Prayer in the Apocrypha 3: Judith's Psalm of Praise

"Therefore this is a fine, good, holy, useful book, well worth reading by us Christians. For the words spoken by the persons in it should be understood as though they were uttered in the Holy Spirit by a spiritual, holy poet or prophet who, in presenting such persons in his play, preaches to us through them." (Martin Luther, "Preface to the Book of Judith," in Luther's Works, vol 35, pp. 338-339).

Judith of Bethulia, Most Blessed of All Women

Few biblical characters have fascinated Jews and Christians as much a Judith of Bethulia.  As early as the first century Christian, Clement considered the "blessed Judith" to be a model of God given virtue and piety (1 Clement 55). Prudentius' "massively influential" Psychomachia (written about AD 405) inculcated the traditional Christian virtues of chastity, temperance, justice, fortitude, wisdom and humility through iconography of Judith [1].  Psychomachia remained very influential throughout the medieval period.  The lore of Judith found its way into sermons, Passover haggadah, Purim liturgy, Christian liturgy, prayer, plays, poems and art of the period molding and shaping of Judeo-Christian values.  Judith was a feature of one of the greatest "silent" movies of all time, Judith of Bethulia by D.W. Griffith in 1913.  She was a revered woman until the age of then Enlightenment.

Judith falls into two basic parts.  The first part describes the war of the Assyrians against the Jews (chapters 1-7); the second relates the deliverance wrought by God through Judith (chapters 8-16). [2]

Hostilities had broken out between the Assyrians and the Medes.  Nebuchadnezzar, who is pictured as ruling the Assyrians, calls on the western nations to help him against his enemies, however, they refused (1.7-11).  Angry and vowing to take revenge on them – including the Jews.  After defeating the Medes (1. 12-16) Nebuchadnezzar decides to destroy those who wished his downfall in the west.  He sends out his General, Holofernes, with 120.000 men and a further 12,000 cavalry.  Soon the nations were frightened into submission.

Meanwhile in the city of Bethulia the citizens, fearful that the Assyrians would defile the holy Temple of God, decide they will not acquiesce to Nebuchadnezzar.  The store provisions in anticipation of siege.  They seek God’s favor through prayer and fasting in sackcloth (4.1-15).  After thirty four days of siege with supplies running low the inhabitants of Bethulia began to loose heart and call upon the city elders to surrender to the Assyrians.  A leader, Uzziah, plead with them to hold out five more days, “By that time the Lord our God will show us mercy, for he will not forsake us utterly” (7.30).  Nevertheless, he agreed to capitulate to the Assyrians should help not come (7.19-32).

At this crucial point we are introduced to the Unlikely Source of God’s salvation for the Jews: a woman named Judith.  Her name simply means “Jewess.”   She is what all of God’s children ought to be.  Having heard what Uzziah has decided she steps way out of her “traditional” bounds as a woman.  She summons him and the elders and upbraids them for their lack of faith – and for attempting to force the hand of God with the time limit on him.  She says,

“Listen to me, rulers of the people of Bethulia! What you have said to people today is not right; you have even sworn and pronounced this oath between God and you, promising to surrender the town to our enemies unless the Lord turns and helps us within so many days. Who are you to put God to the test today . . .You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or understand the workings of the human mind; how do you expect to search out God, who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his though?” (8.12-14).

Judith volunteers for a dangerous mission – to be used by God to defeat the mighty Assyrian army.  She prays.  She emphasizes her weakness and vulnerability but also expresses amazing confidence in the God who is “God of the lowly, helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak” (9.11).  She concludes her prayer by bringing to expression the main issue, her (and the author) the manifestation of who truly is God in this world (9.14). 

Judith ends up using the weakness of Holofernes, his arrogance and his desire for her beauty, to bring him down.    In one of the most painted scenes in western art, Judith decapitates a drunken Holofernes. Judith frankly acknowledges, “It was my face that tricked him to his destruction, and yet he committed no act of sin with me, to defile or shame me” (13.16).  Thus God wrought a powerful victory through the most unlikely of place for his people.  It is a delightful book with a powerful message.  Craven's conclusion is worth quoting,

"She is a widow in the midst of arrogant, cowardly, and uncompromising people. Her strength is striking precisely because it opposes the weakness of those around her.  Her heroism in Part II is in counterpoint to the hubris of Assyrian pride and Israelite presumption and despair in Part I." [3]

You can read more on the story of Judith in this "Judith: Radical Woman of God."

