These are a couple of random notes on the biblical story of Judith in two parts: In the first part, we will get to know her, and in the second part, we will try to learn a few simple secrets of saintly womanhood from her…
Only one or two things are left to say in advance: All quotes from Sacred Scripture are taken from the Douay-Rheims translation, which is a translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible into English originally published in 1582. This type of English is sometimes a bit harder to read, but good and spicy, just like old wine…
And in case you are by now already desperately looking for the book of Judith in your copy of the bible and just cannot find it anywhere, it is because your version is the Protestant one. Martin Luther has forever deprived all his Protestant children of eight biblical books and of two additions to biblical books which had been part of the biblical canon for centuries upon centuries before the so-called “Reformation“, and has thereby deprived them of the stories, characters, insights and narrated theology therein… But if you would like to read the whole book of Judith from chapter one to chapter sixteen for yourself, you can, of course, easily find it online.
I Who is Judith?
“Receive the widow Judith, example of chastity, and with triumphant praise acclaim her with eternal public celebration. For not only for women, but even for men, she has been given as a model by the one who rewards her chastity, who has ascribed to her such virtue that she conquered the unconquered among humanity, and surmounted the insurmountable.“
Saint Jerome
Thus, Saint Jerome, who, at the end of the 4th century, translated Sacred Scripture from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, introduces to us the woman Judith in his preface to the book that contains her remarkable story. This little summary hints at what Saint Jerome found to be the most outstanding features of her character and her story: a widow excelling in the virtue of chastity – of loving rightly with a purified will – , who did the impossible.
The widow Judith is the one, who, in times of a ruler conquering and dominating the whole world (king Nebuchadnezzar) – coming now for the last little nest of resistance, the people of Israel, through general Holofernes and his mighty army -, she is the one, who, in times of war, and of confusion, and of a vital threat to her home town Bethulia and her whole nation and their holy faith, cuts off Holofernes‘ head with the Almighty’s help and a sword in a prudent counter-attack at night time. For this heroic, courageous moment she is known best.
II A time of total warfare, and of total despair
What does the book of Judith tell us about the concrete historical situation she and her people were facing? We are told, that king Nebuchadnezzar was “king of the Assyrians, who reigned in Ninive the great city“ (Judith 1:5) – and therefore know, that we shall not confuse this king with the famous king of Babylon by the same name. At the time the story sets in, he is already at the height of his power, ruling over a large empire, but for this king, as for so many before and after him, only the sky is the limit…
“And he called all the ancients, and all the governors, and his officers of war, and communicated to them the secret of his counsel: And he said that his thoughts were to bring all the earth under his empire. And when this saying pleased them all, Nabuchodonosor, the king, called Holofernes the general of his armies, and said to him: Go out against all the kingdoms of the west, and against them especially that despised my commandment. Thy eye shall not spare any kingdom, and all the strong cities thou shalt bring under my yoke.“
Judith 2: 2-6
Holofernes and his army swarm out conquering and devastating “the face of the earth, like locusts“ (Judith 2: 11) and we learn about their many military successes in fulfilling the command of the king. Wherever they enter, they subject the people of this place with brutal, unrestrained violence, drunk on the power to destroy:
“(…) he went down into the plains of Damascus in the days of the harvest, and he set all the corn on fire, and he caused all the trees and vineyards to be cut down. And the fear of them fell upon alit the inhabitants of the land.“
Judith 2: 17-18
The fear of this general waging war with each and every nation grabs the people of Israel as well.
„Then the children of Israel, who dwelt in the land of Juda, hearing these things, were exceedingly afraid of him. Dread and horror seized upon their minds, lest he should do the same to Jerusalem and to the temple of the Lord, that he had done to other cities and their temples.“
Judith 4: 1-2
With fasting and prayer, in a penitential spirit wearing haircloth and putting ashes upon their heads, the whole nation cries out to the Lord to save them from the hands of Holofernes, and they try to prepare themselves for Holofernes’ expected attack and to protect Jerusalem by closing and watching the passages through the surrounding mountains which lead to their beloved holy city.
The dimension of this war is global, an apocalyptic scenario, and it is also a spiritual battle: For, when Holofernes learns from one of his men, Achior, that, according to his opinion, the people of Israel are under divine protection, he gets into a rage and sets himself up not only as the enemy of all the peoples of the earth, but as the enemy of God:
„Because thou hast prophesied unto us, saying: That the nation of Israel is defended by their God, to shew thee that there is no God, but Nabuchodonosor: When we shall slay them all as one man, then thou also shalt die with them by the sword of the Assyrians, and all Israel shall perish with thee: And thou shalt find that Nabuchodonosor is lord of the whole earth: and then the sword of my soldiers shall pass through thy sides, and thou shalt be stabbed and fall among the wounded of Israel, and thou shalt breathe no more till thou be destroyed with them.“
Judith 6: 2-4
A self-proclaimed “lord of the whole earth“ against the Lord who has made heaven and earth and who has promised to keep His people Israel like the apple of His eye.
