Scripture Daily

Context No. 1489 of 4322 · Judith

Context · Reflection

Judith 15:8-13: in context

8Joakim the high priest, and the elders of the children of Israel who lived in Jerusalem, came to see the good things which the Lord had showed to Israel, and to see Judith and to greet her. 9When they came to her, they all blessed her with one accord, and said to her, “You are the exaltation of Jerusalem! You are the great glory of Israel! You are the great rejoicing of our race! 10You have done all these things by your hand. You have done with Israel the things that are good, and God is pleased with it. May you be blessed by the Almighty Lord forever!” And all the people said, “Amen!” 11And the people plundered the camp for thirty days; and they gave Holofernes’ tent to Judith, along with all his silver cups, his beds, his bowls, and all his furniture. She took them, placed them on her mule, prepared her wagons, and piled them on it. 12And all the women of Israel ran together to see her; and they blessed her, and made a dance among them for her. She took branches in her hand, and distributed them to the women who were with her. 13Then they made themselves garlands of olive, she and those who were with her, and she went before all the people in the dance, leading all the women. All the men of Israel followed in their armor with garlands, and with songs in their mouths.

After Judith's daring act has delivered the city and routed the enemy, the high priest and the elders come from Jerusalem to see the good things the Lord has done and to bless Judith. You are the exaltation of Jerusalem, they say, the great glory of Israel, the great rejoicing of our people; you have done all this by your hand, and God is pleased. The people plunder the enemy camp for thirty days, and the women of Israel run together to see Judith and to dance and celebrate. Judith takes branches in her hand and leads the women in a dance of thanksgiving, and all the people follow, singing.

What this scene models is the taking of time to celebrate and give thanks when God has delivered. The danger had passed; the city was saved; and the people did not simply move on to the next thing but stopped to rejoice, to honor the one God had used, and above all to give thanks to God, who, they said, was pleased with what had been done. There was dancing and singing and a procession of praise; the deliverance was marked, celebrated, remembered with joy. We are often better at crying out to God in trouble than at rejoicing before him in deliverance. When we are in danger we pray fervently; when the danger passes we tend to move straight on to the next concern, forgetting to stop and give thanks with the same fervor. Judith and her people did not make that mistake. They took the time to celebrate what God had done, to rejoice together, to make the deliverance an occasion of communal thanksgiving and joy. And notice that the praise was directed rightly: for all the honor given to Judith, they said God is pleased, crediting the deliverance to him. There is a lesson in that about the importance of celebrating God's mercies, of not letting our deliverances pass unremarked, of taking time to rejoice and give thanks together when God has been good. The answered prayer deserves as much attention as the desperate one.

When God delivers me from trouble, do I take time to celebrate and give thanks with the same fervor with which I cried out in the danger, or do I move straight on to the next concern, letting his mercies pass unremarked and uncelebrated?

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