Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Judith tells Holofernes the reason for her coming and promises him victory. The Assyrians praise her for her beauty and wisdom: Holofernes promises her great rewards.
Vulgate Text: Judith 11:1-21
1. Then Holofernes said to her: Be of good courage, and do not fear in your heart; for I have never harmed a man who was willing to serve King Nebuchadnezzar. 2. But had your people not despised me, I would not have lifted my lance against them. 3. Now then tell me: For what reason did you leave them, and why did it please you to come to us? 4. And Judith said to him: Receive the words of your handmaid, for if you follow the words of your handmaid, the Lord will accomplish a perfect thing with you. 5. For as Nebuchadnezzar the king of the earth lives, and as his power lives, which is in you, for the correction of all erring souls: not only do men serve him through you, but even the beasts of the field obey him. 6. For the industry of your mind is reported to all nations, and it has been made known to the whole age that you alone are good and powerful in all his kingdom, and your discipline is proclaimed in all the provinces. 7. Nor is what Achior said hidden; nor is it unknown what you commanded should happen to him. 8. For it is well established that our God is so offended by sins that He has commanded through His prophets to the people that He will hand them over for their sins. 9. And since the children of Israel know that they have offended their God, your terror is upon them. 10. Moreover, famine has overtaken them, and from the drought of water they are already counted among the dead. 11. Finally, they plan to slaughter their cattle and drink their blood: 12. and the holy things of the Lord their God, which God commanded not to be touched — in grain, wine, and oil — these they have resolved to spend, and they wish to consume things which they should not even touch with their hands: therefore since they are doing these things, it is certain that they will be given over to destruction. 13. And I your handmaid, knowing this, fled from them, and the Lord sent me to report these very things to you. 14. For I your handmaid worship God, even now while with you: and your handmaid will go out and pray to God, 15. and He will tell me when He will repay them for their sin, and coming I will report to you, so that I may lead you through the midst of Jerusalem, and you will have all the people of Israel like sheep without a shepherd, and not a single dog will bark against you: 16. because these things have been told to me by the providence of God. 17. And since God is angry with them, I have been sent to report these very things to you. 18. And all these words pleased Holofernes and his servants, and they marveled at her wisdom, and said to one another: 19. There is no such woman on the earth in appearance, in beauty, and in the sense of her words. 20. And Holofernes said to her: God has done well in sending you before the people, to give them into our hands, 21. and since your promise is good, if your God does this for me, He will also be my God, and you will be great in the house of Nebuchadnezzar, and your name will be renowned throughout the whole earth.
Verse 1: Then Holofernes Said to Her
1. THEN HOLOFERNES SAID TO HER: BE OF GOOD COURAGE. — Holofernes noticed that Judith was afraid and trembling, both because a woman accustomed to solitude was standing among so many thousands of armed men and enemies, and because the consciousness of so great a deed struck her mind with fear, lest perhaps it might not succeed, but the matter be betrayed, and she face mortal danger. For although, with God animating her, her spirit was intrepid, yet her flesh was weak and weakened the lower part of her mind. And what wonder? — when Christ, most courageous, about to undertake His Passion, said of Himself: 'The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak,' Matthew 26:41.
I HAVE NEVER HARMED A MAN, — much less a woman. He lies: for as was said in chapter 3, he destroyed the cities of those who offered themselves to him as servants, and cut down their groves.
Verse 4: The Lord Will Accomplish a Perfect Thing
4. THE LORD WILL ACCOMPLISH A PERFECT THING WITH YOU, — namely, God will give a perfect victory, not to you, as you think, O Holofernes, but to me and the Jews over you. This is a military stratagem, by which Judith plays with and mocks Holofernes through the ambiguity of her words, and thus leads him into the trap and snare of death. For as the Poet says: 'Whether deceit or valor — who would inquire against an enemy?' So the Delphic Apollo mocked Pyrrhus when he consulted about victory against the Romans, saying: 'I say that you, son of Aeacus, can conquer the Romans.' Which Pyrrhus wrongly applied to himself, as if he were to conquer the Romans, when Apollo meant it of the Romans — that they would conquer Pyrrhus, as indeed they did.
Verse 5: As Nebuchadnezzar the King Lives
5. FOR AS NEBUCHADNEZZAR THE KING OF THE EARTH LIVES, AND AS HIS POWER (strength, might) LIVES. — Judith swears by the life and power of Nebuchadnezzar, just as Joseph swears by the health of Pharaoh, Genesis 42:15. AND EVEN THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD (that is, horses, camels, oxen, donkeys, sheep, etc.) OBEY HIM.
