Death at the Hands of a Woman

Death at the hands of anyone or anything is very much a final state of being here on Earth. At least in terms of temporal things, once a life has ended, that is is it. However, apparently how you die can have lasting consequences. One such method of death that can have lasting consequences is death at the hands of woman. For a man to be killed by a woman is worse than for him to die in battle, because of an accident, the actions of another man, or death by almost any other means. To die at the hands of a woman is considered to a dishonorable manner for a man to go. It calls into question his ability to defend himself and his character as a man. This trend can be seen throughout history and multiple cultures. The Biblical narrative does not escape this manner of thinking and includes several stories about how women delivering delivering the final blow as a tool to bring dishonor on a man. 

One story is the story of Deborah and Jael in the book of Judges. Deborah received a message to go into battle with King Sisera, and summoned Barak to lead the Israelite army into battle. For an unknown reason, Barak is hesitant to act on Deborah's command without her support and presence going into battle. As a result, Deborah states that Barak will not receive the glory for the victory that Israel will experience, but rather the victory will be found in the hands of a woman. This is not only a slam on Barak's leadership, that he is not worthy enough to have the glory for the victory of the battle, but it will also shame the power of King Sisera to be defeated at the hands of a woman. Jael will ultimately win all the glory for the defeat of the King Sisera when she killed him in her family's tent, and she and Deborah will be the stars of their story. Barak only receives a mention as the commander of the military, but he is not credited with winning the battle. 

Another story is story in the book of Judges is that of Abimelech when he tried to capture the city of Thebez. As he was attacking a tower within the city of Thebez that contained both women and men, a woman dropped a stone on his head. His skull was cracked, and the reader must assume that death was imminent for him but not right way. Ambimelech quickly called to his armor-bearer and told him to kill him "so that they cannot say 'A woman killed me'". His servant did as he was commanded, and technically Ambimelech was merely wounded by a woman but killed by a man. In Ambimelech's mind, this somehow saved him from something, or it just merely saved his honor. 

In my mind, whatever the cause, death is death. However, I can understand that the stigma of death, while it may not affect the individual who died, can and does affect the family and friends left behind. If the view of eternal life for a man was that he lived on through the life of his children, then how he died would taint how his life would continue after death. The stigma associated with death because of a woman would not only taint the memory of the dead man, but also the family line after him. This could have had tremendous consequences for the family line, and a man would take steps to prevent that from happening. 

While the stigma of being killed by a woman is not as prevalent as it once was, other stigmas do exist in modern times. Death through a drug overdose or suicide can carry strong, negative stigmas that individuals left behind have to live with. Sometimes the genetics of the successive family members can be called into question or quality of life for the family greatly diminishes.