Brief Look at "Modern" Critical Issues

In the "modern" period Judith has suffered considerably at the hands of enlightened Protestant critics.  Totally reversing even the opinion of Martin Luther himself, noted in the opening, Judith has been turned into a liar, a sexual predator, a murderer and simply a dangerous woman!  Protestant scholarship of the Enlightenment till prior to World War II reflects not only the prejudice of those times but frequently is blatantly anti-Semitic (see deSilva's kind, in my opinion, of E. C. Bissell's to frequently quoted Introduction) [4].  The "problems" with Judith are not unique to her and often are simply problems because we do not understand the cultural issues involved in an honor/shame society [5].  I need not dwell on these issues.

The fascinating character Achior should be mentioned briefly.  Achior is the leader of the Ammonites (5.5).  When Holofernes is seeking counsel on how to defeat the Israelites of Bethulia in the quickest possible manner Achior delivers an amazing speech.  Achior reviews this history of God with Israel from the call of Abraham down to the Exile. Sounding like summaries of God's faithfulness through Samuel's Farewell Speech (1 Sam 12), Nehemiah's Prayer of Repentance (Neh 9), and Stephen's speech (Acts 7) Achior testifies that as long as the Israelites are faithful to "the God of heaven" (5.8) the Assyrians can never win.  Ironically this pagan has more confidence in the God of heaven than the ready to surrender inhabitants of Bethulia! Achior is ridiculed by Holofernes men and they declare, "We are not afraid of the Israelites; they are a people with no strength or power for making war. Therefore let us go ahead, Lord Holofernes, and your vast army will swallow them up" (5.23-24).  Achior is expelled from the Assyrian camp and is captured by the Israelites.  Later in the in the book, after Judith has slain Holofernes he "converts" to Israel.  "When Achior saw all that the God of Israel had done, he believed firmly in God. So he was circumcised, and joined the house of Israel, remaining so to this day" (14.10).  The author makes a direct parallel with the Abraham story in Genesis 15.6.  The expression episteusen to theo occurs only in two places in the Greek Bible (LXX) that is in Judith 14.10 and Genesis 15.6. Thus as Roitman has correctly noted, "according to the book of Judith, the righteous pagan who converts to Judaism would also have, as the native Jew has, Abraham as his model or 'father.'" [6] Such a perspective would be important in the Jesus movement embracing Gentiles on the model of Abraham. 

Judith's Psalm

 Prayer is an integral part of the story of Judith just as we discovered of Tobit [7]. In the tradition of Moses, Miriam, and Deborah, Judith leads the children of Israel in praise and worship of God through a "new psalm." What else can be done when God has delivered us and through the most unexpected means, but praise him.  Judith continues the long line of piety in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Psalter.  As with other biblical literature there is the rich use of previous biblical literature to nourish the Spiritual well being of God's people in a new day and situation.

"And Judith said, 
Begin a song to my God with tambourines,
and sing to my Lord with cymbals.
Raise to him a new psalm;
exalt him, and call upon his name.
For the Lord is a God who crushes wars; 
he sets up his camp among his people; 
he delivered me from the hands of 
my pursuers.
(Judith 16. 1-2b)

Judith, like the Prophet Miriam (Ex 15.20) and the young ladies in procession in the temple (Ps 68.25) grabs a tambourine and assumes the role of worship leader.  In the Bible, God's fresh act of grace demanded fresh praise.  We do not just sing the old song but now in light of God's new act we sing our own song of worship and praise.

The call to a psalm of praise is grounded in what God has done and is doing.  God "crushes" war.  Those drunk on the liquor of combat will be disappointed because the Lord simply will put an end to all war.  The vision or dream of the prayer is for a world without any more Holoferneses. What a day that would be.

But not only does Judith call to praise because God destroys war but because "he sets up his camp among his people." Following the destruction of God's enemies (i.e. war, etc) Judith praises God for one of the great blessings attested to throughout the Hebrew Bible, God lives with his people.  It is a vivid image that God "camps" with us.  God himself is the desire of the redeemed.

After narrating magnitude of Israel's dire straits from the Assyrian threat in verses 3 and 4, Judith gives God glory for the unbelievable way in which salvation was granted.  Only God could have accomplished salvation through a woman!

