THE BOOK OF JUDITH
Lesson 7
Chapters 12-13
Judith and Genral Holofernes (continued)
Judith is the heroine God sent to save His people. According to Christian tradition, the significant point is that God and His covenant people's enemy will be defeated by a woman. The Church's liturgy reflects this when it applies to the Blessed Virgin Mary the praise that Uzziah gave to Judith: "The Lord has blessed you with his power because through you he has overcome our enemies. The Lord has blessed you, my daughter, more than any other woman in the world" (Divine Office, for August 15th, cf. shorter reading; Jdt 13:18): "You are the glory of Jerusalem! The joy of Israel! The pride of our race!" (Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ad Laudes, second antiphon; cf. 15:9).
Judith 12:1-9 ~ Judith Stays in the Camp Three Days
1 With that he had her brought in to where his silver dinner service was already
laid, and had his own food served to her and his own wine poured out for her. 2 But Judith said, "I would rather not eat this, in case I incur some
fault. What I have brought will be enough for me." 3 "Suppose your
provisions run out," Holofernes asked, "how could we get more of the same sort?
We have no one belonging to your race here." 4 "May your soul live,
my lord," Judith answered, "the Lord will have used me to accomplish his plan,
before your servant has finished these provisions." 5 Holofernes'
adjutants then took her to a tent where she slept until midnight. A little
before the morning watch, she got up. 6 She had already sent this
request to Holofernes, "Let my lord kindly give orders for your servant to be
allowed to go out and pray," 7 and Holofernes had ordered his guards
not to prevent her. She stayed in the camp for three days; she went out each
night to the valley of Bethulia and washed at the spring where the picket had
been posted. 8 As she went, she prayed to the Lord God of Israel to
guide her in her plan to relieve the children of her people. 9 Having
purified herself, she would return and stay in her tent until her meal was
brought her in the evening.
In the enemy camp, before putting her plan into action, Judith refuses Holofernes' offer of food and keeps her religious practice of prayer, ritual bathing, and fasting (12:5-9). That she is allowed to come and go from the camp will be important to her plan.
Judith's words throughout continue to have an ironic twist. When Holofernes asks her if she has enough food, and what is she runs out, she replies in verse 4, "May your soul live, my lord," Judith answered, "the Lord will have used me to accomplish his plan, before your servant has finished these provisions."
Verses 7-9 refer to ritual immersion for purification. Several Jewish sources describe ritual immersion pools (e.g., Sirach 34:25; 4Q Toharot A [4Q274] 2i 4-6; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 3.263; Mark 7:3-4; Luke 11:38), including archaeological discoveries of immersion pools used for Jewish ritual purification. These unrelated sources, including a manuscript from Qumran, a historical record from Josephus, and Gospel accounts, provide independent witnesses to a practice that appears to have been universal among Jews. Time and again, the Pentateuch calls for "bathing" in water (using the Hebrew verb r-h-w) as the manner whereby various sorts of ritual impurity are to be removed. By the 2nd century BC, during the time of the Maccabees, this form of ritual bathing appears to have come to be understood as full-body immersion in water.
Maccabees were a family of Jewish priests who overthrew Seleucid rule and established an independent Jewish dynasty in the Holy Land during the second and first centuries BC. According to 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, zeal for the Jewish religion drove this revolt, and the familiar holiday Hanukkah celebrates the purification of the Jerusalem Temple under their leadership.
Notice that Judith was present in the camp for 3 days, going out each night to wash in the nearby spring, so the guards are accustomed to seeing her go and return (verse 7). In sacred Scripture, the number 3 represents that which is solid, real, substantial, and in its completeness.This number also usually indicates something important or significant in God's plan of salvation, serving as a "signpost" in Scripture and prompting the reader to "pay attention" to the significance of the next event.The event on the 4th day will be the climax of Judith's mission.
Judith 12:10-20 ~ Judith at the Banquet of Holofernes
10 On the fourth day Holofernes gave a banquet, inviting only his own staff
and none of the other officers. 11 He said to Bagoas, the officer in
charge of his personal affairs, "Go and persuade that Hebrew woman you are
looking after to come and join us and eat and drink in our company. 12 We
shall be disgraced if we let a woman like this go without seducing her.* If we
do not seduce her, everyone will laugh at us!" 13 Bagoas then left
Holofernes and went to see Judith. "Would this young and lovely woman
condescend to come to my lord?" he asked. "She will occupy the seat of honor
opposite him, drink the joyful wine with us and be treated today like one of
the Assyrian ladies who stand in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar." 14 "Who am I,"
Judith replied, "to resist my lord? I shall not hesitate to do whatever he
wishes, and doing this will be my joy to my dying day." 15 So she
got up and put on her dress and all her feminine adornments. Her maid preceded
her, and on the floor in front of Holofernes spread the fleece which Bagoas had
given Judith for her daily use to lie on as she ate. 16 Judith came
in and took her place. The heart of Holofernes was ravished at the sight; his
very soul was stirred. He was seized with a violent desire to sleep with her;
and indeed, since the first day he saw her, he had been waiting for an
opportunity to seduce her. 17 "Drink then!" Holofernes said. "Enjoy
yourself with us!" 18 "I am delighted to do so, my lord, for since
my birth I have never felt my life more worthwhile than today." 19 She
took what her maid had prepared and ate and drank facing him. 20 Holofernes
was so enchanted with her that he drank far more wine than he had drunk on any
other day in his life. *literally "without enjoying her company" (euphemism for sexual seduction).
