks over the history of this nation and says all of this stuff happened because you all chose not to worship god properly it's like when you're at thanksgiving and you have that aunt who wants to explain why your uncle had to go to jail he should have stayed in sunday school that she's got an explanation that has a very clear path and clear direction and so the deuteronomist wants to have a theological interpretation of everything including the characters in the bible the deuteronomistic historian has a theology that says your relationship with god is based on the covenant and the covenant means that god has to do god's part and the people have to do their part stay with me here we'll do a little bit more and then we're going to get actually get to jezebel come with me back to exodus chapter 20. exodus chapter 20 is the story of the 10 commandments and there we have in verses 2 and 3 the lord says i am the lord your god who brought you out of the land of egypt out of the house of bondage you shall have no other gods before me we call this the first commandment and in that first commandment god is saying you will have no other gods before me now let's just think about the fact that it does not deny the existence of other gods what god is saying is i come first and i am the only god when we unpack that in the hebrew it actually means no other gods in front of me no other gods beside me no other gods around me and that's going to be useful for our understanding of what's happening in the life of israel because for the deuteronomistic historian for the theological um editors who worked over this material they want the people to understand that worshipping of other gods is the focal point of disobedience it is the first thing you do that is wrong it is the primary thing and that the fact of the matter is the israelites usually didn't reject their god they just wanted to worship other gods alongside so i want to worship yahweh but i also want to go to do a little baal worship on tuesdays or i want to worship yahweh and go to the temple but every now and then i might take an offering to a shaira and and bow down at that pole because i'm hedging my bets and this is what everyone else is doing and god is demanding complete and total attention god wants all of our attention and so the deuteronomistic history is telling a story from the perspective of being in exile and it's essentially saying here's the story of how we ended up here and the recurring theme is worshiping other gods worshiping other gods worshipping other gods and one of the ways that the bible warns against worshipping other gods is in the prohibition against worship of marrying foreign women the thinking here is that um the woman the wife and the mother is the one who shapes the religious life of the household and if an israelite man marry someone who worships other gods those other gods are going to find their way into your home and lure you away not necessarily from worshiping the true god but lure you away from the exclusive worship of this god and that is what we see in the story of ahab and jezebel now let's see with that background if we can take a look at the text first kings 16. let's start with verse 29 which introduces us to king ahab in the 38th year of king asa of judah ahab son of omri began to reign over israel ahab son of omri reigned over israel in samaria 22 years ahab son of omri did evil in the sight of the lord more than all who were before him all right so um ahab is a part of the amrit dynasty which is one of the longer lasting dynasties in the northern kingdom and he reigned for 22 years which is a long time what that tells you is that he is a character who will loom large in the history as is the the custom in kings when king is introduced it will tell you um their name it will tell you when they came to the throne when they ascended to power how old they were how long they reigned and then the the real metric is whether they did evil in the sight of the lord or whether they did right in the sight of the lord that's all that the deuteronomistic history is primarily interested in did they worship properly or did they or did they miss the mark and we know here ahab did not he did evil in the sight of the lord more than all who were before him and as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of jeroboam son of nabat he took as his wife jezebel daughter of king ethbaal of the sidonians and went and served baal and worshiped him so he marries a foreign woman and does just what um the deuteronomist is afraid he will do which is worship these other gods 32 he erected an altar for baal in the house of baal which he built in samaria ahab also made a sacred pole that would be a reference to the goddess ashara ahab did more to provoke the anger of the lord the god of israel than had all the kings of israel who were before him can i just pause here for a second and ask if ahab did more than all these other kings that were before him why don't we refer to evil men as ahab why is it that we have the word jezebel for evil women but not ahab for evil men i wonder if it has something to do with the role of culture and gender in this story all right jezebel is introduced as the wife of ahab and the fact that she is mentioned is a testimony to how important she is in this story um remember usually the pattern is um the king is introduced when he came on the throne how old he was how long he reigned and whether or not he did good or evil in the sight of the lord in this story we get reference to jezebel as a part of his introduction that tells us she's going to play a major role in this narrative so what i want to do now if you have your bibles open is let's just breeze through these next three chapters to see where and when jezebel shows up because remember the king is ahab that's what this is this is about this is the book of kings and so let's see how and where she shows up so he marries jezebel and he builds these um altars 17 elijah shows up and predicts a drought and that happens in the first part of 17 and then we have a narrative about the widow of zarephath one of my favorite passages of scripture in 17-8 to the end of that chapter then we move to chapter 18. chapter 18 is a big deal this is the story about the contest between the prophets of baal and the prophet elijah if you don't know this story you need to read it it is powerful and hilarious i can only point out a few things but please take some time to go through this story what's at stake here is who is the real god