Judges 9:54

(54) A woman slew him.—He did not, however, escape the taunt (2 Samuel 11:21). We see also from the narrative of the death of Saul in 2 Samuel 1:9, 1 Samuel 31:4, how sensitive the ancients were about the manner of their death. The same feeling finds ample illustration in Homer and classic writers (Soph. Trach., 1,064). It was a similar feeling which made Deborah exult in the death of Sisera by the hand of a woman, and the Jews in the murder of Holofernes by Judith. It is remarkable that both of the first two Israelite kings die by suicide to avoid a death of greater shame.