Judith, Bible Heroine
Courage of a Lioness
Judith, a beautiful, clever,
cool-witted widow in the
besieged town of Bethuliah
Holofernes, the enemy general who has been sent
by Nebuchadnezzar
Abra, the faithful maidservant of Judith
Uzziah, the chief magistrate and councillor of
Bethuliah
Achior of
the Ammonites,
prince of a neighboring city
Price of Defying Nebuchadnezzar
Once when he was at war, the great King Nebuchadnezzar ordered the city states in surrounding kingdoms to send him a levy of soldiers. Most of them ignored him and stayed at home. Despite this he won the war, and when it was over he decided to take revenge on the cities who had failed to help him. He summoned the fearsome leader of his army, Holofernes, and ordered him to punish those states who had ignored him. So Holofernes set out, burning, murdering and plundering as he went. All those who would not submit to Nebuchadnezzar were destroyed completely.
|
|
|
The hills of Judea |
The
Israelites who lived in
So they devised a plan: they would retreat to the hill-tops, fortify and provision them, and wait out the storm.
Holofernes Approaches Bethuliah
One of
the Israelite towns was Bethulia. It sat astride the
route to
Holofernes sent out scouting parties, who told him that the mountain passes had been closed and the hilltop villages fortified. He was outraged at their failure to submit, and called a meeting of all the princes of the Moabite and Ammonite city states.
|
|
|
Assyrian weapons and clothing |
One of the princes, Achior of the Ammonites, took the opportunity to tell him about the Israelites. He praised them as a people, and begged Holofernes to not to harm them.
Holofernes did not respond to this plea. He reasoned that sheer strength of numbers would guarantee him success and that the Israelite settlements would be easy prey. He was not pleased with Achior either. He had him seized, tied up, and left outside the walls of the town.
The townspeople retrieved Achior and took him inside the walls of Bethulia. Once there, Uzziah, the chief magistrate of the town, pumped him for information. Achior told him about Holofernes' plans; he also told them of the admiring description of them that had landed him in so much trouble. The grateful townspeople made him welcome.
Holofernes Lays Siege to Bethuliah
Holofernes then mustered his entire army. The little mountain town was vastly outnumbered but the walls of Bethulia were strong, and they decided to tough it out. Holofernes laid siege to the town, and settled down to wait.
The people of Bethulia held out until every water container in the town was dry. Then when things got desperate they began to blame Uzziah for not submitting to Holofernes in the first place. They urged him to surrender the town to Holofernes.
Judith Steps Forward
|
 |
|
Judith with the Head of Holofernes, Klimt |
At this stage in the story we are introduced to Judith of Bethulia. She was a woman of impeccable character and a great beauty. She was also a widow - her husband had left her financially independent, and she lived a simple life, fasting and praying. She was evidently influential, because she sent for the elders, including Uzziah, and when they came to her she remonstrated with them.
Uzziah brushed off her advice, telling her that the best thing she could do was leave decision-making to the men. Judith in turn brushed off his advice. She told Uzziah she and her maid would leave the town that night, and to have the city gate opened for them.
Judith Prays
When the men were gone, she prostrated herself on the ground and prayed to God. She described the predicament of the townspeople, then urged God to break the enemy's power by putting strength instead into the hands of a widow, herself. She also asked God to make her a good liar.
She Perfumes and Dresses Herself
When
she had finished her prayer she perfumed herself,
dressed her hair with a
tiara, and put on one of the extravagant robes she
wore when her husband was
alive.
|
|
|
Judith, by ElisabettaSirani |
Then she decked herself with jewelry - anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings and other assorted pieces. After that, she and her maid gathered an assortment of ritually pure food and put it all in a large bag. The town gates were opened, and she and her maid slipped out.
Almost immediately she and her maid ran into an Assyrian patrol, who challenges them. She told the soldiers she had secret information that would help Holofernes capture the town without losing a single soldier.
The soldiers were
bowled over by her beauty, and escorted her to
Holofernes. The general was
resting on his luxurious bed, but he came to the front
of the tent and greeted
her.
Holofernes is Smitten
Beguiled, he told her that he had never met a woman who was as beautiful in appearance and wise in speech as she was. He provided a tent for her, and told the soldiers to leave her unharmed. She stayed three days in the camp, remaining in the tent during daylight hours and eating her own food each evening.
