Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Judith in ashes and hairshirt prays to God, that He may grant her strength to slay Holofernes, so as to free her homeland from his siege.
Vulgate Text: Judith 9:1-19
1. When they had departed, Judith entered her oratory, and clothing herself with a hairshirt, placed ashes upon her head; and prostrating herself before the Lord, she cried out to the Lord, saying: 2. O Lord God of my father Simeon, who gave him a sword in defense against foreigners, who were violators in their defilement, and stripped bare the thigh of the virgin to her shame; 3. and You gave their wives as plunder, and their daughters into captivity, and all the spoil to be divided among Your servants, who were zealous with Your zeal; come to my aid, I beg You, O Lord my God, a widow. 4. For You did the former things, and devised those things and what followed; and this was done which You Yourself willed, 5. for all Your ways are prepared, and You have placed Your judgments in Your providence. 6. Look upon the camp of the Assyrians now, as You then deigned to look upon the camp of the Egyptians, when they ran armed after Your servants, trusting in their chariots and their cavalry and the multitude of their warriors. 7. But You looked down upon their camp, and darkness wearied them. 8. The abyss held their feet, and the waters covered them. 9. So let it be also with these, O Lord, who trust in their multitude, and in their chariots, and in their pikes, and in their shields, and in their arrows, and glory in their lances, 10. and do not know that You Yourself are our God, who crushes wars from the beginning, and the Lord is Your name. 11. Raise up Your arm as from the beginning, and dash their strength by Your power; let their strength fall in Your wrath, they who promise to violate Your holy things, and to pollute the tabernacle of Your name, and to cast down by their sword the horn of Your altar. 12. Bring it about, O Lord, that his pride be cut off by his own sword; 13. let him be caught in the snare of his own eyes upon me, and You will strike him from the lips of my love. 14. Give me constancy of soul, that I may despise him; and strength, that I may overthrow him. 15. For this will be a memorial of Your name, when the hand of a woman has cast him down. 16. For Your strength is not in numbers, O Lord, nor is Your will in the power of horses, nor have the proud pleased You from the beginning, but the prayer of the humble and meek has always pleased You, 17. O God of the heavens, Creator of the waters, and Lord of all creation, hear me, a wretched woman, who begs and trusts in Your mercy. 18. Remember, O Lord, Your covenant, and give words to my mouth, and strengthen the plan in my heart, that Your house may remain in Your sanctification, 19. and all nations may know that You are God, and there is no other besides You.
Verse 1: When They Had Departed
1. WHEN THEY HAD DEPARTED (correct with the Roman and Greek texts 'departed'), JUDITH ENTERED HER ORATORY; AND CLOTHING HERSELF WITH A HAIRSHIRT. — The Greek has errōmenōs, which the translator of the Complutensian and Royal editions renders: 'She took off the sackcloth with which she was clothed,' that is, the hairshirt. But this contradicts the Latin Vulgate version literally. Therefore translate with Vatablus: 'She laid bare the sackcloth with which she was clothed,' that is, having removed her outer garments, she remained clothed only in the sackcloth, and displayed it bare: she calls 'sackcloth' what is a hairshirt. She therefore laid bare the hairshirt within before God, showing it to God as a sign of penitence and of a penitent, and of a suppliant's entreaty. With hairshirt and ashes, therefore, she adorned — indeed, armed — her prayer, the symbolic reason for which I will give at verse 14.
PROSTRATING HERSELF BEFORE THE LORD. — The Greek adds that this was done in the evening, when incense was being burned to God in the Temple of Jerusalem, to signify that the public sacrifice in the temple, which was continually offered in the evening, cooperated with these prayers of Judith, and that Judith joined her prayers to it, in order to convert a public calamity by a public supplication, and that the power of the sacrifice might be demonstrated — namely, that it had prepared this victory of Judith.
