Her Story
Her Story with Grace and Peace Joanne, LLC, seeks to retell the stories of women who were divinely called and empowered to do great things.
Many of them rose to the occasion, and a few very famously did not.
Often, the tragedies and triumphs in their lives are missed, their accounts sidelined, and their portrayals given from perspectives that dismiss the honor and dignity they deserve.
Excavating their narratives from millennia of obfuscation, we now meet the freshly restored, valiant, vivid, and sometimes villainous women of the Bible.
Her Story offers a deep appreciation for God’s work and call in and through women in the scriptures and encourages you and me to take practical steps towards recognition and support of women in all levels and varieties of ministry and spiritual leadership today.
Her Story
Season 5, Kings and Queens: Jezebel
Just the word “jezebel” evokes a whole evil, erotic, seductive mystique, doesn’t it? I looked “jezebel” up in the dictionary, and here’s what Webster-Merriam has to say: “an impudent, shameless, or morally unrestrained woman.” According to other definitions,
A jezebel is a wicked, evil, scheming female who is manipulates her victims into giving her wealth, status and power. She is often beautiful and knows it, using her looks to her advantage to “lure in” her prey
She very much has to be the center of attention but also doesn’t have many real friends because of how shallow she is. She will do anything and will use anyone to get what she wants.
In some Christian circles, having a Jezebel spirit means being all of the above, disruptive, seductive, insinuating, contriving, dangerous to the Body of Christ.
Added to that deeply embedded cultural and religious meme is the Jezebel found in John’s Revelation,
"But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols."
Revelation 2:20
Wow, right? But who was the original Jezebel? We’ll trace her history as a Phoenician princess nearly three thousand years ago who became one of the most powerful queens found in the Bible.
We’ll read about her devotion to Baal, her strategies for getting what she wanted, and her untimely end. Is this a story about a powerful and ambitious person who was vilified because she was a woman? Or of another culture? Or was there something more sinister that lurked within her?
I Phoenician Princess, 1 Kings 16
II Priestess of Ba'al, 1 Kings 18
III Pillage of Israel, 1 Kings 21
IV Publicly Pilloried, 2 Kings 9
And we will learn that God’s judgment is both righteous and just, and that God shows mercy wherever it is possible.
To see the original YouTube presentation, click on "Jezebel"
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Each podcast is designed to offer background scholarship on the topic, including setting, culture, original language, and archaeology, as well as a theological study.
Grace and Peace, Joanne Website
Biblical exegesis from an equalitarian point of view
Books by Joanne
"Broken, Searching, Trusted, Powerful"
"Love Feast"
Forty Freebies
If you would like a set of forty Bible studies on Women in the Bible, complete with fifteen study questions, commentary, a bibliograp...