Are you familiar with the Accelerated Reader system? This is a system put in place in some elementary schools in an effort to get more kids to read. In this system books are assigned a point value based on the length of the story and on how hard it is to read. Kids are asked to get a certain number of points by taking a test on the books they have read. If you read a book and get all of the answers from that book’s test you get all of the points assigned to that book. Here are some example point values of popular books.
Charlotte’s web – 5 points
The first Harry potter book is worth 12 points
Huckleberry Finn – 12 points
The once and future king – 41 points
Gone with the wind – 71 points
War and Peace – 118 points
I threw those last two in there so you could see the upper bound of the spectrum. War and Peace is huge. I doubt very many elementary kids will read it. Those last two books also fall under a category called “historical fiction.” Historical fiction is a literary genre where the story takes place in the past. The time period is almost like another character in the story. These books aren’t meant to be historically accurate. They just tell a story that lies within a historically accurate setting. A lot of times they will make use of famous characters from the past, whether or not those characters are central to the plot.
Does the bible have any historical fiction? Well, kind of. The answer depends on whether or not certain books are in the cannon. There are some books that exist in the Catholic bible, for example, that didn’t make it into most Protestant bibles. We call these books “apocryphal.” And one of these books is almost certainly historical fiction. This is the Book of Judith.
Scholars think the Book of Judith was written about 100 BC. This would have been after the Assyrian and Babylonian Empire’s hold on Jerusalem. It begins by talking about Nebuchadnezzar and says he ruled over the Assyrians. This is just one reason we believe the story is fictitious (Nebuchadnezzar was the Babylonian King in reality). The main bad guy of the story is one of Nebuchadnezzar’s generals, Holofernes, who besieges Israel and cuts off their water supply. He has an advisor tell him about the Israelites which is very interesting:
Judith 5:17-21
17 “As long as the Israelites did not sin in the sight of their God, they prospered, for their God, who hates wickedness, was with them. 18 But when they abandoned the way he had prescribed for them, they were utterly destroyed by frequent wars, and finally taken as captives into foreign lands. The temple of their God was razed to the ground, and their cities were occupied by their enemies. 19 But now they have returned to their God, and they have come back from the Diaspora where they were scattered. They have reclaimed Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and have settled again in the hill country, because it was unoccupied.
20 “So now, my master and lord, if these people are inadvertently at fault, or if they are sinning against their God, and if we verify this offense of theirs, then we will be able to go up and conquer them. 21 But if they are not a guilty nation, then let my lord keep his distance; otherwise their Lord and God will shield them, and we will be mocked in the eyes of all the earth.”
I think this is a passage that is directly speaking to the reader. It isn’t easy to find a piece of history when Israel wasn’t under some other kingdom’s rule. How does a people “keep the faith” when they are constantly subject to someone else? Judith is a woman of faith in this story. She is introduced in Chapter 8 like this:
Judith 8:8
8 No one had a bad word to say about her, for she feared God greatly.
She is also a widow who never remarried. Recall the role of widows and orphans in Jewish society. They were pretty far down the social ladder. And yet it is this widow that saves the Israelites. Her plan is put into action in chapter 8, verses 32-36:
32 Then Judith said to them: “Listen to me! I will perform a deed that will go down from generation to generation among our descendants. 33 Stand at the city gate tonight to let me pass through with my maid; and within the days you have specified before you will surrender the city to our enemies, the Lord will deliver Israel by my hand. 34 You must not inquire into the affair, for I will not tell you what I am doing until it has been accomplished.” 35 Uzziah and the rulers said to her, “Go in peace, and may the Lord God go before you to take vengeance upon our enemies!” 36 Then they withdrew from the tent and returned to their posts.
Judith finds favor with Holofernes. She pretends to be a deserter, and gets permission to go out each night to pray before coming back to the enemy camp. After one night of revelry she comes into the general’s tent to find him passed out. Judith takes his own sword and uses it to cut off Holofernes’ head. Then she goes out to pray with her maid like before, but instead goes straight back to the Israelites. The next morning when Holofernes’ death is discovered the enemy camp is thrown into disarray and disbands. Judith has saved her people.
What is the book of Judith trying to teach here? She is a widow that saves Israel. It is kind of like the story of Esther, where so much rides on one woman’s faith. Widows could not take care of themselves very easily. They had no real income or livelihood. So what does it mean that she is the hero?
This story has a lot to teach about faith, which is why I think it is included in some canons. The “powerful” people of Israel were ready to give up. It was the lowly widow’s faith that saved them. Faith has no social prerequisite. You don’t have to be rich to have it. Anyone can practice it. And faith in God can produce wonderful things.
God Bless