remember the names yahweh is my god and when we hear jezebel is it saying baal is or baal is not let's see how this plays out it begins as elijah sending a message to ahab and that results that um that confrontation with ahab um in 17 um results in the um contest between the priests of baal and the prophet elijah this is the story where they both build altars and the challenge is let's see who's god can rain down fire on the altar and the prophets of baal are up first and they try all kinds of things and after a while elijah starts mocking on them and they're unsuccessful then elijah in very dramatic form takes the altar puts it together puts the wood in order lays the bull on the altar and then um let's see um stone built the altar i'm in chapter 18 verses 32 33 puts the wood in order and then has water poured over the wood and then cries out to god all right in verse 38 then the fire of the lord fell and consumed the burnt offering the wood the stones the dust and even licked up the water that was in the trench and when the people saw it they fell on their faces and said the lord yahweh is god yahweh is indeed god all right jezebel baal is baal is not here the people are affirming that yahweh is god and elijah said to the people seize the prophets of baal do not let one of them escape and he kills all the prophets of baal and the drought ends now come to chapter 19 ahab told jezebel all that elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword 19 verse 2 then jezebel sent a message to elijah saying so may the gods do to me and more so if i do not make your life like the life like one of them by this time tomorrow then he was afraid and he got up and fled for his life and came to bear sheva which belongs to judah he left his servant there and went by himself a day's journey into the wilderness this is an amazing story for so many reasons you have this huge contest the god of israel shows god's self to be victorious over this other god the prophets of baal are destroyed and one word from jezebel sends elijah into flight for his life what that tells us is that this woman was powerful she wielded power and then we move into this lovely passage where elijah has an encounter with god this is where elijah hears god's still small voice and then in that's in verses 11 and following then in chapter 20 we see an account of ahab and battle just want to do an overview jezebel shows up again in chapter 21 in the story of naboth's vineyard this is another chapter i'm going to say spend some time here because here we have jezebel maneuvering manipulating and causing the death of nabath so that they can secure his vineyard there are several commandments that get violated here um abhab is moping because he wants his land and naboth won't send it sell it to him and jezebel says i'll handle it she makes it happen but in so doing violates several commandments and there is condemnation of this in chapter 21 17. then the word of the lord came to elijah the tishbite saying go down to meet king ahab of israel who rules in samaria he is now in the vineyard of nabath where he has gone to take possession you shall say to him thus says the lord have you killed and also taken possession you shall say to him thus says the lord in the place where the dog's lip glicked up the blood of naboth dogs will also lick up your blood so i want to be clear what jezebel and ahab do in chapter 21 is clearly wrong this is a part of the story all right and the judgment comes then chapter 22 there is a battle and ahab dies in chapter 22 29 so the king of israel and king jehoshaphat of judah went up to ramos gilead um let's see i want to get to um the end here in 37 the king died and was brought to samaria they buried the king in samaria they washed the chariot by the pool of samaria the dogs licked up the blood and the prostitutes washed themselves in it according to the word of the lord that he had spoken so we want to make sure that we see that the prophetic word that ahab issued earlier because of what happened with naboth's vineyard is fulfilled with ahab's death ahab is dead but jezebel is not we have another king on the throne by the name of jehoshaphat in this chapter and then in 1st kings 22 51 we have ahaziah son of ahab began to reign over israel and samaria listen to this in 52 he did what was evil in the sight of the lord and walked in the way of his father and mother which is why most scholars believe that this is the child of jezebel we see jezebel again in second king stay with me we're almost there second kings chapter nine another king by the name of jehu comes to the throne jehu is anointed in second kings nine and in verses four through ten let's see in verse 6 jehu got up and went inside a young man from god poured oil on the head of the king and said thus says lord of god of israel i anoint you king over the people of the lord over israel you shall strike down the house of your master ahab so that i may avenge on jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the lord for the whole of the house of ahab shall perish now here's what's interesting there is this movement to utterly wipe out the house of ahab but usually that refers to the sons here jezebel is such a force to be contended with that jehu hears this word that he must abolish everyone in the line in order to be secure in his kingdom and so we come to the end of jezebel in second kings 9 verses 30 to 37 where jehu comes out and calls her out jehu came to jezreel jezebel heard of it she painted her eyes there's the eye shadow adorned her head and looked out of the window as jehu entered the gate he said she said is it peace zimri murderer of your master he looked up to the window and cri and said who is on my side who two or three eunuchs looked out on him and 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 and ate and drank he said see to that cursed woman and bury her for she is a king's daughter but when they went to bury her they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands all right that is a pretty grisly death and that was a lot but that's a fairly good overview of where jezebel appears in the text and how she appears in the text so what do we actually take away from that she was ahab's wife she was most likely the mother of um i'm sorry ahazayah she exercises royal authority so now we've gone through that overview of jezebel but what do we actually know about her based on what's in the scripture we know that she was the wife of ahab and possibly the mother of ahazaya she exercises royal