Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Judith commands the head of Holofernes to be hung from the walls; Achior converts to Judaism: the Hebrews rush upon the Assyrians; the latter are dismayed by the slaying of Holofernes, and lament with great outcry.
Vulgate Text: Judith 14:1-18
1. Then Judith said to all the people: Hear me, brothers, hang this head upon our walls; 2. and it shall be, when the sun rises, let each one take up his weapons, and go out with force, not so as to descend below, but as though making an assault. 3. Then the scouts will necessarily flee to rouse their commander for battle. 4. And when their leaders have run to the tent of Holofernes and found him a trunk wallowing in his own blood, fear will fall upon them. 5. And when you see that they are fleeing, go after them safely, because the Lord will crush them under your feet. 6. Then Achior, seeing the power that the God of Israel had wrought, abandoned the rites of paganism, believed in God, circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and was joined to the people of Israel, and all his posterity to this day. 7. Then, as soon as day broke, they hung the head of Holofernes on the walls, and each man took his weapons, and they went out with great noise and shouting. 8. When the scouts saw this, they ran to the tent of Holofernes. 9. Now those who were in the tent came, and making a commotion before the entrance of the bedchamber, by way of rousing him, they artfully caused a disturbance so that Holofernes might be awakened not by those rousing him, but by the noise. 10. For no one dared to open the bedchamber of the Assyrian commander by knocking or entering. 11. But when his generals and tribunes and all the chief officers of the army of the king of the Assyrians had come, they said to the chamberlains: 12. Go in and rouse him, for the mice have come out of their holes and dared to challenge us to battle. 13. Then Vagao entered his chamber, stood before the curtain, and clapped his hands: for he suspected that he was sleeping with Judith. 14. But when he perceived no movement of anyone lying there by the sense of his ears, he approached close to the curtain, and lifting it, and seeing the corpse of Holofernes without a head, decomposing in its own blood upon the ground, he cried out with a loud voice and weeping, and tore his garments. 15. And entering the tent of Judith, he did not find her, and he rushed out to the people, 16. and said: One Hebrew woman has brought confusion upon the house of King Nebuchadnezzar; for behold, Holofernes lies on the ground, and his head is not on him. 17. When the princes of the Assyrian army heard this, they all tore their garments, and intolerable fear and trembling fell upon them. And their minds were exceedingly troubled. 18. And there arose an incomparable outcry in the midst of their camp.
Verse 1: Hang the Head Upon the Walls
1. AND JUDITH SAID: HANG THE HEAD UPON THE WALLS — so that the Assyrians, seeing their commander slain, might be struck with terror and flee. 2. AND IT SHALL BE, WHEN THE SUN HAS RISEN (come forth), LET EACH ONE TAKE UP HIS WEAPONS, AND GO OUT WITH FORCE, NOT SO AS TO DESCEND BELOW (to a real and serious battle with the far more powerful Assyrians), BUT AS THOUGH MAKING AN ASSAULT — that is, as though launching an attack on the nearest enemy outpost, as if to say: Do not engage in a full-scale battle, being few against countless, but pretend that you wish to engage, so that the Assyrians will run to Holofernes to have him marshal the battle line, and seeing him slain, will be dismayed and flee. For Judith did not want the Assyrians to be attacked until the death of Holofernes had spread and left the Assyrians bereft of courage and counsel; but once that was accomplished, she ordered them to immediately rush upon the terrified and fleeing enemy. For if they had given the Assyrians time, they could have chosen another commander by common counsel, who would have continued the siege of Bethulia; and so he could have captured the city, already weakened by hunger and thirst. But Judith, prudently foreseeing this, ordered that once the death of Holofernes was made known, they should immediately swoop upon the panic-stricken enemy with all their forces and battalions. When this was done, the astonished enemy, fleeing, were defeated and slain by the Hebrews. See therefore here the prudence and military cunning of Judith, who pursued the victory she had begun to its very end; therefore she was more prudent than Hannibal, who, although he had utterly crushed the Romans in the battle of Cannae, and Maharbal, the cavalry commander, urged him to march immediately on Rome — for doubtless he would have taken the city in its panic and dined on the fifth day on the Capitol — when Hannibal delayed and said the matter needed more careful consideration, Maharbal replied: "You know how to win, Hannibal, but you do not know how to use your victory." So Livy, Book XXII. Hear St. Ambrose in his book On Widows: "Nor was this the work of her right hand alone, but the greater trophies belong to her wisdom. For by her hand she conquered only Holofernes, but by her counsel she conquered the entire enemy army. For by hanging up the head of Holofernes — what could not be devised by the counsel of men — she raised the spirits of her own people and broke those of the enemy: stirring her own by shame, and striking the enemy also with terror, and so they were slain and put to flight. Thus the temperance and sobriety of a single widow not only conquered her own nature, but, what is more, made even men braver." In a similar way David, having cut off the head of Goliath and shown it to the Philistines, struck them with terror and put them to flight, 1 Kings 17. Judas Maccabeus did the same, severing the head of Nicanor and hanging it from the citadel of Zion, 2 Maccabees 15:35. Likewise M. Livius and Claudius Nero, Roman consuls, after slaying Hasdrubal with 56,000 Carthaginians and unexpectedly throwing his head before the camp of his brother Hannibal, so struck him that he said all was over with the fortune of the Carthaginians; and immediately fleeing to a corner of Italy, he withdrew to the Bruttians, as Livy testifies at the end of Book XXVI.