"But the Lord Almighty has foiled them
by the hand of a woman.
For their mighty one did not fall by the
hands of the young men,
nor did the sons of the Titans strike
him down,
nor did tall giants set upon him;
but Judith daughter of Merari
with the beauty of her countenance
undid him." (vv. 5-6)

The Lord God is given total credit for the unusual means of deliverance from the tyrannical Assyrians.  Judith does not even give God's enemy, Holofernes, the honor of being named he is just the "mighty one" who suffers the unbelievable (in that culture) of being done in by a woman, a widow no less! The irony drips form this portion of the psalm.  God did not use the demi-gods known as the "sons of the Titans," nor the legendary "giants" of the land.  God used a weapon fit for the occasion that undid the arrogance of an insatiable oppressor.  The beauty of an old lady (what delicious irony).  Should God not be praised?

Judith continues to narrate in the psalm how the God inspired actions of a widow had cosmic consequences.  The Persians and the Medes "tremble" with the news of what God has accomplished through one regarded so helpless (v.10).  Kicking into high gear Judith continues her "new song" of praise to the Lord.

"I will sing to my god a new song;
O Lord, you are great and glorious,
wonderful in strength, invincible.
Let all your creatures serve you,
for you spoke and they were made.
You sent forth your Spirit, and it
formed them;
there is none that can resist your 
voice.
For the mountains shall be shaken to
their foundations with the waters;
before your glance the rocks shall 
melt like wax.
But to those who fear you
you show mercy.
For every sacrifice as a fragrant offering
is a small thing,
and the fat of all whole burnt
offerings to you is a very little thing;
but whoever fears the Lord is great forever.

Woe to the nations that rise up against 
my people!
The Lord Almighty will take 
vengeance on them in the day of 
judgement;
he will send fire and worms into their
flesh; 
they shall weep in pain forever."
(vv. 13-17).

Judith has unwavering faith in the majesty and uniqueness of our God.  He is the Creator of all things.  Through the instrumentality of the Spirit life is given and the world is made. God's all powerful word (voice) cannot be resisted by his creation. Those in rebellion against his lordship (like Holofernes) will find themselves missing their head but mercy is the lot of those who walk the dangerous road of faith.

Judith warns her listeners that simply going to church and performing perfunctory acts of religious service like sacrifices, the "five acts" of worship, etc have no manipulative power over God.  Far from being some legalism Judith sees that such acts of worship are "little things" when divorced from the heart that "fears the Lord" has standing (and mercy!).

What Jesus and the Early Church Heard

It is exceedingly unlikely that Jesus did not know the story of Judith.  The very epitaph of Uzziah for Judith was applied to his own mother, "O daughter you are blessed by the Most High God above all other women ..." (13.18; Lk 1.42).  It is irrelevant if he believed it was or was not Scripture, though obviously many people of the day did.  But the story was one of those things that "filled the air." Through the story of Judith, Jesus heard that God overcomes insurmountable obstacles through the most extraordinary means.  He heard that God can accomplish things even through scandalous means.  Jesus and the Jews of his day learned from the story of Judith that women were people in an unique relationship with God and not mere appendages. Jesus and the Jews around him knew of stories of how God used women to do what no man could do.  Jesus heard that women were incredible prayer warriors and were inspired to not only deliver by His power but to lead in the worship of fresh new praise to the King of Kings.  Jesus and Jews of his day learned in the story of Judith that crises, oppression and suffering may be a means of divine testing rather than punishment [8].  Jesus learned through such stories as Judith that trust in the Lord is foundational, fundamental, and primordial basis of life.

These are not things that Jesus alone heard.  The first century church did as well.  We do not know when or by whom but Christians in the city of Rome knew the story of Judith even as John was penning his Gospel.  They assumed the Christians in Corinth knew who Judith was as well.  It is difficult to believe that Clement learned this on his own.  He almost surely learned if from an earlier disciple ... I realize I cannot prove that but it is certainly a reasonable supposition. Clement was asked to respond to a letter from the same church Paul had had so many issues with, that letter is known as 1 Clement and it is contemporary with the writings of John.  He exhorts them to unity and many other things.  A model of selflessness, graceful courage, and prayer is held out to the Corinthians.  It is one they surely already know, Judith.  I close with Clement's words for this is what the early church heard, just as Jesus had.

