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The '''Book of Judith''' is found in the books of the [[Septuagint]], the Old Testament accepted as inspired and canonical by the [[Orthodox Church]] in the ''Greek Orthodox Bible'', and found in the books of the Old Testament of the ''[[Vulgate]]'' and included in the canon of inspired scripture by the [[Third Council of Carthage (397)]]. Since the [[Council of Trent]] it is [[Dogma|dogmatically]] accepted as inspired and canonical by the [[Catholic Church]] in the ''Catholic Bible''—books of the Bible accepted as divinely inspired by the majority of Christian believers in the United States.<ref>The '''Catholic Church''' is the world's largest [[Christianity|Christian]] body comprised of several distinct [https://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/catholic_rites_and_churches.htm "Rites"]. The [[Catholic Church|Catholic Church (Latin Rite)]] is the largest religious body in the United States, with over 60 million adherents (4 times as large as the second largest church, the Orthodox).<br/>[http://www.pewforum.org/2013/02/13/the-global-catholic-population/ “The Global Catholic Population,” © 2011, Pew Research Center.]<br/>[http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_romcath.html The Largest Catholic Communities]<br/>

The '''Book of Judith''' is found in the books of the [[Septuagint]], the Old Testament accepted as inspired and canonical by the [[Orthodox Church]] in the ''Greek Orthodox Bible'', and found in the books of the Old Testament of the ''[[Vulgate]]'' and included in the canon of inspired scripture by the [[Third Council of Carthage (397)]]. Since the [[Council of Trent]] it is [[Dogma|dogmatically]] accepted as inspired and canonical by the [[Catholic Church]] in the ''Catholic Bible''—books of the Bible accepted as divinely inspired by the majority of Christian believers in the United States.<ref name=majority>The '''Catholic Church''' is the world's largest [[Christianity|Christian]] body comprised of several distinct [https://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/catholic_rites_and_churches.htm "Rites"]. The [[Catholic Church|Catholic Church (Latin Rite)]] is the largest religious body in the United States, with over 60 million adherents (4 times as large as the second largest church, the Orthodox).<br/>[http://www.pewforum.org/2013/02/13/the-global-catholic-population/ “The Global Catholic Population,” © 2011, Pew Research Center.]<br/>[http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_romcath.html The Largest Catholic Communities]<br/>

The '''Eastern Orthodox Church''', officially called the '''Orthodox Catholic Church''', and also referred to as the '''[[Orthodox Church]]''' and '''Orthodoxy''', is the second largest [[Christianity|Christian church]] in the world, with an estimated 225–300 million adherents, most of whom live in [[Eastern Europe]], the [[Middle East]], and [[Russia]].<br/>{{cite web |last1=Calivas |first1=Rev. Alciviadis C. |title=The Greek (Eastern) Orthodox Church |publisher=Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Of America |year=1983 |url=http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7061 |accessdate=7 May 2014 |ref=none }}<br/>{{cite web |last1=Fairchild |first1=Mary |title=Christianity:Basics:Eastern Orthodox Church Denomination |publisher=about.com |url=http://christianity.about.com/od/easternorthodoxy/p/orthodoxprofile.htm |accessdate=22 May 2014 |ref=none }}<br/>{{cite web |title=Christianity |work=Major Branches of Religions Ranked by Number of Adherents |publisher=adherents.com |url=http://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html#Christianity |accessdate=22 May 2014 |ref=none }}</ref><ref name=Prot>See [http://www.888c.com/worldChristianDenominations.htm Percentage of Christians in Protestant Denominations (29.5%)].</ref>

The '''Eastern Orthodox Church''', officially called the '''Orthodox Catholic Church''', and also referred to as the '''[[Orthodox Church]]''' and '''Orthodoxy''', is the second largest [[Christianity|Christian church]] in the world, with an estimated 225–300 million adherents, most of whom live in [[Eastern Europe]], the [[Middle East]], and [[Russia]].<br/>{{cite web |last1=Calivas |first1=Rev. Alciviadis C. |title=The Greek (Eastern) Orthodox Church |publisher=Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Of America |year=1983 |url=http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7061 |accessdate=7 May 2014 |ref=none }}<br/>{{cite web |last1=Fairchild |first1=Mary |title=Christianity:Basics:Eastern Orthodox Church Denomination |publisher=about.com |url=http://christianity.about.com/od/easternorthodoxy/p/orthodoxprofile.htm |accessdate=22 May 2014 |ref=none }}<br/>{{cite web |title=Christianity |work=Major Branches of Religions Ranked by Number of Adherents |publisher=adherents.com |url=http://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html#Christianity |accessdate=22 May 2014 |ref=none }}</ref><ref name=Prot>See [http://www.888c.com/worldChristianDenominations.htm Percentage of Christians in Protestant Denominations (29.5%)].</ref>

==Canonical Status==

==Canonical Status==

The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles, but excluded by Jews and Protestants. However, it remains a popular and widely read work among the apocrypha of the Old Testament.

The Book of Judith is a [[deuterocanonical]] book considered canonical by Catholic and Orthodox Christians, and is included as sacred scripture in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles, but is excluded by Jews from the Hebrew Masoretic Tanakh, and is placed by Protestants among the [[Apocrypha]].

—considered canonical by Roman Catholics, Apocrypha Literature by Protestants, and non-canon by Jews—

Although the book was recognized as canonical by Christians it was later rejected by rabbinic authorities, until the Protestant Reformation, when it was retained by Catholic and Orthodox Christians but excluded by Protestants. Even though the Book of Judith is not part of the official Jewish religious canon, it regained popularity among Jews in the medieval period and remains widely read today.

The Book of Judith is part of the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical scripture and appears in the Old Testament of Catholic Bibles. The nation of Israel treated the Apocryphal books with respect, but never accepted them as true books of the Hebrew Bible. The early Christian church debated the status of the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonicals, but few early Christians believed they belonged in the canon of Scripture.

Although the book was recognized as part of the Septuagint Old Testament received as inspired scripture by Christians of the early church, as evidenced by its continued use since the 1st century in the Eastern Church, it was later rejected by rabbinic authorities, until the Protestant Reformation, when it was retained by Catholic and Orthodox Christians but excluded by Protestants as one of the Apocryphal books. The nation of Israel treated all of the Apocryphal books with respect, but after the establishment of Christianity never accepted them as true books of the Hebrew Bible. Even though the Book of Judith is not part of the official Jewish religious canon, it regained popularity among Jews in the medieval period and remains widely read today.

The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles, but excluded by Jews and Protestants. However, it remains a popular and widely read work among the apocrypha of the Old Testament.

 

 

The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book, fully included in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles and accepted as sacred and inspired by the majority of Christians,<ref name=majority/> but is excluded by Jews and Protestants. However, although it is among the Protestant apocrypha of the Old Testament and is non-canonical for Jews it remains a popular and widely read work. The Book of Judith is regarded as apocryphal by less than one-third of Christian believers.<ref name=Prot/>

==Content==

==Content==

See [[Judith]] and [[Holofernes]].

See [[Judith]] and [[Holofernes]].

The Book of Judith tells the story of the ignominious defeat of the Assyrians, an army bent on world domination, by the hand of a Hebrew woman (Judith 13:14).

The Book of Judith tells the story of the ignominious defeat of the Assyrians, an army bent on world domination, by the hand of a Hebrew woman (Judith 13:14). Indeed her beheading of Holofernes, the invading Assyrian general—in his own tent, with his own sword, and surrounded by his own heretofore victorious army!—marks her as a political savior in Israel on a par with David.

The book can be divided into five parts:

The book can be divided into five parts:

==The Story==

==The Story==

The story revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow. During the final stages of an Assyrian siege which has convinced her city of Bethulia to surrender, she travels to the camp of the enemy general Holofernes and seductively ingratiates herself to him. Soon, as he lies in a drunken stupor, she decapitates him, then takes his head back to her grateful countrymen. The Assyrians are then routed, and Israel is saved. Though she is courted by many, Judith remains quietly unmarried for the rest of her life.

In the opening chapters, God’s divine sovereignty over Israel comes into direct conflict with Nebuchadnezzar’s political sovereignty over all the nations of the western world.

Indeed her beheading of Holofernes, the invading Assyrian general—in his own tent, with his own sword, and surrounded by his own heretofore victorious army, no less!—marks her as a political savior in Israel on a par with David.

The story of Judith has four episodes: 

1  Nebuchadnezzar's War: (1-7:32) There is a military struggle underway, with the Persian forces invading the states to the west of its borders.  

1. Judith commands, plans, leads. She enters the book bearing her name when the Assyrians have cut off the water supply of Bethulia, the town at the entrance of the narrow corridor leading to Jerusalem (Judith 7:7, 4:7).  The siege, which has lasted 34 days, has made the people fractious, thirsty, and bitter (Judith 7:20, 29). Uzziah and the town’s other magistrates succumb the townspeople’s demands and say they will surrender to the Assyrians in five days—unless the Lord takes pity (Judith 7:29-30). Upon hearing this, Judith, instead of going to Bethulia’s leaders, summons them to her home (Judith 8:10).  Chiding them for testing God (Judith 8:11-12), she declares she has a plan to save Bethulia, Jerusalem, the Temple, and the people.  Declining to reveal it, she nonetheless proclaims her deed will “go down through all generations of our descendants” (Judith 8:32).  Not only do the leaders listen without interruption, they also acclaim her for her wisdom and—like all men in this tale!—do her bidding (Judith 8:28-29).  She demands that the gates be opened and that she and her maid be let out of the city (Judith 8:33, 10:9).

There is a war between two ancient kings, Nebuchadnezzar and Arphaxad.  

2. Judith is verbose. Other women wordsmiths in the Biblical text are Lady Wisdom (Proverbs 8-9), Abigail (1 Samuel 25:23-31), Deborah (Judges 5), and the Beloved in Song of Songs. Other women wordsmiths in the Biblical text are Lady Wisdom (Proverbs 8-9), Abigail (1 Samuel 25:23-31), Deborah (Judges 5), and the Beloved in Song of Songs. Judith tops them all with two long statements—first to Uzziah and the other Bethulian magistrates (Judith 8:11-27), and the second to Holofernes and the Assyrian forces crowding around to gaze at her beautiful face (Judith 11:5-19).  She prays thrice—once before her adventure starts (Judith 9), then for strength to behead Holofernes (Judith 13:4-7) and finally in a public song at the national celebrations honoring her deed and the slaughter of the Assyrians (Judith 16:1-17).

Nebuchadnezzar At the start of this war Nebuchadnezzar orders all the city states in surrounding kingdoms to send him a levy of soldiers, but they flout his command. Eventually, without their support, he wins the war, and when it is over he decides to take his revenge, to teach them a lesson in respect.  

Judith knows her power over men. Throughout the book, it seems Judith merely smiles and men collapse (Judith 10:7, 14, 19, 23).  Wisely appealing to their senses of sight and smell, she mesmerizes them. Her weapons of warfare are sensual and material.  She dresses carefully, knowing the success of her ruse and assassination plan depend upon her ability to entice.  For her adventure, she removes her sackcloth and widow’s dress, bathes and richly perfumes herself, fixes her hair, selects a festival dress, and dons a tiara as her battle garb’s finishing touch (Judith 10:3).  She accessorizes her outfit with rings, bracelets, anklets, earrings, other jewelry, and attractive sandals (Judith 10:4).  In the intimate seduction banquet scene set in Holofernes’ tent, Judith simply reclines on lambskins, nibbles her food brought from Bethulia, and flatters the general by telling him “today is the greatest day of my whole life” (Judith 12:15-20).  She presents such a pretty picture that gullible Holofernes, beset with lust, drinks himself into senseless, fatal oblivion (Judith 12:16, 20).

