Scripture Daily

Context No. 163 of 4322 · Judith

Context · Reflection

Judith 4:9-15: in context

9And every man of Israel cried to God with great earnestness, and with great earnestness they humbled their souls. 10They, their wives, their children, their cattle, and every sojourner, hireling, and servant bought with their money put sackcloth on their loins. 11Every man and woman of Israel, including the little children and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, fell prostrate before the temple, cast ashes upon their heads, and spread out their sackcloth before the Lord. They put sackcloth around the altar. 12They cried to the God of Israel earnestly with one consent, that he would not give their children as prey, their wives as plunder, the cities of their inheritance to destruction, and the sanctuary to being profaned and being made a reproach, for the nations to rejoice at. 13The Lord heard their voice, and looked at their affliction. The people continued fasting many days in all Judea and Jerusalem before the sanctuary of the Lord Almighty. 14And Joakim the high priest, and all the priests who stood before the Lord, and those who ministered to the Lord, had their loins dressed in sackcloth and offered the continual burnt offering, the vows, and the free gifts of the people. 15They had ashes on their turbans. They cried to the Lord with all their power, that he would look upon all the house of Israel for good.

The Assyrian army is coming, and Judea has no force able to meet it. This passage is what the people do instead, and the book takes several verses to describe it in detail.

Every man of Israel cried out to God and humbled himself. They put sackcloth on themselves, on their wives and children, on their livestock, and on every resident foreigner, hired worker, and slave in the household. Everyone in Jerusalem lay face down before the temple and put ashes on their heads and spread their sackcloth before the Lord. They even wrapped the altar itself in sackcloth.

Two details stand out. The mourning is extended to the animals and to every foreigner and slave in the community, so that no one inside the household is left out of the appeal. And the high priest Joakim tells them to keep the daily offerings going through it all, with the priests serving in sackcloth and ashes. The crisis does not suspend the ordinary worship, it is layered on top of it. This is a people with no army doing the only thing available, together, without leaving out the help or the cattle. When there is nothing I can do about something, what do I actually do, and who do I include in it?

Sources