The character of Judith

 

by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Just as the brilliance of a cut diamond is the result of many different facets, so

the striking appeal of the book of Judith results from its many facets”.

 

C. Moore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Multi-facetted Character

 

C. Moore has, in a section of his commentary on Judith entitled, “The Heroine’s Character”, written perceptively (The Anchor Bible. Judith, vol. 40, Doubleday, NY, pp. 64-65):

 

In commenting on Judith’s character and conduct, scholars have often said, in effect, as much about themselves as about Judith. For example, at a time when Christians found themselves mortally threatened by pagan persecutions, scholars like Clement of Rome [C1st AD] saw Judith as a brave and godly woman ….

 

Later, in the days when religious persecutions were not so much a threat to the Church Fathers as sexual temptations to a celibate priesthood, such theologians as Tertullian [c. 200 AD], Methodius of Tyre [C3rd], and Ambrose of Milan [C4th] … praised Judith highly, not so much for her courageous assassination of Holofernes as for her self-imposed celibacy ….

 

…

 

The values and priorities of a Victorian England, with its patronizing and protective attitude towards “the fairer sex”, are well exemplified in the observations of Edwin Cone Bissell, writing in 1886:

 

The character [of Judith] is not simply objectionable from a literary point of view, but even more from a moral stand-point … Her way is strewn with deception from first to last, and yet she is represented as taking God into her counsels and as having his special blessing in her enterprise … she assents to his [i.e., Holofernes’] request to take part in a carousal at his tent and to spend a night in his embrace ….

…

 

Although the women’s movement is recent, it has already provided some new insights and radically different perspectives on Judith. According to Patricia Montley … Judith is the archetypal androgyne. She is more than the Warrior Woman and the femme fatale, a combination of the soldier and the seductress …

 

Just as the brilliance of a cut diamond is the result of many different facets, so the striking appeal of the book of Judith results from its many facets. ….

 

[End of quotes]

M. Stocker will, in her comprehensive treatment of both the character and actions of Judith (Judith Sexual Warrior. Women and Power in Western Culture, Yale, 1998), compare the heroine to, amongst others, the Old Testament’s Jael … – a common comparison given that the woman, Jael, had driven a tent peg through the temple of Sisera, an enemy of Israel (Judges 4:17-22) – Joan of Arc … and Charlotte Corday, who had, during the French Revolution, slain the likewise unsuspecting Marat. … “If viewed negatively – from an irreligious perspective, for instance”, Stocker will go on to write, … “– Judith’s isolation, chastity, widowhood, childlessness, and murderousness would epitomize all that is morbid, nihilistic and abortive”.

This, though, is not how her fellow Bethulians, and fellow Israelites, were to consider Judith, as we  learn from their rapturous praise of her and her lasting fame (Judith 15:9-10):

 

… they all praised her,

‘You are Jerusalem's crowning glory, the heroine of Israel, the pride and joy of our people! You have won this great victory for Israel by yourself. God, the Almighty, is pleased with what you have done. May he bless you as long as you live’.

 

All the people responded,
‘Amen’.

 

T. Craven, with reference to Ruskin … writes (Artistry and Faith in the Book of Judith, p. 173): “Judith, the slayer of Holofernes; Jael, the slayer of Sisera; and Tomyris, the slayer of Cyrus are counted in art as the female “types” who prefigure the Virgin Mary’s triumph over Satan”.