Most people have not read the Book of Judith. Protestants have not read it because it is not part of their Old Testament. Orthodox and Roman Catholics have not read it because all too many concentrate only on the New Testament or simply do not read their entire Bible. But, whether you believe it to be part of the Old Testament or not, the book is worth reading as an intriguing, interesting, and quite dramatic book.
Judith supposedly takes place when Nebuchadnezzar sends his general Holofernes to conquer Israel. Holofernes does a very good job of invasion, wiping out miscellaneous enemies along the way. The meaty part of the book starts when the armies of Israel are encircled, under siege, and within a few days of surrendering, as the water supply has almost run out. It is there that we meet Judith.
“Judith had lived at home as a widow for three years and four months. She set up a tent for herself on the roof of her house, and girded sackcloth about her loins and wore the garments of her widowhood. She fasted all the days of her widowhood, except the day before the sabbath and the sabbath itself, the day before the new moon and the day of the new moon, and the feasts and days of rejoicing of the house of Israel. She was beautiful in appearance, and had a very lovely face; and her husband Manasseh had left her gold and silver, and men and women slaves, and cattle, and fields; and she maintained this estate. No one spoke ill of her, for she feared God with great devotion.“
Judith becomes very upset with Israeli leadership and ends up chewing out the elders of the besieged city, and even the king.
“Listen to me, rulers of the people of Bethulia! What you have said to the people today is not right; you have even sworn and pronounced this oath between God and you, promising to surrender the city to our enemies unless the Lord turns and helps us within so many days. Who are you, that have put God to the test this day, and are setting yourselves up in the place of God among the sons of men?”
She actually goes on for several paragraphs more and manages to sound like a cross between a drill sergeant and your mother right before she grounds you for life! Having told them off, she makes and extraordinary claim.
“Listen to me. I am about to do a thing which will go down through all generations of our descendants. Stand at the city gate tonight, and I will go out with my maid; and within the days after which you have promised to surrender the city to our enemies, the Lord will deliver Israel by my hand. Only, do not try to find out what I plan; for I will not tell you until I have finished what I am about to do.”
One can almost hear her snapping her fingers at them. But, what she does begins to surprise them, even before she has finished going out the gate.
“… she rose from where she lay prostrate and called her maid and went down into the house where she lived on sabbaths and on her feast days; and she removed the sackcloth which she had been wearing, and took off her widow’s garments, and bathed her body with water, and anointed herself with precious ointment, and combed her hair and put on a tiara, and arrayed herself in her gayest apparel, which she used to wear while her husband Manasseh was living. And she put sandals on her feet, and put on her anklets and bracelets and rings, and her earrings and all her ornaments, and made herself very beautiful, to entice the eyes of all men who might see her. … Then they went out to the city gate of Bethulia, and found Uzziah standing there with the elders of the city, Chabris and Charmis. When they saw her, and noted how her face was altered and her clothing changed, they greatly admired her beauty … .”
She went out dressed to kill, quite literally. But, what grabs my heart in the previous line is that she put on what, “she used to wear while her husband … was living.” I found myself wondering what she had been thinking at the time. It must have hurt her to pull out that dress and put it on. I wonder if she was asking her husband’s forgiveness as she put it on, and what memories must have come to her. The men were typical men, but it was in their stares and admirations that she must have had confirmed to her that she could pull off her plan.
She goes to Holofernes camp. It is obvious that they recognize her as a rich woman by the way she is dressed and the way she carries herself. She manages to get an audience with Holofernes, who is smitten with her. She lies through her teeth as to why she is there. Then she seduces Holofernes with words. One day passes; two days pass; the deadline for surrender is drawing near, but Judith has to weave her web. Finally on the fourth day she manages to get some alone time with Holofernes. It is night. He sends all his guards away. The plan is about to come to fruition.
“So she got up and arrayed herself in all her woman’s finery, and her maid went and spread on the ground for her before Holofernes the soft fleeces which she had received from Bagoas for her daily use, so that she might recline on them when she ate. Then Judith came in and lay down, and Holofernes’ heart was ravished with her and he was moved with great desire to possess her; for he had been waiting for an opportunity to deceive her, ever since the day he first saw her. So Holofernes said to her. ‘Drink now, and be merry with us!’ Judith said, ‘I will drink now, my lord, because my life means more to me today than in all the days since I was born.'”
Yes, the day means much to her, but not for the reasons that Holofernes thinks.
“And Holofernes was greatly pleased with her, and drank a great quantity of wine, much more than he had ever drunk in any one day since he was born. … So Judith was left alone in the tent , with Holofernes stretched out on his bed, for he was overcome with wine. … She went up to the post at the end of the bed, above Holofernes’ head, and took down his sword that hung there. She came close to his bed and took hold of the hair of his head, and said, “Give me strength this day, O Lord God of Israel!” And she struck his neck twice with all her might, and severed his head from his body. Then she tumbled his body off the bed and pulled down the canopy from the posts; after a moment she went out, and gave Holofernes’ head to her maid, who placed it in her food bag.”
Catch that nice final detail. She stuck the head in her food bag. Then she and her maid quietly left the camp, as she had permission to come and go. They returned to Bethulia on the morning of the fifth day, the morning of the day of surrender, and presented the head of Holofernes to the authorities who had previously not believed her. Frankly, if she had come back without the head claiming to have killed the general, they would not have believed her, but what a trophy!
The populace gets all fired up. The surrounding hill folk rise up, and suddenly all of Israel pours into the camp of Holofernes. The slaughter is tremendous and Israel is saved for a while longer. The interesting part is that at the end, Judith simply returns to her home, but now with a cart full of loot from the defeated enemy’s camp. “They gave Judith the tent of Holofernes and all his silver dishes and his beds and his bowls and all his furniture; and she took them and loaded her mule and hitched up her carts and piled the things on them.”
And, then she quietly went home, and lived out a long full life as a widow. “And no one ever again spread terror among the people of Israel in the days of Judith, or for a long time after her death.” And she lived happily ever after.
I recommend that you read the entire book. You will enjoy it!
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