Book of Judith may have a few facts wrong about its period setting, or I was simply confused, because it's set during the Nebuchadnezzar era but seems to have his associations all wrong, including references to Assyrians rather than Babylon, and set after the period of exile. Either way, the key figures in the story are Judith, naturally, and Holofernes. I learned this story originally from a painting in college, likely a Caravaggio, but we'll get to the reason why one specific image might be appropriate a little later.
Holofernes is the chief general of the army (whose army exactly we'll leave as a matter for some other time). Nebuchadnezzar (or whoever) has become angry with nation states who refused to help him in his time of need, even though he succeeded perfectly well without them in his military campaign, so he undertakes to teach them all a lesson. The Israelites learn that they're along this warpath, and dawn (for the first time in the Bible), ashes and sackcloth. During the course of this prelude material, the whole history of the Hebrews is recapped, minus any significant figures. Nebuchadnezzar wants to be worshiped as a god (like Egyptian, Roman, and Japanese rulers, for instance), and doesn't take kindly to any peoples who won't play along. The God of the Hebrews is described as the god of iniquity (in polytheistic cultures, it was common for individual gods to be associated with a particular attribute; the Hebrew God is said to have derived from a whole pantheon, and was originally a god of war, which would be hugely appropriate).
The "people of Esau" are referenced, which would once again indicate diverging traditions that once introduced in early books are no longer considered part of the Jewish record. They tell Holofernes how to defeat the Israelites, which namely is to make God angry with them.
Judith finally appears. She's a widow. She's extremely beautiful. She's also extremely faithful. She tells the rest of the Israelites that she has a plan. She takes offense when it's suggested that you can put God to the test. She says he's incomprehensible.
It occurred to me that Tolkien's dwarves in Middle Earth are a lot like the Jews of this period. Probably deliberate on his part.
She invokes God's testing, rather, of Abraham and Jacob. She prays for strength. In a lot of ways, she is a Jesus figure, although I would have to significantly digress to fully explore that assertion. More simply, she might be considered a Mary figure. She's declared "blessed among women," much like Mary, for instance.
Judith sets out to seduce, trick, and assassinate Holofernes. She cuts off his head. This part of the story evokes the Medusa myth. It also makes for a distinctive painting. It makes for an unusually funny line in the Bible, too: "For look, here is Holofernes lying on the ground, and his head is not on him!"
She sings a song, which includes the lines, "the sons of the Titans," making it all the more clear that whoever composed this book definitely knew their Greek myths. Actually, the extant translation is a Greek one, so perhaps some of these things were simply grafted on after the fact.
"Thou didst send forth thy Spirit." Christians will recognize the third member of the Holy Trinity in that line.
Book of Esther features another heroic woman from the general exile era. It's a story featured in the recent movie One Night with the King, and I've also seen high school one-act stage productions of it, so you don't really need to be religious to know it.
This is the era of Artaxerxes. The Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, exile era is stated, so that much is clearer in this book. Our story concerns the faithful Jew Mordecai and his cousin Esther, whom he adopted as a daughter. Both of them end up tangled in the life of a king whose name I won't bother to record, because it isn't nearly as well-known as either of theirs, or the wicked Haman, who is the Iago of this piece.
Basically, Mordecai saves the king's life, and Esther ends up becoming the new queen. The two events are unrelated, but they become fortuitous when Haman seeks to assert his own power as the king's right-hand man by having revenge on Mordecai for showing him disrespect that the Jew could not have avoided and still be faithful to God. Haman eventually decides that all Jews must die. Esther must reveal her previously hidden faith as she moves to spare Mordecai's life, and in turn saves all of her people. It's also a story Jews of the modern era might recognize in the story of Oskar Schindler during the Holocaust.
The book seems a little cobbled together, different from the repetition of a story from oral tradition in that when things are restated it's not really in the sense of emphasis. Like Kings and Chronicles, the repeated statements don't always seem aware that they aren't being completely accurate with one another.
Hades is referenced. Hades is the God of the underworld in Greek mythology. The name has also been used as synonymous with Hell.
Sackcloth and ashes appear again.
The story is also an excellent way to explore a melting pot population and the conflicting results from trying to reconcile cultural differences.
"All-seeing God and Savior," which is an interesting description. God is described as changing the mood of the king, to make him more willing to listen to Esther. Previously in the Bible, whenever God interfered like that, he made the recipient more "hard-hearted."
The changing fortunes of Mordecai might also be interpreted through the lens of Jesus, especially during the Passion. Again, this would cause a considerable digression to more fully explain. Parallels of this kind would have been excellent selling points to intellectuals interested in embracing Christianity as the new state religion, as the Romans did. The poetry and romanticism even in the midst of tragedy would help explain how Jesus could be interpreted as the Greatest Story Ever Told, something far more resonant than the regional faith of a wandering people. It would be naive to assume Constantine at that point in Christian development adopted the emerging religion for anything more than strategic worth. The story of Esther would certainly illuminate the advantages of such a move.
This whole book also establishes the holiday of Purim.
It's interesting that Mordecai begins the book with a vision, and then at the end of it interprets it. The Bible would be easier to read today if all such visions had been explained like that. The very last part of the book also references Ptolemy and Cleopatra, among the last significant remnants of the once-great Egyptian race, following the conquests of Alexander the Great.
Book of Job is famous, too, although the way it's told may be different than most people would expect. "Sons of God," Satan among them, consult with him about the figure of Job, who is good and faithful in the midst of having every earthly advantage. What if they are taken away? Will he curse God?
Leviathan is referenced.
This is the first of the philosophical works in the Bible. It's strong that such things exist and no one really thinks of that, much as they don't think of all the war that happens in it. It also seems to be a theological study.
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