It is excluded from the canon by the Israelite church and the early Christian church.
It is excluded from the canon by the Israelite church and the early Christian church.
§ 195. [IV] The Israelite church and the early Christian church exclude the Book of Judith from the canon. Josephus does not even touch on the entire history of Judith in his commentaries De antiquitate. In his preface to Judith, Jerome explicitly excludes it from the canon. He says (Epistle 10 ad Furiam): “Nevertheless if this volume is accepted ….” Augustine, De civ. Dei, bk. 18, c. 26: “The Jews are said not to have accepted the Book of Judith in the canon of the Scriptures.” Thus blessed Luther makes the correct judgment that this book is a sacred poem in which the author wanted to depict the state and condition of the Jews, something of which the very names also bear witness. Judith, who is a holy and chaste widow, signifies Judea. That is, the people of God are a deserted widow, yet also holy and chaste. That is, they persist in the Word and in faith, they pray, they fast. Holofernes signifies a secular leader or governor and is a type of the enemies of this people. Bethulia signifies a virgin and thus indicates the integrity of faith free of idolatry, which is spiritual whoredom. Finally, Luther concludes that this is a good book, holy and useful, definitely worth reading, though it cannot be regarded among the properly and specifically canonical books.