Nebuchadnezzar has grown angry with the people of the Levant who resist his rule, and vows to destroy them. He assigns his military commander Holofernes to this task, Holofernes, commander-in-chief of the Assyrian armies of Nebuchadnezzar (which, of course, is impossible historically since Nebuchadnezzar is a Babylonian!) and a great army sweeps down from Mesopotamia into Syria and Lebanon toward Israel. He summons the leader of his army, Holofernes, and orders him to lead a vast army against those states who have ignored his original command.  Holofernes sets out, burning, murdering and plundering as he goes.  leads a massive force in a punitive campaign against the western vassal nations—including Israel—who refused to send auxiliary forces against the Medes. All those who will not submit to Nebuchadnezzar are destroyed.

Judith acts for the common good. Judith murders Holofernes, the enemy of Israel, a world-class bully who slaughtered his way through Put, Lud, the lands of the Rassisites and the Ishmaelites, the walled towns along Wadi Abron, and Cilicia; he set fire to the tents of the Midiantites and the fields of Damascus (Judith 2:23-27). Alone with him late at night in his tent, Judith beheads him with two strokes to the neck from his own famous sword—praying beforehand, of course (Judith 13:4-7)!  She rolls his corpse to the floor, yanks down a jeweled canopy from above his bed, walks out of the tent, and hands his head to her waiting maid who puts it in the food sack (Judith 13:9-10).  Together the women walk through the Assyrian lines as they have on other nights, allegedly to pray and bathe.  This time skipping the prayer-and-bath routine, they head straight up the mountain to Bethulia’s gates. There, Judith starts shouting (Judith 13:14)!  The gates open and she shares her story.  She carefully proclaims in front of all that she has not been defiled by Holofernes because the Lord protected her; her face tricked Holofernes and brought his downfall (Judith 13:16).  Displaying his head, and no doubt unraveling the jeweled canopy, her story is believable. Uzziah proclaims Judith is blessed “by the Most High God above all other women on earth” (Judith 13:18).  This verse, an echo of Deborah’s vindication of Jael’s similar, hands-on murder of Sisera (Judges 4:21, 5:24-26), is pivotal in Roman Catholic theology, for it also is spoken of Mary (Luke 1:42, 48).

The Book of Judith’s truly remarkable heroine, Judith, introduced as a devout, shapely, beautiful and wealthy widow (Judith 8:4, 7), exhibits characteristics showing her the equal of Israel’s finest warriors. Indeed her beheading of Holofernes, the invading Assyrian general—in his own tent, with his own sword, and surrounded by his own heretofore victorious army, no less!—marks her as a political savior in Israel on a par with David.

Eventually he comes to the sea coast near Sidon and Tyre, and the people there send messengers, suing for peace. Holofernes spares them, but destroys all their sacred temples and shrines: they must henceforth worship Nebuchadnezzar alone.  

1. Judith displays extraordinary courage. Anticipating the gruesome outcome of the 34-day Assyrian siege against Bethulia, Judith describes it this way: “The slaughter of our kindred and the captivity of the land and the desolation of our inheritance” (Judith 8:22). If the little town at the gateway to Jerusalem falls, Jerusalem will be exposed and the sanctuary looted. But unlike the Bethulian magistrates who cry to the Lord for rain and hope for deliverance from the Assyrians (Judith 8:31, 7:30), Judith acts.  Correcting their theology, she proclaims the siege as a test from God, like the one he put to Abraham and Isaac, and even thanks God for it (Judith 8:25-26)! Everyone knows that the Bethulian men, while brave, present no match for the Assyrian’s 170,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry (Judith 7:2). Judith, unarmed, alone but for her accompanying maid, steps forward (Judith 8:33).

The nations in its path immediately surrender and beg for peace.

2. Judith and her maid. A silent, anonymous maid shadows Judith throughout her adventure and shares equally in it. Serving as an inclusion (Judith 8:10, 16:23), the maid summons the magistrates to Judith’s home and recei

The Israelites living in Judea know that their turn is coming. They are distraught, since they have only recently returned from exile in Babylon and rebuilt their Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar will of course destroy if he captures the city.  

shadows Judith throughout her adventure and shares equally in it. Serving as an inclusion (Judith 8:10, 16:23), the maid summons the magistrates to Judith’s home and receives emancipation just before Judith dies at age 105. The maid, it seems, also is beautiful, for the awestruck Assyrians marvel, “Who can despise these people when they have women like this among them?” (Judith 10:19) (italics added). The maid cares for the physical needs of her mistress—her food and clothing—and acts as chaperone and attendant, necessary qualifications adding to the mystique and credibility of a great lady claiming she flees in distress from her doomed countrymen to the Assyrians because the Hebrews “are about to be devoured” (Judith 10:12).

The text hints at a deep bond between Judith and her maid and the deep faith they share. Both are members of the covenant community; the maid observes Judith’s lifestyle of prayer and fasting. Although the text does not indicate that the maid knew Judith’s complete plan or was asked to accompany her, I think that Judith’s character indicates she would not order someone to come with her on what could be a death mission. I believe she asked her maid, and the maid, meeting her eyes and with her head held high, nodded yes. I believe they prayed together. In modern terms, both were enemy agents bent on the destruction of Israel’s foe. Both are heroines.

They devise a plan: they will retreat to the hill-tops, fortify and provision them, and wait it out. Hilltop towns in Judea guarded the roads below and had to be taken by any invader who wanted to secure the transport routes.

3. Judith’s heritage. Judith is introduced with a lineage virtually unparalleled in the Biblical text (Judith 8:1-2). A descendant of Simeon, her genealogy includes 16 progenitors and doesn’t even make it back to Simeon! The genealogy, a significant textual marker, establishes her as a formidable literary character. In an interesting psychological insight, her prayer for help with her plan to save Israel and assassinate Holofernes, the besieging Assyrian general, begins with a remembrance of Dinah’s shame (Genesis 34:2; Judith 9:2-4). Judith, by her upcoming valor and good deed, expresses determination to erase this early, but still remembered, defamation.

The High Priest Joakim writes to the Israelites, among them the people of Judith's home town Bethulia (a curious name, similar to the Hebrew word for 'young unmarried woman'). He orders them to pray for deliverance, and this they do most fervently, fasting and wearing sackcloth and even draping the altar with sackcloth. The town of Bethulia is particularly desperate, since it stands in the way of the mighty army's path to Jerusalem. (1-4)

Her covenant heritage combines prayer and action. She calls on God to break the world-renowned pride of the Assyrians “by the hand of a woman” (Judith 9:10), thus causing them ongoing, international shame. She calls on God, in his anger, to bring down the strength of the Assyrians (Judith 9:8). She demands that God demonstrate throughout the world that “there is no other who protects the people of Israel but you alone” (Judith 9:14). She beseeches God to grant her, a widow, the strength she needs and to hear her prayer (Judith 9:9, 12).  She asks that “my deceitful words bring wound and bruise on those who have planned cruel things” against the covenant people (Judith 9:13). Then, with Holofernes’ neck exposed for the deadly blow, she prays for strength to accomplish her plan and speedily slashes through his neck with two blows (Judith 13:5, 7-8; 16:9).

They know only too well that Bethulia guards the route to Jerusalem, and that if their town is overrun Jerusalem and its Temple will be sacked and destroyed. The people of Israel block his retaliatory advancement against all the nations of the west at their little town of Bethulia (related to Hebrew for “virgin”), which strategically guards his route of access to Jerusalem. The Israelites, however, fast and pray to God for deliverance.

Her song lauds the kind of upset the Biblical text loves: that of the underdog winning against the mighty, proud foe; of the enemy cowering in fear and screaming and running; of mere boys slaying seasoned Assyrian warriors (Judith 16:11-12).

Nebuchadnezzar's army, led by Holofernes, besieges the hilltop town of Bethulia. Holofernes then musters his entire army. The figures given, 170,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry are surely an exaggeration, but they indicate that the mountain town is vastly outnumbered.  

Judith receives—and accepts—accolades usually reserved for God. Joakim, the high priest, and the Israelite Council (yet again, men who come to Judith rather than her going to them) arrive from Jerusalem. With one voice they call Judith the glory of Jerusalem, the great pride of Israel, and the boast of the nation (Judith 15:9). The people concur with Amen (Judith 15:10).

On the other hand the walls of Bethulia are strong, and so there is, for the moment, stalemate. Holofernes decides that the best tactic is to lay siege to the town.

5. Judith as prophetess. Although the text does not call her by the appositive prophetess, her words and actions raise the possibility that she indeed is a prophetess. The first indication is when she asserts to Uzziah and the Bethulian magistrates that “I am about to do something that will go down through all generations of our descendants.” (Judith 8:32). She does. Consider these other instances: At the start of her adventure, she (and her maid) are blessed by Uzziah. Uzziah asks God’s favor on the mission and charges Judith to fulfill her plans “so that the Israelites may glory and Jerusalem may be exulted!” (Judith 10:8). Judith responds that she “will go out and accomplish the things you have just said to me” (Judith 10:9). She does.

For thirty-four days the people of Bethulia hold out, until every water container in the town is dry and even the underground cisterns are almost empty. The children are listless and the people begin fainting, collapsing in the streets. They blame Uzziah for not submitting to Holofernes in the first place, and saving them from death. True, they would have had to abandon worship of Jahweh and pray to Nebuchadnezzar instead, but this now seems preferable to death by thirst.  

The townspeople think that God has abandoned them, and beg their leaders to surrender. They urge Uzziah to surrender the town to Holofernes. It will mean slavery for them, but at least they will be spared from seeing their children die of thirst. Playing for time, the leading citizen Uzziah suggests they pray, asking God for a further five days. Uzziah urges them to hold out for five more days. If God has not saved them by then, he promises the town will be surrendered.

 

If God does not deliver them in this time, they will surrender.

Back in Bethulia, she tells her townspeople that once the Assyrians find Holofernes’ headless corpse, “panic will come over them, and they will flee before you” at the advance of the Bethulians who will cut the enemy down “in their tracks” (Judith 14:3-4). As usual, Judith is right.

 

6. Judith and her countrywomen. Judith relates well to other women. They express no hint of jealousy toward her beauty, wealth, piety, and accomplishments; indeed, they arguably identify with her. She inspires them. They sing her praises and dance in her honor (Judith 15:12). Judith and the women crown themselves with garlands (Judith 15:13). Judith then leads the women first, with the men following, in a celebratory victory dance, just as Miriam the prophetess led the women after the victory at the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 15:20-21). In both stories, a mighty foe bent on the destruction of God’s covenant people, falls. A heroine knows no greater honor.

 

The nature of God. In Chapter 8 Judith rebukes the town officials for trying to make God in their own image It's a remarkable description of what God is and is not.

 

Making the best of what you've got. Judith was not a soldier, but she killed a fearsome warrior of the ancient world. She did this by using the gifts she had: beauty, intelligence, and ruthless cunning.

 

Ingenuity (and faith in God) are better than brute strength. Judith's story is a variant on the David and Goliath story, where a seemingly weak person triumphs over a person of superior strength. She is a symbol of the Jewish people, who relied on God's help and their own abilities to overcome their enemies. They were surrounded throughout their history by huge and fearsome kingdoms, but God stood by them when they called on his help.

 

The story of Judith has four episodes: 

1  Nebuchadnezzar's War: (1-7:32) There is a military struggle underway, with the Persian forces invading the states to the west of its borders. Nebuchadnezzar's army, led by Holofernes, besieges the hilltop town of Bethulia. The townspeople think that God has abandoned them, and beg their leaders to surrender. Playing for time, the leading citizen Uzziah suggests they pray, asking God for a further five days. If God does not deliver them in this time, they will surrender.

2  Judith and the Elders: (8:1-9.14) The beautiful and respected Judith, a wealthy widow of Bethulia, confronts the town leaders. Their plan, she says, is not the right course of action. She herself has a secret plan, which she begins to put into action: she grooms herself so that she is alluringly beautiful, then leaves the city during the night.

2  Judith and the Elders: (8:1-9.14) The beautiful and respected Judith, a wealthy widow of Bethulia, confronts the town leaders. Their plan, she says, is not the right course of action. She herself has a secret plan, which she begins to put into action: she grooms herself so that she is alluringly beautiful, then leaves the city during the night.

