An Atheist Explores the Apocrypha Part 11: In Which God Now Approves of Lying and Jewellery (Judith 6-10)
Judith 6-10
In Which God Now Approves of Lying and Jewellery.
Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Apocrypha version).
In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Old Testament Apocrypha, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.
For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/3aEJ6Q5
For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP
And now:
Judith 6
“And who art thou, Achior, and the hirelings of Ephraim, that thou hast prophesied against us as to day, and hast said, that we should not make war with the people of Israel, because their God will defend them? and who is God but Nabuchodonosor?”
“And who are you, the proud lord said, that I must bow so low?” It didn’t end well for Lord Reyne of Castamere, and I doubt it will end well for Holofernes, who is angry at Achior and as punishment has him bound and sent into the Jewish settlement of Bethulia, to die with the Hebrews when Holfernes’ men take the city. “We will tread them under foot, and their mountains shall be drunken with their blood, and their fields shall be filled with their dead bodies, and their footsteps shall not be able to stand before us” he claims, and “then shall the sword of mine army, and the multitude of them that serve me, pass through thy sides, and thou shalt fall among their slain, when I return”.
Achior is left under the walls of Bethulia, bound in ropes, and after the men of Bethulia drive away the Babylonians with slings, they bring Achior into the city. Everyone comes to hear what he has to say, including the town leaders Ozias the son of Micha, of the tribe of Simeon, and Chabris the son of Gothoniel, and Charmis the son of Melchiel. Ozias looks after Achior in his own home, and the people pray “O Lord God of heaven, behold their pride, and pity the low estate of our nation, and look upon the face of those that are sanctified unto thee this day”.
Judith 7
“For all the inhabitants of Bethulia have their water thence; so shall thirst kill them, and they shall give up their city, and we and our people shall go up to the tops of the mountains that are near, and will camp upon them, to watch that none go out of the city.”
The captains of the Ammonites and Moabites offer up a strategy to Holofernes. They will take over the water source for Bethulia (which for some reason lies outside of the city walls) and also picket the mountain passes behind to besiege the Bethulians.
And so this happens, and the water supplies of Bethulia run out after thirty four days of siege, “the cisterns were emptied, and they had not water to drink their fill for one day; for they gave them drink by measure. Therefore their young children were out of heart, and their women and young men fainted for thirst, and fell down in the streets of the city, and by the passages of the gates, and there was no longer any strength in them”.
The Bethulians come to Ozias and beg him to surrender, claiming that it’s better to live as a slave than to die; “for we will be his servants, that our souls may live, and not see the death of our infants before our eyes”. Ozias, for his part, says to wait another five days and if no help comes in that time, then he will surrender, “in the which space the Lord our God may turn his mercy toward us; for he will not forsake us utterly”. You have to wonder why God would wait 39 days rather than 34 before doing anything to help, but, mysterious ways and all that.
Judith 8
“Now at that time Judith heard thereof, which was the daughter of Merari, the son of Ox, the son of Joseph, the son of Ozel, the son of Elcia, the son of Ananias, the son of Gedeon, the son of Raphaim, the son of Acitho, the son of Eliu, the son of Eliab, the son of Nathanael, the son of Samael, the son of Salasadal, the son of Israel”.
Judith enters the story, with her genealogy trailing behind her. She is a widow, of three years, four months, whose husband died of heatstroke (“as he stood overseeing them that bound sheaves in the field, the heat came upon his head, and he fell on his bed, and died in the city of Bethulia”) but also rich and considered of good standing (“She was also of a goodly countenance, and very beautiful to behold: and her husband Manasses had left her gold, and silver, and menservants and maidservants, and cattle, and lands”), known to be a godly woman who fasts every day “save the eves of the sabbaths, and the sabbaths, and the eves of the new moons, and the new moons and the feasts and solemn days of the house of Israel". Which amused me. She fasts every day. Except the Sabbath. And the evening of the Sabbath. And the day after the Sabbath. And the day before the evening of the Sabbath….
Judith is not pleased with Ozias and the city elders for making an oath and therefore attempting to constrain God to a timetable. God will help in His own time, she says, not when men want Him to. And since Bethulia has been faithful and not given to idolatry (“there arose none in our age, neither is there any now in these days neither tribe, nor family, nor people, nor city among us, which worship gods made with hands”), then God will help them when needed.
I had to say something, replies Ozias (“But the people were very thirsty, and compelled us to do unto them as we have spoken, and to bring an oath upon ourselves, which we will not break”). Alright, replies Judith. I’m going to do A Thing. I’m not going to tell you what it is until it comes to pass, but A Thing I will do nonetheless.
Judith 9
"For thy power standeth not in multitude nor thy might in strong men: for thou art a God of the afflicted, an helper of the oppressed, an upholder of the weak, a protector of the forlorn, a saviour of them that are without hope.”
