Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The lineage, solitude, hairshirt, fasts, and chastity of Judith are recounted. She rebukes the timid leaders and raises them to hope of divine aid by the example of the patriarchs.
Vulgate Text: Judith 8:1-34
1. And it came to pass, when Judith the widow heard these words — she who was the daughter of Merari, the son of Idox, the son of Joseph, the son of Ozias, the son of Elai, the son of Jamnor, the son of Gedeon, the son of Raphaim, the son of Achitob, the son of Melchias, the son of Enan, the son of Nathanias, the son of Salathiel, the son of Simeon, the son of Ruben; 2. and her husband was Manasses, who died in the days of the barley harvest: 3. For he was standing over those who were binding sheaves in the field, and the heat came upon his head, and he died in Bethulia his city, and was buried there with his fathers. 4. Now Judith his widow had been left for three years and six months. 5. And in the upper part of her house she made herself a private chamber, in which she remained shut up with her handmaids, 6. and wearing a hairshirt upon her loins, she fasted on all the days of her life, except the sabbaths, and new moons, and feasts of the house of Israel. 7. Now she was exceedingly elegant in appearance, and her husband had left her great riches, and a large household, and possessions full of herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. 8. And she was most famous among all, because she feared the Lord greatly, and there was no one who spoke an evil word about her. 9. When therefore she had heard that Ozias had promised that after the fifth day he would hand over the city, she sent to the elders Chabri and Charmi. 10. And they came to her, and she said to them: What is this word to which Ozias has consented, that he would hand over the city to the Assyrians if within five days no help comes to you? 11. And who are you that you tempt the Lord? 12. This is not a word that draws down mercy, but rather one that stirs up wrath and kindles fury. 13. You have set a time for the Lord's compassion, and according to your own will, you have appointed a day for Him. 14. But because the Lord is patient, let us repent of this very thing, and with tears poured forth let us beg His pardon; 15. for God will not threaten as a man does, nor be inflamed to anger as a son of man. 16. And therefore let us humble our souls before Him, and continuing in a humble spirit, let us serve Him. 17. Let us say weeping to the Lord, that according to His will, so may He show His mercy to us: that as our heart has been troubled by their pride, so also may we glory in our humility; 18. for we have not followed the sins of our fathers, who forsook their God and worshipped foreign gods. 19. For which crime they were given to the sword, and to plunder, and to the shame of their enemies; but we know no other God besides Him. 20. Let us humbly await His consolation, and He will require our blood from the afflictions of our enemies, and He will humble all nations that rise up against us, and make them without honor, the Lord our God. 21. And now, brothers, since you are elders among the people of God, and their soul depends on you, lift up their hearts by your speech, so that they may remember that our fathers were tested to prove whether they truly worshipped their God. 22. They ought to remember how our father Abraham was tested, and being proved through many tribulations, became the friend of God. 23. So Isaac, so Jacob, so Moses, and all who pleased God, passed through many tribulations faithful. 24. But those who did not accept trials with the fear of the Lord, and brought forth their impatience and the reproach of their murmuring against the Lord; 25. were destroyed by the destroyer, and perished by serpents. 26. And let us therefore not take vengeance for what we suffer; 27. but reckoning that these very punishments are less than our sins deserve, let us believe that the scourges of the Lord, by which we are corrected as servants, have come for our amendment and not for our destruction. 28. And Ozias and the elders said to her: All that you have spoken is true, and there is no reproof in your words. 29. Now therefore pray for us, since you are a holy woman and one who fears God. 30. And Judith said to them: As you recognize that what I was able to say is from God; 31. so test what I have resolved to do, whether it is from God, and pray that God may make firm my plan. 32. You shall stand at the gate this night, and I will go out with my handmaid; and pray that, as you have said, within five days the Lord may look upon His people Israel. 33. But I do not wish you to investigate what I do, and until I bring you word, let nothing else be done except prayer for me to the Lord our God. 34. And Ozias, the prince of Judah, said to her: Go in peace, and may the Lord be with you for the vengeance of our enemies. And they departed and went away.