But the Lord‘s people, unlike Achior the Assyrian prophecying in their favor, are not quite sure that their God will really come through for them… When Bethulia, one of Israel‘s outposts in the Judaean mountains, is besieged by Holofernes and his army and cut off from water supplies, all the inhabitans of Bethulia request of their leader Ozias to give in to Holofernes‘ power and to “make peace“ with their enemy, to walk the path of compromise. And they start considering it even a “sin“ that such a compromise, such a submission to Nebuchadnezzar‘s kingdom, was not sought out by their leaders long before…
„God be judge between us and thee, for thou hast done evil against us, in that thou wouldst not speak peaceably with the Assyrians, and for this cause God hath sold us into their hands. And therefore there is no one to help us, while we are cast down before their eyes in thirst, and sad destruction. And now assemble ye all that are in the city, that we may of own accord yield ourselves all up to the people of Holofernes. For it is better, that being captives we should live and bless the Lord, than that we should die, and be a reproach to all flesh, after we have seen our wives and our infants die before our eyes. We call to witness this day heaven and earth, and the God of our fathers, who taketh vengeance upon us according to our sins, conjuring you to deliver now the city into the hand of the army of Holofernes, that our end may be short by the edge of the sword, which is made longer by the drought of thirst.“
Judith 7: 13-17
Pushed by the lamenting people, who in thirst fear for their lives and would now rather trade in the Holiest of Holies and their freedom to save themselves from death, Ozia promises to give in to the Assyrians within five days, if nothing may happen before to deliver them out of this situation. All of Israel has lost hope and has slipped into despair.
All, except for one woman: Judith.
III Judith‘s victory
Later in the story, this Judith will, together with her faithful maidservant, enter the camp of Holofernes, beguile the enemy’s general with her intelligence and beauty, get him drunk beyond recovery, and with the prayer “Strengthen me, O Lord God, at this hour“ on her lips take Holofernes‘ sword into her hands and strike “twice upon his neck, and cut off his head“ (Judith 13: 9-10). It is the turning point in the story. Without their general, without their mastermind, without their “head“, defeated by a mere woman, the army of the “lord of the whole earth“ falls apart in no time, and flees into all directions. Israel and the nations pursue them, until their presence is utterly chased away from their lands.
IV Judith as the Virgin Mary and Judith as the Church
The story of Judit, both concise and complex, provides plenty of layers of meaning. The Catholic tradition has always seen her as a prefiguration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who defeats Satan, “the lord of this world“, and stamps his head under her feet, by bringing forth from her womb in immaculate faith and obedience the Messiah, the “seed“ of the New Eve, that was prophecied in the book of Genesis after the fall of Adam and Eve from the height of their glory into the abyss of the serpent‘s dark reign:
“And the Lord God said to the serpent: (…) I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.“
Genesis 3: 14-15
There are slightly different versions of this verse, as in many translations one will find “he shall crush thy head…“ instead of “she“, yet the message of the prophecy remains the same in every version: Jesus and Mary, the New Adam and the New Eve, will bring victory for all of mankind over Satan, the serpent, who will be defeated in this spiritual battle that is waged between his camp and their camp.
Nowhere in the story is this parallel between Judith and Mary made clearer than in the words of praise Judith receives from the people of Israel after her victory that crushed Holofernes‘ head:
“Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honour of our people (…) and therefore thou shalt be blessed for ever.“
Judith 15: 10-11
Thus, Judith‘s victory is Mary‘s victory – while being a mere foreshadowing of it. And Judith‘s glory and honor is Mary‘s glory and honor – while being a mere foretaste of it.
Besides that, Judith is traditionally often seen not only as a prefiguration of the immaculate „Mother of the Church“, but also of the Holy Catholic Church, of God‘s gathered Holy Nation, herself. Already her very name – Yehudit, the „Jewess“ – seems to allude to this dimension of her representing the collective of the people of Israel.
As Holofernes and his men converse with Judith, they begin to admire “her wisdom“:
„There is not such another woman on earth in look, in beauty, and in sense of words.“
Judith 11: 18-19
A more modern translation renders this very verse, “No other woman from one end of the earth to the other looks so beautiful or speaks so wisely.“
Just like Judith, the Holy Catholic Church, the “Israel of God“ (Galatians 6:16), stands out uniquely from one end of the earth to the other in wisdom and in beauty given to her from on high…
It is interesting then to meditate on the following verse, while thinking of Judith as an allegorical type of the Church, and look for its possible allegorical meaning:
“And she was exceedingly beautiful, and her husband left her great riches, and very many servants, and large possessions of herds of oxen, and flocks of sheep.“
Judith 8: 7
Who is the Husband, the Bridegroom, of the Church? Who was always, troughout the Hebrew Scriptures, throughout the books of the prophets, called the Husband of the people of Israel? It is the Lord Himself. It is Jesus the Messiah, and while still travelling through history, His Bride, the Church, is a “widow“, but always remaining faithful to Him, never marrying another husband. What great riches has her Husband left her? He has left her the seven sacred sacraments and every other treasure and vessel of grace she knows of and disposes of – and „very many servants“, the priests, who are ministering to the people, the “flocks of sheep“.
Like Judith, the Holy Church, the spotless Bride of Christ, is not only supremely wise and beautiful by God‘s grace, but also of a rich inheritance – rich through the infinite merits and resources of her Husband, to whom she is bound in faithful chastity. And like it was for Judith, the Church’s main weapon in spiritual warfare is faithful prayer. And like prudent Judith exemplifies, succeeding in spiritual battles often means to turn the enemy‘s weapons around against his own head.
And in this sense, Judith‘s victory is the victory of the Church and Judith‘s glory and honor is the glory and honor of the Church.
All these remarks on the book of Judith so far were meant to be an introduction into her character and a clarification of the immediate and wider context of her story. In the second part, let us zoom in more closely into a specific part of the narrative and let us take a closer look at this saintly woman. Bear in mind all we have already learned about Judith up till now…