Abstract
ABSTRACT This article discusses the story of the Egyptian wife of Jeroboam in 1 Kings 14:1-18. Women are generally marginalized in the Old Testament-in most instances their names are not mentioned, words are not put in their mouths, their achievements are behind the scenes in the narratives. This article is interested in the discussion of the nameless and silent wife of Jeroboam. In the Masoretic (MT), the narrator did not name her despite the dominant and significant role she played in the narrative. However, in the Greek text (Account B), she is identified as "Ano, " the daughter of Pharaoh of Egypt. This paper argues that the silence of the wife of Jeroboam in the MT has great meaning and importance in the narrative-it signifies patience, obedience, humility, and self-control. She displayed these characteristics in the face of all the provocation from her husband and the prophecy of the death of her son from the Prophet Ahijah. Keywords: Silence, Namelessness, Old Testament, Kings, Prophet, Obedience
Highlights
This article discusses the story of the Egyptian wife of Jeroboam in 1 Kings 14:1–18
This paper argues that the silence of the wife of Jeroboam in the MT has great meaning and importance in the narrative—it signifies patience, obedience, humility, and self-control
The death of the child seems to be symbolic of the death of Jeroboam’s entire household.29The immediate fulfilment of the judgment, as Branch argues, serves as “a sharp narrative device pointing to the unswerving authority of a monotheistic God who at this instant chooses to communicate his will via the words of the prophet Ahijah.”[30]
Summary
The wife of Jeroboam, the king of the northern kingdom of Israel is one of the silent women in the Old Testament. Apart from the fact that she was the mother of a desperately sick son, and a wife of an oppressive and manipulative husband, who kept on commanding her by using blunt imperatives like, “disguise,” “go to the prophet,” “take specific provisions,” she still did not utter a word Her silence is misunderstood and in other instances receives not attention from interpreters of 1 Kgs 14:1–18. A kind of hiddenness.”[6] From this, one would be safe to conclude that the Old Testament writers appear to be prejudiced against women This namelessness has serious implications in the sense that “it affects the readers’ point of view, attitude towards the character, and relationship to others’ narrative or poetic work.”[7] The naming and not naming of an individual in the Bible’s world “affect the readers’ ability to understand the reality the author is pointing.”[8] throughout the account of the MT in 1 Kings 14:1–20. I will discuss the literary analysis of 1 King 14:1–18, the identification, the meaning, and function/importance of her silence in the narrative
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