MDDM Hephzibah ("Dark Hepsie, the Pythoness of the Point" 25-29)

[jbor]

Thanks Keith. I did a bit of trawling about as well. Hephzibah was the
mother of Manasseh, an Old Testament King of Judah. Manasseh succeeded
Hezekiah to the throne in Jerusalem as a twelve year old and ruled for 55
years. His reign is described in 2 Kings 21:1-18 - apparently he followed
"the disgusting practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out of the
land [...] rebuilt the pagan places of worship [...] built altars for the
worship of Baal and made an image of the goddess Asherah [...] Manasseh also
worshipped the stars. He built pagan altars in the Temple [...] He
sacrificed his son as a burnt offering. He practised divination and magic
and consulted fortune tellers and mediums. He sinned greatly against the
Lord and built up his anger. [...]"

http://www.bibleplus.org/witchcraft/witchcraft.htm

http://www.learnbible.net/topical/500.htm

There's another version of the story in 2 Chronicles 33:1-20.

The name Hepzibah Rea appears in the list of defenders in the 1692 Salem
witch trials (upon which Arthur Miller's _The Crucible_ is based.)

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/salem-defenders.html

And Hepzibah is also the name of the sister in Hawthorne's _House of the
Seven Gables_, which crops up often in the critical literature as a likely
Pynchonian source.

http://www.papercamp.com/lit82.htm

best


> Isaiah 62
> 1   For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's
> sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as
> brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. 2
> And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy
> glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of
> the LORD shall name. 3  Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the
> hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 4
> Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any
> more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and
> thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land
> shall be married. 5  For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so
> shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over
> the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. 6  I have set
> watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
> peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not
> silence, 7  And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he
> make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 8  The LORD hath sworn by
> his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no
> more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of
> the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast
> laboured: 9 But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and
> praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall
> drink it in the courts of my holiness. 10 Go through, go through
> the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the
> highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.
> 11 Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say
> ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold,
> his reward is with him, and his work before him.12 And they shall
> call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou
> shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.
> 
> HEPHZIBAH:  Biblical name meaning "in her is my delight."
> Variant, Hepzibah, exists.  Diminutives are Hepsie and Eppie.
> 
>