2. O LORD GOD OF MY FATHER SIMEON (from this it is clear that Judith was of the tribe of Simeon), WHO GAVE HIM A SWORD, — that is, strength, IN DEFENSE (the Greek has ekdikēsin, that is, vengeance) AGAINST FOREIGNERS WHO WERE VIOLATORS — of Dinah, his sister. Note: God gave strength to Simeon to avenge the rape of Dinah, but not to be carried out in the manner they employed. For although they acted out of zeal, as follows; yet that zeal was contrary to the pacts made with the Shechemites, and exposed Jacob and all his household to the danger of being killed by neighboring peoples; hence Jacob rebuked them. Nevertheless, God permitted Shechem the rapist and his subject Shechemites to be slain by Simeon, and their goods to be plundered as punishment for the rape committed by Shechem their prince. So Lyranus. See what was said on Genesis 34. So God gave houses to the midwives who lied, not on account of the lie, but on account of the kindness and benefit bestowed on the Hebrew infants whom they saved from death, Exodus 1. Judith therefore praises the zeal of Simeon in avenging the rape of Dinah, but does not praise the manner of the vengeance — namely, that he killed the Shechemites on his own authority by deceit.
Verse 4: You Devised Those Things
4. AND YOU DEVISED THOSE THINGS AND WHAT FOLLOWED (that is, one example of Your vengeance after another), — namely, to do them. For Judith paves the way to commemorate the vengeance taken by God on Pharaoh in the Red Sea.
Verse 9: And in Pikes
9. AND IN PIKES. — Pikes are lances, long spears, hunting spears, etc.
Verse 11: The Horn of Your Altar
11. THE HORN OF YOUR ALTAR. — The altar truly had horns, but by them was signified the majesty, strength, and glory of the altar and of the sacrifices offered upon it.
Verse 13: From the Lips of My Love
13. AND YOU WILL STRIKE HIM FROM THE LIPS OF MY LOVE, — that is, you will wound Holofernes with my elegant words 'of love,' that is, with enticing affections; for 'love' here is understood by catachresis not as divine but as human — of chaste love, I say, by which he might love and court me as a wife. For although Judith did not want Holofernes as a husband, she could legitimately entice him to a chaste and conjugal love for her, so that she might have the opportunity to kill him cunningly when he was off guard. For even though Holofernes was to be carried away into a shameful and adulterous love for her, yet Judith did not intend this, but merely permitted it to conceal her deed, by which she destined him for death, and which she could not accomplish by any other means. She therefore intended to attract Holofernes by her beauty to an honorable and conjugal love, so that she might kill him when he was thus enamored and unguarded (1). For this deed of Judith, in which God singularly worked by killing Holofernes and liberating Judea, should rather be excused and ascribed to love of country and to a special divine impulse, than accused of lust or scandal, as the Sacred Scriptures, the Fathers, and commentators excuse it, and especially St. Ambrose in his book On Widows.
Verse 14: Give Me Constancy of Soul
14. GIVE ME CONSTANCY OF SOUL. — Note: Every virtue, but especially constancy, must be sought from God, particularly by the weak and feeble, such as women, children, the elderly, and the sick, when they undertake something heroic that exceeds the forces of nature, as was this deed of Judith, both because man through sin has become entirely fragile and inconstant, and because God says: 'I am who I am,' that is, constant by His essence, the fountain and author of all being. But notice that Judith asks for this while wearing a hairshirt, sprinkled with ashes, and prostrated on the ground, verse 1; because prayer, to obtain constancy, must be armed with penance, toil, and mortification of the flesh; for whoever is soft and indulges in carnal pleasures cannot be strong and constant. Ashes are a sign of death, because the memory of death, the brevity of life, and the toil and sorrow to be endured in it, greatly stir up constancy. Finally, prostration is a sign of humility, by which one, acknowledging one's fragility, implores God's help and obtains constancy from Him.
Verse 16: Your Strength Is Not in Numbers
16. FOR YOUR STRENGTH IS NOT IN NUMBERS, — so that You may produce victory through many strong soldiers, but through a single weak and unarmed woman You will accomplish the whole thing. Thus Artabanus said to Xerxes exulting in his great forces: 'A vast army is routed by a small one; whenever God strikes those whom He detests with fear or thunder.' As Heliodorus reports, book 7.
WHO TRUSTS GREATLY, — that is, who is very confident. See what was said on chapter 6, verse 15.
Verse 18: Remember Your Covenant
18. REMEMBER, O LORD, YOUR COVENANT, — that is, the pact made with the Hebrews through Moses, David, and other leaders.
THAT YOUR HOUSE (Your temple) MAY REMAIN IN YOUR SANCTIFICATION, that is, in the holy religion and worship of You, by which it is truly sanctified.