The wife of Phinehas
Aug. 23rd, 2009 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zeborahThis woman (1 Samuel 4:19-21) has had the misfortune to marry into a family of priests so corrupt that God finally says he's going to kill them all and arrange things so that even their descendants die in the prime of their lives.
Thus she's heavily pregnant when the ark of God is captured by Israel's enemies and her husband Phinehas and his brother are killed. The news is brought first to the men's father, who dies when he hears it. When it reaches her, she goes into labour and gives birth.
There are complications. As she's dying, her midwives try to encourage her by telling her she's given birth to a son, but this doesn't really cheer her up: she even names the boy "no glory" because, with the ark captured and the deaths of her family, she says "The glory has departed from Israel."
Thus she's heavily pregnant when the ark of God is captured by Israel's enemies and her husband Phinehas and his brother are killed. The news is brought first to the men's father, who dies when he hears it. When it reaches her, she goes into labour and gives birth.
There are complications. As she's dying, her midwives try to encourage her by telling her she's given birth to a son, but this doesn't really cheer her up: she even names the boy "no glory" because, with the ark captured and the deaths of her family, she says "The glory has departed from Israel."
