First Glance

In what hallowed ancient book does a femme fatale invoke God’s name to aid her in using her beauty to save her people? If you answered Esther, you would be wrong; God is never mentioned by name in the Book of Esther. It was the devout widow Judith who shed her sackcloth and interrupted her fasting to beguile—and then behead—an Assyrian general! But oddly enough the overtly religious Book of Judith never made it into the Jewish or Protestant canon, while “non-religious” Esther became sacred scripture for Jews and Christians alike. In “Judith—The Case of the Pious Killer” p. 26, Carey Moore explores possible reasons for Judith’s rejection, revealing the book’s semisatirical opening, its many ironies and its outright errors of chronology and geography.

Amanda Rupert Strong Professor of religion at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Moore is the author of the highly praised Anchor Bible volumes of Judith and Esther. Also a popular contributor to BR and to our sister publication, Biblical Archaeology Review, Moore wrote “Eight Questions Most Frequently Asked About the Book of Esther,” the cover story for the Spring 1987 BR, and “You Too Can Read Hieroglyphics,” BAR 11:04.