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In 2 Kings 9, Jehu's concern for Jezebel's burial may reflect the royal funeral duties known at Ugarit, suggesting that royal birth still required respect after a ruler's defeat.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.161:13
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
Invoked is Ammithtamru the king and invoked as well is Niqmad the king. O throne of Niqmad, may you be mourned! And lamented be his footstool. Let the table of the king be mourned in his presence. But let their tears be swallowed, and their dreadful lamentations. Go down, Shapshu, yea, go down, Great Luminary! May Shapshu shine upon him, After your lords, from the throne, After your lords into the underworld go down: into the underworld go down and fall into the dust, down to Sidanu-and-Radanu, down to the eternal one, Thar, down to the ancient saviours, down to Ammithtamru the king lower edge: and also down to Niqmad the king.
2 Kings 9:34
Hebrew Bible
34 He went inside and had a meal. Then he said, “Dispose of this accursed woman’s corpse. Bury her, for after all, she was a king’s daughter.” 35 But when they went to bury her, they found nothing left but the skull, feet, and palms of the hands. 36 So they went back and told him. Then he said, “It is the fulfillment of the Lord’s message that he had spoken through his servant, Elijah the Tishbite, ‘In the plot of land at Jezreel, dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh. 37 Jezebel’s corpse will be like manure on the surface of the ground in the plot of land at Jezreel. People will not be able to even recognize her.’”
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Notes and References
“... In 2 Kings 9:34-37 is apparently reflected the special concern for the
proper burial of the royal dead. T. J. Lewis has proposed that the description
of the disposal of Jezebel’s corpse in this passage refers to traditional funerary
custom. The command of Jehu to attend to Jezebel’s corpse, piqdû-nā’, does
not mean simply to “take care of” or “see to” in a general sense. Rather, this
root has a cultic sense, tied to funerary ritual. It means to “act as a pāqidu on
her behalf in fulfilling the customary funerary rites, including the essential
services of the cult of the dead.”646 The command is motivated by Jezebel’s
royal lineage, “for she was a king’s daughter” (kî bat-melek hî’). If this
interpretation of this passage is correct, it would suggest that Jehu adhered to
traditional funerary practices. With regard to practices involving the dead,
royal and popular religion belonged to the same fabric. ...”
Smith, Mark S.
The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel
(p. PDF 165–166) William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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