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Context No. 1771 of 4322 · Judith

Context · Reflection

Judith 7:1-5: in context

1The next day Holofernes commanded all his army and all the people who had come to be his allies, that they should move their camp toward Bethulia, seize the passes of the hill country, and make war against the children of Israel. 2Every mighty man of them moved that day. The army of their men of war was one hundred seventy thousand footmen, plus twelve thousand horsemen, besides the baggage and the men who were on foot among them—an exceedingly great multitude. 3They encamped in the valley near Bethulia, by the fountain. They spread themselves in breadth over Dothaim even to Belmaim, and in length from Bethulia to Cyamon, which is near Esdraelon. 4But the children of Israel, when they saw the multitude of them, were terrified, and everyone said to his neighbor, “Now these men will lick up the face of all the earth. Neither the high mountains, nor the valleys, nor the hills will be able to bear their weight. 5Every man took up his weapons of war, and when they had kindled fires upon their towers, they remained and watched all that night.

Holofernes moves his vast army against the little town of Bethulia, seizing the mountain passes. The force is enormous, a huge host of footmen and horsemen spreading across the valley. And when the people of Israel see the multitude, they are terrified. These men will lick up the face of the whole earth, they say to one another; not the mountains nor the valleys nor the hills will be able to bear their weight. Overwhelmed by the size of the enemy, they take up their weapons, light fires on their towers, and keep watch through the fearful night.

The reaction of the people is one we understand: they saw the size of the enemy and were terrified. The host was vast, and by any human reckoning Bethulia could not stand against it; so the people's hearts sank, and their fear spoke in exaggerations, these men will devour the whole earth. When a threat looms overwhelming, fear takes over, counting the enemy's numbers and concluding we are doomed. And often the fear is not irrational; the odds really are against us, the threat really is larger than our strength. But the story of Judith, which follows, turns entirely on a truth the terrified people had forgotten: that the size of the enemy is no measure of the outcome when God is at work. This vast army, before which Israel trembled, would be undone not by a greater army but by a single faithful woman in God's hand. The numbers that terrified the people meant nothing against God. There is a steadying truth here for our own moments of terror before an overwhelming threat. When we face something far larger than our strength and fear says we are doomed, we are counting only the visible odds, the size of the enemy against the size of our resources. But God is not bound by those numbers. The outcome does not rest on whether we can match the threat; it rests on God, for whom a vast host and a single faithful servant are not the mismatch they appear. The people of Bethulia trembled at the multitude and forgot the God who is not counting heads. Fear counts the enemy; faith remembers the God for whom no enemy is too large.

When I face a threat far larger than my strength, and fear counts the odds and says I am doomed, can I remember what the terrified people of Bethulia forgot, that the size of the enemy is no measure of the outcome when God is at work, and that he is not bound by the numbers that overwhelm me?

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