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Bible People  -  Judith 

Movie Quiz Films about Valiant Women Can you name them? Answers HERE

Can you name others?

Extra Websites

Sex, lies, murder - the full story of Judith and Holofernes
Bible Women: Judith

Nebuchadnezzar: one of the Bible's Top Ten Villains
Bible Villains: Nebuchadnezzar

War in biblical times
Bible Archaeology: Warfare

See the ruins of Lachish - what happened to a besieged town
Bible Architecture: Lachish

Sex, lies, murder - Judith one of the Top Ten Heroines of the Bible
Bible Heroines: Judith

The sort of jewelry Judith might have worn
Bible Archaeology: Jewelry

Famous paintings of this bloodthirsty story
BIBLE ART: JUDITH

Famous Paintings  

Bible Text 

             Activities

                  for individuals or groups

'Women with courage' films
(group or single activity)

Stage 1:  Make up a list

List some films about women who saved their people/community/family. You can choose recent films or classics. If this is a group activity, choose films most people know. 

Stage 2:  Glance over your list

1.  Have you chosen films that are (fairly) realistic, or do you prefer films that are inspiring/uplifting?
2.  Do your favorites have both these qualities?
3.  What does this say about you and what you need in a story?

Stage 3:  Choose your favorite 
4.  What are the central qualities of the heroine?
5.  Do you admire these qualities and try to emulate them, or are they out of the reach of ordinary mortals? 
6.  Do any of the scenes remind you of your own life or experiences?
7.  Or does the film express what you would like to be?

Stage 4:  Think about your choices

Group activity: discuss these questions, making sure everyone in the group has a chance to talk about their ideas.

Single activity: sit down for a few minutes and focus your mind; answer the questions above as far as you are able; decide which of the heroine's qualities you would like to have yourself; think about them as you do other tasks in your day.

Paintings of Judith

Stage 1

Read the story at Bible People: Judith

Stage 2

Go to the link at the bottom of the painting at right. Scroll through the paintings from first to last.

Which part of the story of Judith has been the most popular with artists?

Would this have been your choice?

Artists paint what they want to paint, but they also paint with their audience in mind. Look at the paintings again. Who is the painting directed at? Explain your reasoning.

Stage 3

If you have chosen something different, ask yourself why this other incident appeals to you more than the scene favored by the artists. Spend some time quietly thinking about your response.

Images of God

There are two basic questions that hang over the whole of the Old Testament:

• what is the image of God presented in a particular story?

• do I agree with it?

Focus on the passage about the nature of God in Judith 9:11-17. 

• What is Judith's image of  God? 

• How does it differ from the elders' image of a God you can bargain with? 

• Have you encountered this image of a bargaining God in your own experience? 

• In the modern world's image of God? 

Spend some time in quiet thought, drawing up your own image of God. Discuss with a learning partner.

Focus Questions for the Scripture story

Judith, by Titian. Detail of painting

1. What are the most interesting moments in Judith's story? 
2. In the story, who speaks and who listens? Who acts? Who gets what they want? If you were in the story, which person would you want to be friends with? Which person would you want to avoid?
3. What is God's interaction with the main characters? What does this tell you about the narrator's image of God? Do you agree with this image?
4. The narrator/editor has chosen to tell some things and leave other things out. What has been left out of the story that you would like to know?
5. Do similar things happen in the modern world? How is the story relevant to modern life?

Rising to the Occasion

Think of some moments in your own life when you have risen to some extraordinary occasion, some emergency that called for you to behave in a way you would normally find difficult. 

Write a brief description of one of these moments in your life. What qualities did you find that you did not realize you had?

Famous Quotes

Extra Websites  in the left column have background information and ideas.

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