3  Judith and Holofernes: Judith meets and bowls over the enemy general, Holofernes. He plans to seduce her, but she turns the tables on him. Spilled goblet of wine She waits until he is drunk and sleeping, then she kills him by hacking off his head as he lies in a drunken stupor.  

Judith and the Elders  (Book of Judith 8:1-9.14)

4  Aftermath, and the Song of Judith: She and her faithful maid take the head back to Bethulia, and hangs it on the outer walls of the town. When the enemy troops realize they have lost their leader they panic, and are easy prey for the Israelite troops. Judith has saved her people, and is hailed as a national heroine.

The most important part of the story lies here, where she talks about the nature of God: what God is and is not.

There is a war between two ancient kings, Nebuchadnezzar and Arphaxad.  

The story revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow. The Book of Judith recounts the story of God providing a woman, Judith, to deliver the Jewish people in a time of great need and despair. In the story Judith lives in the town of Bethulia. She is a beautiful and wise widow who becomes incensed with her town elders when they “test” God rather than trust Him and they decide to capitulate to King Nebuchadnezzar’s top general, Holofernes, to surrender if God does not save them in five days.

Nebuchadnezzar At the start of this war Nebuchadnezzar orders all the city states in surrounding kingdoms to send him a levy of soldiers, but they flout his command. Eventually, without their support, he wins the war, and when it is over he decides to take his revenge, to teach them a lesson in respect.  

At this stage in the story Judith of Bethulia makes her entrance. She is a woman of impeccable background and character, and a great beauty.  

He summons the leader of his army, Holofernes, and orders him to lead a vast army against those states who have ignored his original command. Holofernes sets out, burning, murdering and plundering as he goes. All those who will not submit to Nebuchadnezzar are destroyed.

She is also a widow - this is important to the story, because she must be highly moral but also sexually experienced. Her husband has died three years previously of sunstroke, but has left her financially independent.  

Eventually he comes to the sea coast near Sidon and Tyre, and the people there send messengers, suing for peace. Holofernes spares them, but destroys all their sacred temples and shrines: they must henceforth worship Nebuchadnezzar alone.  

Despite her wealth, she lives a simple, almost Spartan life in a shelter on the rooftop of her house, fasting and praying most of the time.

The Israelites living in Judea know that their turn is coming. They are distraught, since they have only recently returned from exile in Babylon and rebuilt their Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar will of course destroy if he captures the city.  

Judith is of course aware of what is going on around her in the town of Bethulia. Her maid seems to have been a consummate gossip, and through her Judith learns of Uzziah's promise to surrender the town after five days if God has not saved it.  

They devise a plan: they will retreat to the hill-tops, fortify and provision them, and wait it out. Hilltop towns in Judea guarded the roads below and had to be taken by any invader who wanted to secure the transport routes.

She sends for the elders, including Uzziah, and when they come to her in her rooftop room she remonstrates with them.  

The High Priest Joakim writes to the Israelites, among them the people of Judith's home town Bethulia (a curious name, similar to the Hebrew word for 'young unmarried woman'). He orders them to pray for deliverance, and this they do most fervently, fasting and wearing sackcloth and even draping the altar with sackcloth.

What follows is one of the great statements about what God is and is not (8:12-17). God is not a human being to be bargained with, or put to the test, nor can we ever hope to understand God's mind. We do not know what the person beside us is thinking, even if it is someone we love - just as they do not really know what we are thinking. How then can we expect to know what is in the mind of God?

They know only too well that Bethulia guards the route to Jerusalem, and that if their town is overrun Jerusalem and its Temple will be sacked and destroyed.

Holoferenes is amazed that the Israelites have the courage to resist him. Achior, the leader of all the Ammonites, briefs him on Israel's sacred history and declares that Israel will be invincible unless it sins against God. "Who is God except Nebuchadnezzar?" Holefernes replies. He orders Achior bound and taken to Bethulia, where he can share the Israelites' fate. The Ammonite leader is treated with hospitality by the citizens of the city, who welcome him into their assembly. Holofernes arrays his troops for battle, but the Edomites in his coalition convince him to lay siege to the city instead, by taking control of its water supply, which lies outside the city walls. After a little more than a month, the people of Bethulia are ready to surrender, but their mayor, Uzziah, convinces them to hold out for five more days. If God does not deliver them by the fortieth day of the siege, he vows to accede to their wishes and surrender to Holofernes' forces. (5-7)

 

The Bible says that at the siege of Jerusalem Sennacherib's officer, taunting the Jews who stood on the city wall, assured them that they were doomed to 'eat their own faeces and drink their own piss' (2 Kings 18:27). This seems mild compared with the fate described in inscriptions at Nineveh.

Holofernes is told that the mountain passes have been closed and the hilltop villages fortified. He is outraged and calls a meeting of all the princes of the Moabite and Ammonite city states. Who are these hilltop ragamuffins to flout him? He is, after all, Nebuchadnezzar's top general.  

Holofernes is told that the mountain passes have been closed and the hilltop villages fortified. He is outraged and calls a meeting of all the princes of the Moabite and Ammonite city states. Who are these hilltop ragamuffins to flout him? He is, after all, Nebuchadnezzar's top general.  

The townspeople retrieve him and take him inside the walls of Bethulia where Uzziah, the chief magistrate of the town, pumps him for information. Achior tells him about Holofernes and his intentions, and the grateful townspeople reassure him and make him welcome.

The townspeople retrieve him and take him inside the walls of Bethulia where Uzziah, the chief magistrate of the town, pumps him for information. Achior tells him about Holofernes and his intentions, and the grateful townspeople reassure him and make him welcome.

Holofernes then musters his entire army. The figures given, 170,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry are surely an exaggeration, but they indicate that the mountain town is vastly outnumbered.  

Despite the warning of Achior the Ammonite that the Jews cannot be conquered unless they sin against their God, Holofernes lays siege to Bethulia, cutting off its water supply. After thirty-four days, the exhausted Bethulians are ready to surrender, even though it will mean worship of Nebuchadnezzar (3:8). Uzziah, their town magistrate, urges a compromise to give God five additional days to deliver them, temporarily postponing what seems inevitable apostasy, slavery, and destruction of the Jerusalem sanctuary.

 

In Part 2 (8:1–16:25), It is only now that the lovely, pious widow Judith appears on the scene. During the final stages of an Assyrian siege which has convinced her city of Bethulia to surrender, Judith, a pious widow in Bethulia, comes forward to challenge the five-day compromise that has imposed conditions on God’s sovereignty. Once she takes the stage, she surrenders it to no other character, figuring in every scene until the book’s end. She sends her maid to summon the town magistrates, Uzziah, Chabris, and Charmis to her house. Upbraiding them for putting themselves in the place of God (8:12), she argues that God is simply testing them, and has the power to help them at any time (8:15). She urges, “Do not try to bind the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not like a human being, to be threatened, or like a mere mortal, to be won over by pleading” (8:16). Judith feels that giving God such a deadline is arrogant and inappropriate in the extreme. Judith proposes that they wait for deliverance and together call upon God who will listen, if so disposed (8:17). She insists that God will not disdain Israel because they know no other god and that capture by the Assyrians will mean the desolation of the temple as well as their way of life. Judith counsels, “Let us set an example for our kindred” (8:24).

On the other hand the walls of Bethulia are strong, and so there is, for the moment, stalemate. Holofernes decides that the best tactic is to lay siege to the town.

She prophetically proclaims that to surrender to Holofernes' would be sin. "If we are captured, all Judea will be captured and our sanctuary will be plundered; and he (God) will exact of us the penalty for its desecration," she argues. Uzziah brushes off her advice. She is after all only a woman, so he tells her that the best thing she can do is pray, leaving decision-making to the men. Judith, in turn, calmly brushes off his advice. Uzziah responds that all she has said is true and that this is not the first time her wisdom has been shown (8:28–29). But, the people were thirsty; the magistrates made an oath; and she can best help by praying for rain. On her account, the Lord will fill the cisterns and the people will no longer faint from thirst (8:31). Thus he saves himself from losing face by rescinding his foolish vow to hand over the town to the Assyrians in five days if God does not act (7:30–31), blaming the people who forced him to this oath, victimizing the victims as Jephthah did his daughter (Judg 11:35). Judith declares that she herself will become God's agent of deliverance.

 

Giving up the idea that she and the town officials can set an example together, Judith decides to act independently. She tells the elders she has a plan, but must leave the city for it to be successful. She decides to act on her own initiative, telling Uzziah to meet her at the town gate so that she and her maid may leave the town that night. Explaining that she will do something all the generations will remember, she tells them to meet her at the town gate that evening when she and her maid will go out. Before the five days of their compromise are gone, she pledges “the Lord will deliver Israel by my hand” (Jdt 8:33). But she does not tell them what she plans to do. She refuses to tell them exactly what she is about to do (8:33–34). She refuses to divulge any details.

For thirty-four days the people of Bethulia hold out, until every water container in the town is dry and even the underground cisterns are almost empty. The children are listless and the people begin fainting, collapsing in the streets. They blame Uzziah for not submitting to Holofernes in the first place, and saving them from death. True, they would have had to abandon worship of Jahweh and pray to Nebuchadnezzar instead, but this now seems preferable to death by thirst.  

When the men are gone, she prostrates herself on the ground and makes a prayer to God. She prays desperately to God to allow her to use "deceitful words" to defeat the Assyrians. She describes the terrible things that have happened to women during war, and says she does not pretend to understand them, but accepts that they are somehow part of God's ultimate design and plan.  

They urge Uzziah to surrender the town to Holofernes. It will mean slavery for them, but at least they will be spared from seeing their children die of thirst. Uzziah urges them to hold out for five more days. If God has not saved them by then, he promises the town will be surrendered.  

Once the magistrates leave, Judith prostrates herself and cries out to God, begging the strength to be like Simeon, who took vengeance against the Shechemites who violated his virgin sister, Dinah. She urges God to break their power by putting strength instead into the hands of a widow, herself. Then she describes the present predicament of the townspeople, helpless prey to the Assyrians. She implores God to hear her widow’s prayer (9:4), crediting God with full knowledge of past, present, and future (9:5–6). Judith asks God to see the pride of the enemy, to send fury on their heads, to give her—a widow—a strong hand, to strike down the enemy “by the deceit” of her lips (9:10), and to “crush their arrogance by the hand of a woman” (9:10). In an androcentric setting, there is no greater dishonor for a male than to die at the hand of a female (see Judg 9:53–54; 2 Sam 11:21). She audaciously asks God to make her a good liar - the only such prayer in the Bible. It is important here to keep in mind that deceit was a recognized and admired strategy in ancient warfare.

Judith and the Elders  (Book of Judith 8:1-9.14)

Seduction and murder      (Book of Judith 10:1 - 13:20)

(Paintings of Judith concentrate on the moment, later in the story,  when she kills Holofernes in the dimly lit tent. But in my opinion the most important part of the story lies here, where she talks about the nature of God: what God is and is not.)

When she has finished her prayer she rises from the ground and calls her maid. Together they begin to prepare to carry out the plan. When her prayer is finished (Jdt 9:14), Judith dresses beautifully, “to entice the eyes of all the men who might see her” (10:4).  

At this stage in the story Judith of Bethulia makes her entrance. She is a woman of impeccable background and character, and a great beauty.  

She bathes her whole body - a terrible waste of precious water - then perfumes herself, She then attires herself glamorously, dresses her hair with a tiara, and puts on one of the extravagant robes she wore when her husband was alive.  

She is also a widow - this is important to the story, because she must be highly moral but also sexually experienced. Her husband has died three years previously of sunstroke, but has left her financially  independent.  

Then she decks herself with jewelry - anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings and other assorted pieces.  

Despite her wealth, she lives a simple, almost Spartan life in a shelter on the rooftop of her house, fasting and praying most of the time.