Verse 1: Judith the Widow
'Judith' in Hebrew means 'confessing, praising, glorifying,' namely God; for the Hebrew hoda means to confess, to praise, to celebrate. For to this end Judith withdrew from the crowd to her oratory, that she might continually pray to and praise God. Hear St. Fulgentius, letter 2, On the State of Widowhood, citing these words about Judith: 'Behold a widow distinguished by birth, rich in possessions, young in age, lovely in appearance — she despised riches, rejected pleasures, trampled the enticements of the flesh, and clothed with power from on high, did not seek to serve a second marriage. Therefore by the testimony of so glorious a work it appeared how pleasing to God is the continence of widowhood.'
Junius thinks 'Judith' to be a common name, like 'Abra,' but one appropriated to this heroine: for Jehudi in Hebrew means the same as 'Judean'; hence Jehudit, and by contraction Judith, means the same as 'a Jewish woman.' It is more true that Judith is a proper name, whose etymology aptly fits here.
DAUGHTER OF MERARI, SON OF IDOX. — Note: Only sixteen generations and as many ancestors of Judith are counted here, yet from Jacob, the common patriarch of the Jews, to the Babylonian captivity, which preceded Judith's time, twenty-six generations are counted in Matthew chapter 1. Therefore one of two things must be said here: either not all of Judith's ancestors are listed here, just as the ancestors of Elkanah are not fully listed in 1 Samuel 1:1, nor those of Saul in the same book, chapter 9:1; for it suffices for Scripture to trace someone's genealogy to some illustrious man, for example in Saul's case to Jemini. Or else Judith's grandfathers and great-grandfathers begot their sons in old age. For this reason from Ezra back to Aaron only sixteen generations are counted in 1 Ezra chapter 7:2; yet in 1 Chronicles 6:3, from Josedec, who was a contemporary, indeed a brother of Ezra, back to Aaron, twenty-two generations are counted. So St. Matthew, chapter 1, from Christ to David counts 28 generations and ancestors, while St. Luke, chapter 3, counts 43. Therefore those in Luke's list begot earlier, those in Matthew's later.
SON OF SIMEON, SON OF RUBEN. — From this some think Judith descended from the tribe of Ruben. But that she was born of the tribe of Simeon is clear from her own words in chapter 9, verse 2. Therefore the Greek here instead of 'son of Ruben' has 'son of Israel,' that is, Jacob, and St. Fulgentius (letter 2, chapter 24), Bellarmine (book 1, On the Word of God, chapter 12), Serarius, Mariana, and others think this is the correct reading. However, since the codices corrected at Rome and others consistently have 'son of Ruben,' it must be said that this Ruben is not the patriarch and firstborn of Jacob, but an illustrious man of the tribe of Simeon, to whom therefore Judith's lineage is traced here and in whom it terminates, not proceeding further to his fathers and ancestors all the way to Simeon the patriarch and second son of Jacob. That this is so is clear from what has been said, and from the fact that Ruben, the firstborn of Jacob, had no son named Simeon, as is evident from Genesis 46:9 and 1 Chronicles 5:3. So Lyranus.
Verse 2: Her Husband Manasses
HER HUSBAND MANASSES. — The Greek adds that he was of the same tribe and homeland as Judith.
HE WAS STANDING OVER. — In Greek epistē, that is, 'he stood over'; hence some think Manasses was the overseer of the harvest — not his own, but the public harvest of the entire field of Bethulia. For at Rome and elsewhere there are public superintendents of the grain supply and provisions. So Josephus in his autobiography says the administration of a great field was entrusted to Arbutio.
Verse 4: Six Months
4. Six months. — The Greek has four months.
Verse 5: In the Upper Part of Her House
5. AND IN THE UPPER PART OF HER HOUSE (that is, on the upper floor or terrace) SHE MADE HERSELF A PRIVATE CHAMBER, IN WHICH SHE REMAINED SHUT UP WITH HER HANDMAIDS (servants), — both to avoid men and crowds of visitors, and thus to safeguard both her chastity and her reputation; and also so that she might devote herself entirely to prayer and to God. This therefore is the first gift of Judith as a widow, namely the love of silence and solitude. Hence St. Jerome, in his letter to the widow Furia, gives her this advice: 'Flee the company of young men, do not go out in public, and do not be carried about with a widow's freedom with an escort of eunuchs going before you: seek the company of holy virgins and widows. And if the necessity of conversing with men arises, do not avoid witnesses, and let your confidence in conversation be such that when another enters, you neither tremble nor blush. The face is the mirror of the mind: and silent eyes confess the secrets of the heart.' And further: 'Redeem virgins whom you may bring into the chamber of the King; receive widows whom you may mingle like violets among the lilies of virgins and roses of martyrs: instead of the crown of thorns in which Christ bore the sins of the world, weave such garlands.'
