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.
CANoNICITY ANd GeNder roLeS 213
and the elders should be consulting her on how to thwart the incursive
Assyrian army. Indeed, Judith has already resolved what she intends
to do about the advancing enemy, and she refuses to inform the male
leaders of her plan. She insists that they stay put while she quells the
Assyrian threat, again denying the elders an opportunity for input (Jdt
8,34). After praying to the Lord and beautifying herself to entice the
Assyrian soldiers, Judith disembarks for the enemy camp with her
maidservant, leaving the men of Bethulia to continue cowering behind
the city walls in fear. relegated to a position of subordination and pas-
sivity, the male rulers can only wish her success on her expedition,
waiting to hear about her exploits after she returns home. Judith
brazenly disregards deuteronomy’s prescriptions for a male sovereign
and becomes the de facto ruler of her community, taking matters into
her own hands and engaging Israel’s enemy herself.
once inside the Assyrian camp, Judith dupes every soldier she
meets and beheads their general in the middle of the night, returning
to Bethulia the following morning with his severed head. upon her re-
turn home, she re-emerges as supreme governess of her people, assum-
ing control of Israel’s army and instructing them on how to defeat their
foes (13,1 – 14:4). The (presumably) male soldiers do not flinch at
the charge given them by their new female commander but rout the
Assyrians under her direction. resolute and resourceful, Judith needs
no man to take care of her household or to protect her in times of
distress. Instead, she provides that protection for others, including
the men. She needs no guidance, either, but tells the men how to act.
At the end of the tale, the Bethulian people celebrate Judith’s
courageous deed, and she takes a leadership role yet again by organ-
izing the procession and singing a song of praise to God (15,12 –
16,20). Her fame spreads throughout the land, and numerous suitors
seek her hand in marriage, but Judith shows no interest in a traditional
lifestyle. Her distribution of property to other relatives before her
death suggests she never had any children (16,24), even though child-
lessness is viewed as shameful in the biblical corpus (e.g. Gen 16,1-5;
30,1-8; 1 Sam 1,2-11; Prov 30,15-17; Sir 42,9-10). Furthermore, the
Torah requires a childless widow to marry her deceased husband’s
brother in order to beget an heir for him, but Judith “disregards deut
25:5-10 and its laws on levirate marriage” 40. remarriage would also
40
A. LACoCQue, The Feminine Unconventional. Four Subversive Figures in
Israel’s Tradition (overtures to Biblical Theology; Minneapolis, MN 1990) 43.