After that, she and her maid gather an assortment of ritually pure food and put it all in a large bag. Taking ritually pure foods to eat (10:5),  

Judith is of course aware of what is going on around her in the town of Bethulia. Her maid seems to have been a consummate gossip, and through her Judith learns of Uzziah's promise to surrender the town after five days if God has not saved it.

Thus prepared, she and her maid go out that night to the camp of the enemy. they made their way through the darkness to the town gate, where Uzziah and the elders are waiting. The town gates are opened, and she and her maid leave, receiving the praise of the people of Bethulia as she leaves through the city gate together with her maid, departs with her slave woman, . heading down the valley towards the Assyrian camp. she travels to the camp of the enemy general Holofernes

She sends for the elders, including Uzziah, and when they come to her in her rooftop room she remonstrates with them.  

3  Judith and Holofernes: Judith meets and bowls over the enemy general, Holofernes. He plans to seduce her, but she turns the tables on him. She waits until he is drunk and sleeping, then she kills him by hacking off his head as he lies in a drunken stupor.

What follows is one of the great statements about what God is and is not (8:12-17). God is not a human being to be bargained with, or put to the test, nor can we ever hope to understand God's mind. We do not know what the person beside us is thinking, even if it is someone we love - just as they do not really know what we are thinking. How then can we expect to know what is in the mind of God?

Almost immediately she and her maid run into an Assyrian patrol, who challenge them. She meets the Assyrian patrol She is immediately arrested by an Assyrian patrol, but convinces them that she has useful information for Holofernes. She tells the soldiers she is fleeing from the townspeople in Bethulia, and will give Holofernes secret information that will help him capture the town without losing a single soldier. and tells her first lie when she says, “I am a daughter of the Hebrews, but I am fleeing from them, for they are about to be handed over to you to be devoured. I am on my way to see Holofernes the commander of your army, to give him a true report” (10:12–13). The soldiers are bowled over by her beauty, She is consequently taken to him, amidst great excitement on account of her unrivaled beauty. (8-10) Her words and beauty greatly excite the soldiers who choose one hundred men from their ranks to assist her to the tent of Holofernes (10:14–17). and enters Holofernes’s camp on the pretext of providing him help to defeat her fellow Jews. and escort her immediately to the tent of Holofernes. The general is resting on his luxurious bed, but he comes to the front of the tent and greets her.

Uzziah brushes off her advice. She is after all only a woman, so he tells her that the best thing she can do is pray, leaving decision-making to the men. Judith, in turn, calmly brushes off his advice. She decides to act on her own initiative, telling Uzziah to meet her at the town gate so that she and her maid may leave the town that night. But she does not tell them what she plans to do.

Both of them then begin telling a sequence of lies - he starts off by saying that she has nothing to fear, since he has never hurt anyone who serves Nebuchadnezzar. and seductively ingratiates herself to him. She responds by saying how much she admires Nebuchadnezzar and Holofernes, and how much she has heard about his wisdom and clever military strategies.

When the men are gone, she prostrates herself on the ground and makes a prayer to God. She describes the terrible things that have happened to women during war, and says she does not pretend to understand them, but accepts that they are somehow part of God's ultimate design and plan.  

Holofernes assures Judith that she will not be harmed if she is willing to serve his master, Nebuchadnezzar. She prostrates herself before Holofernes, who tells her his first lie, saying he has never hurt anyone who chose to serve Nebuchadnezzar (11:2; conveniently forgetting how he destroyed the shrines and sacred places of seacoast peoples after they had surrendered in 3:1–8). Equal to the encounter, and playful with her use of the address “lord,” which Holofernes hears as deference to him, but Judith means as reference to God, Judith promises to tell him nothing false (11:5). She confirms the report of Achior the Ammonite regarding the Israelites' invincibility. However, she reports that the people of both Bethulia and Jerusalem have been so hard pressed by the siege that they are about to sin egregiously by consuming sacred food items dedicated to God. She explains that this very situation is what prompted her own decision to come over to the Assyrian side, rather than to share in the Israelites' now certain doom. She promises to act as Holofernes' agent to tell him when these sins have been committed, and thus when it is safe for him to attack. She refers to her 'lord'; the reader knows she is speaking about God, while Nebuchadmezzar assumes she is referring to him. She tells him that she will pray each evening, and that God will let her know when it is the right moment to strike. She in turn will give this information to Holofernes. She explains she will go out into the valley and pray to God each night and God will tell her when the Bethulians have sinned by eating sacrifices, so that Holofernes can safely attack Bethulia (11:16–19). Well-pleased, Holofernes praises her beauty and wise speech, pledging, “If: you do as you have said, your God shall be my God, and you shall live in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar” (11:23; compare Ruth 1:16). Holofernes is mesmerized by her beauty and takes her into his camp and company. Her voluptuousness and wiles attract him, and lust blinds him to her deceit. Beguiled, he tells her that he has never met a woman who is as beautiful in appearance and wise in speech as she is. Holofernes agrees to the plan and marvels at Judith's wisdom, promising her rich rewards. He offers her a sumptuous meal, but she piously declines to eat the non-kosher food. He then tells his servants to set out food for her and let her use his own silver dinnerware. She delicately declines, pointing to the food she has brought, and the reader is thus aware that she is a pious Jew who will not eat ritually unclean food. She has brought her own supplies in a bag, however, and survives on this while she stays in the camp for three days, leaving each night to pray, supposedly for God's revelation as to the propitious time for Assyria to attack.  

Then she describes the present predicament of the townspeople, helpless prey to the Assyrians. She urges God to break their power by putting strength instead into the hands of a widow, herself. She audaciously asks God to make her a good liar - the only such prayer in the Bible. It is important here to keep in mind that deceit was a recognized and admired strategy in ancient warfare.

After eating, she sleeps until midnight, then, accompanied by a guard, she goes to the nearby spring to wash herself and pray. During each of the three days she is in the camp she stayed in the tent during daylight hours, and ate her own food each evening.  

Seduction and murder      (Book of Judith 10:1 - 13:20)

Four uneventful days pass in the enemy camp before On the fourth day, On the fourth day, Holofernes determines that he must have his way sexually with the alluring Judith. Holofernes sends his personal attendant Bagoas to invite Judith to a banquet in his tent (Jdt 12:10–12). Holofernes invites her to an informal banquet in his tent. As he observes to his servant, it would be a disgrace to let her go without seducing her. Judith accepts the invitation She now accepts his offer to eat with him and "become like one of the the daughters of the Assyrians," and dresses in her best finery (12:14–15). She dresses in all her finery and presents herself at his tent, When Judith comes into the tent. Seeing her, Holofernes is ravished, “for he had been waiting for an opportunity to seduce her from the day he first saw her” (12:16). reclining seductively before him at a lavish dinner where her maid has laid Judith's sheepskin bedding on the ground and lies on the sheepskins, in front of Holofernes. He offers her something to drink, but she drinks only the wine given to her by her maid - was it watered down so she could stay sober? Holofernes, on the other hand, gets down to some serious drinking. She drinks and eats what her maid prepares (12:18–19). The overjoyed and lustful Holofernes becomes so aroused that he consumes a huge quantity of wine at dinner in anticipation of possessing Judith. (11-12) Holofernes is besotted. He drinks “much more than he had ever drunk in any one day since he was born” (12:20).

When she has finished her prayer she rises from the ground and calls her maid. Together they begin to prepare to carry out the plan.

Evening comes and all withdraw from the tent, save Judith and Holofernes who is stretched out, on his bed, dead drunk (13:2). When Holofernes' servants leave Holofernes and Judith alone to have some privacy, he immediately falls asleep in a drunken stupor. Judith’s maid waits outside, as instructed. then taking Holofernes’ own sword, she strikes his neck twice and cuts off his head (13:8). She gives his head to her maid, who puts it in the food bag, and the two women go out of the camp, as was their nightly habit to pray, except this night they return to Bethulia (13:10).

She bathes her whole body - a terrible waste of precious water - then perfumes herself, dresses her hair with a tiara, and puts on one of the extravagant robes she wore when her husband was alive.  

Eventually the servants discreetly withdraw, and Judith is left alone in the tent with Holofernes, now dead drunk, stretched out on his bed. Soon, as he lies in a drunken stupor, she decapitates him, The moment has come for Judith to act. But first she prays, asking God to give her strength for what she must do. Judith prays twice for God’s help (13:4–5, 7), Seeing her opportunity, She braces herself, then lifts down Holofernes' gleaming sword, Judith takes Holofernes' sword from where it hangs above his bed. She then prays to God for strength hanging in its sheath from the bedpost, and raises it high above her head. and decapitates her enemy.

Then she decks herself with jewelry - anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings and other assorted pieces.  

She strikes once with all her strength, and then strikes again. With this, his head falls away from his body. She then rolls the headless body off the bed and pulls down the luxurious bed curtains, bundling them up so they can be carried. Pausing for a moment to gather her strength, she picks up the twitching head and takes it out to her maid, who places it in the food bag. 

Summoning her maid, they place Holofernes' head in Judith's food bag and make good their escape, a feat made easy by Judith's authorized nightly prayer vigils outside the camp. then takes his head back to her grateful countrymen. Without arousing suspicion, the two of them pass through the camp as they have done on the previous nights, but instead of heading towards the spring they circle up the mountain towards Bethulia.  

After that, she and her maid gather an assortment of ritually pure food and put it all in a large bag.

Once there, Returning to Bethulia, they call to the guards to open the gates and let them in. Inside the safety of the walls The people run to welcome Judith and her maid, Judith pulls out the grisly contents of the bag Judith produces Holofernes' head and shows it to the people, and Judith displays the head of Holofernes, for all to see, to the great joy of the Israelites who are astounded by what she has done. telling how God protected her so that no sin was committed to defile or shame her (13:15–16). The people bless God (13:17), and Uzziah hails her as “blessed by the Most High God above all other women on earth” (13:18). Judith then instructs the people to wait until daybreak and then attack the Assyrians (14:1–4). When Achior the Ammonite is brought to verify that the head belongs to Holofernes, he faints (see Add Esth 15:7), confirms the identity of the head blesses Judith, and is so impressed by God's miraculous work through Judith that he believes firmly in God, and is circumcised (14:6–10) Achior the Ammonite accepts circumcision and becomes a Jew.  

Thus prepared, they made their way through the darkness to the town gate, where Uzziah and the elders are waiting. The town gates are opened, and she and her maid leave, heading down the valley towards the Assyrian camp.

4  Aftermath, and the Song of Judith: She and her faithful maid take the head back to Bethulia, and hangs it on the outer walls of the town. When the enemy troops realize they have lost their leader they panic, and are easy prey for the Israelite troops. Judith has saved her people, and is hailed as a national heroine.

The soldiers are bowled over by her beauty, and escort her immediately to the tent of Holofernes. The general is resting on his luxurious bed, but he comes to the front of the tent and greets her.  

You would think this was enough for one night, but Judith knows the battle is not won. She tells the people to hang Holofernes' head in full view on the battlements, then she gives them instructions for the next morning. At dawn they are to make a loud noise with their weapons as if they are about to attack. She knows the Assyrians in the valley below will run to alert Holofernes. Of course, they will find only his headless body and this, she hopes, will create a panic among the Assyrian soldiers, who will flee.  

Both of them then begin telling a sequence of lies - he starts off by saying that she has nothing to fear, since he has never hurt anyone who serves Nebuchadnezzar. She responds by saying how much she admires Nebuchadnezzar and Holofernes, and how much she has heard about his wisdom and clever military strategies.  

This is exactly what happens. The Assyrians, meanwhile, have discovered Judith's treachery and are thrown into disarray. In the ensuring hours the disordered Assyrian army is easy prey for the Israelites, who are familiar with the terrain and wage guerilla warfare on the hapless, leaderless soldiers. Following Judith's advice, the men of Bethulia attack, mustering their fellow Israelites to drive the enemy back even beyond Damascus. The Assyrians are then routed, The Israelites successfully rout the Assyrians and plunder their camp. and Israel is saved.  