Verse 6: Wearing a Hairshirt Upon Her Loins
6. AND WEARING A HAIRSHIRT UPON HER LOINS. — Constantly pricking and stinging her flesh with its bristles like little needles, and by that pain suppressing and extinguishing the urges of shameful pleasure bubbling up from youthful blood. For the hairshirt tames these more effectively, being constant and continuous, than the passing pains and strokes of flagellation. Therefore let young people, especially widowed women, arm themselves with the hairshirt as a most powerful defense for subduing the flesh and preserving chastity. See our Gretser's book On Disciplines; for as St. Jerome says in letter 2 to the widow Ageruchia: 'And certainly it is far more laborious not to enjoy what you have, than to desire what you have lost. Hence virginity is in this respect easier, in that it does not know the enticements of the flesh; and widowhood is in this respect more anxious, in that it recalls past pleasures in the mind.' And earlier, proposing examples of chastity from pagan matrons who preferred chastity to life: 'I will briefly touch on the queen of Carthage, who preferred to burn rather than marry King Hiarbas; and the wife of Hasdrubal, who, seizing her children with both hands, threw herself into the fire below, lest she suffer the loss of her chastity; and Lucretia, who, having lost the glory of chastity, refused to survive a polluted conscience.'
SHE FASTED ALL THE DAYS OF HER LIFE, EXCEPT THE SABBATHS. — Now the Jews fasted from morning to evening, and did not take food before the appearance of Hesperus and the stars, just as the Turks still fast today. This was the third gift of Judith: a perpetual fast, which withdrew from the fire of lust the fuel of delicacies — indeed, even of necessary foods. Note this saying: 'Remove the wood from the fire, if you wish to extinguish the flame.'
Hear St. Jerome, letter 9 to Salvianus on preserving widowhood: 'But you, who in the tomb of your husband have buried all your pleasures alike, who washed with tears over his bier the face once adorned with rouge and white lead; you who put on a dark tunic and black sandals in place of a white garment and golden slipper — you need nothing else except to persevere in fasting. Let pallor and plainness be your jewels; let the softness of feather beds not pamper your youthful limbs; let the heat of baths not inflame the fresh blood of a young woman. Hear what the pagan Poet sings in the person of a continent widow: 'He who first joined me to himself took away my love; let him keep it with him and guard it in the grave.' If the cheapest glass is valued so highly, how much more the most precious pearl? If a pagan widow thus condemns all pleasures by the common law of nature, what should be expected from a Christian widow, who owes her chastity not only to the one who has died, but also to Him with whom she is to reign?' And further: 'It is far better that your stomach ache than your mind; to rule the body than to serve it; to totter in your step than in your chastity.' Likewise, letter 10 to the widow Furia: 'The burning arrows of the devil must be turned back by the rigor of fasting and vigils; moreover, the widow who lives in luxury is dead while living,' 1 Timothy 5. And further: 'The Apostle chastises his body and subjects it to the rule of the soul, lest he himself fail to keep what he preaches to others: and is a young woman, with her body inflamed by food, secure in her chastity? Nor indeed in saying this do I condemn the foods which God created to be used with thanksgiving; but I remove from young men and women the incentives to pleasure. Not the fires of Etna, nor the Vulcanian land, nor Vesuvius and Olympus burn with such heats as youthful marrows full of wine and inflamed by feasts.' Then exhorting her to abstain from wine and meat, he adds: 'And know that nothing is so beneficial for young Christians as eating vegetables.' And in another place: 'He who is weak, he says, should eat vegetables, and the heat of bodies must be tempered by colder foods.' And soon after: 'Whatever creates a seedbed of pleasures, consider it poison. Sparing food and an ever-hungry stomach are to be preferred to three-day fasts. And it is far better to take a little daily than to take enough rarely. That rain is best which descends gently upon the earth. A sudden and excessive downpour overturns the fields headlong. When you eat, consider that you must immediately pray, and forthwith read.' And after some things: 'O if you could see your sister! She considers fasting as play, and prayer as delight.'
