First Glance

Sin and faith, voyeurism and court-room drama make the apocryphal Book of Susanna perennially fascinating. A pious woman, sexually threatened by two judges and in fear that their charges will lead to her death, is saved by God, acting through the young prophet Daniel. Why was this good-wins-out tale left out of the Hebrew Scriptures and Protestant Bible? Carey Moore, in “Susanna—A Case of Sexual Harassment in Ancient Babylon,” discusses the questions surrounding this brief book. Artists through the ages have found Susanna, bathing in her garden, an ideal opportunity to depict a nude woman. The varied ways they have done this can be seen in the illustrations accompanying this article.

Moore, the Amanda Rupert Strong Professor of Religion at Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is familiar to BR readers from previous articles—also about women in the Bible—including “Judith—the Case of the Pious Killer,” BR 06:01, and “Eight Questions Most Frequently Asked about the Book of Esther,” BR 03:01. He is also the author of Judith, Esther and Daniel, Esther, and Jeremiah: The Additions in the highly praised Anchor Bible series.