Thursday, November 19
Judith 13
Chapter 13 gives us our Women Woman moment of our hero Judith taking the enemy’s own sword and beheading him with it.
There’s lots to grapple with here. Judith says she“seduced him to his destruction.” Do we see this as Judith turning patriarchy and the sexualization of women on its head for the protection of her people? Or do we bemoan the fact that its only through Judith’s seduction that she can be seen as the hero? (Or both?!). Regardless, the text unambiguously shows Judith (a woman, a widow, a Jew) to be the hero of this passage, the one through which God shows his mercy (verse 14). This, I think, should be celebrated.