She refers to her 'lord'; the reader knows she is speaking about God, while Nebuchadmezzar assumes she is referring to him. She tells him that she will pray each evening, and that God will let her know when it is the right moment to strike. She in turn will give this information to Holofernes. Beguiled, he tells her that he has never met a woman who is as beautiful in appearance and wise in speech as she is.

Judith receives high honors and adulation. Judith becomes a national heroine, lauded by everyone; even Jerusalem's high priest Joakim comes to pay his respects. Joakim, the high priest of Jerusalem, Joakim, the high priest of Jerusalem, arrives to celebrate the victory. comes to Bethulia to pay homage to this extraordinary woman.

He then tells his servants to set out food for her and let her use his own silver dinnerware. She delicately declines, pointing to the food she has brought, and the reader is thus aware that she is a pious Jew who will not eat ritually unclean food.  

In the final scene of the story, Judith leads a dancing procession of women, singing a hymn of praise to God, towards Jerusalem.  The lavish bed curtains from Holofernes' tent are given as an offering in the Temple. A triumphant procession of the women and the men, with Judith in the lead singing a hymn of praise like that of Miriam and Moses in Exodus 15, makes its way to Jerusalem where all worship God for three months (16:1–20).

After eating, she sleeps until midnight, then, accompanied by a guard, she goes to the nearby spring to wash herself and pray. During each of the three days she is in the camp she stayed in the tent during daylight hours, and ate her own food each evening.  

When they have all worshipped there for three months they return, and In the end, Judith retires Judith goes back to her estate in Bethulia. to her estate in Bethulia. Judith then retires to her home and lives the rest of her life as a widow. She lives there, still much loved, until she is very old. She never remarries. Though she is courted by many, despite many offers of marriage, Judith remains quietly unmarried for the rest of her life. “Many desired to marry her, but she gave herself to no man all the days of her life after her husband Manasseh” (16:22). At one hundred five years of age, she frees her faithful maid. The faithful maid is set free, and distributes her property to all those who were next of kin to her husband (compare Num 27:1–11; 36:1–11; Tob 6:11–13). This dispersal of her estate supports the unexpressed fact that Judith is a childless widow. and Judith  She is eventually dies at the age of 105 - one hundred and five. (13-16) buried in the tomb of her husband.

When Judith comes into the tent and lies on the sheepskins, Holofernes is besotted. He offers her something to drink, but she drinks only the wine given to her by her maid - was it watered down so she could stay sober? Holofernes, on the other

1. Judith commands, plans, leads. The Assyrians have cut off the water supply of Bethulia, the town at the entrance of the narrow corridor leading to Jerusalem (Judith 7:7, 4:7).  The siege, which has lasted 34 days, has made the people fractious, thirsty, and bitter (Judith 7:20, 29). Uzziah and the town’s other magistrates succumb to the townspeople’s demands and say they will surrender to the Assyrians in five days—unless the Lord takes pity (Judith 7:29-30). Upon hearing this, Judith, instead of going to Bethulia’s leaders, summons them to her home (Judith 8:10). Chiding them for testing God (Judith 8:11-12), she declares she has a plan to save Bethulia, Jerusalem, the Temple, and the people.  Declining to reveal it, she nonetheless proclaims her deed will “go down through all generations of our descendants” (Judith 8:32).  Not only do the leaders listen without interruption, they also acclaim her for her wisdom and do her bidding (Judith 8:28-29).  She demands that the gates be opened and that she and her maid be let out of the city (Judith 8:33, 10:9).

Holofernes, on the other hand, gets down to some serious drinking.

Eventually the servants discreetly withdraw, and Judith is left alone in the tent with Holofernes, now dead drunk, stretched out on his bed. The moment has come for Judith to act.  

2. Judith is verbose. Other women wordsmiths in the Biblical text are Lady Wisdom (Proverbs 8-9), Abigail (1 Samuel 25:23-31), Deborah (Judges 5), and the Beloved in Song of Songs. Judith tops them all with two long statements—first to Uzziah and the other Bethulian magistrates (Judith 8:11-27), and the second to Holofernes and the Assyrian forces crowding around to gaze at her beautiful face (Judith 11:5-19).  She prays thrice—once before her adventure starts (Judith 9), then for strength to behead Holofernes (Judith 13:4-7) and finally in a public song at the national celebrations honoring her deed and the slaughter of the Assyrians (Judith 16:1-17).

But first she prays, asking God to give her strength for what she must do. She braces herself, then lifts down Holofernes' gleaming sword, hanging in its sheath from the bedpost, and raises it high above her head.

3. Judith strategizes. Dressing in a way “to entice the eyes of all the men who might see her” (Judith 10:4), Judith and her maid set forth at night down the valley intending to be captured.  Stopped by an Assyrian border patrol and escorted by 100 men directly to Holofernes (Judith 10:17), she readily spins a tall tale that contains just enough fact to be believed. Claiming to have direct access to God, she promises to guide Holofernes and his whole army through the hill country to Jerusalem without the loss of life or so much as a dog growling at them (Judith 10:13, 11:19). Her words delight the general and his attendants (Judith 11:20). Calling her beautiful and eloquent (Judith 11:23), he welcomes her to the camp and grants her request to travel through the camp at night to bathe at a spring and pray (Judith 12:5-7). Thus this unprotected and unexpected guest in the Assyrian camp dangles herself alluringly as bait and waits for three days for a chance to strike and save Israel.

She strikes once with all her strength, and then strikes again. With this, his head falls away from his body. She then rolls the headless body off the bed and pulls down the luxurious bed curtains, bundling them up so they can be carried.

Judith knows her power over men (Judith 10:7, 14, 19, 23).  Wisely appealing to their senses of sight and smell, Her weapons of warfare are sensual and material.  She dresses carefully, knowing the success of her ruse and assassination plan depend upon her ability to entice.  For her adventure, she removes her sackcloth and widow’s dress, bathes and richly perfumes herself, fixes her hair, selects a festival dress, and dons a tiara as her battle garb’s finishing touch (Judith 10:3).  She accessorizes her outfit with rings, bracelets, anklets, earrings, other jewelry, and attractive sandals (Judith 10:4).  In the intimate seduction banquet scene set in Holofernes’ tent, Judith simply reclines on lambskins, nibbles her food brought from Bethulia, and flatters the general by telling him “today is the greatest day of my whole life” (Judith 12:15-20). She presents such a pretty picture that gullible Holofernes, beset with lust, drinks himself into senseless, fatal oblivion (Judith 12:16, 20).

Judith acts for the common good. Judith murders Holofernes, the enemy of Israel, a world-class bully who slaughtered his way through Put, Lud, the lands of the Rassisites and the Ishmaelites, the walled towns along Wadi Abron, and Cilicia; he set fire to the tents of the Midiantites and the fields of Damascus (Judith 2:23-27).  Alone with him late at night in his tent, and praying beforehand, Judith beheads him with two strokes to the neck from his own famous sword (Judith 13:4-7). She proclaims in front of all her people, her maid standing with her, that she has not been defiled by Holofernes because the Lord protected her; her face tricked Holofernes and brought his downfall (Judith 13:16). Displaying his head, and no doubt unraveling the jeweled canopy, her story is believable. Uzziah proclaims Judith is blessed “by the Most High God above all other women on earth” (Judith 13:18).  This verse, an echo of Deborah’s vindication of Jael’s similar, hands-on murder of Sisera (Judges 4:21, 5:24-26), is pivotal in Roman Catholic theology, for it also is spoken of Mary (Luke 1:42, 48).

Pausing for a moment to gather her strength, she picks up the twitching head and takes it out to her maid, who places it in the food bag.

The Book of Judith’s truly remarkable heroine, Judith, introduced as a devout, shapely, beautiful and wealthy widow (Judith 8:4, 7), exhibits characteristics showing her the equal of Israel’s finest warriors. Indeed her beheading of Holofernes, the invading Assyrian general—in his own tent, with his own sword, and surrounded by his own heretofore victorious army!—marks her as a political savior in Israel on a par with David.

Without arousing suspicion, the two of them pass through the camp as they have done on the previous nights, but instead of heading towards the spring they circle up the mountain towards Bethulia.  

1. Judith displays extraordinary courage. Anticipating the gruesome outcome of the 34-day Assyrian siege against Bethulia, Judith describes it this way: “The slaughter of our kindred and the captivity of the land and the desolation of our inheritance” (Judith 8:22). If the little town at the gateway to Jerusalem falls, Jerusalem will be exposed and the sanctuary looted. But unlike the Bethulian magistrates who cry to the Lord for rain and hope for deliverance from the Assyrians (Judith 8:31, 7:30), Judith acts.  Correcting their theology, she proclaims the siege as a test from God, like the one he put to Abraham and Isaac, and even thanks God for it (Judith 8:25-26)! Everyone knows that the Bethulian men, while brave, present no match for the Assyrian’s 170,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry (Judith 7:2). Judith, unarmed, alone but for her accompanying maid, steps forward (Judith 8:33).

Once there, they call to the guards to open the gates and let them in. Inside the safety of the walls Judith pulls out the grisly contents of the bag and shows it to the people, who are astounded by what she has done.

2. Judith and her maid. A silent, anonymous maid shadows Judith throughout her adventure and shares equally in it. Serving as an inclusion (Judith 8:10, 16:23), the maid summons the magistrates to Judith’s home and receives emancipation just before Judith dies at age 105. The maid, it seems, also is beautiful, for the awestruck Assyrians marvel, “Who can despise these people when they have women like this among them?” (Judith 10:19). The maid cares for the physical needs of her mistress—her food and clothing—and acts as chaperone and attendant, necessary qualifications adding to the mystique and credibility of a great lady claiming she flees in distress from her doomed countrymen to the Assyrians because the Hebrews “are about to be devoured” (Judith 10:12).

A national heroine    (Book of Judith 14-16)

The text hints at a deep bond between Judith and her maid and the deep faith they share. Both are members of the covenant community; the maid observes Judith’s lifestyle of prayer and fasting. Although the text does not indicate that the maid knew Judith’s complete plan or was asked to accompany her, Judith’s character indicates she would not order someone to come with her on what could be a death mission. In modern terms, both were enemy agents bent on the destruction of Israel’s foe. Both are heroines.

You would think this was enough for one night, but Judith knows the battle is not won. She tells the people to hang Holofernes' head in full view on the battlements, then she gives them instructions for the next morning. At dawn they are to make a loud noise with their weapons as if they are about to attack. She knows the Assyrians in the valley below will run to alert Holofernes.  

3. Judith’s heritage. Judith is introduced with a lineage virtually unparalleled in the Biblical text (Judith 8:1-2). A descendant of Simeon, her genealogy includes 16 progenitors and doesn’t even make it back to Simeon! The genealogy, a significant textual marker, establishes her as a formidable literary character. In an interesting psychological insight, her prayer for help with her plan to save Israel and assassinate Holofernes, the besieging Assyrian general, begins with a remembrance of Dinah’s shame (Genesis 34:2; Judith 9:2-4). Judith, by her upcoming valor and good deed, expresses determination to erase this early, but still remembered, defamation.

Of course, they will find only his headless body and this, she hopes, will create a panic among the Assyrian soldiers, who will flee.  

Her covenant heritage combines prayer and action. She calls on God to break the world-renowned pride of the Assyrians “by the hand of a woman” (Judith 9:10), thus causing them ongoing, international shame. She calls on God, in his anger, to bring down the strength of the Assyrians (Judith 9:8). She demands that God demonstrate throughout the world that “there is no other who protects the people of Israel but you alone” (Judith 9:14). She beseeches God to grant her, a widow, the strength she needs and to hear her prayer (Judith 9:9, 12). She asks that “my deceitful words bring wound and bruise on those who have planned cruel things” against the covenant people (Judith 9:13). Then, with Holofernes’ neck exposed for the deadly blow, she prays for strength to accomplish her plan and speedily slashes through his neck with two blows (Judith 13:5, 7-8; 16:9).

