THE BOOK OF JUDITH
Lesson 5
Chapters 8-9
PART II
Judith Confronts The Elders Of Bethulia and
Judith's Prayer To God To Use Her In Delivering Her People From Thier Enemies
The second part of the book describes how God intervenes to save His repentant covenant people. War has been declared between Yahweh and the false god of the foreign army. Each divinity has a human representative. Yahweh's representative is introduced with the entrance of a young, pious, virtuous, and beautiful widow named Judith. Some scholars believe her name means "Jewess"; however, the name first appears as the daughter of Berri the Hittite, who was the wife of Esau, the brother of Jacob (cf. Gen 26:34), and most certainly was not a member of the covenant people.
Judith enters the narrative when the Assyrians have cut off the water supply of Bethulia, the town at the entrance of the narrow corridor leading to Jerusalem (Judith 7:7, 4:7). The siege, which has lasted 34 days, has made the people fractious, thirsty, and bitter (Judith 7:20, 29). Uzziah, the chief elder, and the town's other magistrates succumb to the townspeople's demands and say they will surrender to the Assyrians in five days unless the Lord takes pity on them and comes to their aid (Judith 7:29-30).
Judith, Yahweh's Instrument of Salvation (8:1-10:10)
Judith 8:1-8 ~ The Description of Judith
1 Judith was informed at the time of what had happened. She was the daughter of Merari
son of Ox, son of Joseph, son of Oziel, son of Elkiah, son of Ananias, son of
Gideon, son of Raphaim, son of Ahitub, son of Elijah, son of Hilkiah, son of
Eliab, son of Nathanael, son of Salamiel, son of Sarasadai, son of Israel. 2
Her husband Manasseh, of her own tribe and family, had died at the time
of the barley harvest. 3 He was supervising the men as they bound up
the sheaves in the field when he caught sunstroke and had to take to his bed.
He died in Bethulia, his home town, and was buried with his ancestors in the
field that lies between Dothan and Balamon. 4 As a widow, Judith
stayed inside her home for three years and four months. 5 She had
had an upper room built for herself on the roof. She wore sackcloth next to the
skin and dressed in widow's weeds. 6 She fasted every day of her
widowhood except for the Sabbath eve, the Sabbath itself, the eve of New Moon,
the feast of New Moon and the joyful festivals of the House of Israel. 7 Now
she was very beautiful, charming to see. Her husband Manasseh had left her gold
and silver, menservants and maidservants, herds and land; and she lived among
all her possessions 8 without anyone finding a word to say against
her, so devoutly did she fear God.
Judith's genealogy in verse is one of the longest in the Old Testament, extending back 16 generations. Her genealogy makes it clear that she is a descendant of the covenant people who can trace her lineage back to Simeon, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. We are told that she is a member of the tribe of Simeon (9:2), one of the twelve sons of Jacob-Israel. The name Salamiel (Shelumiel) appears in Numbers 1:6 as a leader in the tribe of Simeon. Judith's dead husband, Manasseh, also belonged to the tribe of Simeon. It was the custom for devout Jews to marry within their own clan (cf. Tob 4:12). Judith's husband died of sunstroke during the barley harvest, which he was supervising, leaving Judith a childless widow. Widows are significant in Scripture. Mosaic Law made them objects of special concern (cf. Dt 10:18; 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:17-21; 26:12-13; 27:19). They are among those who know that they must rely on God; therefore, they are under His special protection (Dt 10:17-19 compared to 24:18, 22). The genealogy of Israel's greatest king, David, was shaped by the lives of two courageous widows, Naomi and Ruth (see the Book of Ruth).
Judith 8:9-27 ~ Judith Confronts the Elders
9 Hearing how the water shortage had demoralized the people and how they had
complained bitterly to the headman of the town, and being also told what Uzziah
had said to them and how he had given them his oath to surrender the town to
the Assyrians in five days' time, 10 Judith immediately sent the
serving-woman who ran her household to summon Chabris and Charmis, two elders
of the town. 11 When these came in she said:
"Listen
to me, leaders of the people of Bethulia. You were wrong to speak to the people
as you did today and to bind yourself by oath, in defiance of God, to surrender
the town to our enemies if the Lord did not come to your help within a set
number of days. 12 Who are you, to put God to the test today, you,
of all people, to set yourselves above him? 13 You put the Lord
Almighty to the test! You do not understand anything, and never will. 14 If
you cannot sound the depths of the human heart or unravel the arguments of the
human mind, how can you fathom the God who made all things, or sound his mind
or unravel his purposes? No, brothers, do not provoke the anger of the Lord our
God. 15 Although it may not be his will to help us within the next
five days, he has the power to protect us for as many days as he pleases, just
as he has the power to destroy us before our enemies. 16 But you
have no right to demand guarantees where the designs of the Lord our God are
concerned. For God is not to be threatened as a human being is, nor is he, like
a mere human, to be cajoled. 17 Rather, as we wait patiently for him
to save, let us plead with him to help us. He will hear our voice if such is
his good pleasure. 18 And indeed of recent times and still today
there is not one tribe of ours, or family, or village, or town that has
worshipped gods made by human hand, as once was done, 19 which was
the reason why our ancestors were delivered over to sword and sack, and
perished in misery at the hands of our enemies. 20 We for our part
acknowledge no other God but him; and so we may hope he will not look on us
disdainfully or desert our nation. 21 If indeed they capture us, as
you expect, then all Judaea will be captured too, and our holy places
plundered, and we shall answer with our blood for their profanation. 22 The
slaughter of our brothers, the captivity of our country, the unpeopling of our
heritage, will recoil on our own heads among the nations whose slaves we shall
become, and our new masters will look down on us as an outrage and a disgrace;
23 for our surrender will not reinstate us in their favor; no, the
Lord our God will make it a thing to be ashamed of. 24 So now,
brothers, let us set an example to our brothers, since their lives depend on
us, and the sanctuary "Temple and altar "rests on us. 25 All this
being so, let us rather give thanks to the Lord our God who, as he tested our
ancestors, is now testing us. 26 Remember how he treated Abraham,
all the ordeals of Isaac, all that happened to Jacob in Syrian Mesopotamia
while he kept the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother. 27 For as
these ordeals were intended by him to search their hearts, so now this is not
vengeance that God is exacting on us, but a warning inflicted by the Lord on
those who are near his heart."
