Context No. 2771 of 4322 · Judith

Judith 1:12-16: in context

12And Nebuchadnezzar was exceedingly angry with all this land, and he swore by his throne and kingdom that he would surely be avenged upon all the coasts of Cilicia, Damascus, and Syria, that he would kill with his sword all the inhabitants of the land of Moab, the children of Ammon, all Judea, and all who were in Egypt, until you come to the borders of the two seas. 13And he set the battle in array with his army against King Arphaxad in the seventeenth year; and he prevailed in his battle, and turned to flight all the army of Arphaxad, with all his horses and all his chariots. 14He took possession of his cities. He came to Ecbatana and took the towers, plundered its streets, and turned its beauty into shame. 15He took Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragau, struck him through with his darts, and utterly destroyed him to this day. 16He returned with them to Nineveh, he and all his company of sundry nations—an exceedingly great multitude of men of war. There he took his ease and banqueted, he and his army, for one hundred twenty days.

The book of Judith opens by building up the menace of Nebuchadnezzar. Enraged that the western nations would not join his war, he swears by his throne and his kingdom to take vengeance on them all. He crushes King Arphaxad in battle, storms his cities, strikes him down in the mountains, and returns to Nineveh to feast with his army for a hundred and twenty days.

The story deliberately lets this power swell for a whole chapter, a king who swears by his own throne as though it were eternal, an army beyond counting. The reader is meant to feel how small Judah is against such a colossus. But the entire book exists to show that this seemingly unstoppable tyrant will be brought down through the hand of one faithful woman. The man who trusts his throne has no idea how brief his hundred and twenty days of banqueting really are.

When some power looks too big to oppose, do I forget how easily God can bring a proud throne to nothing?

Sources

Judith 1:12: "He swore by his throne and kingdom that he would surely be avenged upon all the coasts."
Psalm 2:4: "He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision."
Daniel 4:37: "Those who walk in pride he is able to abase."