Adventures in RCIA - The Book of Judith

Like the books of Job and Tobit , Judith is regarded as a work of fiction. This book makes the statements about the "historical value" of the deuterocanonical/apocryphal/anagignoskomenal writings sound funny. There is no historical value to it. It is loaded with blatant historical errors. Nebuchanezzer of Babylon carried the people of Israel off into captivity after they fell away from God for some time. So began the great exile, and I  think the first in their history after they settled the promised land. The book of Judith has Nebuchanezzer the king of Assyria threatening the people of Isreal and brutally conquering the surrounding nations and striking fear into all hearts right after Isreal returned from their exile. 
So much for historical value! Really!
The book is longer than the book of Tobit, sixteen chapters, but the synopsis need not be any longer.

The book of Judith - a worthwhile Read.

Here is a brief synopsis of the book of Judith:

The Assyrian king in the story, Nebuchanezzer, gets the idea he is going to be god, basically, and run the world. He sends letters to the kings of every other nation in the known world and orders them to serve him or else, since he's the new boss in town. Why? Because he said so, and that's that.
They all blew him off because he was just one man. This Nebuchanezzer assembles an army and conquers the nation next door, then the next one, and the next. His best general, Holofernes, gathers all his best men and campaigns across the known world until they come to Israel. Israel refuses to surrender.
Inside Israel, the whole nation without an exception, even foreigners who live with them, fast and pray and wear sackcloth and ashes and beseech God for help. High up in the mountains, a little town called Bethulia sits right on the border. Holofernes and the very strongest Assyrian armies are camped outside, demanding surrender or else. A mercenary who is native to the area tells Holofernes the short version of the story of Israel - from Abraham, to the exile, to the return. He basically said, "Unless they have provoked their God, do not attack them. You will lose, because their God will deliver them and destroy you."
This ticked off Holofernes, who order that this guy be taken into the little town and held there until the whole city was being slaughtered, and he would die with the town he appeared to be working for.
So a small unit of servants took the mercenary commander to Bethulia, but the townsfolk threw stones at them with such zeal, they left him in the ravine they'd taken shelter in and then retreated.
The townsfolk came down from the mountain to check things out, and found him there. They untied him, and took him before the town magistrate. After hearing his story and learning that he at least respected the power of God, the magistrate took the man to his own house and thanked him for his courage, and how he said what he'd said about their God and their people.
Unfortunately, other people from the surrounding countryside wanted to be in the Assyrians' good graces and advised Holofernes how to could take Bethulia without a casualty. The mountains were rough and hard to ascend, so take the springs at the foot,where the people went to get their water, and they would weaken and die from thirst. No need to waste any arrows.
So that is what Holofernes did.
After several days without water, the people were starting to panic.They confronted their magistrate and demanded that he surrender to the Assyrians, lest they should die of thirst. The magistrate said he would do so if God did not deliver them in five more days.
At this point, an extremely righteous and wise widow heard what had happened. She called the leaders of the city together and said they had no business putting a time limit on God and trying to be His boss/give Him ultimatums. They said they agreed, but they had no choice because the people were thirsty, panicked, and not thinking straight; they couldn't be reasoned with.
She said she wasn't going to tell them what she had planned, but she had a plan. She asked them to pray. She prayed like crazy. Then she removed her widows garments and dressed to impress. She was vary beautiful, and wealthy. she packed up some stuff and took one very lovely maidservant down to meet Holofernes. While flattering him like crazy and stating allegiance to his king/god, Nebuchanezzer, she said the story he'd heard about their God and their people was rue, but that the people had displeased God. She said she was a seer, basically, and would tell him when the time was right to attack. He agreed, and thanked her. She was favored by all who saw her, and Holofernes promised her safety. He then hatched a plan to get her to bed. He invited her to dinner, and she went, bringing her soft woolly reclining mat (her bed, I think). She sat on the bed and they ate dinner and he drank til he passed out. Nothing else happened, as he was so busy talking and drinking and stuffing himself that he passed about before anything else took place. She then cut off his head with his own sword, and carried it out of the camp with her maid.
She took the head to the magistrates. She told them to order the armies to mobilize as if to attack, but don't attack. The armies would look for Holofernes and not find him, and panic. Then, their armies should attack.
All this happened. When the Assyrian armies saw that their commander had been beaten, and were disgraced because their pride and strength had been bested by a woman, they did indeed turn and flee. The Israeli armies did indeed attack the retreating foe and win. Messengers were sent out to all the cities, including Jerusalem,and more Israeli armies came. They decimated the enemy and there was so much plunder, because the foe had conquered so many places already, there was plenty for everybody. The mercenary captain believed fully n God after he saw all this, and heard how Gd had helped and protected Judith and had delivered a nation through this small ton, from so great an army. je was circumcised and followed God the rest of his life.
There was tremendous celebration of this victory across the nation. Judith became a household name, and the high priest met her and blessed her in person. She inherited all of Holofernes' stuff. It took her several cart to move it.
Most of the final chapter is a worship song, said to be composed and sung by Judith herself.
She dedicated all Holofernes' things to God as an offering. Her fame never ceased, but grew. She ran her late husband's estate until she died, never marrying again even though she was proposed to many times. On her death she distributed her wealth among both her own and her husband's kindred. The whole country mourned. No one troubled the nation of Israel again until long after Judith's death.

Presumably, no one bothered Israel because they feared what God could do and the embarrassment of being brought down by just one person, and a female at that.
I don't think the book is true, obviously, and I do not know if it is inspired or not. My feminist tendencies could be pulling me either way, and so I am biased and I know it, so I will not try to judge that. I am certainly glad I read it and feel edified for having done so. I can say that much.

Godspeed.

~Mother Star