Verse 7: Her Husband Had Left Great Riches
7. TO WHOM HER HUSBAND HAD LEFT GREAT RICHES, — which she spent not for her own use, but for the benefit of the needy. St. Bernard says beautifully in his sermon on the Feast of All Saints: 'What is more admirable, or what martyrdom more severe, than to hunger amid feasts, to shiver amid many and costly garments, to be pressed by poverty amid riches which the world offers, which the evil one displays, which our own appetite desires? Will he not rightly be crowned who has fought thus, rejecting the world that makes promises, mocking the enemy that tempts, and (what is more glorious) triumphing over himself, and crucifying his itching concupiscence?'
Verse 8: She Was Most Famous Among All
8. AND SHE WAS MOST FAMOUS AMONG ALL (that is, of most approved reputation, or most celebrated for her fame of uprightness and holiness), BECAUSE SHE FEARED THE LORD GREATLY. — This fear was not servile but filial, by which Judith worshipped and reverenced God as her Lord, indeed as her Father, to the highest degree; and therefore she strove to please Him in all things, and took care not to offend Him in any matter, however small. And by this holiness she prepared herself for so great a deed, that she might be worthy to be chosen by God to overthrow the enemy's camp and to liberate the people.
Allegorically, Judith was a type of the Blessed Virgin, about whom St. Bonaventure says in his Speculum, chapter 8: 'The Lord, most renowned and most famous, is most famously with you; therefore you too are most famous and most renowned, etc.: Mary therefore is signified by that Judith of most famous name, of whom it is written that there was no one who spoke an evil word about her.'
Verse 11: Who Are You That You Tempt the Lord?
11. AND WHO ARE YOU THAT YOU TEMPT THE LORD? — 'You tempt,' that is, you provoke, irritate, and stir up to anger, while you prescribe laws to Him, that unless He helps you within five days, you wish to hand the city over to the enemy, when rather you ought to invoke Him with humble prayer, that He may have mercy on you, and Himself prescribe for you the day and manner of your liberation.
Verse 15: God Will Not Threaten as a Man Does
15. FOR GOD WILL NOT THREATEN AS A MAN DOES, as if to say: Let us not fear the threats of Holofernes, but rather those of God; for his threats are proud, empty, and vain, as are those of other men; but God's threats are certain, firm, and effective. For when God is angered, He certainly and inevitably inflicts what He threatens.
Verse 16: Let Us Humble Our Souls Before Him
16. AND THEREFORE LET US HUMBLE OUR SOULS BEFORE HIM. — Through humble repentance, fasting, prayer, and supplication, that He may pardon our sins and deliver us from Holofernes.
Verse 21: Lift Up Their Hearts by Your Speech
21. LIFT UP THEIR HEARTS BY YOUR SPEECH (that is, by your eloquence), — to magnanimity and firm confidence in God the Liberator.
Verse 22: Abraham Was Tested
22. ABRAHAM WAS TESTED, AND BEING PROVED THROUGH MANY TRIBULATIONS, BECAME THE FRIEND OF GOD, — especially when, commanded by God to sacrifice his only son Isaac, he was willing to sacrifice him, Genesis 22. See what was said there.
Verse 23: All Who Pleased God Passed Through Tribulations
23. ALL WHO PLEASED GOD PASSED THROUGH MANY TRIBULATIONS FAITHFUL. — Faithfully, that is, clinging to God, and asking and expecting from Him deliverance from tribulation. See what was said on James 1:1ff. and Sirach 2:1ff.
Verse 26: Let Us Not Take Vengeance
26. AND LET US THEREFORE NOT TAKE VENGEANCE, — that is, let us not be indignant and murmur against God in the manner of those who seek vengeance, as if wishing to avenge ourselves upon Him for the calamities and fears which He sends upon us.