Verse 6: Made Known to the Whole Age
6. IT HAS BEEN MADE KNOWN TO THE WHOLE AGE, — the present age, that is, to the whole world. So the Greek. THAT YOU ALONE ARE GOOD, — kind and beneficent, according to Christ's saying in Luke 22:25: 'The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have power over them are called benefactors (Princes).' Hence the epithet of governors was 'most excellent,' as 'most excellent Felix,' 'most excellent Festus.' See what was said on Acts chapter 24, verse 3. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: You alone are the true and great prince in the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, being kind and generous as well as powerful, and therefore Nebuchadnezzar has entrusted all his affairs to you. Some interpret 'good' as 'strong.'
Verse 8: He Commanded Through His Prophets
8. THAT HE COMMANDED THROUGH HIS PROPHETS. — For God sent Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah, and the other prophets, who might chastise the idolatry and crimes of Israel, and threaten and foretell their destruction by the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and other enemies.
Verse 10: Famine Has Overtaken Them
10. FAMINE HAS OVERTAKEN THEM, — because where there is thirst, there is also hunger; for food without drink cannot be moistened and eaten by one who is thirsty.
Verse 11: And Drink Their Blood
11. AND DRINK THEIR BLOOD, — instead of water, which they lack to quench their extreme thirst; but the eating and drinking of blood was forbidden to the Jews by God under penalty of death, as is clear from Leviticus 17.
Verse 12: The Holy Things of the Lord
12. AND THE HOLY THINGS OF THE LORD (those things sanctified to God, that is, dedicated and consecrated) THESE THEY HAVE RESOLVED TO SPEND, — to relieve their extreme thirst and famine. THEREFORE SINCE THEY ARE DOING THESE THINGS, IT IS CERTAIN THAT THEY WILL BE GIVEN OVER TO DESTRUCTION. — It is certain, if you consider natural causes and the ordinary course of events; for famine and thirst will drive them to destruction. Their sins will do the same, by which they have merited the wrath and vengeance of God, unless some holy person mitigates God's wrath, as I hope to mitigate it by my prayers.
Verse 13: The Lord Sent Me to Report
13. THE LORD SENT ME TO REPORT THESE VERY THINGS TO YOU. — For God had sent Judith to Holofernes, so that by reporting these things she might win his favor, and once having obtained it, she might kill him in his drink by a pious ruse.
14 and 15. AND I WILL PRAY TO GOD, AND HE WILL TELL ME WHEN HE WILL REPAY THEM FOR THEIR SIN, AND COMING I WILL REPORT TO YOU, SO THAT I MAY LEAD YOU THROUGH THE MIDST OF JERUSALEM, AND YOU WILL HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL LIKE SHEEP WITHOUT A SHEPHERD, AND NOT A SINGLE DOG WILL BARK AGAINST YOU. — Many judge that Judith cannot be excused here from lying. But I excuse her in two ways and on two grounds. The first is that she speaks according to natural causes and the common course of nature, by which the Jews, reduced to extremity and standing under God's displeasure and wrath, necessarily had to perish, unless God aided them in some supernatural or extraordinary way. So Elisha, when Hazael asked about the health of King Benhadad who was ill, replied that he would recover, but would nevertheless die; because, insofar as the force of the illness was concerned, it was not lethal; hence he was to recover from it, but would nevertheless die, because he was to be suffocated by Hazael, 2 Kings 8:10.
So here Judith asserts that the Hebrews are to be destroyed by Holofernes on account of their sins, because by human strength they could not escape his hand; yet they were to escape through the prayers of Judith and the priests, by which they were asking for and obtaining heavenly divine aid. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: The Hebrews, if you consider natural causes, are plainly to be destroyed and subjugated by you on account of their sins. Wherefore I will pray to God regarding this matter, and if indeed He wishes to destroy them utterly, and indicates this to me as He is wont, and wishes me to declare the same to you — as seems likely if you consider the common course of God's providence — I will announce this same thing to you from the mind of God, so that I may lead you through the midst of Jerusalem and subject the entire people to you. For when God so wills and ordains, I must absolutely obey, even to the harm and destruction of my people; for if He wishes to use me as a rod to chastise them, I ought and wish to serve Him as a rod in this chastisement.
