The Old Testament is filled with inspiring tales of piety and prophetic foreshadowings of Christ. The books of Ruth, Judith, and Esther are no exception. Each of these recounts the story of a woman who distinguished herself by her devout deeds and trust in God: Ruth, by abandoning her pagan homeland and uniting herself to the true religion, thus meriting to become an ancestor of the Messiah; Judith, by slaying the proud tyrant Holofernes like David slew Goliath; and Esther, by saving the Jewish people from a savage persecution and exalting the name of God among the heathen.
Although the early Church Fathers frequently mentioned these three women as symbols of the Church, the first complete commentary on the books was only produced in the ninth century by Rabanus Maurus, known as the “teacher of Germany.” Drawing on the writings of earlier saints like Augustine, Gregory, and Bede, Rabanus composed a verse-by-verse explanation of the allegorical meaning of each book, admirably proving the truth of Christ’s words: “Search the scriptures: they are they which testify of Me.”
