Judith
Chapter 12
Then Holofernes had her brought to the place where his silver dishes were laid out and ordered them to serve her his food and to pour her his wine to drink.
But Judith said, “I will not eat it, for fear that it might cause my downfall. What I brought with me is enough.”
Holofernes asked her: “When you have finished the things you have brought, where will we be able to get the same kind of food to give you, for there is no one of your race here?”
Judith said to him: “As your soul lives, my lord, your servant will not have finished what I have brought with me before the Lord has carried out by my hand what he has decided to do.”
Then the officers of Holofernes led her to the tent, and she slept until midnight. She arose at the morning watch,
and told Holofernes: “Will my lord command that his servant be allowed to go out to pray?”
Holofernes ordered his bodyguards not to prevent her from doing so.She stayed at the camp for three days. Each night, she visited the ravine of Bethulia and bathed in the spring within the camp.
When she returned to the tent, she prayed to the Lord, the God of Israel, asking him to guide her on the right path to deliver her people.
Now purified, once she had returned, she stayed in the tent until evening when she went to get her food.
The Decisive Night
Then, on the fourth day, Holofernes hosted a banquet for his servants but did not send invitations to any of his officers.
He spoke to the eunuch Bagoas, who managed his affairs:“Go and persuade this Hebrew woman who is under your care to come and eat and drink with us,
for it would be a disgrace if we let such a woman go without enjoying her company. If we can’t convince her, she will laugh at us.”
So Bagoas left Holofernes and entered Judith’s tent, and said to her: “Will this beautiful slave not hesitate to come to my lord’s tent to be honored in his presence, merrily to drink wine with us and to become this very day like an Assyrian woman who dwells in the house of Nebuchadnezzar?”
Judith said to him: “Who am I to go against the wishes of my Lord? I will hasten to do everything that pleases him, and that will be my joy until the day I die.”
Then she arose, dressed in beautiful garments and all the finery of a woman. Her servant spread the fleece Judith had received from Bagoas on the ground in front of Holofernes so she could recline on it while she ate.
So Judith entered the tent and took her place. Her beauty captivated Holofernes’ heart; his entire being was entranced, and a strong desire to possess her filled him. Since the first day he saw her, he had been waiting for the right moment to seduce her.
Holofernes said to her: “Drink and share our happiness.”
Judith said: “I will drink then, my lord, because today my life has become more precious to me than on any other day since my birth.”
She took what her servant had prepared for her and ate and drank before him.
She bewitched Holofernes, and he drank a significant quantity of wine, much more than he had ever drunk on any single day since his birth.
Commentaries
The Great Liberation.
The second part of the book focuses on the main protagonist, Judith, who arrives at this point. It is here that the dilemma will be resolved: surrender or resistance. Judith will lead the resistance, but she will also guide it: we must resist not by counting on a miraculous intervention from God, but by using the resources at our disposal to serve the community and divine action—our beauty and our freedom, since as widows, we do not depend on a husband—and finally, our wisdom and resourcefulness. Resistance does not, therefore, mean waiting for extraordinary interventions that are unlikely to happen. Resistance means starting with what little we have, with the strong hope that it is more than enough to face any force opposed to God’s plan.
Judith’s Report.
This encounter highlights Holofernes’ attitude as a vain and arrogant general, full of confidence in his power and military achievements. He believes he can achieve anything: capturing the rebellious city and the beautiful woman who has come to his tent. Judith understands how to exploit the general’s weaknesses, which he perceives as strengths.
11:11-15 could be a criticism the author makes of his contemporaries and puts into Judith’s mouth: a political-religious movement gaining strength in Jerusalem, marked by a certain laxity and neglect of Israel’s religious traditions and precepts. The author recognizes that this is the gateway for contemporary enemies to undermine religion, ultimately leading to the loss of national, cultural, and, of course, religious identity. In the Assyrian camp, Judith preserves her Jewish identity through both her food and her devotional practices (12:1-9).
The Decisive Night.
The fatal night for Holofernes, the night of salvation for Judith and her people, unfolds during a banquet hosted by the general—an occasion to entertain his guests and a chance for her to act. There is a dialogue in which Judith, once again, carries out one of the intentions contained in her prayer: to deceive with her words. Those deceitful words (12:4.14.18), Judith’s only interventions, are enough to keep her enemy calm and confident; the rest will be the work of food and wine… For her part, Judith waits confidently. Judith’s plan is described in 13:6-9.