Context No. 2987 of 4322 · Judith

Judith 11:17-23: in context

17For your servant is religious, and serves the God of heaven day and night. Now, my lord, I will stay with you; and your servant will go out by night into the valley. I will pray to God, and he will tell me when they have committed their sins. 18Then I will come and tell you. Then you can go out with all your army, and there will be none of them that will resist you. 19And I will lead you through the midst of Judea, until you come to Jerusalem. I will set your throne in the midst of it. You will drive them as sheep that have no shepherd, and a dog will not so much as open his mouth before you; for these things were told me according to my foreknowledge, and were declared to me, and I was sent to tell you.” 20Her words were pleasing in the sight of Holofernes and of all his servants. They marveled at her wisdom, and said, 21“There is not such a woman from one end of the earth to the other, for beauty of face and wisdom of words.” 22Holofernes said to her, “God did well to send you before the people, that might would be in our hands, and destruction among those who slighted my lord. 23And now you are beautiful in your countenance, and wise in your words. If you will do as you have spoken, your God will be my God, and you will dwell in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar, and will be renowned through the whole earth.”

Judith stands before Holofernes and tells him she serves the God of heaven day and night, offering to slip out at night to learn when her people have sinned, so that he can conquer them and be led in triumph to Jerusalem. Holofernes and his men are captivated by her beauty and her words; he promises her honor and says, if you do as you say, your God will be my God.

As throughout this book, Judith speaks with deliberate deception to disarm the enemy general she means to destroy, and the story does not present her words as candid. Rather than hold her speech up as a model, notice the peril she has walked straight into, alone in the enemy's tent, and the real confidence in God underneath her cover story. Even her cunning words carry a truth she believes: God will indeed act when the moment comes. Told for a people under mortal threat, the book presses one thing, that God can bring deliverance through the courage of one who trusts him, even in the hardest and most shadowed place.

Whatever the shadows of a desperate moment, do I trust that God can work deliverance through those who put their confidence in him?

Sources

Judith 11:17: "For your servant is religious, and serves the God of heaven day and night."
Psalm 20:7: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God."
Proverbs 21:31: "The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but victory is with the LORD."