Upon hearing about Uzziah and the other leaders of Bethulia's plan to surrender in five days, Judith summons the elders to the upper room of her home instead of going to them (Judith 8:10). She scolds them for testing God (Judith 8:11-12). She urges them to set an example of faith in God and declares she has a plan to save Bethulia, Jerusalem, the Temple, and the people. The ordeal they are facing is intended to test their faith and is not vengeance for past failures. She tells them that their struggles are "but a warning inflicted by the Lord on those who are near his heart" (verse 27).
There are three parts to Judith's speech:
Three religious principles support Judith's speech:
These same principles can be found elsewhere in the Bible; for example:
The same principles are also found in the New Testament and Christian tradition regarding suffering being a warning and a call to greater Christian perfection: "Suffering must serve for conversion, that is, for the rebuilding of goodness in the subject, who can recognize the divine mercy in this call to repentance. The purpose of penance is to overcome evil, which under different forms lies dormant in man. Its purpose is also to strengthen goodness both in man himself and in his relationship with others and especially with God" (St. John Paul II, Salvifici doloris, 12).
We can appreciate that in Judith's speech, her personality unites with what is the best that God expects of His covenant people. She is the ideal believer in the God of her ancestors.
Judith 8:28-35 ~ Uzziah's Response and Judith's Reply
28 Uzziah replied, "Everything you have just said comes from an honest heart
and no one will contradict a word of it. 29 Not that today is the
first time your wisdom has been displayed; from your earliest years all the
people have known how shrewd you are and of how sound a heart. 30 But,
parched with thirst, the people forced us to act as we had promised them and to
bind ourselves by an inviolable oath. 31 You are a devout woman;
pray to the Lord, then, to send us a downpour to fill our storage-wells, so
that our faintness may pass."
32 Judith replied, "Listen to me, I intend to do something, the memory of
which will be handed down to the children of our race from age to age. 33 Tonight
you must be at the gate of the town. I shall make my way out with my attendant.
Before the time fixed by you for surrendering the town to our enemies, the Lord
will make use of me to rescue Israel. 34 You must not ask what I
intend to do; I shall not tell you until I have done it."
35 Uzziah and the chief men said, "Go in peace. May the Lord show you a way
to take revenge on our enemies." 36 And leaving the upper room they
went back to their posts.
Uzziah replies, praising Judith's wisdom, piety, and bravery. He urges her to pray to God for them. Judith declines to reveal her plan to the elders, probably because she fears they will try to impose their own plan upon her. Nevertheless, she proclaims that she intends "... to do something, the memory of which will be handed down to the children of our race from age to age (Judith 8:32). Not only do the leaders listen without interruption, but they promise to do her bidding (Judith 8:28-29).She demands that the gates be opened and that she and her maid be let out of the city (Judith 8:33, 10:9). She tells them that before the time fixed for surrendering Bethulia to the enemy, God will use her to rescue Israel, and she will reveal her plan to them when it is fulfilled (verse 34). After giving her their blessing, the elders return to their posts.
