Daniel and Susanna Painting two lecherous Jewish elders by Guido Reni

Jewish Elders

two lecherous Jewish elders 

Susanna tells how Daniel saves the reputation of a young Jewish girl when two lecherous Jewish elders condemn her to death, supposedly for unchastity, but actually because she resisted their advances. Daniel's clever cross-examination unmasks their evil and leads to their deaths. The story is unique in that the villains are Jews instead of heathens; it may have been written as a polemic by the Pharisees against the Saducees, who, according to their opponents, were abusing their control of the courts