Judith 16:1-16: a reflection

1And Judith began to sing this song of thanksgiving in all Israel, and all the people sang with loud voices this song of praise. 2Judith said, “Begin a song to my God with timbrels. Sing to my Lord with cymbals. Make melody to him with psalm and praise. Exalt him, and call upon his name. 3For the Lord is the God that crushes battles. For in his armies in the midst of the people, he delivered me out of the hand of those who persecuted me. 4Asshur came out of the mountains from the north. He came with ten thousands of his army. Its multitude stopped the torrents. Their horsemen covered the hills. 5He said that he would burn up my borders, kill my young men with the sword, throw my nursing children to the ground, give my infants up as prey, and make my virgins a plunder. 6“The Almighty Lord brought them to nothing by the hand of a woman. 7For their mighty one didn’t fall by young men, neither did sons of the Titans strike him. Tall giants didn’t attack him, but Judith the daughter of Merari made him weak with the beauty of her countenance. 8“For she put off the apparel of her widowhood for the exaltation of those who were distressed in Israel. She anointed her face with ointment, bound her hair in a tiara, and took a linen garment to deceive him. 9Her sandal ravished his eye. Her beauty took his soul prisoner. The sword passed through his neck. 10“The Persians quaked at her daring. The Medes were daunted at her boldness. 11“Then my lowly ones shouted aloud. My oppressed people were terrified and trembled for fear. They lifted up their voices and the enemy fled. 12The children of slave-girls pierced them through, and wounded them as fugitives’ children. They perished by the army of my Lord. 13“I will sing to my God a new song: O Lord, you are great and glorious, marvelous in strength, invincible. 14Let all your creation serve you; for you spoke, and they were made. You sent out your spirit, and it built them. There is no one who can resist your voice. 15For the mountains will be moved from their foundations with the waters, and the rocks will melt as wax at your presence: But you are yet merciful to those who fear you. 16For all sacrifice is little for a sweet savor, and all the fat is very little for a whole burnt offering to you; but he who fears the Lord is great continually.

After the deliverance of her people, Judith leads them in a song of thanksgiving, and its central note is that the victory belonged to God, won through the weakest of means. The Lord is the God who crushes wars, she sings; and she marvels that the enemy commander did not fall by young warriors or by the strength of an army, but that the Almighty brought them to nothing by the hand of a woman. The glory, she insists, is God's; he worked through weakness so that the deliverance would clearly be his.

Notice how Judith frames the victory: not as her own achievement, but as God's work through weakness. She does not boast of her courage; she sings that God brought the mighty army to nothing through an unlikely, weak instrument, so that the glory would be unmistakably his. God did not deliver his people by overwhelming force, but through a means that no one would credit, so that no human strength could claim the victory.

That is a pattern God delights to follow: working through the weak and unlikely so that the glory is clearly his. He often accomplishes his purposes not through the strong and impressive, but through the weak, the overlooked, the unlikely, so that no one can boast, and the credit goes to him. Do not despise the weak means God uses, or think yourself too weak to be used. God works through weakness, so that his glory shines. When God works through you or others in unlikely, weak ways, give him the glory, as Judith did, and do not credit human strength. He brings the mighty to nothing through the weak, that the glory may be his alone.

Lord, after the deliverance of her people, Judith sang that you, the God who crushes wars, had brought the enemy to nothing not by armies or strength, but through the weakest of means, so that the glory would be unmistakably yours. Thank you that you delight to work through the weak and unlikely, so that no one can boast and the credit goes to you. Keep me from despising the weak means you use, or thinking myself too weak to be used. You work through weakness, so that your glory shines. When you work through me or others in unlikely, weak ways, help me give you the glory, as Judith did, and not credit human strength. You bring the mighty to nothing through the weak, that the glory may be yours alone. Be glorified in my weakness, and let me sing your praise for all you do.