"Many women being strengthened through the grace of God have performed many manly deeds. The blessed Judith, when the city was beleaguered, asked of the elders that she might be suffered to go to the camp of the aliens. So she exposed herself to peril and went forward out of love for her country and of her people which were oppressed; and the Lord delivered Holofernes into the hand of a woman" (1 Clement 55)

Judith's daring act of faith, her willingness to sacrifice herself, her psalms of prayer and praise were among the things the Corinthians needed to appropriate to themselves.  Judith what a blessed woman she is.

Here is the movie, Judith of Bethulia, which was on of the most extravagant of films from the Golden Age of Silent Film.  Enjoy.

Notes:

1] See the richly textured study by Margarita Stocker, Judith Sexual Warrior: Women and Power in Western Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press 1998), quotes from pp. 24ff. 

2] Toni Craven has shown that Judith is an exquisite work of literary art.  The book falls into perfectly balanced halves where Judith emerges as the counterpart of the hubris of Assyrian pride and Israelite presumption.  See "Artistry and Faith in Judith," Semeia 8 (1977): 75-101.  

3] Craven, "Artistry and Faith in Judith," p. 95.

4] David A. deSilva, "Judith the Heroine? Lies, Seduction, and Murder in Cultural Perspective," Biblical Theological Bulletin 36 (Summer 2006), 55-61.  deSilva writes "Bissell was particularly disturbed about Judith's flirting with the ruing of her own sexual purity, going so far as to claim that she would have gone all the way with Holofernes if he didn't oblige her by passing out before consummating his desires ... Perhaps we should not be to surprised to find Bissell in a manner typical of late 19th century thinking about Judaism, condemning the religion of the author, which was able to stomach - indeed to bless - deception, teasing, and murder, but not the violation of the ceremonial law" (p. 56).  deSilva squashes this point of view for the make believe that it is. Luke certainly thought enough of Judith to use her as a model for Mary herself and probably Anna.  See the comparisons and contrasts in Brittany Wilson's excellent "Pugnacious Precursors and the Bearer of Peace: Jael, Judith, and Mary in Luke 1.42," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 68 (2006): 436-456.

5] In addition to the case specific study by David A deSilva mentioned in note 4 I recommend the very user friendly intro to the issues of "honor and shame" in the Eastern cultures in Randolph Richards and Brandon O'Brien's Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible (Inter-Varsity Press, 2012), 113-136.

6] Adolfo D. Roitman, "Achior in the Book of Judith: His Role and Significance," in No One Spoke Ill of Her: Essays on Judith, (Scholars Press 1992), 40, See p. 45 note 54 on Judith 14.10 and Genesis 15.6 in the LXX.

7] Toni Craven, "From Where Will My Help Come?: Women and Prayer in the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books," in Worship and the Hebrew Bible: Essays in Honor of John. T. Willis, ed Patrick Graham, Rick Marrs and Steven McKenzie (Brill,    ), pp. 105-108.

8] Carey A. Moore, Judith: Anchor Bible (Doubleday 1985), 63. 

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Judith: Radical Woman of God

Introductory Thoughts

As we continue our series on the "Ancestry of the King James Version" by looking at books it contains that the modern Evangelical NIV does not we come to Judith. Judith is a wonderful example of moral story telling by an early Jew. The author tells of the story of a contest between a dominant pagan culture with its attendant claims and the God of Israel. Yahweh gains victory through a very unlikely source. Judith, a pious widow, uses her wiles to save her people and the Temple from the pagan Assyrians. The tale from beginning to end reinforces the basic theology of the Hebrew Bible (especially that of Deuteronomy). Judith is presented as a model of piety and faithfulness to the covenant of grace, affirming the efficacy of prayer and confidence in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

On the face of it, Judith is set in the sixth century B.C. But it is readily apparent that the book does not date from that time period. The book was written in Hebrew sometime after 200 BC and likely toward 100 BC (Carey A. Moore, Judith: The Anchor Bible Commentary, pp. 66-67; 68-70).

