Context No. 2752 of 4322 · Judith

Judith 13:1-10: in context

1But when the evening had come, his servants hurried to depart. Bagoas shut the tent outside, and dismissed those who waited from the presence of his lord. They went away to their beds; for they were all weary, because the feast had been long. 2But Judith was left alone in the tent, with Holofernes lying along upon his bed; for he was drunk with wine. 3Judith had said to her servant that she should stand outside her bedchamber, and wait for her to come out, as she did daily; for she said she would go out to her prayer. She spoke to Bagoas according to the same words. 4All went away from her presence, and none was left in the bedchamber, small or great. Judith, standing by his bed, said in her heart, O Lord God of all power, look in this hour upon the works of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem. 5For now is the time to help your inheritance, and to do the thing that I have purposed to the destruction of the enemies which have risen up against us. 6She came to the bedpost which was at Holofernes’ head, and took down his sword from there. 7She drew near to the bed, took hold of the hair of his head, and said, “Strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, this day.” 8She struck twice upon his neck with all her might and cut off his head, 9tumbled his body down from the bed, and took down the canopy from the posts. After a little while she went out, and gave Holofernes’ head to her maid; 10and she put it in her bag of food. They both went out together to prayer, according to their custom. They passed through the camp, circled around that valley, and went up to the mountain of Bethulia, and came to its gates.

This is the turning point of the book of Judith. Left alone in the tent with the enemy general Holofernes, who has drunk himself into a stupor, the widow Judith prays, takes down his own sword, seizes him by the hair, and says, strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, this day. Then she kills him and carries his head out past the sleepy guards to her own people.

It is a wartime rescue told in the hard idiom of its age, and the book is careful about where the deliverance comes from. Judith has no army; she throws the whole weight of the outcome onto God, praying, now is the time to help your inheritance, look on the work of my hands. Her courage is real, but her prayer makes plain that she is an instrument, not the power. The story celebrates God saving his people through an unlikely hand, a widow against a general, so that no one can chalk it up to human strength.

When deliverance comes through a weak and unlikely means, do I credit the instrument, or the God who worked through it?

Sources

Judith 13:7: "She drew near to the bed... and said, Strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, this day."
1 Samuel 17:47: "The LORD doesn't save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's."
1 Corinthians 1:27: "God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong."