Has anyone ever heard of a character in the Tanakh/“Old Testament” named Holofernes? I could swear that I recall someone by that name, but I have been unable to locate him in any of the online Bible concordances. Is there such a person in the Bible, and if so, in what chapter and verse? This is not an invitation to witnessing or debate – I am just looking for information. Many Thanks!
Holofernes is a character in the Book of Judith. Although it’s considered to be part of the Bible by the Catholic Church, Protestants consider Judith to be part of the Apocrypha, not the canon of Scripture, which explains why you had trouble finding references in on-line Bibles.
Holofernes was an Assyrian general. He shows up in the book of Judith, part of the Roman Catholic Apocrypha.
Short version of the story:
Holofernes besieged one of the Hebrews’ cities. Judith snuck out of the city, flirted with him and plied him with strong drink, then whacked his head off when he was passed out.
You can find a painting of the scene by Artemesia Gentileschi (and a better summary of the story) here:
Holofernes was the wicked king slain by Judith in the book of Judith which, being a part of the Apocrypha, is omitted from many bibles and reference works.
Is Holfernes the one that Judith gave milk to, and then drove a tent peg thru his head while he was asleep?
MEBuckner, Yersinia, Tomndebb and Shodan – many thanks for the answer! This one was driving me crazy. The reason the question came up is that there is an almost identical story in “Judges” (girl, general, tent peg), only the girl is named Jael and the general is Sistera. I was trying to figure out if the stories were one and the same. Thanks again.
Whoops! I just looked, and I see that, although both Judith and Jael killed an enemy general while he was asleep, Jael used a tent peg to dispatch Sistera, while Judith took the “easy” way out and chopped her guy’s head off. Plus, there are other significant differences. Isn’t bible scholarship fun?