For in a similar way God chastised Rehoboam and the Jews, by creating through the prophet Ahijah King Jeroboam and handing over to him the kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel. So God through Isaiah, chapter 45, summoned Cyrus to chastise the crimes of many nations. So through Jeremiah He summoned Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans to the destruction of Jerusalem; which accordingly Jeremiah frequently and constantly threatened to the Jews, and so strongly urged them to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar who was besieging them, since they could not escape his hand, because this was the just will of God and the punishment of their crimes. Hence Nebuchadnezzar, learning of these oracles of Jeremiah, besieged Jerusalem for 14 months until he captured it, and upon its capture, ordered that Jeremiah be treated kindly and freed on account of these oracles about himself, as is clear from Jeremiah 39:11; indeed Abulensis, on 4 Kings chapter 24, Question 7, and on Isaiah chapter 5, verse 25, and chapter 10, verse 5, considers it probable that Nebuchadnezzar, Shalmaneser, and similar rulers subjugated the Jews by God's revelation and command, about which I said more in the Prooemium on Isaiah, chapters 36 and 37.
So St. Lupus, when Attila king of the Huns was besieging the city of Troyes (of which he was Bishop), asking who he was and what he wanted, and hearing: 'I am Attila, King of the Huns, the scourge of God,' said: 'Come then, scourge of my God, and use that power as God grants you'; and so he led him through the middle of the city, but as if his eyes and mind were captivated, so that he harmed none of the inhabitants, as Baronius records from the life of St. Lupus and other sources, volume 6, in the year of Christ 451. Judith could therefore have done the same to Holofernes — indeed she would have been obliged to, had God commanded it. But Judith knew that God would not command this, but would do the opposite — namely, to betray Holofernes through this pretense. But she did not wish to reveal this to him, nor was she obliged to.
The second way of excusing Judith from lying is by saying that she used ambiguous words, which Holofernes applied to himself, while Judith ascribed them to herself and the Jews. She says therefore: I WILL PRAY TO GOD, AND HE WILL TELL ME WHEN HE WILL REPAY THEM FOR THEIR SIN (if indeed He has decided to punish them according to their deserts, as it seems. But I know from God's revelation that at this time He will not punish them; but for now I must be silent about this, nor can I tell you; yet soon, coming, I will announce to you God's will and decree about deferring the punishment of the Jews' sin and hastening the punishment of your tyranny in unjustly invading the Jews; for I will announce this to you not in word but in deed, when I inflict a lethal wound upon you, says St. Augustine) AND I WILL LEAD YOU (not conquering and triumphing, as you think, but conquered, slain, and triumphed over, when I bring your severed head to Bethulia, and thence) THROUGH THE MIDST OF JERUSALEM, — and the rest of Judea I will carry in triumph as victor, to the common joy of the Jews.
AND YOU WILL HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL LIKE SHEEP WITHOUT A SHEPHERD (when, with you slain, the Bethulians will burst forth in no order, without shepherd or leader, to pursue the Assyrians and plunder their camp. Therefore) THEN NOT A SINGLE DOG WILL BARK AGAINST YOU, — because dogs do not bark at the dead (which you will be), but at the living. Thus the words of Judith, taken partly ironically, partly ambiguously, partly prophetically, are free from falsehood and have both senses. So Serarius, Sanchez, Salianus, and others.
So Agathocles, besieging Syracuse and threatening the besieged that the next day he would dine in the city, was a true prophet, but contrary to his own meaning; for when the citizens burst out and he was led into the city, he dined in it not as victor but as vanquished and captive. This is what St. Augustine says in sermon 229, On the Seasons, which is on Judith: 'It was not fitting for a chaste woman to lie; she spoke to those who did not understand, and by her actions she fulfilled what she promised.'
Verse 16: Told to Me by the Providence of God
16. BECAUSE THESE THINGS HAVE BEEN TOLD TO ME BY THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD. — God's providence therefore ruled and directed Judith, that she might say and do all that she said and did. Therefore she did not lie: for God cannot lie.
Verse 19: No Such Woman on the Earth
19. THERE IS NO SUCH WOMAN ON THE EARTH. — Hear St. Augustine, sermon 229 already cited: 'While she flatters the king with lofty speech and imaginary words, the warrior spirit is dissolved by lust into love of arms, the innumerable strength of soldiers grows sluggish in royal luxury, the pomp of a wedding is arranged with no one marrying, all are dissolved in drunkenness. No delicate matron fought, but slumber prepared for you the one you would strike.'
Verse 21: If Your God Does This for Me
21. IF YOUR GOD DOES THIS FOR ME (that is, subdues Jerusalem and the Jews to me), HE WILL ALSO BE MY GOD, — as if to say: I will become a proselyte and a Jew, and worship the true God of Israel. See how powerful and effective was Judith's speech before Holofernes.