Holofernes organizes a lavish banquet, which Judith attends dressed in her fine clothes and jewels. She knows that this is the opportunity offered by God's providence. Judith continued to trust in God and keep the precepts of Mosaic Law, declining again to eat the food or drink that Holofernes offered because it was unclean according to the traditions of devout Jews (12:19).
The time to put her plan into action was approaching, and the banquet was the perfect opportunity offered by God's providence. The general planned to seduce Judith. Little did he know that Judith had other plans. Still, her attitude is one of humility and trust in God, and she acts toward the general in a very self-composed way.
In this passage, there is irony involving the word "lord." She speaks truthfully. As soon as her Lord accomplishes the victory through her, Holofernes will no longer be alive. When Judith is invited to the banquet, she replies, "Who am I to resist my lord? I shall not hesitate to do whatever he wishes, and doing this will be my joy to my dying day" (verse 14). Judith's "Lord" is not Holofernes, but her Lord God, Yahweh. At the banquet, Judith also tells Holofernes that she has never enjoyed life as much as on that day. That day, she, as God's instrument, will bring victory to her people.
The heart of Holofernes was ravished at the sight; his very soul was stirred. He
was seized with a violent desire to sleep with her; and indeed, since the first
day he saw her, he had been waiting for an opportunity to seduce her.
The power of Judith's beauty overwhelms Holofernes. He is overcome with desire for
her, and as a result, he drinks more wine in a single day than he has ever done before.
The general and his aides were reclining on low couches or divans draped with pelts while they ate; the prophets reproved this style (cf. Amos 6:4). Judith, however, reclines on fleeces piled on the floor, as though to imply a degree of austerity. She was fully in control of herself while the general drank himself senseless. St. Ambrose wrote about Judith: "What shall I say about sobriety? [...] If Judith had drunk (wine), she would have slept with the adulterer, but since she did not drink, the sobriety of that woman alone brought about an easy victory over the drunken armies" (De viduis, 7, 40).
Judith 13:1-10 ~ Judith is Left Alone With Holofernes
13 It grew late, and his staff hurried away. Bagoas closed the tent from the outside,
having shown out those who still lingered in his lord's presence. They went to
their beds wearied with too much drinking, 2 and Judith was left
alone in the tent with Holofernes, who had collapsed wine-sodden on his bed.
3 Judith then told her maid to stay just outside the bedroom and wait for
her to come out, as she did every morning. She had let it be understood she
would be going out to her prayers and had also spoken of her intention to
Bagoas. 4 By now everyone had left Holofernes, and no one, either
important or unimportant, was left in the bedroom. Standing beside the bed,
Judith murmured to herself: Lord God, to whom all strength belongs, prosper
what my hands are now to do for the greater glory of Jerusalem; 5 now
is the time to recover your heritage and to further my plans to crush the
enemies arrayed against us. 6 With that she went up to the bedpost
by Holofernes' head and took down his scimitar [akinate]; 7 coming
closer to the bed she caught him by the hair and said, Make me strong today,
Lord God of Israel!' 8 Twice she struck at his neck with all her
might, and cut off his head. 9 She then rolled his body off the bed
and pulled down the canopy from the bedposts. After which, she went out and
gave the head of Holofernes to her maid 10 who put it in her food
bag. The two then left the camp together, as they always did when they went to
pray. Once they were out of the camp, they skirted the ravine, climbed the
slope to Bethulia and made for the gates.
Holofernes' drunkenness gave Judith the providential opportunity to act to save her people. Before acting, Judith said a short prayer (12:4-5). There is no sense of hatred or vengeance in her prayer "she is simply acting as God's agent to defend His people and the Jerusalem Temple. Her prayer recalls the Psalms of national lamentation (cf. Ps 79:6-7; 83:9-15; also see Sir 36:1-17).
Judith takes up Holofernes' "scimitar," akinate in the Greek text, a Persian word for a short sword worn at the belt by archers and light infantry. She says another short prayer (verse 7), and strikes twice, successfully cutting off his head. There are parallels with the accounts of Sisera's death at the hands of Jael (Judg 4:21) and Goliath's death at the hands of David (1 Sam 17:49-51), where those who rely on their own strength are defeated by those who turn only to God for His help.
Before Holofernes' men can discover what has happened, Judith and her maid servant make their way out of the camp, carrying the general's head in the bag she carried every day, and therefore drawing no undue attention. They return to Bethulia with Holofernes' severed head.
Judith 13:11-18 ~ Judith Brings the Head of Holofernes to Bethulia
11 From a distance, Judith shouted to the guards on the gates, Open the
gate! Open! For the Lord our God is with us still, displaying his strength in
Israel and his might against our enemies, as he has done today!' 12 Hearing
her voice, the townsmen hurried down to the town gate and summoned the elders.
