Mar.6] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1894.AN UNKNOWN HEBREWVERSION OF THE HISTORY
OF JUDITH.By M. Gaster.
In the Hebrew literaturewe find two forms of the Judith legend
—one long and elaborate, the other short,concise. Theformeris
almostakinto the Greek version,thoughnot absolutely identical,
and has been publishedhitherto two or three times. Theshort
recension, however, has been known till now onlyin one single
text : in the collection of tales attributedto R. Nissim of Kairuan
(N. Africa, eleventhcentury).
It is not my intention to enter hereintoa detailed disquisi
tion of this subject. Schiirerhas summed up the results of modern
and ancientinvestigations, andto his book and bibliography I
refer.*
The consensus of opinion is, that the Judith legendoriginatedin
the time of the Makkabaans, and that it was originally composedin
a Semitic idiom,Hebrewor Aramaic. No one has, however, been
ableto establish this conclusion with any certainty, or to explain
who the mysterious Holophernes was, or to fix the exact place
(Bethulia)wherethe tragedy tookplace.
Many a minor incident in the Greek text is far from being
clear, suchas xii, 7 : " thus she abode in the camp three days,
and went out in the night into the valley of Bethulia, and washed
herselfin a fountain of water by the camp." Thereis no reason
assignedfor this peculiarablution,nor does it stand in any con
nectionwiththe other religiousordinances,whichwe are told that
she observed so punctiliously.
Thesevery ordinances,suchas her refusal to eat of Holophernes'
food,havebeenusedby modern criticsfor the purpose of determin
ing the date of the composition of this book.
* E. Schiirer, " Geschichtedes jiidischen Volk.-sim Zeitalter JesuChristi,
II (1886), p. 599-603-
156