This is exactly what happens. In the ensuring hours the disordered Assyrian army is easy prey for the Israelites, who are familiar with the terrain and wage guerilla warfare on the hapless, leaderless soldiers.  

4. Judith’s theology. Judith ranks along with Deborah (Judges 5), the wife of Manoa (Judges 13:23), Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10), Naomi (Ruth 1:20-21) and Abigail (1 Samuel 23-31) as theologians in the Old Testament, in the sense that they all comment on God’s character and actions. She credits God for the victory over the Assyrians and the killing of Holofernes (Judith 16:5-6). Her theology includes solidarity and identity with her community and shows her leadership. In her closing prayer, she sings of my territory, my young men, my infants, my children, and my maidens (Judith 16:4).

Judith becomes a national heroine, lauded by everyone. Joakim, the high priest of Jerusalem, comes to Bethulia to pay homage to this extraordinary woman.

Her song, containing many distinctively feminine insights, details her preparation for war—how she anointed her face with perfume and fixed her hair. Judith’s song speaks of her sandals, her renowned beauty, that fetching tiara and the deliberate action of putting on a linen gown, knowing it would beguile her intended prey, Holofernes (Judith 16:7-8). These were her weapons, as important and deadly as Sisera’s 900 chariots in Deborah’s war (Judges 4:3). Judith triumphantly proclaims “the Persians shuddered at her audacity and the Medes were daunted by her daring” (Judith 16:10).

In the final scene of the story, Judith leads a dancing procession of women, singing a hymn of praise to God, towards Jerusalem.  The lavish bed curtains from Holofernes' tent are given as an offering in the Temple.  

Her song lauds the kind of upset the Biblical text loves: that of the underdog winning against the mighty, proud foe; of the enemy cowering in fear and screaming and running; of mere boys slaying seasoned Assyrian warriors (Judith 16:11-12).

When they have all worshipped there for three months they return, and Judith retires to her estate in Bethulia. She lives there, still much loved, until she is very old - one hundred and five. The faithful maid is set free, and Judith is eventually buried in the tomb of her husband. She never remarries.

Judith receives—and accepts—accolades usually reserved for God. Joakim, the high priest, and the Israelite Council (yet again, men who come to Judith rather than her going to them) arrive from Jerusalem. With one voice they call Judith the glory of Jerusalem, the great pride of Israel, and the boast of the nation (Judith 15:9). The people concur with Amen (Judith 15:10).

Nebuchadnezzar has grown angry with the people of the Levant who resist his rule, and vows to destroy them. He assigns his military commander Holofernes to this task, and a great army sweeps down from Mesopotamia into Syria and Lebanon toward Israel. The nations in its path immediately surrender and beg for peace. The Israelites, however, fast and pray to God for deliverance. The town of Bethulia is particularly desperate, since it stands in the way of the mighty army's path to Jerusalem. (1-4)

6. Judith and her countrywomen. Judith relates well to other women. They express no hint of jealousy toward her beauty, wealth, piety, and accomplishments; indeed, they arguably identify with her. She inspires them. They sing her praises and dance in her honor (Judith 15:12). Judith and the women crown themselves with garlands (Judith 15:13). Judith then leads the women first, with the men following, in a celebratory victory dance, just as Miriam the prophetess led the women after the victory at the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 15:20-21). In both stories, a mighty foe bent on the destruction of God’s covenant people, falls. A heroine knows no greater honor.

It is only now that the lovely, pious widow Judith appears on the scene. She prophetically proclaims that to surrender to Holofernes' would be sin. "If we are captured, all Judea will be captured and our sanctuary will be plundered; and he (God) will exact of us the penalty for its desecration," she argues. Judith declares that she herself will become God's agent of deliverance. She prays desperately to God to allow her to use "deceitful words" to defeat the Assyrians. She then attires herself glamorously, receiving the praise of the people of Bethulia as she leaves through the city gate together with her maid. She is immediately arrested by an Assyrian patrol, but convinces them that she has useful information for Holofernes. She is consequently taken to him, amidst great excitement on account of her unrivaled beauty. (8-10)

Although the text does not explicitly say she is a prophetess, her words and actions raise the possibility that she indeed is a prophetess. Upbraiding Uzziah and the Bethulian magistrates for putting themselves in the place of God (8:12), she argues that God is simply testing them, and has the power to help them at any time (8:15). She urges, “Do not try to bind the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not like a human being, to be threatened, or like a mere mortal, to be won over by pleading” (8:16). Judith tells them that giving God such a deadline is arrogant and inappropriate in the extreme. Judith proposes that they wait for deliverance and together call upon God who will listen, if so disposed (8:17). She insists that God will not disdain Israel because they know no other god and that capture by the Assyrians will mean the desolation of the temple as well as their way of life. Judith counsels, “Let us set an example for our kindred” (8:24).

Holofernes assures Judith that she will not be harmed if she is willing to serve his master, Nebuchadnezzar. She confirms the report of Achior the Ammonite regarding the Israelites' invincibility. However, she reports that the people of both Bethulia and Jerusalem have been so hard pressed by the siege that they are about to sin egregiously by consuming sacred food items dedicated to God. She explains that this very situation is what prompted her own decision to come over to the Assyrian side, rather than to share in the Israelites' now certain doom. She promises to act as Holofernes' agent to tell him when these sins have been committed, and thus when it is safe for him to attack. Holofernes agrees to the plan and marvels at Judith's wisdom, promising her rich rewards. He offers her a sumptuous meal, but she piously declines to eat the non-kosher food. She has brought her own supplies in a bag, however, and survives on this while she stays in the camp for three days, leaving each night to pray, supposedly for God's revelation as to the propitious time for Assyria to attack. On the fourth day, Holofernes determines that he must have his way sexually with the alluring Judith. She now accepts his offer to eat with him and "become like one of the the daughters of the Assyrians," reclining seductively before him at a lavish dinner. The overjoyed and lustful Holofernes becomes so aroused that he consumes a huge quantity of wine at dinner in anticipation of possessing Judith. (11-12)

When Holofernes' servants leave Holofernes and Judith alone to have some privacy, he immediately falls asleep in a drunken stupor. Seeing her opportunity, Judith takes Holofernes' sword from where it hangs above his bed. She then prays to God for strength and decapitates her enemy. Summoning her maid, they place Holofernes' head in Judith's food bag and make good their escape, a feat made easy by Judith's authorized nightly prayer vigils outside the camp. Returning to Bethulia, Judith produces Holofernes' head for all to see, to the great joy of the Israelites.  

She prophetically proclaims that to surrender to Holofernes' would be sin. "If we are captured, all Judea will be captured and our sanctuary will be plundered; and he (God) will exact of us the penalty for its desecration," she argues.The first indication is when she asserts to Uzziah and the Bethulian magistrates that “I am about to do something that will go down through all generations of our descendants.” (Judith 8:32). She does. Consider these other instances: At the start of her adventure, she (and her maid) are blessed by Uzziah. Uzziah asks God’s favor on the mission and charges Judith to fulfill her plans “so that the Israelites may glory and Jerusalem may be exulted!” (Judith 10:8). Judith responds that she “will go out and accomplish the things you have just said to me” (Judith 10:9). She does.

Achior the Ammonite confirms the identity of the head and is so impressed by God's miraculous work through Judith that he accepts circumcision and becomes a Jew. The Assyrians, meanwhile, have discovered Judith's treachery and are thrown into disarray. Following Judith's advice, the men of Bethulia attack, mustering their fellow Israelites to drive the enemy back even beyond Damascus. Judith receives high honors and adulation; even Jerusalem's high priest Joakim comes to pay his respects. Judith then retires to her home and lives the rest of her life as a widow, despite many offers of marriage. She dies at the age of 105. (13-16)

In Part 2 (8:1–16:25), Judith, a pious widow in Bethulia, comes forward to challenge the five-day compromise that has imposed conditions on God’s sovereignty. Once she takes the stage, she surrenders it to no other character, figuring in every scene until the book’s end. She sends her maid to summon the town magistrates, Uzziah, Chabris, and Charmis to her house. Upbraiding them for putting themselves in the place of God (8:12), she argues that God is simply testing them, and has the power to help them at any time (8:15). She urges, “Do not try to bind the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not like a human being, to be threatened, or like a mere mortal, to be won over by pleading” (8:16). Judith proposes that they wait for deliverance and together call upon God who will listen, if so disposed (8:17). She insists that God will not disdain Israel because they know no other god and that capture by the Assyrians will mean the desolation of the temple as well as their way of life. Judith counsels, “Let us set an example for our kindred” (8:24).

While a “guest” of the Assyrians, she accepts the invitation to attend a banquet in Holofernes’ tent with this double-meaning response and a pun on the word lord: “Who am I to refuse my lord? Whatever pleases him I will do at once” (Judith 12:14). She does—but for her lord. She proclaims that the banquet “will be a joy to me until the day of my death” (Judith 12:14). It is. While Judith encourages Holofernes' fantasies by agreeing that “today is the greatest day of my whole life” (Judith 12:18). It is. Clearly, Judith’s adventure progresses according to the plan she devised and prayed about.

Uzziah responds that all she has said is true and that this is not the first time her wisdom has been shown (8:28–29). But, the people were thirsty; the magistrates made an oath; and she can best help by praying for rain. On her account, the Lord will fill the cisterns and the people will no longer faint from thirst (8:31). Thus he saves himself from losing face by rescinding his foolish vow to hand over the town to the Assyrians in five days if God does not act (7:30–31), blaming the people who forced him to this oath, victimizing the victims as Jephthah did his daughter (Judg 11:35).

Back in Bethulia, she tells her townspeople that once the Assyrians find Holofernes’ headless corpse, “panic will come over them, and they will flee before you” at the advance of the Bethulians who will cut the enemy down “in their tracks” (Judith 14:3-4). As usual, Judith is right.

Giving up the idea that she and the town officials can set an example together, Judith decides to act independently. Explaining that she will do something all the generations will remember, she tells them to meet her at the town gate that evening when she and her maid will go out. Before the five days of their compromise are gone, she pledges “the Lord will deliver Israel by my hand” (Jdt 8:33). She refuses to tell them exactly what she is about to do (8:33–34).

==Main themes in Judith's story==

Once the magistrates leave, Judith prostrates herself and cries out to God, begging the strength to be like Simeon, who took vengeance against the Shechemites who violated his virgin sister, Dinah. She implores God to hear her widow’s prayer (9:4), crediting God with full knowledge of past, present, and future (9:5–6). Judith asks God to see the pride of the enemy, to send fury on their heads, to give her—a widow—a strong hand, to strike down the enemy “by the deceit” of her lips (9:10), and to “crush their arrogance by the hand of a woman” (9:10). In an androcentric setting, there is no greater dishonor for a male than to die at the hand of a female (see Judg 9:53–54; 2 Sam 11:21).

The nature of God. In Chapter 8 Judith rebukes the town officials for trying to make God in their own image It's a remarkable description of what God is and is not.

When her prayer is finished (Jdt 9:14), Judith dresses beautifully, “to entice the eyes of all the men who might see her” (10:4). Taking ritually pure foods to eat (10:5), she and her maid go out that night to the camp of the enemy. She meets the Assyrian patrol and tells her first lie when she says, “I am a daughter of the Hebrews, but I am fleeing from them, for they are about to be handed over to you to be devoured. I am on my way to see Holofernes the commander of your army, to give him a true report” (10:12–13). Her words and beauty greatly excite the soldiers who choose one hundred men from their ranks to assist her to the tent of Holofernes (10:14–17).

The Bible says that at the siege of Jerusalem Sennacherib's officer, taunting the Jews who stood on the city wall, assured them that they were doomed to 'eat their own faeces and drink their own piss' (2 Kings 18:27). This seems mild compared with the fate described in inscriptions at Nineveh.  

