Judith Complete Overview

While the Book of Judith was not a part of the Old Testament that Jesus and other ancient Jews had, some preserved and read it as a text based on the Scriptures. The name Judith is the female version of the name “Judas” and it’s supposed to take place just after Judah had returned from exile and rebuilt their Temple. Judith is a comedy filled with dramatic irony and reversals. For example, it’s a widowed woman who single-handedly saves Israel despite everyone else in the town being afraid; Israel in distress will even drape their own altar in sackcloth! Let’s dive in and check it out!

CHAPTERS 1-7

The very first verse states that Nebuchadnezzar as the King of Assyria. From earlier books, we already know that Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon and not Assyria. There are some who make sense of this by saying that Judith is a story that used to have different names that were later replaced with names that didn’t fit the story. However, it seems that Judith is an allegory for the Maccabean Revolt and especially the defeat of Nicanor (see 2 Maccabees 14-15 & 1 Maccabees 7). Remember that Judith's name is a feminine version of Judas the Maccabee.

With either view, Nebuchadnezzar sends a message throughout the known world and every single nation refuses to join him in war. Nebuchadnezzar is furious and he swears he will destroy them all. So King Nebuchandnezzar goes out to war against Arphaxad anyway and defeats him. He then goes out with his plan set to destroy all of the disobedient nations. He sends out his general Holofernes to attack and ravage a whole set of regions and he does and every other nation is afraid. They are so afraid, in fact, that they send out messengers to ask for peace and put themselves under him. While they meet him dancing and feasting, he does not care and demolishes all of their temples and shrines anyway! He sets out to attack Israel next…

Israel hears that Holofernes is coming for them next and is just as afraid as all the other nations. Jerusalem sends out messengers to Bethulia to block the only pass through the mountains to Jerusalem so that Holofernes cannot enter. All Israel put sackcloth and ashes on themselves and even the Temple and they cry out to God to spare them from being destroyed and sent back into exile.

Holofernes hears that Israel has prepared for war and he asks the local Moabites and Ammonites why they didn’t come to help him. An Ammonite leader, Achior, comes to Holofernes to tell him the whole history of Israel: that they were saved by God from slavery in Egypt and God led them into Canaan giving them victory against all the nations they fought against. “Now, my lord and king, if these people make any mistake and sin against their God and we find it, we can defeat them. But if they are not, then let them be; their Lord and God will defend them, and we will become a joke to the whole world.” (5:21-22).

Holofernes is furious and he says he will destroy Achior with Israel! So Holofernes sends Achior out to Bethulia so that when he destroys Bethulia and all of Israel, he will destroy Achior with it! Israel lets Achior in and Achior tells them everything about Holofernes. They reassure Achior and then ask God to see them and save them from their enemy.

Holofernes then prepares to destroy Israel, when the nearby nations tell him that Bethulia will win because of the advantage the mountains give them. He should simply stay at the spring of water to keep Bethulia from their own source of water; then, Holofernes will take them as prisoners without losing a single soldier. So Holofernes and all the surrounding nations set up camp near the spring of water to guard it.

After 34 days without water and Israel crying out to God to have mercy on them. Their people are falling down and fainting from thirst and the people come before the rulers and elders desperately asking for them to surrender. The chief ruler, Uzziah, stands up and says, “Be courageous, my brothers and sisters! Let’s hold out for 5 days more; by then, the Lord our God will give us mercy, He will not abandon us. But if 5 days pass, and no help comes for us, we will surrender.” (7:30-31).

CHAPTERS 8-16

 Then, in comes Judith. She was married to a man, Manesseh, until he died from heat stroke one day working out in the field. We’re told that, since that day, Judith has lived in a tent on her roof, dressed in sackcloth and that she even fasts 5 days a week! She is beautiful and everyone looks up to her because of her devotion to God.

