Scripture Daily

Context No. 1472 of 4322 · Judith

Context · Reflection

Judith 8:32-36: in context

32Then Judith said to them, “Hear me, and I will do a thing, which will go down to all generations among the children of our race. 33You shall all stand at the gate tonight. I will go out with my maid. Within the days after which you said that you would deliver the city to our enemies, the Lord will deliver Israel by my hand. 34But you shall not inquire of my act; for I will not tell you until the things are finished that I will do.” 35Then Ozias and the rulers said to her, “Go in peace. May the Lord God be before you, to take vengeance on our enemies.” 36So they returned from the tent, and went to their stations.

The town of Bethulia, besieged and dying of thirst, has all but given up; its leaders had set God a deadline of five days before they would surrender. Judith, a devout widow, has already rebuked them for putting God on a clock. Now she steps forward with a plan of her own. Listen to me, she says; I will do a thing that will be remembered for all generations. Stand at the gate tonight; I will go out with my maid, and before the days you set for surrender have passed, the Lord will deliver Israel by my hand. But do not ask what I mean to do; I will not tell you until it is done. The rulers bless her and let her go.

The contrast between Judith and the town's leaders is instructive. The men had responded to the crisis with passivity and despair, bargaining a deadline with God and preparing to give up if he did not act on their schedule. Judith responds with decisive faith and initiative. She does not simply wait; she resolves to act, to go out and do something, trusting that God will deliver through her. Her faith is not resignation but a spur to bold action; believing that God will save, she steps forward to be the means of it. There is an important balance in this. Trusting God is not the same as doing nothing and waiting for him to act while we sit passive; often faith is precisely what moves a person to act boldly, to step into the danger and do what can be done, trusting God to work through the effort. Judith did not know for certain how it would turn out, and she did not disclose her plan; she simply moved forward in the confidence that God would deliver Israel by her hand. Where the leaders had waited for God to rescue them on their terms, Judith trusted him enough to act. The faith that pleases God is often not passive but active, willing to step forward and do the hard, uncertain thing, trusting him to work through us rather than only waiting for him to work around us.

In a crisis, does my faith make me passive, waiting for God to act while I do nothing, or does it move me, like Judith, to step forward and act boldly, trusting God to work through me rather than only around me?

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