WHY
THE BOOK OF JUDITH WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE HEBREW CANON
The book of Judith is not a part of the Hebrew canon. It is an "outside book," the reasons being as follows. The author of the book relates that after the triumph of Judith, an officer in the camp of Holofernes, Achior, an Ammonite, "joined into the house of Israel." According to the Pentateuch, "An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of Yahweh, even to the tenth generation shall none of them enter into the assembly of Yahweh forever." (Deut 23:4) If the book of Judith should gain acceptance into the Holy Scriptures, it would contradict the Pentateuchal laws. It is true that Ruth was a Moabite and she converted to Judaism, nevertheless the book of Ruth became a part of the Holy Scriptures. The sages, in order to reconcile the contradictory and opposing view between the book of Ruth and the Pentateuch, declared that the Pentateuchal prohibition regarding the Ammonite and the Moabite referred only to the male but not to the female. (M. Yeb. 8.3) Thus the book of Ruth could be very well accepted in the Hebrew canon.
It is also true that the
sages during the Second Common-wealth encouraged proselytism regardless of race
and no obstacles were placed against the Ammonites. However, some sages opposed
the conversion of the Ammonites. A Mishne relates: "On that day, came
Judah, an Ammonite proselyte, and stood before them in the Beth Hamidrash, and
said to them, 'May I enter into the community?' Rabban Gamaliel said to him: 'You
are not allowed.' Rabbi Joshua said to him: 'You are allowed.'" (Yad. 4:4;
Tosefta ibid., 2.17) Thus we have to conclude that in the academy of Javneh
there was a division of opinion among the sages regarding the acceptance of
Ammonite proselytes. The opinion of Rabbi Joshua became the established law.
The opinion of Rabban Gamaliel, however, was enough to keep the book of Judith
from inclusion in the Hebrew Bible.
Again, it is stated in the
book of Judith that when Achior converted to Judaism, he was circumcised; it
does not say that he was baptised. During the Second Jewish Commonwealth, the ritual
of immersion was not required for conversion to Judaism. At the Conclave in the
year 65 CE, it was decreed that a proselyte must go through the rites of
baptism in order to enter the Jewish community. (Cf. S. Zeitlin,
"Proselytes and Proselytism During the Second Commonwealth in the Early
Tannaitic Period", 1965 (Harry Austryn Wolfson jubilee Volume).) The fact
that in the book of Judith it is stated that Achior became a proselyte by
circumcision alone without baptism was enough to keep the book out of the
Hebrew canon. If this book should be included in the Hebrew Bible, it would mean
that the book of Judith was holy and authoritative; thus there would be a
contradiction between the statement in Judith and the decree of the sages who
maintained that baptism is a sine qua non.
The book of Judith was
written in a late period, after the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, as we shall
subsequently show. According to the rabbinic tradition, books written after the
Persian period were not "inspired," (Cf. Tos. Yad. 2:12. מתמאין את הידים
ספרי בן סירא וכל ספרים שנכתבו כמאן ואילך אינן.) thus they could not be a part
of the Hebrew Bible. Esther's story was placed in the time of Ahasuerus, while
the story of Judith was placed after the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, long
after prophecy ceased in Israel. Again, the book of Esther was written in Judaea,
while the book of Judith was compiled in the diaspora, and that is also a good reason
for its not being included in the Hebrew canon. No books written in the
diaspora were included in the Hebrew Bible.
Although Judith was not a
canonical book, it exhorted a lasting influence on religion and on the medieval
literature. There are Midrashim relating the story of Judith (one Midrash is given
in the Appendix II). Some Midrashim connect Judith with Hanukkah. Rabbi Samuel
b. Meir (Rashbam) ca. 1085-1174 CE stated that the miracle of Hanukkah came
through the interference of Judith. (Tosefot Meg. 4. 1 בפורים ע"י אסתר ,בחנוכה
ע"י יהודית.) Nachmanides ca. 1194-1270, in his commentary on
Deuteronomy, makes a reference to the book of Judith calling it the Scroll of
Shushan. (Deut 21:14) In the liturgy of Sabbath Hanukkah, there is a piyut referring
to Judith. It refers to Judith's decapitation of Holofernes, but also the name
of
Achior is there mentioned. (נבא
למלך הנמונו אכיור . . . סככתני בלילה היא יהודית . . . ) (Solomon Zeitlin,
"Introduction (The Books of Esther and Judith: A Parallel)," in The
Book of Judith [trans. Morton S. Enslin; Jewish Apocryphal Literature 7;
Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1972], 24-26)
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