A major issue, especially since the Reformation, has been the historicity of the story of Judith. There has been vigorous debate over this issue and only a partial resolution. Judith on one level appears to be concerned with historical details typical of real history,

“the twelfth year of . . . Nebuchadnezzar” (1.1)
“In [Nebuchadnezzar’s] seventeenth year” (1.13)
“In the eighteenth year on the twenty-second day of the first month” (2.1)

The book includes references to exact periods of time, real places and other matters characteristic of historical narrative. Finally, the plot is simple and straightforward enough for it to be fact rather than fiction.

However, there are some serious errors of history for the book to be taken as straightforward historical writing. One of the most glaring and obvious is that Nebuchadnezzar was not the king of the Assyrians! So the question remains: Was Judith a real woman? I think that Hebrew Bible scholar, David Noel Freedman has proposed the best possible answer:

“Perhaps in the end we will come out approximately where Shakespeare did: Hamlet and Lear were real people, but the plays have little to do with factual history, and the story and characters in the plays have a life of their own which bears little resemblance to the original historical figures, or the various historical characterizations in the sources which Shakespeare used.” (quoted in Moore, p. 49).

There are many examples of “real” people who are fictionalized into legends – even almost overnight. For example John Greenleaf Whittier’s account of how Barbara Frietchie defied Stonewall Jackson as his soldiers tried to prevent her from displaying the American flag as they marched through Maryland.

Martin Luther on Judith

Luther was conscious of the historical “problems” in Judith, despite this he holds it to be a “noble and fine book.” In fact for Luther the historical issues are not that serious at all for he holds the book is intended as a “beautiful religious fiction.” He thinks that the work may have been intended to be a sort of drama along the lines of some Greek plays. He writes.

“Therefore this is a fine, good, holy, useful book, well worth reading by us Christians. For the words spoken by the persons in it should be understood as though they were uttered in the Holy Spirit by a spiritual, holy poet or prophet who, in presenting such persons in his play, preaches to us through them” (“Preface to the Book of Judith,” Luther’s Works, vol. 35, pp. 338-339).

Judith: The Story

Judith falls into two basic parts. The first part describes the war of the Assyrians against the Jews (chapters 1-7); the second relates the deliverance wrought by God through Judith (chapters 8-16).

Hostilities had broken out between the Assyrians and the Medes. Nebuchadnezzar, who is pictured as ruling the Assyrians, calls on the western nations to help him against his enemies, however, they refused (1.7-11). Angry and vowing to take revenge on them – including the Jews. After defeating the Medes (1. 12-16) Nebuchadnezzar decides to destroy those who sought his downfall in the west. He sends out his General, Holofernes, with 120.000 men and a further 12,000 cavalry. Soon the nations were frightened into submission.

Meanwhile in the village of Bethulia the citizens, fearful that the Assyrians would defile the holy Temple of God, decide they will not acquiesce to Nebuchadnezzar. They store provisions in anticipation of siege. They seek God’s favor through prayer and fasting in sackcloth (4.1-15). After thirty four days, however, with supplies running low the inhabitants of Bethulia began to loose heart and call upon the city elders to surrender to the Assyrians. A leader, Uzziah, plead with them to hold out five more days, “By that time the Lord our God will show us mercy, for he will not forsake us utterly” (7.30). Nevertheless, he agreed to capitulate to the Assyrians should help not come (7.19-32).

At this crucial point we are introduced to the unlikely source of God’s salvation for the Jews: a widow woman named Judith. Her name simply means “Jewess.” She is what all of God’s children ought to be. Having heard what Uzziah has decided she steps way out of her “traditional” bounds as a woman. She summons him and the elders and upbraids them for their lack of faith – and for attempting to force the hand of God with the time limit on him. She says,

“Listen to me, rulers of the people of Bethulia! What you have said to people today is not right; you have even sworn and pronounced this oath between God and you, promising to surrender the town to our enemies unless the Lord turns and helps us within so many days. Who are you to put God to the test today . . .You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or understand the workings of the human mind; how do you expect to search out God, who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his though?” (8.12-14).

Judith volunteers for a dangerous mission – to be used by God to defeat the mighty, arrogant and pagan Assyrian army. She prays. She emphasizes her weakness and her vulnerability but also expresses amazing confidence in the God who is “God of the lowly, helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak” (9.11). She concludes her prayer by bringing to expression the main issue, her (and the author) the manifestation of who truly is God in this world (9.14).