13 Everyone, great and small, came running down, since her arrival
was unexpected. They threw the gate open, welcomed the women, lit a fire to see
by, and crowded round them. 14 Then Judith raised her voice and
said, "Praise God! Praise him! Praise the God who has not withdrawn his mercy
from the House of Israel, but has shattered our enemies by my hand tonight!"
15 She pulled the head out of the bag and held it for them to see. "This is
the head of Holofernes, general-in-chief of the Assyrian army; here is the
canopy under which he lay drunk! The Lord has struck him down by the hand of a
woman! 16 Glory to the Lord who has protected me in the course I
took! My face seduced him, only to his own undoing; he committed no sin with me
to shame me or disgrace me." 17 Overcome with emotion, the people
all prostrated themselves and worshipped God, exclaiming with one voice, "Blessings
on you, our God, for confounding your people's enemies today!" 18 Uzziah
then said to Judith: "May you be blessed, my daughter, by God Most High, beyond
all women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth,
who guided you to cut off the head of the leader of our enemies! 19 The
trust which you have shown will not pass from human hearts, as they commemorate
the power of God for evermore. 20 God grant you may be always held
in honor and rewarded with blessings, since you did not consider your own life
when our nation was brought to its knees, but warded off our ruin, walking in
the right path before our God." And the people all said, "Amen! Amen!"
Before dawn on the 5th day, set as Uzziah's limit before surrendering to the enemy (7:30/23), Judith announces liberation to her people of Bethulia. She praises God and calls out the good news in three statements, each more specific than the last. Then, she pulls the severed head of Holofernes from her bag as proof of the victory (verses 14-16)!
18 Uzziah then said to Judith: May you
be blessed, my daughter, by God Most High, beyond all women on earth; and
blessed be the Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth, who guided you to cut off
the head of the leader of our enemies!
In Uzziah's speech, the reference to striking the enemy's head (verse 18) contains
an echo of the Protoevangelium in Genesis 3:15 where Yahweh said to the serpent,
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and
hers; they will strike at your head, while you will strike at their heel" (NABRE).
The antecedent for "they" and "their" is the collective noun "seed/offspring,"
meaning all the descendants of the woman. Christian tradition sees this passage
as more than unending enmity between snakes and humans. The snake is identified
with Satan, the devil (Wis 2:24; Jn 8:44;
Rev 12:9; 20:2),
whose final defeat is implied. Christians call the passage the "Protoevangelium," the "first good
news," because it implies the eventual defeat of Satan. The Son of God, born
from a woman, was revealed to destroy the works of the devil
(1 Jn 3:8).
It is the first promise of a redeemer for fallen humanity. Church Fathers like St.
Irenaeus interpreted the verse as referring to Jesus and cited
Galatians 3:19 and 4:4
to support the reference (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5.21.1). St.
Jerome gave another interpretive translation in his Latin Vulgate, translating ipsa
as "she." The pronoun was thought to refer to the Virgin Mary, mother of
the Messiah. In Christian art, Mary is sometimes depicted with her foot on the serpent's head.
Judith is not mentioned in the New Testament; however, there is a significant allusion to her in the Gospel of St. Luke when Elizabeth addresses her cousin, the Virgin Mary, with the same greeting as Uzziah makes to Judith in verse 18: "Blessed are you among women" (Lk 1:42). Because of this expression and other qualities of Judith, the tradition of the Church sees Judith as a type of Mary. The Catechism 489 reads, "... throughout the Old Covenant the mission of many holy women prepared' for that of Mary." And, in the Divine Office, some passages which sing of this Jewish heroine are applied to the Blessed Virgin (cf. 13:18-20; 15:9).
19 The trust which you have shown will not pass from human hearts, as they
commemorate the power of God for evermore. 20 God grant you may be
always held in honor and rewarded with blessings, since you did not consider
your own life when our nation was brought to its knees, but warded off our
ruin, walking in the right path before our God." And the people all said, "Amen!
Amen!"
At the hour of victory, both the instrument of God's salvation and those saved offer
praise to God, who has saved them from their enemy. The blessings for God and Judith
by Uzziah and the people form a three-fold beatitude (verses 17-20):
In agreement, the townspeople shouted out a double, "Amen!" Amen is often interpreted as meaning "it is so" or "I believe." However, it is a Hebrew acrostic formed from the first letters of three Hebrew words, El Melech Ne'eman, which means, "God is a trustworthy king" (Talmud: Shabbat 119b; The Jewish Book of Why, page 152). This is why "Amen" is used as a title for Jesus in Revelation 3:14: The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God's creation, says this ..." (NABRE). "Amen" appears for the first time in the Bible in the Book of Numbers 5:22, and for the last time in Revelation 22:21.
Catechism references:
Christ, the definitive amen of the Father's love (CCC 1065)
How Christians use the word amen in the liturgy of worship
(CCC 1062-64, 1348,
1396, 2856, 2865)
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