Judith is part of what is considered the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical scripture and appears in the Old Testament of Catholic Bibles. Except for some Episcopal or Lutheran Bibles, Judith and other books of the Apocrypha do not appear in Protestant Bibles. Apocrypha means ‘hidden’ and Deuterocanonical means ‘second-listed’. Books of the Apocrypha were generally written in the roughly 400 years between the composition of the books in the Old and New Testaments, the so-called inter-testamental period. Judith is one of 12 – 15 books generally recognized as comprising the Apocrycha.
Judith, believed to be written in the late second century or early first century B.C., recounted the story of God providing a woman, Judith, to deliver the Jewish people in a time of great need and despair. This narrative revolves around a beautiful and wise widow living in the town of Bethulia, who becomes incensed with her town elders when they ‘test’ God rather than trust Him and decide to capitulate to King Nebuchadnezzar’s top General, Holofernes, to surrender if God does not save them in five days. Judith feels giving God such a response 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.
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 away back to Bethulia, displays the result of her intrigue, and becomes the town’s heroine.
This book 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. St. 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 the 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.
Used by permission from GotQuestions.org.
+++
YETMO: “You’re Entitled To My Opinion,” A Balanced Point of View
"To stimulate thought, debate, and introspection”