Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Who was Judith in the book of Genesis?

Painting of Judith from the apocryphal
 Book of Judith, who 
cuts the head
off of a general.
         Judith (Gen. 26:34), the daughter of Beeri and one of the Hittite wives of Esau, who grieved and vexed Isaac and Rebekah, Esau's parents. They grieved because their son had married a foreign woman and not one of their own people.
       Some authorities are of the opinion that Judith is the same as Aholibamah (Oholibamah) mentioned in Genesis 36:5, but other authorities do not agree with this. If so, she had three children by Esau "Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah" who were born in the land of Canaan.
       Esau's marriage at age forty to this woman from a land that worshiped idols is said to have been one of the reasons why Esau, though the elder son of Isaac and Rebekah, lost the blessing to his twin brother Jacob, born second and regarded as the younger. The account of the loss of the blessing of his father Isaac appears immediately after Esau's marriage to his Hittite wives. The marriage comes in Genesis 26:34, the loss of the birthright in Genesis 27:1.
       Because Judith did not worship the one God, she did not occupy as high a place in patriarchal history as did her sisters-in-law, Rachel and Leah, Jacob's wives.
       The Bible shows that Esau, though born into a godly family, turned to the more material path, and that his Hittite wives led him completely away from God.

2 comments:

  1. This picture is of the Judith in the apocryphal Book of Judith, who beheads the general of an enemy army, much later in the history of God's people. The Judith in Genesis is not recorded as having done anything similar.

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  2. Thanks for the info. I have made the note under the illustration so that others will understand the differences between all of the Judiths included in Bible texts. You are very kind for writing me about the differences!

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