Judith offers a prayer to God to help her enact vengeance, although it sounds like what she specifically wants is the power to deceive – “Smite by the deceit of my lips the servant with the prince, and the prince with the servant” and “make my speech and deceit to be their wound and stripe”. Which seems a strange thing to ask of a God that opposes the “Prince of Lies”, but there you go. Give power to my words, says Judith, so that I can trick and harm the enemies at the gate.
Possibly this emphasis on words and not strength in arms is because Judith is a woman, and so uses “women’s weapons” according to the time. Certainly the chapter has an emphasis on the effects of war on women, starting with a mention of how her father Simeon seems to avenge a rape – “my father Simeon, to whom thou gavest a sword to take vengeance of the strangers, who loosened the girdle of a maid to defile her, and discovered the thigh to her shame, and polluted her virginity to her reproach”, but then conversely she wishes similar treatment to the womenfolk of the Assyrians – God “hast given their wives for a prey, and their daughters to be captives, and all their spoils to be divided among thy dear children”. Double standards much?
Judith 10
“And when Judith was come before him and his servants they all marvelled at the beauty of her countenance; and she fell down upon her face, and did reverence unto him: and his servants took her up.”
Having offered up her prayer, Judith changes out of her widows weeds and dolls herself up, putting on her “garments of gladness” (from whence the expression “glad rags”?) and an assortment of jewellery – “her bracelets, and her chains, and her rings, and her earrings, and all her ornaments, and decked herself bravely, to allure the eyes of all men that should see her”. Now, here’s where the Bible shows its mixed messages. This is portrayed as a good thing, but elsewhere it’s very down on women who ornament themselves. Which is it, Bible?
Ozias and the other elders let Judith out of the city, and there’s a very Tolkienesque verse as she heads to the Assyrian camp – “and the men of the city looked after her, until she was gone down the mountain, and till she had passed the valley, and could see her no more”. Sorry, are we talking about Judith or Eowyn here? Of course, really I should say once again that Tolkien sometimes uses some very Biblical prose, and not the other way around.
Anyway, Judith arrives at the Assyrian camp and tells the guards that she has escaped before the city is destroyed and has some secret info to help their commander. Because they are men, they can’t see past her beauty and so they take her to Holofernes. Which is where we end the chapter, with Holofernes also being very Tokienesque as “he came out before his tent with silver lamps going before him”, like some kind of elven prince.
In Which God Now Approves of Lying and Jewellery.
Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Apocrypha version).
In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Old Testament Apocrypha, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.
For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/3aEJ6Q5
For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP
And now:
Judith 6
“And who art thou, Achior, and the hirelings of Ephraim, that thou hast prophesied against us as to day, and hast said, that we should not make war with the people of Israel, because their God will defend them? and who is God but Nabuchodonosor?”
“And who are you, the proud lord said, that I must bow so low?” It didn’t end well for Lord Reyne of Castamere, and I doubt it will end well for Holofernes, who is angry at Achior and as punishment has him bound and sent into the Jewish settlement of Bethulia, to die with the Hebrews when Holfernes’ men take the city. “We will tread them under foot, and their mountains shall be drunken with their blood, and their fields shall be filled with their dead bodies, and their footsteps shall not be able to stand before us” he claims, and “then shall the sword of mine army, and the multitude of them that serve me, pass through thy sides, and thou shalt fall among their slain, when I return”.
Achior is left under the walls of Bethulia, bound in ropes, and after the men of Bethulia drive away the Babylonians with slings, they bring Achior into the city. Everyone comes to hear what he has to say, including the town leaders Ozias the son of Micha, of the tribe of Simeon, and Chabris the son of Gothoniel, and Charmis the son of Melchiel. Ozias looks after Achior in his own home, and the people pray “O Lord God of heaven, behold their pride, and pity the low estate of our nation, and look upon the face of those that are sanctified unto thee this day”.
Judith 7
“For all the inhabitants of Bethulia have their water thence; so shall thirst kill them, and they shall give up their city, and we and our people shall go up to the tops of the mountains that are near, and will camp upon them, to watch that none go out of the city.”
The captains of the Ammonites and Moabites offer up a strategy to Holofernes. They will take over the water source for Bethulia (which for some reason lies outside of the city walls) and also picket the mountain passes behind to besiege the Bethulians.
And so this happens, and the water supplies of Bethulia run out after thirty four days of siege, “the cisterns were emptied, and they had not water to drink their fill for one day; for they gave them drink by measure. Therefore their young children were out of heart, and their women and young men fainted for thirst, and fell down in the streets of the city, and by the passages of the gates, and there was no longer any strength in them”.