She prostrates herself before Holofernes, who tells her his first lie, saying he has never hurt anyone who chose to serve Nebuchadnezzar (11:2; conveniently forgetting how he destroyed the shrines and sacred places of seacoast peoples after they had surrendered in 3:1–8). Equal to the encounter, and playful with her use of the address “lord,” which Holofernes hears as deference to him, but Judith means as reference to God, Judith promises to tell him nothing false (11:5). She explains she will go out into the valley and pray to God each night and God will tell her when the Bethulians have sinned by eating sacrifices, so that Holofernes can safely attack Bethulia (11:16–19). Well-pleased, Holofernes praises her beauty and wise speech, pledging, “If: you do as you have said, your God shall be my God, and you shall live in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar” (11:23; compare Ruth 1:16).

Making the best of what you've got. Judith was not a soldier, but she killed a fearsome warrior of the ancient world. She did this by using the gifts she had: beauty, intelligence, and ruthless cunning.  

Four uneventful days pass in the enemy camp before Holofernes sends his personal attendant Bagoas to invite Judith to a banquet in his tent (Jdt 12:10–12). Judith accepts the invitation and dresses in her best finery (12:14–15). Seeing her, Holofernes is ravished, “for he had been waiting for an opportunity to seduce her from the day he first saw her” (12:16). She drinks and eats what her maid prepares (12:18–19). He drinks “much more than he had ever drunk in any one day since he was born” (12:20).

Ingenuity (and faith in God) are better than brute strength. Judith's story is a variant on the David and Goliath story, where a seemingly weak person triumphs over a person of superior strength. She is a symbol of the Jewish people, who relied on God's help and their own abilities to overcome their enemies. They were surrounded throughout their history by huge and fearsome kingdoms, but God stood by them when they called on his help.

Evening comes and all withdraw from the tent, save Judith and Holofernes who is stretched out, on his bed, dead drunk (13:2). Judith’s maid waits outside, as instructed. Judith prays twice for God’s help (13:4–5, 7), then taking Holofernes’ own sword, she strikes his neck twice and cuts off his head (13:8). She gives his head to her maid, who puts it in the food bag, and the two women go out of the camp, as was their nightly habit to pray, except this night they return to Bethulia (13:10).

==A charge of glorifying deceit and murder==

The people run to welcome Judith and her maid, and Judith displays the head of Holofernes, telling how God protected her so that no sin was committed to defile or shame her (13:15–16). The people bless God (13:17), and Uzziah hails her as “blessed by the Most High God above all other women on earth” (13:18). Judith then instructs the people to wait until daybreak and then attack the Assyrians (14:1–4). When Achior the Ammonite is brought to verify that the head belongs to Holofernes, he faints (see Add Esth 15:7), blesses Judith, believes firmly in God, and is circumcised (14:6–10).

Judith is the only biblical woman who asks God to make her a good liar. In Judith 9:10 and again in 9:13, she petitions God for “deceitful words” that will wound those who have planned cruelties against the Jerusalem Temple and their homeland.

The Israelites successfully rout the Assyrians and plunder their camp. Joakim, the high priest of Jerusalem, arrives to celebrate the victory. A triumphant procession of the women and the men, with Judith in the lead singing a hymn of praise like that of Miriam and Moses in Exodus 15, makes its way to Jerusalem where all worship God for three months (16:1–20).

Judith is part of a larger company of women in the Bible who practice deceits that have positive national and personal consequences, including '''Rebekah''' who tricks her husband, Isaac, for the sake of their son Jacob (Genesis 27); '''Tamar''' who steals the next generation by tricking her father-in-law Judah into impregnating her (Genesis 38); the midwives, '''Shiphrah''' and '''Puah''', who lie to the king of Egypt about why they have not killed the Hebrew males at birth (Exod 1:19); Moses’s sister '''Miriam''' who offers to call a nurse for the daughter of Pharaoh, but calls the baby’s own mother, (Exod 2:7–8); the '''daughter of the Pharaoh''' who adopts and names the child Moses, in direct violation of her father’s instruction (Exod 2:10); '''Rahab''', who preserves the lives of Joshua’s spies by lying to the king of Jericho (Joshua 2); and '''Jael''', a Kenite, who smashes the skull of the enemy general seeking the hospitality of her tent after assuring him "Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; have no fear." (Judges 4–5).

In the end, Judith goes back to her estate in Bethulia. “Many desired to marry her, but she gave herself to no man all the days of her life after her husband Manasseh” (16:22). At one hundred five years of age, she frees her faithful maid and distributes her property to all those who were next of kin to her husband (compare Num 27:1–11; 36:1–11; Tob 6:11–13). This dispersal of her estate supports the unexpressed fact that Judith is a childless widow.

The prophet Micaiah, after lying to the king as he was counselled to do, then testified to King Ahab the king of Israel that the '''L<small>ORD</small>''' himself "has put a '''lying spirit''' in the mouth of all these your prophets; the L<small>ORD</small> has spoken evil concerning you." (1 Kings 22:19-23)

The Book of Judith recounts the story of God providing a woman, Judith, to deliver the Jewish people in a time of great need and despair. In the story Judith lives in the town of Bethulia. She is a beautiful and wise widow who becomes incensed with her town elders when they “test” God rather than trust Him and they decide to capitulate to King Nebuchadnezzar’s top general, Holofernes, to surrender if God does not save them in five days.

Queen '''Esther''', together with Mordecai, as authorized by the king, issued an edict in the king's name commanding the Jews to gather and defend their lives by destroying, slaying, and annihilating any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, together with their children and women, and to plunder their goods, on one day. She then requested of the king that the Jews be allowed to repeat this a second day, and he granted her request.

Judith feels that giving God such a deadline is arrogant and inappropriate in the extreme. She tells the elders she has a plan, but must leave the city for it to be successful. She refuses to divulge any details, departs with her slave woman, and enters Holofernes’s camp on the pretext of providing him help to defeat her fellow Jews.

'''Samuel''' told Saul to go and smite Amalek for what they had done to Israel, and utterly '''destroy''' all that they had; not to spare them, but to kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. (1 Samuel 15:2-3). When Saul failed to completely fulfill this order, he was rejected by God, and Samuel cut King Agag, a prisoner, to pieces for his murders. (1 Samuel 15:32-33)

Holofernes is mesmerized by her beauty and takes her into his camp and company. Her voluptuousness and wiles attract him, and lust blinds him to her deceit. Judith manages to get Holofernes alone in his tent when he is excessively drunk. When he passes out, she beheads him, steals back to Bethulia, displays the result of her intrigue, and becomes the town’s heroine.

'''David''', when he and his men dwelt with Achish king of Gath, and were given the city of Ziklag, made raids on the Geshurites, Girzites, and Amalekites in his land. Whenever Achish asked David about whom he had raided, David, the "man after God's own heart", '''lied''' to him, saying, "Against the Negeb of Judah", or, "Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites", or, "Against the Negeb of the Kenites", and he left no one alive to come to Achish and tell him what David had done. Achish trusted David, and when David with his men accompanied Achish when the Philistines went forth to war against Israel and King Saul, the Philistine commanders insisted that David would turn and fight against them for Saul. When Achish reluctantly dismissed him, David said with double meaning, "What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king." (1 Samuel 27:5-12; 29:2-8) David himself had said, "Who can put forth his hand against the L<small>ORD</small>'s anointed, and be guiltless?" (1 Samuel 26:9)

Judith, the character from whom the book takes its name, is not mentioned in the story’s first half (1:1–7:32). In the opening chapters, God’s divine sovereignty over Israel comes into direct conflict with Nebuchadnezzar’s political sovereignty over all the nations of the western world. Holofernes, commander-in-chief of the Assyrian armies of Nebuchadnezzar (which, of course, is impossible historically since Nebuchadnezzar is a Babylonian!), leads a massive force in a punitive campaign against the western vassal nations—including Israel—who refused to send auxiliary forces against the Medes. The people of Israel block his retaliatory advancement against all the nations of the west at their little town of Bethulia (related to Hebrew for “virgin”), which strategically guards his route of access to Jerusalem. Despite the warning of Achior the Ammonite that the Jews cannot be conquered unless they sin against their God, Holofernes lays siege to Bethulia, cutting off its water supply. After thirty-four days, the exhausted Bethulians are ready to surrender, even though it will mean worship of Nebuchadnezzar (3:8). Uzziah, their town magistrate, urges a compromise to give God five additional days to deliver them, temporarily postponing what seems inevitable apostasy, slavery, and destruction of the Jerusalem sanctuary.

The critics of the Book of Judith who say it cannot be canonical scripture ''because it contains murder and deceit'' <ref>''Refuting an Attack on the Deuterocanonicals.'' A Response to 11 ‘reasons’ that the Deuterocanonicals Should be Thrown Out of the Bible, By Matt1618. Introduction.</ref> have taken the acts of Judith out of the context of executing the guilty wicked and defending the people of God against their murderous foes, the inspired context of those books of the Bible which they do accept as canonical. It is interesting that those persons in the Bible who were deceived, and even killed, as Holofernes was killed, had first made themselves enemies of God and murderers, had stubbornly refused to receive the truth, and in true justice, as punishment, were given lies (and death) instead. This is consistent with the judgment against the guilty who plot against the innocent:<blockquote>"You shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. And the rest shall hear, and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you." Deuternonomy 19:19-20.</blockquote><blockquote>"When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened...Who changed the truth of God into a lie...And even as they did not like to retain God in ''their'' knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." Romans 1:21, 25, 28.</blockquote>

==Historical-critical textual analysis==

==Historical-critical textual analysis==

The Book of Judith relates the story of God’s deliverance of the Jewish people. This was accomplished “by the hand of a female”—a constant motif (cf. 8:33; 9:9, 10; 12:4; 13:4, 14, 15; 15:10; 16:5) meant to recall the “hand” of God in the Exodus narrative (cf. Ex 15:6). The name Judith (יְהוּדִית—Yehudit) is the feminine form of Judah. She resembles several other biblical women, most obviously Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite (Judges 4:5), who lures the enemy commander Sisera to fall asleep in her tent, where she assassinates him. Judith may also be seen as a type of Delilah on God's side.  

The Book of Judith relates the story of God’s deliverance of the Jewish people. This was accomplished “by the hand of a female”—a constant motif (cf. 8:33; 9:9, 10; 12:4; 13:4, 14, 15; 15:10; 16:5) meant to recall the “hand” of God in the Exodus narrative (cf. Ex 15:6). The name Judith (יְהוּדִית—Yehudit) is the feminine form of Judah. She resembles several other biblical women, most obviously Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite (Judges 4:5), who lures the enemy commander Sisera to fall asleep in her tent, where she assassinates him. Judith may also be seen as a type of Delilah on God's side.  

The Book of Judith's scenes are enlivened and given immediacy by their vivid setting in the midst of a battle in which Israel and Jerusalem are about to be overwhelmed by Assyria. Although artfully constructed, the book contains numerous historical anachronisms and must thus be considered a work of pious fiction. It has inspired numerous works of art, music, and drama. Rather than a work of sacred history, however, it is best understood as a pious historical novel. The mighty ruler Nebuchadnezzar—the "Assyrian" ruler in the Book of Judith who reigned in Nineveh—was actually the ruler of the later Babylonian Empire, as every educated Jew knew perfectly well. Nor was his army ever driven back by the Israelites as the result of the assassination of his commander. The historical Nebuchadnezzar was entirely successful in his campaign to subjugate Judea. In fact, with regard to Nebuchadnezzar, the prophet Jeremiah argued against precisely the policy of resistance which the Book of Judith glorifies. For Jeremiah and later Judaism, the sin of Judah was already beyond forgiveness, and Nebuchadnezzar was God's agent of chastisement who must be supported, not rebelled against or resisted. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia the opening lines, "In the twelfth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned over the Assyrians in Nineveh," is the ancient Hebrew equivalent of "once upon a time in the land of make believe."