Judith ends up using Holofernes arrogance, and his desire for her beauty, to bring him down. Thus in one of the most painted scenes in western art, Judith decapitates a drunken Holofernes. Judith frankly acknowledges, “It was my face that tricked him to his destruction, and yet he committed no act of sin with me, to defile or shame me” (13.16). Thus God wrought a powerful victory through the most unlikely of ways for his people. It is a delightful story with a powerful message.

Irony in Judith

A number of biblical books make effective use of the narrative technique of irony. But author of Judith seems to have based his entire story on this art form. Irony, as Moore notes, is the “key to the book” (Carey A. Moore, Judith: The Anchor Bible, p. 78). Irony is difficult to use because one typically means the exact opposite of what is said. One who has a too literal a mind set often runs the danger of missing the irony an author wishes to intend. For example when Judith is brought into the presence of Holofernes and he demands she explain her mission to him she “beguiled” him by using words that carry a double entendre: “If you follow out the words of your maid-servant, God will accomplish something through you” (11.6). The reader knows full well what God is going to “accomplish” through this arrogant pagan General – not the conquest of Bethulia as he imagines but the liberation of the Jews by his own death.

The whole story of Judith is ironic from beginning to end. She, a childless widow, gives spiritual and physical life to her people. She is wealthy woman lives so simply that she almost starves herself. In a society where women did nothing at all she enters into the “man’s sphere” with great success (and through God’s help). She is soft, feminine, and vulnerable yet capable of taking Holofernes head off.

Holofernes character is defined by irony as well. Able to conquer the entire West, he is unable to take small Bethulia. Intending to master a beautiful, but defenseless widow, he is mastered by her. Wanting to use, and if necessary abuse, Judith Holofernes is abused (decapitated). His personal sword which had taken so many lives of his enemies becomes the instrument of his own death. One of the classic statements in the book comes in the song of praise at the end of the book. The people sang:

“Her sandal ravished his eyes;
Her beauty captivated his mind.
And the sword slashed through his neck! (16.9).

The would be ravisher is ravished and killed.

Judith the Murderer?

Though no one thought of this in the ancient world some moderns (particularly some well meaning, but special pleading, Protestant apologists) have questioned the morality of Judith’s killing of Holofernes. While decapitating a person is indeed a violent and bloody affair I would hold judgment in abeyance. There can be little doubt that the model or “inspiration” for presenting Judith’s victory is the narrative of Jael and Sisera in Judges 4 and 5. The parallels in the stories are remarkable to say the least (see Sidnie Ann White’s “In the Steps of Jael and Deborah: Judith as Heroine” in No One Spoke Ill of Her: Essays on Judith, ed. James C. Vanderkam, pp. 5-16).

It will be recalled in that story (Jael and Sisera) that Sisera is a general (like Holofernes). He is invited in, gets drunk on milk (it wasn't chocolate!), and in his sleep Jael takes his life by driving a tent peg through his temple. This is followed by a great hymn (as in Judith) in chapter five of Judges. Now Jael is not the inspiration for our author’s story but it is the inspiration for how he choose to tell the story.

The best resource for understanding this aspect of Judith as its original audience would is David A. deSilva' outstanding essay "Judith the Heroine? Seduction and Murder in Cultural Perspective" in Biblical Theology Bulletin 36 (Summer 2006): 55-61. Kept in her historical (and biblical!) context, Judith emerges powerfully as a "Delilah for the cause of God ... a model for the pious and rigorous observance of the holy covenant, an example of the power of prayer when joined with faithful action, and a proof of the power of God" (p. 60).

The After Lives of Judith

The failure of Judith to achieve canonical status among post-Temple rabbis and Judaism, despite the deep piety and presence of God in the book, has baffled many scholars in recent years. This is all the more surprising because Esther, in its Hebrew form, never even mentions God! But when the chips are down the actual process of canonization is shrouded in mystery and we simply do not know why Judith failed to make it into the rabbinic canon. However, we must not assume that the book was not treasured by the Jews for such a conclusion would be false. The book became associated with Hanukkah being read for centuries during that festival.

