Bible: Judith, Exodus, and Genesis Term Paper

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The emphasis here is on God's glory, as the only distributor of riches or poverty:

And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.[...]"(Genesis 14. 22-23)

In Exodus 17, there are two miracles: Moses saves the people from dying of thirst by using his rod to smite a rock and produce water, and then saves them again in the confrontation with Amalek. The actual fighters in the battle are Amalek and Joshua, but Moses saves the people in the way God directed him to do: by keeping his hands raised for a whole day:

But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun."(Exodus 17.12)

This strategy is symbolic: Moses points to the heavens, where God abides, to indicate that that is the place where salvation comes from eventually, irrespectively of what people do with their own powers on Earth.

The Book of Judith is a very interesting fragment, since a woman is here the protagonist and since she is treated as any of the male leaders and prophets in the Bible, that is, by listing her ancestors in the male line when she is introduced in chapter eight. Also, Deborah Sawyer observes," irony is the key to the book," that is, irony is the most important narrative technique used. The dialogues are comical in their double meanings and the irony and ridicule are used to glorify God:

The narrative provides ample entertainment by giving Holofernes plenty of dialogue that resounds with double entendres, ridiculing his vanity and masculinity.

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This purpose, localized in the story's characters, coexists with the overriding intent to glorify God."(Sawyer, 48)

The main difference from the other two texts lies in the strategy used by Judith to win the victory for Israel: she deceives Holofernes into thinking that there will be some lovemaking in his tent, and thus manages to murder him. However, the main purport of the narrative is still the glory of God. As Judith says, the power of God does not depend on numbers as that of men while at war, God is only one and has unlimited power over his people:

For thy power depends not upon numbers, nor thy might upon men of strength; for thou art God of the lowly, helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak, protector of the forlorn, savior of those without hope."(Judith 9. 14)

Thus, the three fragments chosen evince the main features that can be associated with an unconventional war, that is, particular strategies that help the leaders of the people to win the battles, and that are directed strictly by God and his will. God' glory lies precisely in these mysterious strategies that are not understood by man, and that always bring him salvation. Other examples of unconventional war literature or dark comedy include other religious writings, like Dante's Inferno and Milton's Paradise Lost in which there are forces other than human involved.

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