The Return · Not dated
Chapter 8
Judith
Judith is in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles; most Protestant Bibles leave it out or print it apart as the Apocrypha.
For your power stands not in numbers, nor your might in strong men, but you are a God of the afflicted. You are a helper of the oppressed, a helper of the weak, a protector of the forsaken, a savior of those who are without hope.
For parents
In her prayer Judith recalls how foreigners forced themselves on Dinah and how Simeon took vengeance with the sword, killing their rulers and carrying off their wives and daughters (Judith 9:2–4; Genesis 34). She asks God to strike down the enemy through her deceit (9:10, 13), and the Assyrian soldiers say none of Israel’s men should be left alive (10:19). None of it is described in detail.
In those days heard about all this. She was the daughter of , and her family line ran back through many generations to Salasadai, the son of . Her husband, , was from her own tribe and family. He had died at the barley harvest. He was standing in the field, watching over the workers as they tied the grain into bundles, when the burning heat overcame him. He fell into bed and died in his town, . They buried him in the field between Dothaim and Balamon, with his ancestors.
Judith had been a widow in her house for three years and four months. She had made herself a tent on the flat roof of her house, and she wore around her waist and a widow’s clothes. All the time she was a widow she , except on and and the days before them, and on the feasts and joyful days of Israel’s people. She was very beautiful, lovely to look at. Manasses had left her gold and silver, men and women servants, cattle and fields, and she stayed on her land. No one said a bad word about her, because she feared God greatly.
Because they were fainting from thirst, the people had said bad things against their ruler, and Judith heard them. She heard all that had said to them, and how he had sworn to hand the city over to the after five days. So she sent her maid, who was in charge of everything she owned, to call Ozias, Chabris and Charmis, the of her city.
They came, and she said, “Listen to me, you leaders of Bethulia! What you told the people today is not right. You swore an oath between God and yourselves, and promised to hand the city over to our enemies unless the Lord turns to help you before the days are up. Who are you to test God today, and to stand in God’s place among human beings? Go on, test the Lord Almighty! You will never find out anything. You can’t see to the bottom of a human heart or read a person’s thoughts. Then how can you understand God, who made all this? How can you know his mind or grasp his purpose? No, my brothers, don’t make the Lord our God angry!
“If he has not decided to help us in these five days, he still has the power to defend us whenever he wishes, or to destroy us in front of our enemies. Don’t try to tie down the plans of the Lord our God! God can’t be threatened like a human being, or won over by begging. So let’s wait for him to save us, and call on him to help us. He will hear our voice, if it pleases him.
“In the old days, our people worshiped gods made by human hands. But in our lifetime no tribe or clan of ours, no family or town, has done that, and none does it today. That was why our ancestors were handed over to be killed and robbed, and why our enemies struck them down so terribly. But we know no other god besides him, so we hope he will not turn his back on us or on any of our people. If we are captured, all will be captured, and our will be plundered. When it is made unholy, God will make us pay for it with our blood. Wherever we are slaves among the nations, he will hold us responsible for the killing of our people, the capture of our land and the ruin of our inheritance. Those who take us as their property will scorn and mock us. Our slavery will win us no favor; the Lord our God will turn it to shame.
“So now, my brothers, let’s be an example to our people, because their lives depend on us, and so do the sanctuary, the Lord’s house and the . Besides all this, let’s thank the Lord our God, who is testing us, as he tested our ancestors too. Remember all he did to , all the ways he tested , and all that happened to in , when he looked after the sheep of his mother’s brother, . He has not tested us by fire as he tested them, to see what was in their hearts, and he has not taken vengeance on us. The Lord strikes those who are close to him, to warn them.”
Ozias answered, “Everything you have said comes from a good heart, and no one will argue with your words. We have seen your wisdom before today. All your life the people have known how wise you are, because your heart is good. But the people were terribly thirsty. They forced us to make them that promise, and to take an oath we will not break. Now pray for us, because you are a godly woman, and the Lord will send rain to fill our , and we will not faint any more.”
“Listen to me,” said Judith. “I am going to do something that will be told among our people for all generations to come. All of you, stand at the gate tonight, and I will go out with my maid. You said you would hand the city to our enemies after five days. Before those days are over, the Lord will rescue Israel by my hand. But don’t ask what I am going to do. I won’t tell you until it is finished.”
“Go in peace,” Ozias and the rulers said to her. “May the Lord God go ahead of you, to take vengeance on our enemies.” Then they left her tent and went back to their posts.
Then Judith bowed with her face to the ground. She put ashes on her head, and she uncovered the sackcloth she had on. At that hour the evening was being offered in God’s house in . And Judith cried out to the Lord in a loud voice.
Her ancestor was one of Jacob’s sons. Long before, , a ruler’s son, had forced himself on Simeon’s sister . Afterward Simeon and his brother took their swords, attacked Shechem’s town and killed its men, Shechem among them.
