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Context No. 457 of 4322 · Judith

Context · Reflection

Judith 12:13-20: in context

13Bagoas went from the presence of Holofernes, and came in to her, and said, “Let this fair lady not fear to come to my lord, and to be honored in his presence, and to drink wine and be merry with us, and to be made this day as one of the daughters of the children of Asshur who serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace.” 14Judith said to him, “Who am I, that I should contradict my lord? For whatever would be pleasing in his eyes, I will do speedily, and this will be my joy to the day of my death.” 15She arose, and decked herself with her apparel and all her woman’s attire; and her servant went and laid fleeces on the ground for her next to Holofernes, which she had received from Bagoas for her daily use, that she might sit and eat upon them. 16Judith came in and sat down, and Holofernes’ heart was ravished with her. His passion was aroused, and he exceedingly desired her company. He was watching for a time to deceive her from the day that he had seen her. 17Holofernes said to her, “Drink now, and be merry with us.” 18Judith said, “I will drink now, my lord, because my life is magnified in me this day more than all the days since I was born.” 19Then she took and ate and drank before him what her servant had prepared. 20Holofernes took great delight in her, and drank exceedingly much wine, more than he had drunk at any time in one day since he was born.

Judith is deep in the enemy camp, and this scene is the trap closing, though the man being trapped has no idea. Holofernes, the mighty Assyrian general, has invited her to a private banquet, and he is inflamed with desire for her; the text says his heart was ravished and he was watching for a chance to seduce her. He believes he is the predator here, the conqueror about to take what he wants from a beautiful, apparently helpless widow. Judith plays along with perfect, deferential double meaning. Who am I to contradict my lord, she says; whatever pleases him I will do, and this will be my joy to the day of my death. He hears flattery and submission. She means the death of Holofernes, now hours away.

Watch what actually undoes this man. It is not an army. It is his own appetite. He urges her to drink and be merry, and he himself, so delighted by her presence and so certain of his conquest, drinks far more wine than he had ever drunk in a single day in his life. His lust for her and his lack of any restraint with the wine are precisely what deliver him into her hands, because in a few hours he will be lying alone in his tent, senseless with drink, and she will take his own sword and cut off his head. The man who thought his desires made him strong, who took whatever he wanted, was in fact utterly out of control of himself, and that lack of self-control is the trap. The seemingly helpless woman is the one in complete command, of herself and, soon, of him.

That reversal exposes something about where real strength and real vulnerability lie. Holofernes imagined that indulging his appetites was strength. In truth, his inability to master his own lust and his own drinking is exactly what handed the advantage to someone else and delivered him to his own ruin. The uncontrolled appetite always does this; it feels like strength and satisfaction, and it quietly leaves you exposed. What appetite do I refuse to master, imagining it makes me strong or satisfied, when in fact my lack of control over it is leaving me vulnerable and handing the advantage to my own downfall?

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