The Bethulians come to Ozias and beg him to surrender, claiming that it’s better to live as a slave than to die; “for we will be his servants, that our souls may live, and not see the death of our infants before our eyes”. Ozias, for his part, says to wait another five days and if no help comes in that time, then he will surrender, “in the which space the Lord our God may turn his mercy toward us; for he will not forsake us utterly”. You have to wonder why God would wait 39 days rather than 34 before doing anything to help, but, mysterious ways and all that.
Judith 8
“Now at that time Judith heard thereof, which was the daughter of Merari, the son of Ox, the son of Joseph, the son of Ozel, the son of Elcia, the son of Ananias, the son of Gedeon, the son of Raphaim, the son of Acitho, the son of Eliu, the son of Eliab, the son of Nathanael, the son of Samael, the son of Salasadal, the son of Israel”.
Judith enters the story, with her genealogy trailing behind her. She is a widow, of three years, four months, whose husband died of heatstroke (“as he stood overseeing them that bound sheaves in the field, the heat came upon his head, and he fell on his bed, and died in the city of Bethulia”) but also rich and considered of good standing (“She was also of a goodly countenance, and very beautiful to behold: and her husband Manasses had left her gold, and silver, and menservants and maidservants, and cattle, and lands”), known to be a godly woman who fasts every day “save the eves of the sabbaths, and the sabbaths, and the eves of the new moons, and the new moons and the feasts and solemn days of the house of Israel". Which amused me. She fasts every day. Except the Sabbath. And the evening of the Sabbath. And the day after the Sabbath. And the day before the evening of the Sabbath….
Judith is not pleased with Ozias and the city elders for making an oath and therefore attempting to constrain God to a timetable. God will help in His own time, she says, not when men want Him to. And since Bethulia has been faithful and not given to idolatry (“there arose none in our age, neither is there any now in these days neither tribe, nor family, nor people, nor city among us, which worship gods made with hands”), then God will help them when needed.
I had to say something, replies Ozias (“But the people were very thirsty, and compelled us to do unto them as we have spoken, and to bring an oath upon ourselves, which we will not break”). Alright, replies Judith. I’m going to do A Thing. I’m not going to tell you what it is until it comes to pass, but A Thing I will do nonetheless.
Judith 9
"For thy power standeth not in multitude nor thy might in strong men: for thou art a God of the afflicted, an helper of the oppressed, an upholder of the weak, a protector of the forlorn, a saviour of them that are without hope.”
Judith offers a prayer to God to help her enact vengeance, although it sounds like what she specifically wants is the power to deceive – “Smite by the deceit of my lips the servant with the prince, and the prince with the servant” and “make my speech and deceit to be their wound and stripe”. Which seems a strange thing to ask of a God that opposes the “Prince of Lies”, but there you go. Give power to my words, says Judith, so that I can trick and harm the enemies at the gate.
Possibly this emphasis on words and not strength in arms is because Judith is a woman, and so uses “women’s weapons” according to the time. Certainly the chapter has an emphasis on the effects of war on women, starting with a mention of how her father Simeon seems to avenge a rape – “my father Simeon, to whom thou gavest a sword to take vengeance of the strangers, who loosened the girdle of a maid to defile her, and discovered the thigh to her shame, and polluted her virginity to her reproach”, but then conversely she wishes similar treatment to the womenfolk of the Assyrians – God “hast given their wives for a prey, and their daughters to be captives, and all their spoils to be divided among thy dear children”. Double standards much?
Judith 10
“And when Judith was come before him and his servants they all marvelled at the beauty of her countenance; and she fell down upon her face, and did reverence unto him: and his servants took her up.”
Having offered up her prayer, Judith changes out of her widows weeds and dolls herself up, putting on her “garments of gladness” (from whence the expression “glad rags”?) and an assortment of jewellery – “her bracelets, and her chains, and her rings, and her earrings, and all her ornaments, and decked herself bravely, to allure the eyes of all men that should see her”. Now, here’s where the Bible shows its mixed messages. This is portrayed as a good thing, but elsewhere it’s very down on women who ornament themselves. Which is it, Bible?
Ozias and the other elders let Judith out of the city, and there’s a very Tolkienesque verse as she heads to the Assyrian camp – “and the men of the city looked after her, until she was gone down the mountain, and till she had passed the valley, and could see her no more”. Sorry, are we talking about Judith or Eowyn here? Of course, really I should say once again that Tolkien sometimes uses some very Biblical prose, and not the other way around.
Anyway, Judith arrives at the Assyrian camp and tells the guards that she has escaped before the city is destroyed and has some secret info to help their commander. Because they are men, they can’t see past her beauty and so they take her to Holofernes. Which is where we end the chapter, with Holofernes also being very Tokienesque as “he came out before his tent with silver lamps going before him”, like some kind of elven prince.
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