The Book of Judith's scenes are enlivened and given immediacy by their vivid setting in the midst of a battle in which Israel and Jerusalem are about to be overwhelmed by Assyria. Many literary critics believe the book seemingly contains numerous historical anachronisms and although artfully constructed, they think it must be considered a work of pious fiction. Note: The Book of Judith was never intended as factual history - it is more like fiction with a theological message. Many of the historical details are incorrect - for example, Nebuchadnezzar was a Babylonian, but the story presents him as ruler of the Assyrians. It has inspired numerous works of art, music, and drama. Rather than a work of sacred history, however, they suggest that it is best understood as a pious historical novel, similar to Tobit and Esther. The mighty ruler Nebuchadnezzar—the "Assyrian" ruler in the Book of Judith who reigned in Nineveh—was actually the ruler of the later Babylonian Empire, as every educated Jew knew perfectly well. Nor was his army ever driven back by the Israelites as the result of the assassination of his commander. The historical Nebuchadnezzar was entirely successful in his campaign to subjugate Judea. In fact, with regard to Nebuchadnezzar, the prophet Jeremiah argued against precisely the policy of resistance which the Book of Judith glorifies. For Jeremiah and later Judaism, the sin of Judah was already beyond forgiveness, and Nebuchadnezzar was God's agent of chastisement who must be supported, not rebelled against or resisted. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia the opening lines, "In the twelfth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned over the Assyrians in Nineveh," is the ancient Hebrew equivalent of "once upon a time in the land of make believe."

The work may have been written around 100 B.C., but its historical range is extraordinary. Within the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (1:1; 2:1), it telescopes five centuries of historical and geographical information with imaginary details. There are references to Nineveh, the Assyrian capital destroyed in 612 B.C., to Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler not of Assyria but of Babylon (605/604–562), to Holofernes, commander-in-chief of the Assyrian armies of Nebuchadnezzar (which, of course, is impossible historically since Nebuchadnezzar is a Babylonian!),, and to the second Temple, built around 515. The postexilic period is presumed (e.g., governance by the High Priest). The Persian period is represented by two characters, Holofernes and Bagoas, who appear together in the military campaigns of Artaxerxes III Ochus (358–338); there seem to be allusions to the second-century Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Several mysteries remain: Judith herself, Arphaxad, and others are otherwise unknown. The geographical details, such as the narrow defile into Bethulia (an unidentified town which gives access to the heart of the land), are fanciful. The simple conclusion from these and other details is that the work is historical fiction, written to exalt God as Israel’s deliverer from foreign might, not by an army, but by means of a simple widow.

The work may have been written around 100 B.C., but its historical range is extraordinary. Within the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (1:1; 2:1), it telescopes five centuries of historical and geographical information with imaginary details. There are references to Nineveh, the Assyrian capital destroyed in 612 B.C., to Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler not of Assyria but of Babylon (605/604–562), to Holofernes, commander-in-chief of the Assyrian armies of Nebuchadnezzar (which, of course, is impossible historically since Nebuchadnezzar is a Babylonian!), and to the second Temple, built around 515. The Bible says that at the siege of Jerusalem Sennacherib's officer, taunting the Jews who stood on the city wall, assured them that they were doomed to 'eat their own faeces and drink their own piss' (2 Kings 18:27). This seems mild compared with the fate described in inscriptions at Nineveh.

 

The postexilic period is presumed (e.g., governance by the High Priest). The Persian period is represented by two characters, Holofernes and Bagoas, who appear together in the military campaigns of Artaxerxes III Ochus (358–338); there seem to be allusions to the second-century Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Several mysteries remain: Judith herself, Arphaxad, and others are otherwise unknown. The geographical details, such as the narrow defile into Bethulia (an unidentified town which gives access to the heart of the land), are fanciful. The simple conclusion from these and other details is that the work is historical fiction, written to exalt God as Israel’s deliverer from foreign might, not by an army, but by means of a simple widow.

The story's geographical setting in a city called "Bethulia," a possible pun on the Hebrew word for "virgin," is also believed by many to be fictional. However, some suggest that Behulia might actually be either Shechem or the village of Meselieh, both of which occupied a location north of Jerusalem and would have been of possible strategic significance to an invading army aimed at Jerusalem.

The story's geographical setting in a city called "Bethulia," a possible pun on the Hebrew word for "virgin," is also believed by many to be fictional. However, some suggest that Behulia might actually be either Shechem or the village of Meselieh, both of which occupied a location north of Jerusalem and would have been of possible strategic significance to an invading army aimed at Jerusalem.

Scholars believe the book reflects the cultural literature of the Hasmonean dynasty, when stories of heroic opposition to Gentile kingdoms were popular. The book has a distinctly religious trend, and is calculated to inspire both patriotism and piety. The most likely date of the book is probably sometime in the later second century B.C., believed to be written in the late second century or early first century B.C.,

Scholars believe the book reflects the cultural literature of the Hasmonean dynasty, when stories of heroic opposition to Gentile kingdoms were popular. The book has a distinctly religious trend, and is calculated to inspire both patriotism and piety. The most likely date of the book is probably sometime in the later second century B.C., believed to be written in the late second century or early first century B.C..

 

 

The Book of Judith was almost certainly written in Hebrew. However the oldest versions of its actual text are Greek translations included in the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible.

The Book of Judith was almost certainly written in Hebrew. However the oldest versions of its actual text are Greek translations included in the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible.

This Book of Judith was believed to be written first in Hebrew, but the Septuagint scripture crafted in Koine Greek was accepted by the Catholic Church for its Bible. Jerome, a Catholic priest and apologist (c. A.D. 347 – 420), was said to produce a text of Judith in Latin from a secondary Aramaic text.

This Book of Judith was believed to be written first in Hebrew, but the Septuagint scripture crafted in Koine Greek was accepted by the Catholic Church for its Bible. Jerome, a Catholic priest and apologist (c. A.D. 347 – 420), was said to produce a text of Judith in Latin from a secondary Aramaic text.

As with other books in the Apocrypha, there are anachronisms, most notably the claim that Nebuchadnezzar ruled over the Assyrian Empire from Nineveh. He actually ruled over Babylonia. Plus, Nebuchadnezzar’s father, Nabopolassar, had destroyed Nineveh years earlier, making this story’s history suspect. However, many view this account as a variation of the Exodus story, where faith in God and reliance on Him for deliverance from fear and protection from harm and evil is what believers must always do. This book is regarded as an appropriate reflection during the Passover celebration.

As with other books in the Apocrypha, there are seeming anachronisms, most notably the claim that Nebuchadnezzar ruled over the Assyrian Empire from Nineveh. He actually ruled over Babylonia. Plus, Nebuchadnezzar’s father, Nabopolassar, had destroyed Nineveh years earlier, making this story’s history suspect for many. However, many view this account as a variation of the Exodus story, where faith in God and reliance on Him for deliverance from fear and protection from harm and evil is what believers must always do. This book is regarded as an appropriate reflection during the Passover celebration.

The Book of Judith (second or early first century b.c.e.) is an imaginative, highly fictionalized, romance that entertains as it edifies. From a literary perspective, the book is an artistic masterpiece, constructed in two parts (1:1–7:32, 8:1–16:25), with each internally ordered by a threefold chiastic pattern. Numerous correspondences between the two halves of the story provide elegant compositional symmetries. The Book of Judith is a story of balance and counter-balance that makes the point that God’s people have all they need to survive if they rely wholeheartedly on the covenant.

The Book of Judith (second or early first century B.C.) is an imaginative, highly fictionalized, romance that entertains as it edifies. From a literary perspective, the book is an artistic masterpiece, constructed in two parts (1:1–7:32, 8:1–16:25), with each internally ordered by a threefold [http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/chiastic ''chiastic''] pattern. Numerous correspondences between the two halves of the story provide elegant compositional symmetries. The Book of Judith is a story of balance and counter-balance that makes the point that God’s people have all they need to survive if they rely wholeheartedly on the covenant.

Judith is conventional in upholding inheritance and purity rights, in prayer and fasting, in her ideas about God’s providence. She is unconventional in upbraiding the male leaders of her town for what they have said about God, though she does this within the privacy of her own home. No other woman in the Bible has another woman in charge of her estate; no other childless woman refuses to marry. On her account, “No one ever again spread terror among the Israelites during the lifetime of Judith, or for a long time after her death” (16:25).

Judith is conventional in upholding inheritance and purity rights, in prayer and fasting, in her ideas about God’s providence. She is unconventional in upbraiding the male leaders of her town for what they have said about God, though she does this within the privacy of her own home. No other woman in the Bible has another woman in charge of her estate; no other childless woman refuses to marry. On her account, “No one ever again spread terror among the Israelites during the lifetime of Judith, or for a long time after her death” (16:25).

Judith is the only biblical woman who asks God to make her a good liar. In Jdt 9:10 and again in 9:13, she petitions God for “deceitful words” that will wound those who have planned cruelties against the Jerusalem Temple and their homeland. Judith is part of a larger company of women in the Bible who practice deceits that have positive national and personal consequences, including Rebekah who tricks her husband, Isaac, for the sake of their son Jacob (Genesis 27); Tamar who steals the next generation by tricking her father-in-law Judah into impregnating her (Genesis 38); the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who lie to the king of Egypt about why they have not killed the Hebrew males at birth (Exod 1:19); Moses’s sister who offers to call a nurse for the daughter of Pharaoh, but calls the baby’s own mother, (Exod 2:7–8); the daughter of the Pharaoh who adopts and names the child Moses, in direct violation of her father’s instruction (Exod 2:10); Rahab, who preserves the lives of Joshua’s spies by lying to the king of Jericho (Joshua 2); and Jael, a Kenite, who smashes the skull of the enemy general seeking the hospitality of her tent (Judges 4–5).

The irony of the Book of Judith is hard for some to accept: Judith is a virtuous woman but also a murderess and assassin, and for many readers the basic message of her story is that the end justifies the means. Others see the basic message of her story as the sovereign power of God who casts down the proud, wicked destroyer and saves his people threatened with death by means of the weakest and most humble of his servants, such as Judith and Esther, and Mary, the handmaid of the LORD and the mother of Jesus.

==Judith in the arts==

 

 

Judith in the arts

Judith's faithful maid Abra holds the bag to receive the head of Holofernes, from the painting by Caravaggio(This bloodthirsty incident has been popular with artists. See Bible Art: Judith  for about thirty paintings of Judith by some of the world's great painters.)

Judith's faithful maid Abra holds the bag to receive the head of Holofernes, from the painting by Caravaggio(This bloodthirsty incident has been popular with artists. See Bible Art: Judith  for about thirty paintings of Judith by some of the world's great painters.)

Craven, Toni. ''Artistry and Faith in the Book of Judith''. California: 1983.

Craven, Toni. ''Artistry and Faith in the Book of Judith''. California: 1983.

Ibid. “Women Who Lied for the Faith.” In Justice and the Holy: Essays in Honor of Walter Harrelson, edited by Douglas A. Knight and Peter J. Paris, 35–49. Atlanta: 1989.

Craven, Toni. “Women Who Lied for the Faith.” In ''Justice and the Holy: Essays in Honor of Walter Harrelson'', edited by Douglas A. Knight and Peter J. Paris, 35–49. Atlanta: 1989.

Hopkins, Denise Dombkowski. “Judith.” Women’s Bible Commentary, edited by Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, 279–285. Kentucky: expanded edition, 1998.

Hopkins, Denise Dombkowski. “Judith.” ''Women’s Bible Commentary'', edited by Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, 279–285. Kentucky: expanded edition, 1998.

Meyers, Carol, General Editor. ''Women in Scripture''. New York: 2000.

Meyers, Carol, General Editor. ''Women in Scripture''. New York: 2000.

==External links==

==External links==

[http://www.wmcarey.edu/browning/Classes/HOB/BibleD-OTText.pdf The Old Testament Text. (wmcarey.edu/browning/Classes)]

[http://www.wmcarey.edu/browning/Classes/HOB/BibleD-OTText.pdf The Old Testament Text. (wmcarey.edu/browning/Classes)]