Nabot's Vineyard, Its various readings and the (ab)use of power of a Queen

Abstract

The appropriation of Nabot's Vineyard raises numerous hermeneutical clues, especially from a Latin American and feminist perspective. Despite the fact that the chapter is not neutral, since the final word is held by yhwh and his prophet Elijah (and, if we look at 2 Ki 9, also the Jehuit group justifying their putsch and the deuteronomist editors, verifying the fulfillment of the oracle from Elijah against Ajab, Jezebel and his dynasty, 2 Kings 21,17-29), various diachronic and synchronous studies of the chapter show once again that a text never dies, it always has a reservation of meaning. This contribution presents some of the results, diametrically opposed to each other, from studies of 1 Ki 21: readings that condemn both rulers; readings that affirm the legality of what was executed; readings that explore the legal edges supported by sources from the Ancient East; readings highlighting Jezebel's agency, Ajab's wish, the drastic change in Nabot's fate, or yhwh's aborted intention to take Ajab's life immediately. As a good parable or history, it involves us in socially, politically and legally complex situations, where gender (both in construction of the text of its characters as well as in the lens of the student) also contributes to complexity, looking at women in political power.