On the fourth day, Holofernes invites her to an informal banquet in his tent. As he observes to his servant, it would be a disgrace to let her go without seducing her. She dressed in all her finery and presented herself at his tent, where her maid has laid Judith's sheepskin bedding on the ground.
|
|
|
Judith Beheading Holofernes, Caravaggio |
When Judith came into the tent and lay down on the sheepskins, Holofernes was besotted. He offered her something to drink, but she drank only the wine given to her by her maid - was it watered down so she could stay sober? Holofernes, on the other hand, got down to some serious drinking.
Eventually Judith
was left alone in the tent with Holofernes, now dead
drunk, stretched out on
his bed. The moment had come to act. She lifted
down Holofernes' gleaming
sword hanging in its sheath from the bedpost, and
raised it high above her
head.
Judith Hacks Off Holofernes' Head
She struck
once, then again. On
the second
stroke his head fell away from
his body. She then rolled the headless body off the
bed and pulled down the
luxurious bed curtains. Pausing for a moment to gather
her strength, she picked
up the twitching head and passed it out to her maid,
who placed it in the food
bag.
Without arousing
suspicion, the
two women left the tent and passed through the camp,
then
circled up towards Bethulia. Once there, they call to
the guards to open the
gates and let them in. Once inside Judith pulled
out the grisly contents of the bag and showed it to the
people.
The Enemy Flees
But the battle was not over yet. Judith instructed the
people to hang
Holofernes' head in full view on the battlements, and
gave instructions for the
next morning. At dawn when the Assyrian soldiers went
to wake Holofernes they
found his headless body. Without their leader they
panicked and fled in great
disorder. They were easy prey for the Israelites, who
were familiar with the
terrain and were experts at guerilla warfare.
Judith
became a national heroine, lauded by everyone. She
lived on, heaped with
honors, until she was very old - one hundred and five.
The faithful maid who
had accompanied her was set free. Judith never
remarried.
Judith,
Bible
Heroine Beautiful, Rich,
Wise Judith and
Holofernes Caravaggio Nebuchadnezzar's
War
of Revenge Judith
1:1,
7-9, 11-12 1 In the twelfth year of
the reign of Nebuchadnezzar,
who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city
of 7 Then Nebuchadnezzar
king of the Assyrians sent to all
who lived in Persia and to all who lived in the
west, those who lived in
Cilicia and Damascus and Lebanon and Antilebanon
and all who lived along the
seacoast,8 and those among the
nations of Carmel and Gilead, and Upper Galilee
and the great Plain of
Esdraelon,9 and all who were in
Samaria and its surrounding towns, and beyond
the Jordan as far as Jerusalem
and Bethany and Chelous and Kadesh and the river
of Egypt, and Tahpanhes and
Raamses and the whole land of Goshen, 11 But all who lived in
the whole region disregarded the
orders of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians,
and refused to join him in the
war; for they were not afraid of him, but looked
upon him as only one man, and
they sent back his messengers empty-handed and
shamefaced.12 Then Nebuchadnezzar
was very angry with this whole region, and swore
by his throne and kingdom that
he would surely take revenge on the whole
territory of Cilicia and Damascus and
Syria, that he would kill them by the sword, and
also all the inhabitants of the
land of Moab, and the people of Ammon, and all
Judea, and every one in Egypt,
as far as the coasts of the two seas. The
Fearsome
Holofernes Judith
2:4-9, 14-16 4 When he had finished
setting forth his plan,
Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians called
Holofernes, the chief general of
his army, second only to himself, and said to
him,5 "Thus says the
Great King, the lord of the whole earth: When
you leave my presence, take with
you men confident in their strength, to the
number of one hundred and twenty
thousand foot soldiers and twelve thousand
cavalry.6 Go and attack the
whole west country, because they disobeyed my
orders.7 Tell them to prepare
earth and water, for I am coming against them in
my anger, and will cover the
whole face of the earth with the feet of my
armies, and will hand them over to
be plundered by my troops,8 till their wounded
shall fill their valleys, and
every brook and river shall be filled with their
dead, and overflow;9 and I will lead them
away captive to the ends of the whole earth. 14 So Holofernes left the
presence of his master, and
called together all the commanders, generals,
and officers of the Assyrian
army,15 and mustered the
picked troops by divisions as his lord had
ordered him to do, one hundred and
twenty thousand of them, together with twelve
thousand archers on horseback,16 and he organized them
as a great army is marshaled for a campaign. Judith 4:1-2 Impaled captives
from an Assyrian wall relief: what to
expect if you lost in battle 1 By this time the
people of Israel living in Judea
heard of everything that Holofernes, the general
of Nebuchadnezzar the king of
the Assyrians, had done to the nations, and how
he had plundered and destroyed
all their temples;2 they were therefore
very greatly terrified at his
approach, and were alarmed both for Jerusalem
and for the temple of the Lord
their God. The People Starve Judith 7:19-22 19 The people of Starvation 20 The whole Assyrian
army, their infantry, chariots,
and cavalry, surrounded them for thirty-four
days, until all the vessels of
water belonging to every inhabitant of Bethulia
were empty;21 their cisterns were
going dry, and they did not have enough water to
drink their fill for a single
day, because it was measured out to them to
drink.22 Their children lost
heart, and the women and young men fainted from
thirst and fell down in the
streets of the city and in the passages through
the gates; there was no
strength left in them any longer. Judith 8:1-2, 7-8, 9-17, 32-35 1 At that time Judith
heard about these things: she was
the daughter of Merari the son of Ox, son of
Joseph, son of Oziel, son of
Elkiah, son of Ananias, son of Gideon, son of
Raphaim, son of Ahitub, son of
Elijah, son of Hilkiah, son of Eliab, son of
Nathanael, son of Salamiel, son of
Sarasadai, son of Israel.2 Her husband Manasseh,
who belonged to her tribe and
family, had died during the barley harvest.