“Lord God of my ancestor Simeon,” she prayed, “you put a sword in his hand to take vengeance on the foreigners who forced themselves on a young woman, to defile and disgrace her. You had said, ‘This must not be done,’ and they did it. So you handed their rulers over to be killed, and their bed to be dyed with blood. You struck down the servants with their masters, and the masters on their thrones. You gave their wives as plunder and their daughters as captives, and all their goods to be shared among your dear children. They were full of zeal for you. They were horrified that their own flesh and blood had been defiled, and they called on you to help them. O God, O my God, hear me too, a widow.”
She went on:
You did what came before those things,and those things, and what came after.You planned what is now and what is still to come,and what you planned came about.The things you decided stood before you and said,“Look, we are here! All your ways are ready,and you judge knowing everything ahead of time.”Look, the Assyrians have grown great in their power.They boast of their horses and riders,and are proud of their strong foot soldiers.They trust in shield, spear, bow and sling,not knowing that you are the Lord who puts an end to wars.“The Lord” is your name.Break their strength with your power;bring down their might in your anger.Because they mean to make your sanctuary unholy,to defile the dwelling where your glorious name rests,and to destroy the horn of your altar with the sword.Look at their pride, and send your anger on their heads.Give my hand, a widow’s hand, the strength to do what I have planned.By my deceiving words, strike down the servant along with the prince,and the prince along with his servant.Bring down their arrogance by the hand of a woman.Your power does not rest on numbers, or your might on strong men.You are the God of those who suffer.You help the mistreated and the weak,you protect the abandoned, and you save those who have no hope.Please, please, God of my father and God of Israel’s inheritance,Lord of heaven and earth, Maker of the waters,King of everything you made: hear my prayer!Let my words and my deceit be wounds and bruisesto those who plan harsh things against your ,your holy house, the top of ,and the home that belongs to your children.Make every nation and tribe of yours know that you are God,the God of all power and might,and that no one but you protects Israel’s people.
When she had said all these words and was done calling to the God of Israel, Judith got up from where she had been lying face down. She called for her maid, then went down into the house she lived in on Sabbaths and feast days. She pulled off the sackcloth she had been wearing and took off her widow’s clothes. She washed all over with water and rubbed herself with costly perfumed oil. She braided her hair and set a tiara on it, and she put on the clothes she used to wear in happy times, while her husband Manasses was alive. She put on her sandals, her anklet, bracelets, rings, earrings and all her jewelry. She made herself very beautiful, to deceive the eyes of every man who would see her.
She gave her maid a wineskin and a jar of oil. She filled a sack with roasted grain, pressed figs and fine bread. She packed all her dishes together and loaded her maid with them.
They went out to the gate of Bethulia and found Ozias and the town’s elders, Chabris and Charmis, standing by it. When the men saw how changed her face was, and how different her clothes were, they were amazed at her beauty. “May the God of our ancestors give you favor,” they said, “and make your plans succeed, for the glory of Israel’s people, and to lift Jerusalem high.”
Judith worshiped God. “Have the gate opened for me,” she said, “and I will go out and do what we talked about.” They told the young men to open it for her, as she had asked, and they did. Then Judith went out, and her maid with her. The men of the city watched her go down the mountain and across the valley, until they could see her no more.
They went straight on through the valley, and Assyrian lookouts met Judith and seized her. “What people are you from?” they asked. “Where are you coming from? Where are you going?”
“I am a daughter of the ,” she said, “and I am running away from them, because they are about to be handed to you to be destroyed. I am going to , your army’s commander, to tell him the truth. I will show him a way to go and win all the hill country without losing a single man, not one life.”
The men listened, looked at her face, and were astonished at how beautiful she was. “You have saved your life by hurrying here to our master,” they said. “Come to his tent now. Some of us will lead you until you are in his hands. When you stand before him, don’t be afraid. Tell him what you just said, and he will treat you well.” They chose a hundred of their men to go with her and her maid, and they brought them to Holofernes’ tent.
There was great excitement all through the camp, because word of her coming went around the tents. They came and crowded around her as she stood outside Holofernes’ tent, until he had been told about her. They marveled at her beauty, and marveled at Israel’s people because of her. “Who would look down on a people with women like these among them?” they said to each other. “It would not be good to leave a single one of their men alive. If they are let go, they will be able to deceive the whole earth.”
Then Holofernes’ guards and all his servants came out and brought her into the tent. Holofernes lay on his bed, resting. Over it hung a canopy woven with purple and gold, emeralds and precious stones. When they told him about her, he came out into the open space in front of his tent, with silver lamps carried ahead of him. When Judith came before him and his servants, they all marveled at how beautiful her face was. She bowed down before him with her face to the ground, but his servants lifted her up. And so Judith stood face to face with Holofernes.