Image Details
Death of Jezebel/Holburne Museum, Bath, UK/Bridgeman Art Library
According to 2 Kings 9, Jehu orders the palace eunuchs to throw Jezebel out a window. When he later commands his men to bury her, little remains: “All they found of her were the skull, the feet and the hands” (2 Kings 9:35). Jehu’s men inform the new king that Elijah’s prophecies have been fulfilled: The queen’s corpse has been devoured by dogs; her body is mutilated beyond recognition, so that “none will be able to say ‘This was Jezebel’” (2 Kings 9:37). And yet, it is Jezebel, not Jehu, whose memory remains most vivid, both through the colorful biblical account and the countless paintings, movies, poems and other writings that have retold her story.