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JUDITH, BOOK OF

Judith with the Head of Holofernes, Hendrik Goltzius (ca. 1588) (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam)

A book relating the heroic deeds of Judith of Bethulia. Considered canonical by Roman Catholics (among the Deuterocanonicals formally declared sacred writings in 1546 at the Council of Trent) and apocryphal by Protestants, the book was listed in 397 c.e. among the works deemed authoritative for use by the bishops gathered at the North African Council in Carthage. Jewish tradition has always enjoyed Judith, but outside of the community in classical Alexandrian Egypt, Judaism has always regarded the story as entertainment and not Scripture.

The book was written in the aftermath of the persecutions of the Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the subsequent revolt by the Hasmoneans that resulted in an independent Jewish state centered on Jerusalem during the latter half of the 2nd century b.c.e. The tendency, after Alexander the Great, for Greek rulers to take on divine attributes clearly dates this work, with its “king of the Assyrians” ordered to be the sole divinity, as a composition of the Hellenistic age in Palestine. The author of Judith appears to have been a Pharisee writing ca. 100 b.c.e. within the Hasmonean kingdom. While the earliest extant reliable versions of Judith are in Greek and Latin, it is generally agreed that the work was composed in Hebrew.

The numerous historical references in the text led the Church to treat the narrative as historical until modern times. However, the fact that the historical references tend to be retellings of biblical material with imaginative recasting of geography and nationality, by an author who knew Torah and Prophets, suggests that the intention was to compose a fictitious short story that wove elements of the traditions of Israel with historical events of more recent times into an educational narrative.

The structure of the book is fairly simple. A double chiastic structure brings the reader into the presence of Holofernes and out again twice. The first half of the book (Jdt. 1–7) describes the rise and approach of the invincible multi-national army, led by the general Holofernes, who himself worships his king (Nebuchadnezzar the Assyrian) as if he were his god. This half of the book stresses the absolute might and power of the human ruler and his unbelievably large army. The second half of the book (chs. 8–16) concerns the reception of the army by the symbolic town of Bethulia. The main figure here is Judith, a wealthy, pious, brave, and devout widow, who knows, more than do the elders of the city, that if one has faith in God one must act on it. In the face of what appears to be inescapable destruction, Judith leads her slave woman out into the camp of Holofernes, and the two women decapitate the general through some clever double entendre and the overconfidence of machismo on the part of the general. His army then flees. The two halves of the book are bridged by Achior, an Ammonite, who tells Holofernes about the God of Israel and is sent by the general to Bethulia to be part of the presumedly forthcoming slaughter; however, in Bethulia Achior becomes Jewish, apparently knowing more about the power of God than do the elders of the city. In the first half of the book Achior speaks about God clearly to Holofernes, who does not believe what Achior says though he understands it; parallel to this in the second half of the book, Judith speaks about God misleadingly to Holofernes, who in turn believes her though he misunderstands what she says by thinking she speaks about him.

The theology of the book contrasts the real, very apparent, human might of the Assyrian king with the more real, but very unseen, divine might of God. Each divine figure has its devotee: Holofernes for Nebuchadnezzar the Assyrian, and Judith for God. In many ways the two devotees are much alike, both trusting in the sole power of their divinity and acting on directives never quite stated in the narrative. Each devotee has a corresponding helper: Holofernes has at his command an invincible, powerful, male army that literally covers the land, while Judith has a powerless slave woman who carries a sack. This is the contrast: God (who does not appear) is the true might of the world and needs only a single devotee to oust all the might that the worldly human king (who does appear) can muster; this is a confrontation that clearly owes a great deal to the Gog and Magog visions of Ezek. 38–39. The speeches by Achior and Judith make it clear that the God of Israel protects Israel as long as it is righteous and keeps torah.

That the story was intended as edification can be seen even in the names of the characters. For example, Judith can mean “female Judean” or generically the Jewish people. Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, clearly combines a Babylonian royal name with the country of Assyria; anyone familiar with the biblical histories (or ancient Near Eastern history) knows this was not a historical king; but, like Darius the Mede in Daniel, this “Great Ruler of the World” figure, by having an obviously invented name, can and does stand for all earthly rulers who trust in their own power. Achior means “my brother is light,” and this Ammonite (relative of the Israelites by way of Abraham’s nephew Lot) is the one who explains God’s truth to both Holofernes and the elders of Bethulia (a town the name of which, though variously spelled in Greek, in Hebrew means roughly “House of God, Yahweh,” itself symbolic). The name of the general appears to derive from a historical Persian military officer.

Medieval Christian interpretation of the book of Judith made it a central text in the formation of Mariology. The entire story was read both as an allegory and as a typology for the life and status of Mary, mother of Jesus. On this account many lines of the text have passed into liturgical readings used by the Catholic Church in honor of Mary.

Bibliography. M. P. Carroll, “Myth, Methodology and Transformation in the Old Testament: The Stories of Esther, Judith, and Susanna,” SR 12 (1983): 301-12; T. Craven, Artistry and Faith in the Book of Judith. SBLDS 70 (Chico, 1983); C. A. Moore, Judith. AB 40 (Garden City, 1985); I. Nowell, “Judith: A Question of Power,” TBT 24 (1986): 12-17; J. C. VanderKam, ed., “No One Spoke Ill of Her”: Essays on Judith (Atlanta, 1992).

Lowell K. Handy

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JUDITH, BOOK OF

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)