authority she in other words she uses her power and she is fiercely loyal to her gods so much so that she is willing to fight or die for them and powerful enough that jezebel deems it necessary to kill her even after her husband and sons are gone now what i can't do is tell you that jezebel was someone who we should look up to because she was moral and good um she definitely conspired to defame naboth and take his vineyard away she went after elijah because he went after her people so this is a woman who had power and exercised it but i want to be clear that the tradition and the name around jezebel so much outweighs what she did and this is where things get complicated the other thing we want to ask ourselves is where in this story does any kind of sexual promiscuity come into the picture how in the world does eye shadow get connected to this and so what we see is this tradition of interpretation that reads in between the lines and fills in the gaps in a particular way let's talk about some of the things that jezebel takes on jezebel is a foreign woman who introduces her husband maybe introduces her husband to false gods passionately devoted to her god and because she is a woman who wields power that somehow makes her larger than life it is this element of jezebel being larger than life that means she becomes more than an individual and a symbol for the worship of false gods baal is baal is not my god is yahweh there's a way in which in the narrative jezebel and elijah not ahab so much are the counterpoints for these two gods in fact phyllis tribble has this wonderful article about elijah and jezebel where she describes them as the odd couple yahweh and bale prophet and queen that they male and female that they are the perfect opposites and that the battle between the two deities um takes place between them it gets complicated in a sense when gender comes into the picture remember this is shaped by the deuteronomistic history the historian who's trying to make a point who's trying to um bring together a message that worshipping of other gods is not in line with the covenant that the people have with god and how does this get complicated by gender if israelites were worshiping yahweh and other gods some of what motivated the worship of other gods was the worship of female deities in the ancient world where we have an agrarian culture people like the idea of having a male and female deity because it ties into the world view around how crops were produced baal is the storm god who rides the clouds and causes it to rain on the earth which is the female deity that brings forth the produce of the land israelites love this idea and so they want to worship yahweh but they want to have a little ashara on the side often they will combine or conflate yahweh with baal remember the ten commandments in the golden calf so that sometimes they'll put the two of them together and then but they want to bring in this other deity so that the contest between elijah and jezebel isn't simply a contest between those two individuals in the eyes of the deuteronomistic history it is the movement to eliminate the goddess all right this representative of other deities is um carries on her because of her gender um the other goddesses that would have been worshiped and so jezebel must be eliminated it should not be lost on us that because she is a woman um that one of the ways that women get defamed is by bringing their sexual um propriety into question it's low hanging fruit and it's easily done but we need to be clear as people who are studying this text that that's not in here which raises the question for me around understanding that the bible or raising the issue i should say that the bible is an in cultured text we cannot read the bible without experiencing the culture of the ancient world the culture of a world that held men and women to different standards and um easily um with ease would um question women and women's um um sexual propriety and hold women to standards that they didn't hold men to i'm still talking about the ancient world right um and so we want to ask ourselves um how do we as interpreters of text separate that out one way to do that is to be mindful of the culture and context that we are engaging another way of doing it is looking at what the text actually says some of the most important work we can do is help people um by freeing them of extra biblical things that don't help or promote the message of the gospel and how do we interpret an engendered text how do we interpret a text that sees women one way and meant another way when we understand that god did in fact make us in a variety of manifestations but that god made us all and that all of us are a reflection of um of god's creative energy and goodness that what god made is good i want us to remember the name of jezebel and try to the best that we can to remember that underneath all of these layers there was a woman there was a woman who loved and worshiped her deities with a passion and even though we would not ascribe to the gods that she worshiped oh that we would have the passion for our god that jezebel had for hers oh that we would be fiercely loyal to our god remember in this story it's not until the israelites see the showdown that they decide that they're going to be on yahweh's side they have to see the proof jezebel was a ride or die throughout so when we remember jezebel with all the things that are said let's remember that here is a woman who was fiercely devoted to her god let's also remember when we hear things about the bible to do the homework and make sure that what we're saying is actually in the text i think that's enough for today let's stop and have a word of prayer before we say goodbye to one another god i thank you for the story of ahab and jezebel and elijah and your people and for the way that this speaks to us give us a commitment god to study your word so that we can speak with some knowledge as to what is in and outside of the text help us to remember god ways in which traditions have been perpetrated not just against jezebel but against our mothers and our sisters and help us to speak against that help us to be able to discern your gospel your good news from the trappings of culture amen thanks everyone for being with us and i look forward to seeing you next week with ot og [Music] bye

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

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Length: 71min 50sec (4310 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 16 2021