Among Christians the book has always been popular and often quoted as holy Scripture by the Church Fathers. The earliest influence of Judith can be discerned on some of the phraseology of the NT. Aland’s Novum Testamentum Graece (Greek NT) lists a number of parallels to Judith. In Matthew 9 the evangelist describes Jesus’ compassion for the masses as he saw them as a “sheep without a shepherd” (9.36) a phrase that comes from Judith 11.19. The language of Judith is echoed in the description of God’s vengeance on those who would oppress his people,

“Woe to the nations that rise up against my people!
The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them
in the day of judgment;
he will send fire and worms into their flesh;
they shall weep in pain forever” (16.17)

The image of judgment by fire and flesh eating worms, along with endless weeping figures prominently in Jesus’ depiction of that horrible day in Matthew 24.51 and Mark 9.48. However, probably the strongest case for a direct tie is with Paul in 1 Corinthians 2. 10-11 and v. 16 and Judith 8.14. Here are the texts laid out:

“You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or understand the workings of the human mind: how do you expect to search out God; who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his thought? (Judith 8.14).

“The Spirit searches out all things, even the depths of God. For who among human beings knows the things of a human being except thes pirit of the human being that is inside him? And in this manner no one who has known the things of God except the spirit of God . . . For “who has known the mind of the Lord, who will advise him?’” (1 Cor. 2.10-11, 16)

Both contrast the “depths” of a person with the “depths” of God. Both use the peculiar terminology eraunto (search out) and bathos (depth, deep things). There is a strong likelihood that Paul uses the language of Judith to shape his own thinking at this point.

Dr. Luke, ever the student of biblical style, may have had read Uzziah's praise of Judith when he framed his story of the virgin Mary. Listen to Uzziah's words ... perhaps they will "ring a bell" ... perhaps not ...

"O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all other women on the earth; and blessed be the Lord God, ... Your praise will never depart from the hearts of those who remember the power of God. May God grant this to be a perpetual honor to you, and may he reward you with blessings, because you risked your own life when our nation was brought low, and you averted our ruin, walking in the straight path before our God" (Judith 13.18-19)

Judith’s influence in the early church is so abundant only brief mention can be made. We read, before the close of the first century, in Clement (an elder in Rome writing the same time that John is writing his Revelation) of Judith being held high as an example of selflessness, courage and prayer. Clement writes,

“Many women being strengthened through the grace of God have performed many manly deeds. The blessed Judith, when the city was beleaguered, asked of the elders that she might be suffered to forth into the camp of the aliens. So she exposed herself to peril and went forth for love of her country and of her people which were beleaguered; and the Lord delivered Holofernes into the hand of a woman” (1 Clement 55, The Apostolic Fathers, p.36).

The text of Judith is quoted by a number of second century writers like Origen and Clement of Alexandria. Clement, a Christian in Alexandria in Egypt, lived about 160 to 215 A.D. He quotes Judith several times in his book, Stromata (written around 190). In Book IV he summarizes her story while mentioning Esther and Susanna too. Clement had been talking of overcoming our passions and holds Judith up as an example (see Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2, p. 431).

"Biblical" literature has exercised a profound influence in Western culture, Judith is hardly an exception. Indeed cultural historian Margarita Stocker (of Oxford University and Hilda's College) has argued that Judith has functioned as an "enduring cultural myth in western society." Stocker invites us on a magical mystery tour, a thorough analyses of literary, artistic, cinematic and popular culture sources in her scholarly yet readable tome with the catchy title Judith Sexual Warrior: Women and Power in Western Culture (Yale University Press, 1998). It is truly fascinating to see how and in what ways biblical stories have been used in our culture. If you ever meet a Judy her name goes back to this Jewess hero.

As we have already noted above Judith has had enduring influence among play writes, artists and even film. One of the great classic “silent” movies features the story of Judith. I encourage you to visit the following address to see the movie made in 1913 recounting the legend of Judith. I am sure you will enjoy learning about this classic film: Judith of Bethulia

Judith has the "Final Word" - A Word of Praise

"Judith began this thanksgiving before all Israel ... Begin a song to my God with tambourines, sing to my Lord a new psalm; exalt him and call on his name. For the Lord is a God who crushes wars; he sets up his camp among his people; he delivered me from the hands of my pursuers ...

Then my oppressed people shouted; my weak people cried out, and the enemy trembled;
they lifted up their voices, and the enemy turned back ...

I will sing to my God a new song: O Lord, you are great and glorious,
wonderful in strength and invincible. Let all your creatures serve you, for you
spoke and they were made. You sent forth your [S]pirit and it formed them; there is none that can resist your voice ..." (Judith 16.1-2, 11-14)

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