Extracts from the Book of Judith
detail of the maid
Judith Enters: Beautiful, Rich, Wise
7 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.8 No one spoke ill of
her, for she feared God with great devotion. 9 When Judith heard the
wicked words spoken by the
people against the ruler, because they were
faint for lack of water, and when
she heard all that Uzziah said to them, and how
he promised them under oath to
surrender the city to the Assyrians after five
days,10 she sent her maid,
who was in charge of all she possessed, to
summon Chabris and Charmis, the
elders of her city.11 They came to her, and
she said to them, "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.12 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?13 You are putting the
Lord Almighty to the test -- but you will never
know anything!14 You cannot plumb the
depths of the human heart,nor find out what a
man is thinking; how do you
expect to search out God, who made all these
things, and find out his mind or
comprehend his thought? No, my brethren, do not
provoke the Lord our God to
anger.15 For if he does not
choose to help us within these five days, he has
power to protect us within any
time he pleases, or even to destroy us in the
presence of our enemies.16 Do not try to bind
the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not
like man, to be threatened,
nor like a human being, to be won over by
pleading.17 Therefore, while we
wait for his deliverance, let us call upon him
to help us, and he will hear our
voice, if it pleases him. 32 Judith said to them,
"Listen to me. I am about
to do a thing which will go down through all
generations of our descendants.33 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.34 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."35 Uzziah and the rulers
said to her, "Go in peace, and may the Lord God
go before you, to take
revenge upon our enemies." The Prayer of Judith Judith 9:1, 7-10 Alessandro
Botticelli, 1 Then
Judith fell upon her face, and put ashes on her
head, and uncovered the
sackcloth she was wearing; and at the very time
when that evening's incense was
being offered in the house of God in 7 "Behold now, the
Assyrians are increased in
their might; they are exalted, with their horses
and riders; they glory in the
strength of their foot soldiers; they trust in
shield and spear, in bow and
sling, and know not that thou art the Lord who
crushest wars; the Lord is thy
name.8 Break their strength
by thy might, and bring down their power in thy
anger; for they intend to
defile thy sanctuary, and to pollute the
tabernacle where thy glorious name
rests, and to cast down the horn of thy altar
with the sword.9 Behold their pride,
and send thy wrath upon their heads; give to me,
a widow, the strength to do
what I plan.10 By the deceit of my
lips strike down the slave with the prince and
the prince with his servant;
crush their arrogance by the hand of a woman. Judith Prepares to Seduce
Holofernes Judith 10:1-4, 6, 11-13, 20-23 1 When Judith had ceased
crying out to the God of
Israel, and had ended all these words,2 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;
Jewelry
excavated at the women's
quarters 3 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.4 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. 6 Then they went out to
the city gate of Bethulia, and
found Uzziah standing there with the elders of
the city, Chabris and
Charmis. 20 Then Holofernes'
companions and all his servants came
out and led her into the tent.21 Holofernes was resting
on his bed, under a canopy
which was woven with purple and gold and
emeralds and precious stones.22 When they told him of
her he came forward to the front of the tent,
with silver lamps carried before
him.23 And when Judith came
into the presence of Holofernes and his
servants, they all marveled at the
beauty of her face; and she prostrated herself
and made obeisance to him, and
his slaves raised her up. 20 Her words pleased
Holofernes and all his servants,
and they marveled Judith Returning
with the Head of Holofernes,
Giorgione, 1504 Judith 12:10-20 10 On the fourth day
Holofernes held a banquet for his
slave only, and did not invite any of his
officers.11 And he said to
Bagoas, the eunuch who had charge of his
personal affairs, "Go now and
persuade the Hebrew woman who is in your care to
join us and eat and drink with
us.12 For it will be a
disgrace if we let such a woman go without
enjoying her company, for if we do
not embrace her she will laugh at us."13 So Bagoas went out
from the presence of Holofernes,
and approached her and said, "This beautiful
maidservant will please come
to my lord and be honored in his presence, and
drink wine and be merry with us,
and become today like one of the daughters of
the Assyrians who serve in the
house of Nebuchadnezzar."14 AndJudith said, "Who
am I, to refuse my lord?
