Adding to and Rewriting the Biblical Text 10 25 12 Book of Judith JUDITH o Pious o Beautiful o Clever CONTEXT PLOT o Babylonian Empire Nebuchadnezzar s time period o Persian Empire time when Jews are allowed to rebuild the Temple o Greek Empire Nebuchadnezzar bans Judaism substitutes idolatry o Nebuchadnezzar conquers east o Sends Holofernes to clean up the rest who have not yet submitted to him o Only way into Judaea is a narrow pass in which only 2 people can go through at a time not very helpful for armies Thermopoli Spartans revolt against Greeks o City of Bethulia is on the other side must be captured by Holofernes if he wants to conquer Judaea submit o Jews resist Holofernes is outraged he asks a local non Jew Achior why they won t Achior Jews are faithful to G d and therefore they ll never lose Holofernes Nebuchadnezzar is God o Holofernes sieges Judaea even with his army still on the other side of the land o Judith seduces the army men Holofernes invites her to banquet and gets super drunk so Judith chops off his head with her sword and packs it into her food basket Babylonian army leaves Achior converts to Judaism Jews win SIMILAR to o Esther and Achashverosh Haman banquet heroine o Yael and Sisra kill army general heroine UNPOPULARITY of the BOOK o Judith s book AND story are erased until it resurfaces in Middle Ages 1 000 years later 10th century Tunisia Islamic world WHY Judith is portrayed as the victor which threatens the masculinity of the men of her time Sexual imagery Bethulia Betula Virginal City the way to penetrate a Virginal City is through a narrow passage sexual BUT opposite happens the Virginal City ends up penetrating the Army Camp and chops off the general s head female ends up taking over the male s role Whereas Esther was covertly the heroine Judith is quite overtly aggressive Book of Jubilees Written by Jew in Hebrew 150 BCE indication that author lived in Judaea Discusses priestly rules and regulations Fairly popular book among Jews in antiquity prominence in ancient world Ethiopian Orthodox Church only one to hold on to the book PLOT o Retelling of Genesis Creation Exodus Revelation o Prelude to Law being revealed SETTING o Moses up on Mt Sinai about to get the Law o G d tells angel to dictate to Moses the history of the world right up to that moment o Book is retelling of story through lens of angel DIFFERENCES between Exagoge and BOJ o Antedates large portion of ritual law dates earlier Suggests that a lot of the Law which Torah associates with Moses was practiced by patriarchs centuries before and even in Heaven itself before world was created Law taken out of history and seen as a more universal fabric of creation itself EG Shavuot described several times in Torah as something ordained through Moses BOJ places it much earlier historically 1 celebrate Shavuot to remember the covenant G d made with Noah after flood 2 Angels in Heaven celebrated Shavuot even before Noah s time EG Gentiles typically associated with lust and fornication EG Circumcision is marked to separate from gentiles as opposed to G dly reasons EG Sabbath is marked to separate from gentiles as opposed to commemorating creation of world exodus from Egypt o Separation from Gentiles o Angels Supernatural Forces Introduced frequently in BOJ EG During the binding of Isaac evil angel Mastama is introduced who challenges G d if you tell Abraham to sacrifice his son he won t be a good man anymore o Attempt to solve problems in Biblical text itself EG G d tells Adam that if he eats from the Tree of Knowledge he will die Adam eats from the Tree gets kicked out of Eden but lives past 900 years Solution Psalms quote 1 000 years 1 day to G d he died the same Divine day as a thousand years o Calendar should be Solar as opposed to Lunar The year should be a perfect twelve months Their calendar is exactly 52 weeks 365 days holidays will always fall out on precisely the right day of the week unlike within the lunar calendar where an extra month is added so that the holidays fall out on the right date EG Creation G d has just created all the celestial beings and says that people will try to mess with the calendar but they should stick to the original GENESIS 34 Dinah o Dinah quiet passive but goes out on her own volition to Shchem o Shchem rapist but committed to Dinah and the circumcision o Simeon and Levi indignant outraged but trick the enemy into their revenge plot o Jacob upset by the rape but fairly critical of sons actions VS BOJ 30 Dinah Shchem s immorality o Dinah carried off does not go out on her own identified as 12 years old adding to o Incident is truncated only get Israel s side not at all the other side o Simeon and Levi s side is not only considered but extrapolated as the Law but Jacob s side is not even alluded to the only thing we know about him is that he is on board with the plan to attack o Divine Voice at end which corroborates Jacob s family s actions o Story is not about the RAPE it s about the Law against INTERMARRIAGE