Verse 6: Achior Seeing the Power
6. THEN ACHIOR, SEEING THE POWER (the strength, namely, so strong, so prodigious and divine a victory over the slain Holofernes), WHICH THE GOD OF ISRAEL (in Greek, 'of Israel,' that is, of the Israelite people) HAD WROUGHT, HAVING ABANDONED THE RITES OF PAGANISM (idolatry and gentilism), BELIEVED IN GOD, AND CIRCUMCISED (not by his own hand, but by the hand of some Levite) THE FLESH OF HIS FORESKIN — having become a proselyte and a Jew; for although the Ammonites, Arabs, Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians had long ago received circumcision from Abraham and the Jews, nevertheless they had received it as something voluntary, not as obligatory and necessary, as the Hebrews had received it from God who commanded it. Whence many did not circumcise themselves out of shame and the pain of circumcision: therefore gradually circumcision among them virtually disappeared. Achior therefore, although an Ammonite, was uncircumcised, but by this deed of Judith having been converted to Judaism, he circumcised himself. For circumcision was the profession of Judaism and the Mosaic Law, just as baptism is now the profession of Christianity and the Evangelical Law.
AND HE WAS JOINED TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL — so that, as it were, a citizen of the Israelites, he might have civil rights to all their privileges, laws, dignities, and even magistracies. For although God had forbidden in Deuteronomy 23:3 that Ammonites and Moabites be admitted to the assembly of Israel, nevertheless in this law He permitted dispensation on account of someone's outstanding merits toward Israel, such as were those of Achior, who before Holofernes had publicly professed God's providence and protection toward Israel, and had celebrated them with worthy praises. So Ruth the Moabitess was admitted to the assembly of Israel, and marrying Boaz, became the grandmother of David and consequently of Christ. For the legal scholars, or the Prophets, or the High Priests consulting God through the Urim and Thummim, of which I spoke at Exodus chapter 28, verse 28, answered that this was God's intention.
Verse 10: No One Dared to Open the Bedchamber
10. FOR NO ONE DARED TO OPEN THE BEDCHAMBER OF THE POWER OF THE ASSYRIANS BY KNOCKING OR ENTERING. — "Of the power," that is, of the might and majesty "of the Assyrians" — so they call Holofernes, their commander and prince. Just as we call a king or prince "His Royal Majesty," "His Highness," "His Excellency."
Verse 12: The Mice Have Come Out of Their Holes
12. THE MICE HAVE COME OUT OF THEIR HOLES. — Thus out of contempt they call even the Jews, as though they were unarmed and unwarlike, but these mice they soon found had turned into lions, who would strike down their elephants.
Verse 13: Vagao Entered His Chamber
13. THEN VAGAO ENTERED HIS CHAMBER AND STOOD BEFORE THE CURTAIN.
BEFORE THE CURTAIN. — For the princes of the Assyrians and Persians so maintained their gravity and majesty that they would speak only from behind a curtain, and give their answers thus, just as the kings of China still do even now. Whence Athenaeus, Book IV, chapter 6, from Heraclides, reports that princes invited to a banquet by the king of the Persians dined in the same chamber with him, but with a veil interposed, so that he could not be seen by them, while he himself could easily see them.
Verse 14: The Corpse Lying on the Ground
14. THE CORPSE, etc., LYING ON THE GROUND — in Greek, "on the bed," or the "ground" here was the floor near the bed, as the Greek has it, verse 16.
Verse 16: One Hebrew Woman Brought Confusion
16. ONE HEBREW WOMAN HAS BROUGHT CONFUSION UPON THE HOUSE OF THE KING — for by killing the prince, she threw the entire camp into confusion, struck it with terror, and threw it into turmoil. See here the prudence of Judith, who aimed at the head of the general: for by removing him, she destroyed the entire camp. For a camp without a leader is the same as a people without a king, sheep without a shepherd, disciples without a teacher, children without a father, citizens without a consul. Whence Tarquinius, king of the Romans, by cutting off the heads of poppies in his garden, by this very act signified through a messenger to his son, who had pretended to defect to the Gabini, that the heads of the Gabinian leaders must be removed: which being done, the Gabini, being as it were headless, surrendered to Tarquinius, as Livy testifies. This saying the mystical teachers apply to the Blessed Virgin, who, by crushing the head of the infernal Dragon, utterly destroyed all the armies of his infernal spirits.