Geoffrey D. Miller, «Canonicity and Gender Roles: Tobit and Judith as Test Cases», Vol. 97 (2016) 199-221
Clues from rabbinic literature suggest that several factors were at play in establishing the early Jewish canon, including the dating, theology, and language of disputed texts. Another vital yet overlooked criterion is adherence to patriarchy, and a careful analysis of the Books of Judith and Tobit illustrates how these texts failed to meet rabbinic standards for gender roles. Most notably, the countercultural figures of Judith and Anna would have scandalized the rabbis by their encroachment on traditionally male spheres of activity, their freedom of movement inside and outside the home, and their ability to chastise male characters without repercussions.
212 GeoFFreY d. MILLer
shows her to be the kind of self-sacrificing, dutiful wife the rabbis ex-
tol in the Talmud. She marries a man named Manasseh from her own
tribe and clan, and after his death she mourns him for more than three
years (Jdt 8,2-6). She fears God, and none of the townspeople have a
bad word to say about her (8,8). Yet even in this introductory vignette,
the narrator hints that Judith is no ordinary woman. unlike other fe-
male characters in the Hebrew Bible, Judith receives her own genea-
logy, whereas her husband Manasseh does not (8,1-2). Moreover, the
narrator amplifies this role reversal by “explicitly mention[ing] that
Manasseh belonged to her tribe and her family” 37. She also manages
her estate without any male supervision, taking care of the wealth,
livestock, and servants her husband bequeathed to her (8,8).
Judith’s independence and apparent disdain for gender stereotypes
increase as the narrative unfolds. In the next scene, Judith learns of
the Assyrian siege of Bethulia and quickly moves to action. The town
elders rashly decide to surrender if God does not intervene in five days,
and Judith responds in the same manner as deborah did with Barak,
summoning the male leaders to stand before her, rather than showing
them the proper honor by appearing before them. When they arrive, she
does not ask for their thoughts on the matter or give them an opportunity
to speak but lambastes them over the course of seventeen verses for putting
God to the test (8,11-27). uzziah, chief among the elders, had presumed
to understand the workings of the Lord, and Judith “must correct his naïve
theology” 38. After his chastisement, uzziah acknowledges Judith’s
wisdom by admitting: “All that you have said you have spoken truthfully,
and no one can deny your words” (Jdt 8,28). Her spirited defense
of God’s justice dominates the chapter, revealing her metamorphosis
from reclusive widow to civic leader, and she displays great acumen
before the counsel as an orator, “theologian, and hermeneut” 39.
Judith’s bold speech demonstrates she is not a pliable, docile
woman whom men can shape into a proper vessel. To the contrary, she
is the one who possesses expertise in orthopraxy and military strategy,
37
A. dILeLLA, “Women in the Wisdom of Ben Sira and the Book of Judith:
A Study in Contrasts and reversals”, Congress Volume: Paris, 1992 (ed. J.A.
eMerToN) (VTS 61; Leiden – New York – Köln 1995) 39-52, here 51. Italics are
diLella’s.
38
A.-J. LeVINe, “Sacrifice and Salvation: otherness and domestication in the
Book of Judith”, ‘No One Spoke Ill of Her’. essays on Judith (ed. J. VANderKAM)
(early Judaism and Its Literature 2; Atlanta, GA 1992) 17-30, here 21.
39
T. CrAVeN, “Tradition and Convention in the Book of Judith”, Semeia 28
(1983) 49-61, here 55. Judith’s 732 words in this scene easily eclipse uzziah’s 105.