Surely whatever pleases him I will do at once,
and it will be a joy to me until
the day of my death!"15 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.16 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.17 So Holofernes said to
her. "Drink now, and be
merry with us!"18 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."19 Then she took and ate
and drank before him what her maid had prepared.20 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. Judith Hacks Off Holofernes'
Head Judith 13:1-10 1 When evening came, his
slaves quickly withdrew, and
Bagoas closed the tent from outside and shut out
the attendants from his
master's presence; and they went to bed, for
they all were weary because the
banquet had lasted long.2 So Judith was left
alone in the tent , with
Holofernes stretched out on his bed, for he was
overcome with wine.3 Now Judith had told
her maid to stand outside the bedchamber and to
wait for her to come out, as
she did every day; for she said she would be
going out for her prayers. And she
had said the same thing to Bagoas.4 So every one went out,
and no one, either small or
great, was left in the bedchamber. Then Judith,
standing beside his bed, said
in her heart, "O Lord God of all might, look in
this hour upon the work of
my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem.5 For now is the time to
help thy inheritance, and to
carry out my undertaking for the destruction of
the enemies who have risen up
against us." Judith Beheading
Holofernes, Caravaggio 6 She went up to the
post at the end of the bed, above
Holofernes' head, and took down his sword that
hung there.7 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!"8 And she struck his
neck twice with all her might, and
severed it from his body.9 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,10 who placed it in her
food bag. Then the two of them
went out together, as they were accustomed to go
for prayer; and they passed
through the camp and circled around the valley
and went up the mountain to
Bethulia and came to its gates. A Grisly Head Hangs From The
Wall Judith 14:11-19 Walls of the
ancient city of Dan Judith 15:1-3 1 When the men in the
tents heard it, they were amazed
at what had happened.2 Fear and trembling
came over them, so that they did
not wait for one another, but with one impulse
all rushed out and fled by every
path across the plain and through the hill
country.3 Those who had camped
in the hills around Bethulia also took to
flight. Then the men of The Happy Ending Judith 16:21-25
'Judith's Return to Bethulia'
in the ancient city of Nimrud
Judith 11:20-23
at her wisdom and
said,21 "There is not such a
woman from one end of the
earth to the other, either for beauty of face or
wisdom of speech!"22 And Holofernes said to
her, "God has done well to send you before the
people, to lend strength
to our hands and to bring destruction upon those
who have slighted my lord.23 You are not only
beautiful in appearance, but wise in speech; and
if you do as you have said,
your God shall be my God, and
you shall live in the house of King
Nebuchadnezzar and be renowned throughout the whole world."
Judith at Holofernes' Banquet
11 As soon as it was
dawn they hung the head of Holofernes on the
wall, and every man took his
weapons, and they went out in companies to the
passes in the mountains.12 And when the
Assyrians saw them they sent word to their
commanders, and they went to the
generals and the captains and to all their
officers.13 So they came to
Holofernes' tent and said to the steward in
charge of all his personal affairs,
"Wake up our lord, for the slaves have been so
bold as to come down
against us to give battle, in order to be
destroyed completely."14 So Bagoas went in and
knocked at the door of the tent, for he supposed
that he was sleeping with
Judith.15 But when no one
answered, he opened it and went into the
bedchamber and found him thrown down
on the platform dead, with his head cut off and
missing.16 And he cried out with
a loud voice and wept and groaned and shouted,
and rent his garments.17 Then he went to the
tent where Judith had stayed, and when he did
not find her he rushed out to the
people and shouted,18 "The slaves have
tricked us! One Hebrew woman
has brought disgrace upon the house of King
Nebuchadnezzar! For look, here is
Holofernes lying on the ground, and his head is
not on him!"19 When the leaders of
the Assyrian army heard this, they rent their
tunics and were greatly dismayed,
and their loud cries and shouts arose in the
midst of the camp.
