Anyone else want to be Judith instead of Ruth or Esther?

 Everyone who reads the bible or attends church services knows these ladies.

There are even movies and paintings of them.

And those in the other cultures or religions have also had some knowledge.

It is speculation to assume why there are women in the Bible at all.

I mean it is meant for the men to read and decide our rights?

After all, every progressive religion since the Hebrews has shown a woman taking the lead only to be subverted by the uprising male population.

One thing the Greeks and Romans were known for was the worship of females.

They every had female warriors.

This was nothing knew, and the Hebrews had female judges as well.

Now the stories of the three ladies is as follows:

Ruth, virtuous and chaste brings praise to her mother-in-law by marrying Boaz and becoming an ancestor of the Jesus, although not a Jew herself.

Esther, a Jewish virgin taken hostage, proves herself chaste and wise, with her uncle Melachi becomes a hero in saving her people from slaughter after she marries the King.

Judith, a widow of the onslaught of war of King Nebuchadnezzar, decides to stop crying and with her full beauty, gains entrance to General Holofernes, where upon she beheads him, ending the battle.

Know none of the ladies are said to have given up their womanliness in order to achieve their results.

In fact, the verses are specific that they were either virgins or chaste in their adventures.

However, many of the time were not allowed to say no and being in the presence of a powerful man, might only have resisted.

But that is nothing compared to their feats.

First Ruth married the son of a Jewish man and then refused to be abandoned her when both father and son died, leaving Noami a widow.

Widows were very fragile creatures. If they had no living male, they could be thrown out on the streets.

Jewish street life is the same as modern city streets of any place. Vile and ugly.

Starvation is the least of the worries, rape and disease or murder were the normal worries.

In fact, once a woman went outside, she could never prove her virtue or refusal to succumb to a man.

And yet, the story tells us, that after returning to Israel, she went to work in the fields as a gleaner.

And then on the instructions of Naomi, crept into the bed area of Boaz and lay down at her feet.

There are a lot of different versions in modern times. Ugly versions who don't believe in her innocence.

The scriptures tell us that Boaz was a good man and sent her away with a reward that she could sell for her and Naomi after identifying herself as the widow of his cousin.

Therefore, it is assumed he did not rape her as he was said to be a good man.

His word would be over hers as it is today. 

He did make arrangements for her, and they married Jewish style and had a baby boy.

This first child was given over to Naomi as tradition to replace her lost one as she was too old to do it herself.

The story is sweet and innocent on a hot Sunday afternoon. Until one of the bad boys come along and ruins it in your mind forever.

She was given full rights in the bible as the ancestress of Jesus through her humility and chasteness.

Praise is often heaped upon her for sticking to her mother-in-law, when in fact she might not have had a mother or a father to return.

She had also married outside her own ethnic and religious background and might not have had any place to go but the street herself.

Pursuing Naomi gave her strength in numbers and the opportunity of remarrying instead of becoming a prostitute which was more common for a woman of the times.

The second lady also has drawn some concern.

She is a beautiful young girl taken into bondage.

As many of the wars of the area of Persia know the Middle East, when a city was conquered, the people were either killed or taken as hostages.

Most were sent to work as slaves as labor is always an issue.

Sometimes the more elite ones are taken to the Palaces in pursuit of knowledge and training.

Training them will bring a resource to the victor over a people who had been successful in leaving Egypt.

In this case, the King is seeking new wives for himself from those that were conquered.

This is also a good idea, of adding foreign blood to his family, it makes him a relative to his enemies.

Mordecai was a strong religious man, who might have had an elevated position in the past.

He seems to haunt the gates of the Palace and the local center.

He has earned an enemy in Haman who is on the highest court in the land as a Judge.

Haman can gain access to the king by snapping his fingers and produce his own punishments.

Esther is one of many beautiful young women in a group to be brought before the king.

They are given the task of the baths and other regimes in order to prepare themselves.

She is noted by the Chief Eunuch who becomes her protector. 

When it is her turn to go to the king for a night, she marvels him. 

It is often said, she spends the night reading to him.

This might be true, as a woman who can read would be noteworthy, especially one in Hebrew.

She might also have been given a fine reputation and he choice to only study her for the night.

It is never revealed, if they did in fact have relations, it suggested that they did not.

But he does make her his wife and allows her certain privileges.

It does not discuss her having children but a banquet.

Her people are about to be wiped out by a new law of Hamans.

She is given instructions by her uncle in how to take care of the situation.

She finally insists that Haman has fallen on her bed, suggesting rape.

Certainly not a chaste situation but it brings the Kings ire up.

He has him marched out and then reviews his life.

Finally, Haman is executed as he had suggested Mordechai.

But the final blow, was her insistence on saving her people.

When she brought up his new law, the king was offended. after all, he was now married to a Jewish.

This law of killing all of the Jews may have included him even though Haman says no.

A mother law is passed allowing the Jews to arm themselves and fight for themselves.

Something that was done when they existed Egypt was to learn war.

Know they are being given the opportunity of raging war upon their accuser's and slayers.

A peaceful people are how most of the Jews are seen especially in exile.

This story of a woman's bravery and quick wit brings an end to the slaughter of her own ethnic people.

Mordechai is listed as a descendant of an Israel King, so she as his Neice, might also have been more than just a pawn to the King but a way to keep his rulership over Israel while not causing a dire circumstance in his own country.

Haman seems to have grown fearful of the number of Jews in his own country who were allowed to practice their own religion. But it was mainly out of their refusal to bow to his authority as a judge, leading one to wonder if her was intending upon becoming King through a rebellion of his own.