Judith 9:1-14 ~ Judith's Prayer to the Lord God
1 Judith threw herself face to the ground, scattered ashes on her head, undressed
as far as the sackcloth she was wearing, and cried loudly to the Lord. At the
same time in Jerusalem the evening incense was being offered in the Temple of
God. Judith said:
2 "Lord, God of my ancestor Simeon, you armed him with a sword to take vengeance on the foreigners
who had undone a virgin's belt to her shame, laid bare her thigh to her
confusion, violated her womb to her dishonor, since, though you said, This
must not be,' they did it. 3 For this you handed their leaders over
to slaughter, and their bed, defiled by their treachery, was itself betrayed in
blood. You struck the slaves with the chieftains and the chieftains with their
retainers. 4 You left their wives to be carried off, their daughters
to be taken captive, and their spoils to be shared out among the sons you
loved, who had been so zealous for you, had loathed the stain put on their
blood and called on you for help. O God, my God, now hear this widow too; 5
for you have made the past, and what is happening now, and what will
follow. What is, what will be, you have planned; what has been, you designed. 6
Your purposes stood forward; See, here we are!' they said. For all your
ways are prepared and your judgments delivered with foreknowledge. 7 See
the Assyrians, with their army abounding glorying in their horses and their
riders, exulting in the strength of their infantry. Trust as they may in shield
and spear, in bow and sling, in you they have not recognized the Lord, the
breaker of battle-lines; 8 yours alone is the title of Lord. Break
their violence with your might, in your anger bring down their strength. For
they plan to profane your holy places, to defile the tabernacle, the resting
place of your glorious name, and to hack down the horn of your altar. 9 Observe
their arrogance, send your fury on their heads, give the strength I have in
mind to this widow's hand. 10 By guile of my lips strike down slave
with master, and master with retainer. Break their pride by a woman's hand. 11
Your strength does not lie in numbers, nor your might in strong men;
since you are the God of the humble, the help of the oppressed, the support of
the weak, the refuge of the forsaken, the Savior of the despairing. 12 Please,
please, God of my father, God of the heritage of Israel, Master of heaven and
earth, Creator of the waters, King of your whole creation, hear my prayer. 13
Give me a beguiling tongue to wound and kill those who have formed such
cruel designs against your covenant, against your holy dwelling-place, against
Mount Zion, against the house belonging to your sons. 14 And
demonstrate to every nation, every tribe, that you are the Lord, God of all
power, all might, and that the race of Israel has no protector but you."
Judith makes two preparations for her war against Israel's enemy. The first is prayer, approaching the Lord in humble penance, prostrating herself and wearing sackcloth and ashes. Second, she times her prayer during the incense offering that begins the afternoon worship service in the Jerusalem Temple, thus uniting her prayer to the prayer of her covenant people in liturgical worship.
Judith begins her prayer at the same time as the evening (our afternoon; the day ended and began at sunset) incense offering and the sacrifice of the second Tamid lamb at the altar of God in the Jerusalem Temple. The second Tamid sacrifice took place in the Temple at the ninth hour, or 3 PM our time. In God's gift of divine Law and the Liturgy of worship to Israel at Mount Sinai, He ordained a single sacrifice as the center of the sacrificial system--the Tamid sacrifice. The Hebrew word "tamid" means "standing," as in perpetual or continual. The ritual of the sacrifice of two unblemished lambs (morning at 9 AM and evening at 3 PM), totally consumed in the altar fire, was a daily communal sacrifice for the atonement and sanctification of the covenant people and the focus of religious life for the Israelites in covenant union with the God of their forefathers. No other sacrifices were to take precedence over the Tamid sacrifice (Mishnah: Tamid, pages 862-872, Yale University Press, 1988; Ex 29:38-42; Lev 6:1-6 or in some translations 5:1-13; Num 28:3-8; 2 Kng 16:15).1
It will also be the same time Jesus will give up His life on the altar of the cross (Mk 15:34-39).2 See the book, "Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Sacrifice" at Amazon.com and the Gospel of Mark Lesson 10.
In her prayer, Judith illustrates three principles of executing a Holy War on behalf of Yahweh:
Based on these three principles, Judith places her petition before Yahweh, God of Israel.
Judith's actions to save her people recall the heroism of Jael (Yael) in Judges 4:17-22. She is the model of a true daughter of the covenant people of Israel. Her song of triumph in chapter 16 is the voice of the whole nation of Israel personified in one beautiful, virtuous, and pious Israelite woman.
Endnotes:
1. The mystery of the
single sacrifice of two unblemished Tamid lambs in the liturgy of Temple
worship is revealed in the Passion of the Christ: He who is fully man and fully
God. Jesus became the true Tamid Lamb that all past Tamid lambs prefigured.
Just as the unblemished Tamid lamb was the "standing" sacrifice
presented continually on the altar of sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple, Jesus
is the unblemished Lamb "standing" before the throne of God in the
heavenly Temple, offering a sacrifice that is continually made present on the
Eucharistic altar in the sacrifice of the Mass..
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2. The Hittites were an influential Anatolian (Indo-European)
civilization that dominated much of the Near East during the Bronze Age.
They were known for their military prowess and likely originated beyond the Black Sea,
settling in north-central Anatolia in the early 2nd millennium BC..
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Catechism reference:
Judith 9:2-14 (CCC 2585) "From the time of David to the coming of the Messiah,
texts appearing in these sacred books show a deepening in prayer for oneself and in prayer for others
(Ezra 9:6-15; Neh 1:4-11; Jonah 2:3-10; Tob 3:11-16; Jdt 9:2-14) ..."
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