When Judith hears of Holofernes planning to destroy the city and the decision of the leaders and elders to surrender in 5 days, she speaks to all the people. She starts by calling out Bethulia for testing God and only giving Him five days before they surrender. “God is not a man to be threatened or a mortal to change His mind because of crying” (8:16). She encourages them to wait and know that God will deliver them and she reminds them of how God had been faithful to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Uzziah and the elders agree and ask for her to pray for them. Judith responds by telling the elders that her and her maid will go out to the camp and deliver Israel. However, they should not try to find out her plan or they will foil it. So, having prayed and asked God to use her deception and beauty to defeat Holofernes, she goes out with her maid to give herself over to Assyria. When the people see her beauty, they accept her and even take her before Holofernes. Even Holofernes is taken by her beauty and promises not to hurt her.

Judith tells Holofernes that the city had received Achior and that he was right: unless the city sins, no one can capture it or destroy it but that God will defend it. She says that because the city has no water and is running out of food, they will eat the food that they are supposed to give as sacrifices to the priests. On the day that they do this, you should fight against them and surely overtake them. She says that she serves God but that she has come to stay with them. She asks for them to let her only continue living by the Law and go out at night to pray and ask God if they have sinned so that they can know when to take the city. The people are pleased by her speech and let her do as she says.

Holofernes holds a feast that only Holofernes’ servants can attend. For the first three days, Judith does not join but eats on her own. She goes out every night to pray and then comes back. On the fourth night, Holofernes sends his servant to get Judith to invite her. Judith happily receives the invitation. Holofernes is drinking and asks Judith to join. “I will gladly drink, my lord, because today is the greatest day in my whole life!” (12:18). Holofernes gets super drunk and all the other attendants leave them alone for the night. Then, Judith chops off Holofernes’ head and goes back to Bethulia instead of praying.

Bethulia is glad to let Judith back in. Judith shows them Holofernes’ head and tells how she killed him. They all rejoice and bless God and Judith. Judith instructs the people on how to defeat the rest of the army: the next morning, they need to hang the head on the wall and send out all their armed men as if they are going to attack the Assyrian camp.

Then they bring Achior in to show him and when he sees the head, he faints. When he wakes up, he blesses Judith and God and the whole town rejoices. Seeing everything, Achior converts and becomes a Jew.

The next morning, Israel hangs the head on their wall and sends out their soldiers just before the Assyrian camp. The Assyrians see it, and go to the tent of Holofernes to wake him up, but find his dead body! They are terrified and they run away in fear but Israel chases after them and destroys them.

The women go out to sing and dance, rejoicing in their incredible victory and Judith sings a song about herself: “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 face finished him” (16:5-6).

The people give up offerings to God and Judith dedicates everything she got from the camp to God. They throw a feast at the Temple for three whole months! Then, Judith goes back to living life as a widow and dies at a good old age with peace the rest of her days.

Now when you take a step back, you can see that the story is broken up into two major symmetrical sections: the first section begins with Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign against the nations and their surrender and ends with their campaign against Israel and their plan to surrender. After the first campaign and before the last, Israel is afraid. Between that, we have Joakim preparing for war and Holofernes preparing for war. And in the very center of this section, Achior warns Holofernes of Israel, is expelled by Assyria, accepted into Israel, and then reassures Israel of their security.

The second section of the book begins with Judith being introduced as a strong widow devoted to God and ends with her ending her long life in faithfulness to God. Between that, she plans to attack Assyria and later end them. Between those two, Judith and her maid go out to Assyria and return. In the very center of the second section, Judith slays Holofernes. At the center of the first section, Achior is expelled and sent into Israel with little hope that they will win but by the middle of the second section, everything turns around.

Now there are many different parts of Judith that have Judith asking God to help use her direct violations of laws from the Torah: like lying and seducing the king. There’s also Achior who, according to the Torah, should not be allowed into Israel. However, the point of Judith is that everything is reversed. All the men and soldiers of the town are afraid of a big army while one woman goes out to save the whole town single-handedly. Her husband is weak and dies from heat stroke and even Achior, an Ammonite, tells Holofernes that Israel is unbeatable as long as they are faithful to their God.

Remember that the whole story is satirical: it’s trying to show us how, when Israel is faithful to God and prays to Him without testing Him, God will be faithful to use even the oddest of events to bring down the biggest of villains who threaten His people. That’s what the Apocryphon of Judith is all about.

COMPARE TO THE ACTUAL ACCOUNTS BEHIND THIS ALLEGORY IN I & II MACCABEES!