78.5″ x 48″ or 198cm x 122cm. Byzantine Smalti, Ceramic tiles on Border. Honeycomb panel, 2012
This is the first scene in the Apocryphal story of Judith. When the Bethulia Magistrates, exhausted and starving propose surrender to the Assyrians, Judith summons the town magistrates to her house. In this mosaic Judith insists that God will not disdain Israel and that capture by the Assyrians will mean apostasy, slavery, and destruction of the Jerusalem sanctuary. Unable to convince the town officials, Judith volunteers to solve the problem independently by doing something all future generations will remember.
