The Heroine Protestants Don’t Read
She walked into an enemy camp alone and saved her whole nation. So why isn't she in most Bibles?
One widow, no army, and the Bible chapter most Christians never get to read
There’s a woman in Scripture who walked alone into an enemy general’s tent and walked back out carrying his head in a food bag. Most Christians have never heard her name, because her entire book was cut from the Protestant Bible during the Reformation. Catholics still read it. Her name is Judith.
Her city was under siege. The wells were cut off, the people were dying of thirst, and the leaders had already sworn to surrender within five days. Everyone had given up on God. Everyone except one widow.
Judith refused to let them quit. She told the elders, “You are putting the Lord Almighty to the test,” then made a promise: “the Lord will deliver Israel by my hand.” A widow. With no army.
She walked into the camp of Holofernes, the general besieging her people. On the final night, drunk and alone with her, he passed out. Judith took his sword, prayed “Strengthen me this day, Lord, God of Israel!” and struck. She carried his head back through the city gates, and the army that terrified a nation broke and fled.
Here’s the part almost nobody points out. When the people blessed her, they said, “Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth.” Now hear Elizabeth greet Mary in Luke’s Gospel: “Blessed are you among women.” The same blessing. Judith, who crushes the enemy of God’s people, points straight to the Mother of God. The arc of salvation, hiding in a book some Bibles simply dropped.
That’s why it matters. The Book of Judith was there in the Septuagint the apostles used, affirmed by the early Church councils, and never “added” at Trent. It was defended. There’s a full breakdown of why these books belong in your Bible among the 2,700+ free articles at CatholicShare.com.
I also put up two new Shorts this week.
The Mystery of the Missing Book: Tobit:
and The Heroine Judith and the Mother of God :
Give them a watch, and share them with someone who’s never heard Judith’s name.
So here’s the question Judith’s whole life answers: what can one faithful soul do that an entire empire cannot survive?
God bless, Godwin