Verse 30: Test What I Have Resolved to Do
30. AND JUDITH SAID TO THEM: AS YOU RECOGNIZE THAT WHAT I WAS ABLE TO SAY IS FROM GOD (that is, suggested and inspired to me by God): 31. SO TEST WHAT I HAVE RESOLVED TO DO (namely, to kill Holofernes by stratagem), WHETHER IT IS FROM GOD: — The word 'whether' here is not that of one who doubts, but who affirms; and it means the same as 'that,' as if to say: Just as you have approved my words as proceeding from God, so also approve my plan, which I have resolved to carry out by God's impulse, namely that I should go to Holofernes and kill him. Yet she says 'whether,' as if doubting, out of modesty, because this matter had not yet been done but was to be done; although she was certain of a happy outcome from God's inspiration. As if to say: 'Test,' that is, observe and attend to what I am about to do, and from the outcome, test and judge 'whether it is from God'; as if to say: Surely when you see the matter happily accomplished, you will approve it, and will judge that it was undertaken by God's authority. She speaks in general terms, but does not explain in particular what she has planned: for she knew that if she did so, the matter would not remain secret, but would be carried to Holofernes. She likewise knew that many would condemn her plan as rash. Hence the Greek has: 'I will do a deed that will reach down through the generations of the children of our race.'
Verse 32: You Shall Stand at the Gate This Night
32. YOU SHALL STAND AT THE GATE THIS NIGHT, AND I WILL GO OUT WITH MY HANDMAID, — as if to say: Open for me at night the gates closed for fear of the enemy, and let me go out with my maidservant. For she asks that the gate be opened for her at night.
WITH MY HANDMAID. — Many think 'abra' is the proper name of Judith's maidservant; but they err, for it is a common noun meaning 'maidservant.' Hence in chapter 10, verse 2ff., where our version translates 'maidservant,' the Greek has 'abra'; it is therefore derived either from the Hebrew chabra, meaning 'companion,' or more likely from abra, meaning 'one who passes along,' a female attendant: for habar in Hebrew means 'to pass.' So Pagninus. Moreover this was not an ordinary maidservant of Judith, but one who was set over all her possessions, as the Greek states. Hence the Greeks call honored maidservants (whom the Italians call Cameriere) 'abra,' as is clear from Menander in his Pseudo-Hercules. Likewise in Genesis chapter 24, verse 61, Rebecca's maidservants are called 'abra,' as is the maidservant of Pharaoh's daughter, Exodus chapter 2, verse 5. Some add that 'abra' properly designates a maidservant who is a table companion and secretary, and who has charge of the pantry; for this is what the word signifies among the Spartans.
Verse 33: I Do Not Wish You to Investigate What I Do
33. BUT I DO NOT WISH YOU TO INVESTIGATE WHAT I DO. — as something approved and decreed by God. She wisely conceals her secret; for the entire force of this action depended on secrecy. AND UNTIL I BRING YOU WORD, LET NOTHING ELSE BE DONE EXCEPT PRAYER FOR ME TO THE LORD. — Learn here to call for public and continuous prayers in a grave public cause, that God may direct and prosper the matter. The weapons therefore of Judith, with which she cut off Holofernes' head, were the public litanies and prayers of the whole people. Note this passage in support of litanies.
Hear St. Augustine, sermon 228, On the Seasons, which is about Judith: 'Most holy Judith, at whose prayers heaven opened, forged with the art of prayer victorious weapons with which to fight adversity, and as a woman vindicated men who trembled. The city was wasting under the siege of barbarous ferocity. For all were so languishing that they judged it more convenient to be handed over into the hands of the enemy than to be afflicted by the devastation of a pernicious famine. Behold, Judith after prayer and sackcloth, after ashes, returns to maiden's attire, the hope of all peoples comes forth, about to render anxious peoples secure, she consoles them with her wisdom, who, promising a victory that every nation would marvel at, asks that the gate be opened for her with the barriers slightly removed. She went forth secure, content with the company of a single girl, and with confident steps hastened into the enemy's camp. Within the walls she was anxious; she becomes secure when she reaches what was to be feared.' And near the end: 'By the favor of prayer, chastity preserved its own honor intact and undisturbed, and deceived the stranger, etc. For where heaven is assailed by constant prayers, the power of arms is always trampled underfoot. The prayer of a glorious woman preserved her chastity, while a multitude could not protect the enemy. One woman was able to avenge a mourning city, while so great an army could not protect its king.' And sermon 229: 'Judith the warrior soul besieged the breast of another. She, having cast off womanly fear, seeking victory amid dangers, neither feared death amid perils, nor dreaded uncertainty.'