Judith

In this post we tell Judith’s story. The author deals very freely with time and place context, not respecting historical chronology and probably inventing the city of Bethulia, in which Judith dwells. Judith herself is probably the feminine personification of the Judaic people that is faithful to the Lord.

King Nebuchadnezzar decides to have a revenge of all the people that did not help him in his successful war against the Medes. Among them there are the Jews, who have just returned from their exile. «Holofernes the chief captain of his army» has to inflict the king’s punishment, with numerous footmen and riders at his orders. Nobody can resist him and he arrives at the mountain fortifications that guard the access to Judea. Holofernes asks information about its inhabitants. «Then Achior, the leader of all the children of Ammon, said to him, “Let my lord now hear a word from the mouth of your servant, and I will tell you the truth concerning these people who dwell in this hill country, near to the place where you dwell. No lie will come out of the mouth of your servant. [...] And now they have returned to their God, and have come up from the dispersion where they were dispersed, and have possessed Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and are seated in the hill country; for it was desolate. And now, my lord and master, if there is any error in this people, and they sin against their God, we will consider what this thing is in which they stumble, and we will go up and overcome them. But if there is no lawlessness in their nation, let my lord now pass by, lest their Lord defend them, and their God be for them, and we will be a reproach before all the earth.”». Achior knows very well the Elected People’s story and their God «who hates iniquity» and deliveries them to the enemies only when they sin. Holofernes, however, is too sure of his forces and mocks Achior: «Then my servants will bring you back into the hill country, and will set you in one of the cities of the ascents. You will not perish until you are destroyed with them. And if you hope in your heart that they will not be taken, don’t let your countenance fall».

Holofernes begins the siege of the city of Bethulia, so that its inhabitants surrender to hunger and thirst and he could open up a way for the conquest of Judea. «In those days Judith heard about this. She was the daughter of Merari [...]. Her husband was Manasses, of her tribe and of her family. He died in the days of barley harvest. [...] Judith was a widow in her house three years and four months. She made herself a tent upon the roof of her house, and put on sackcloth upon her loins. The garments of her widowhood were upon her. And she fasted all the days of her widowhood, except the eves of the Sabbaths, the Sabbaths, the eves of the new moons, the new moons, and the feasts and joyful days of the house of Israel. She was of a goodly countenance, and exceeding beautiful to behold. [...] No one said anything evil about her; for she feared God exceedingly». Judith, amid the despair of her fellow citizens, continues to trust in the Lord and in the power of prayer. She proposes herself to the city governor as an instrument of God’s Providence, without revealing the details of her plan. Then she speaks to the Lord a heartfelt prayer: «Strike by the deceit of my lips the servant with the prince, and the prince with his servant. Break down their stateliness by the hand of a woman. For your power stands not in multitude, nor your might in strong men: but you are a God of the afflicted. You are a helper of the oppressed, an upholder of the weak, a protector of the forlorn, a savior of those who are without hope». Leveraging on her uncommon beauty, she goes into the enemy camp and gains Holofernes’ trust. She decapitates him with his own scimitar, while he is in bed sleeping off the aftereffects of a big drunk.

 

 

She secretly carries his head to Bethulia (it will be exposed on the city walls the next morning). «Behold, the head of Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Asshur, and behold, the canopy, in which he laid in his drunkenness. The Lord struck him by the hand of a woman. And as the Lord lives, who preserved me in my way that I went, my countenance deceived him to his destruction, and he didn’t commit sin with me, to defile and shame me». Even Achior, who took refuge in Bethulia, is amazed by the fact and decides to convert to Judaism.

The enemy army, having found in the morning that their captain is dead, is confused and scared. The Jews, who also called for reinforcement, can easily defeat them. «And Judith began to sing this song of thanksgiving in all Israel, and all the people sang with loud voices this song of praise. Judith said,“Begin a song to my God with timbrels. Sing to my Lord with cymbals. Make melody to him psalm and praise. Exalt him, and call upon his name. For the Lord is the God that crushes battles. For in his armies in the midst of the people, he delivered me out of the hand of those who persecuted me […]”». «But after these days, everyone departed to his own inheritance. Judith went away to Bethulia, and remained in her own possession, and was honorable in her time in all the land. [...] She increased in greatness exceedingly; and she grew old in her husband’s house, to one hundred five years [...]. There was no one that made the children of Israel afraid any more in the days of Judith, nor a long time after her death». In the next post we will tell Esther’s story.