The proudful ones will say it took a woman to bring him down and any future rebellions.

The men say otherwise and suggests more to the story than we want to hear.

But who says any story is true even modern versions of events?

And finally, the one the Protestants kicked out of the bible.

Judith is not a protestant woman. 

She is not wanted in their Sunday school.

It is assumed because she commits murder. although she could also not have a good enough reputation.

In the story she is also a widow of the onslaught of King nebuchadnezzar who overthrows the Jews.

In one terrible battle there is a General Holofernes who will not stop.

He has already taken the city hostage and murdered most of the men of war.

She cries for her husband; it does not say she is a mother or has children.

Her opportunities are also dismal, without a father or a brother she has nowhere to go unless, there is money she can lay her hands on.

This is classical in any culture, without actual money, the house and fields will be taken away automatically upon the death of the master.

It is those who swear to the master and the mistress who are rare and rarer are those who follow through.

In this case, she dries her tears and makes herself up with bathes and fresh clothes and has a maid to dress her hair.

She is said to be unusually beautiful.

It astounds the men in the camps when she approaches.

She is allowed inside to meet the General as claims she is disgusted iwth the weakness of the jews.

A feast is head where she is the chief guest of the party.

As is expected there is a bed chamber for the General which she is lead.

However, he has had so much fun, that he has drunk too much and is sound asleep.

She has her maid stand guard as she first prays and then finds his sword.

With two chops, off comes his head, which they then hide in the maid's purse.

Apparently, the purse is a leather object which holds more than coin but larger items as well.

The leave the camp and make their way back to the city gates where they display their nights wages.

The head of Holofernes!

The great general is not only dead but beheaded by a woman.

And at no cost to herself according to the story.

A victory has been created for a city surrounded.

In the morning, when his men realize that his head has walked off and left his body, the flee.

They are afraid of whatever occurred the night before and of being found unable to defend him.

Who walks in and steals a head?

They know when to fight and when to flee.

The siege is over, and the victims become the Victors.

There is no information on what becomes of Judith, her deed was enough to give her a history.

She might have been a wealthy woman from the way they allowed her to leave the city and reenter.

She did have a maid loyal to her and the knowledge of how men behaved.

No innocence in the areas of love and war, she accomplished something extraordinary.

Or did she?

Really any woman could have done it, angry enough or worried enough.

Gone into the man's bedroom and stolen his life from him.

It happens all the time in the movies, but does it have the same appeal?

Saving a city is not saving a nation nor producing an heir for the future.

Her victory was applauded and then denied.

Perhaps the Church feels it is wrong to tell woman to cut off a part of a man, instead of going to him at night in a poor state and offer herself in marriage.

They would whether a woman stand the tests of time, then defend herself, much less overcome the obstacles before her.

Hmm, wonder what other king had himself amputated?

I would not mind decapitating Jimmy or Shawn as he used to be called.

After all, he murdered my father and probably my grandfather as well.

My great-grandmothers deaths were both suspicious.

And my mother went mad long before the cancer began to eat her brain.

He was not unknown for capturing her and locking her up and then cruelly giving her injections.

Sounds familiar.

Anyways, there are a few men in the world who deserve to live.

Some have even ended up on death row as jimmy did but got out on a technicality.

His behavior has not improved, and he still sees himself as an heir to my family.

when in fact he has a different daddy and a different mommy.

In fact, his real mother is not Linda Evans as he claims but an African Black woman named Camille.

She was married and could not divorce nor remarry. She also could not raise him at the time of his birth in 1957.

His white daddy did his best to arrange things for him and had him on his show, but he refused to obey.

It is thought he wanted his real daddy dead just for suggesting that woman was his mother.

On the world scene there are mor things to worry about than the news tells us.

Monkey pox is not going to be pleasant; my family ran into it when we still were allowed to travel.

Coronavirus is a killer, and the President has it a second time.

But it those fires all over the world which might bring Armagedón a little bit closer.

Adn the shootings around the world should be worrying us more than the price of gas.

As for those wars, who is say who is to blame.

Everybody mad Putin the bad guy and I would not want to be his security detail.

The guy with the football seems to have shot himself in the head.

God forbid his driver should ever get caught by a would-be assassin.

I hope no one wants his head because I am not satisfied with the behavior of the other guy.

He has a big cry sob story but does the same things in war.

No one has gone unpunished nor been provided a reason he will not cede the territory.

Donetsk asked for their freedom, which he won't provide and now he is telling them to evacuate.

What is the situation really?

A bunch of old nuclear places all over the map in his country.

Plus, the old-World War two bomb shelters when they were friend fighting the Germans.

None of that has been properly dismantled nor is it safe to keep on pursues in war instead of peace.

But no one wants his head either, do they?

It is hard for a woman to know what to do and when.

Being left out in the cold is never the answer.

It brings wrath to most hearts and murder sometimes is even allowed.

Some women will do anything to get even, and some women prevent harm and injury to the very ones who will throw them away.

In time of war and pestilence a woman often outshines a man in decisions.

That is why there were often Queens in times of peace because they could think out the results more clearly.

But war, requires not a brave woman but a fearful one who knows she has no choice.

My self, when the time comes to prove myself a Christian woman, I would whether be Judith than Ruth or Esther.

Better to behead a man, than to go to bed with him if you are no in love, no matter the rewards.

Misery always comes home, and most of the time even the poor acknowledge it is not worthwhile.