Story from the bible - Essay Example

Judith is introduced in chapter eight as a wealthy widow woman of the city called Bethulia. Her husband died perhaps of heat stroke while he was overseeing a harvest and left her with all of his belongings. She is described as being very pious and wise and has the respect of the elders of the town. When they think they have no choice but to give up, she assures them she will do something about the invading general Holofernes, who is camped in the next valley. By Chapter 11, she has dressed herself in a way that is seductive but also very wealthy and classy so that she can get the attention of Holofernes, which is successful.

She spends several nights praying for the right time for Holofernes to attack while he plans how he’s going to have her physically. Chapter 13 is the most exciting chapter of the story as it is here that she beheads Holofernes as he is passed out drunk and then passes out of his camp with his head in a bag unharmed because of the way she had arranged her stay there. Although she is mentioned as late as the last chapter of the book, Chapter 16, her story is really finished by Chapter 14 after she tells her countrymen what to do with the head and how to frighten the rest of the Assyrians away.

This story of Judith is central to the book’s meaning as it is her actions that attempt to teach the process of making oneself the instrument of God. The book has undergone a great deal of scrutiny in terms of its authorship and dating. The Women’s Bible Commentary points out that the book was mentioned in 1 Clement in the first century, so it had to have been written prior to that time. Others, such as the New Jerome Biblical Commentary have discovered references in the writings of Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Tertullian.

The HarperCollins Bible Commentary suggests that the book is post-exilic and probably