Judith was a widow living in Bethulia during a time when the land of Judea was threatened by the large Assyrian army led by Holofernes. The Assyrians cut off the water supply to Bethulia, putting the people in despair. Judith devised a plan to deceive Holofernes and save her people. She went to the Assyrian camp and convinced Holofernes of her loyalty, gaining his trust over several days. On the fourth day, when Holofernes was intoxicated, Judith beheaded him and brought his head back to Bethulia, causing the Assyrian army to flee in fear and saving Judea. Judith exemplified wisdom

1. JUDITHand the virtues of
Wisdom
E V E L Y N P O I N T E R A U T H O R
Melissa Pointer Jun 22, 6:37
PM

2. Judith was one of the
saints that we read about
in the apocrypha. She
was a widow who lived
during the time after the
children of Judah had
r e t u r n e d f r o m t h e
captivity. The land of
Judah was surrounded by
enemies. They were
caught between warring
great nations and their
land was a passageway
b e t we e n E g y p t a n d
Mesopotamia. During the
reign of the Medes and
Persians and of t he
G re e k s , t h e re we re
constant threats against
Judea as these other
much more powerful
nations strove to gain
control over the entire
region.
WHO WAS
JUDITH?

3. During the reign of the Medes and Persians and of the Greeks, there were
constant threats against Judea as these other much more powerful nations
strove to gain control over the entire region.

4. ISRAEL was constantly in the
cross hairs of powerful nations
because of its key location
They wanted a foothold
in Israel because the
land of Israel was a
natural passageway. In
fact it was called the
king’s highway. Much
of the history of this
time, the time of the
Medes and Persians
and all of the time of
the Greek empire is not
found in the bible but in
t h e b o o k s o f t h e
apocrypha.

5. The people had all recently returned from the captivity during the days of Judith. Judith
4:3 says, “For they were newly returned from the captivity, and all the people of Judea
were lately gathered together: and the vessels, and the altar, and the house, were
sanctified after the profanation.” This occurred during the time of the Medes and
Persians.

6. Judith references them in
her song of victory. In
Judith 16:10 Judith sings,
“The Persians quaked at
her boldness, and the
Medes were daunted at
her hardiness.” According
to the book of Judith after
Nabuchodonosor the
Assyrian king defeated
Arphaxad the king of the
Medes, he decided that
he should be worshipped
like a god. He was angry
at the nations that did not
join him in his fight
against king Arphaxad
and he decided to punish
a l l o f t h e m .

7. He decided to destroy all of
the people that had not
obeyed him. He sent his
general Holofernes to go
before him and take the
coasts of all these nations. He
was ordered to not let his eye
spare and to spoil and
slaughter them. Then when
Nabuchodonor came later he
would kill and capture
everyone. Nabuchodonosor
was not Nebuchadnezzar!
Nebuchadnezzar was king of
Babylon, not Assyria, and he
had lived a long time ago
before Nabuchodonosor.
Nebuchadnezzar was the
king that had led Judah into
captivity. Nabuchodonosor
came to destroy them after
they had returned from
captivity.

8. Their names may be the same, but
many kings had the same or similar
names. Like most tyrants he was vicious
and cruel. He wanted to be worshipped
as a god like the other Assyrian kings.
Holofernes gathered a very great army,
120,000 men and 12,000 archers on
horseback. Many of the other nations
also joined with them. They went out
and destroyed the nations that did not
obey Nabuchodonosor, one by one.
Finally they came to Judea. Now Judea
was built up on hills. The cities were on
the tops of hills and mountains and you
couldn’t just walk or march into Judea.
There were narrow passages that a
person would have to walk through to
come into the hill country.

9. When the people of Judea and in Jerusalem heard what had happened to the other
countries and knew that Holofernes was headed to them they were very afraid. They
were newly come out of captivity, and the vessels and altar were sanctified. So they
sent to all of the coasts and went into the tops of the mountains and fortified the
villages in them.

10. They laid up food and water.
Joacim the high priest commanded
the villages of the two passages to
keep or protect the passages and
not to allow the Assyrians to enter
in. Judith 4:6-7, “Also Joacim the
high priest, which was in those days
in Jerusalem, w”rote to them that
dwelt at Bethulia, and Betomestham,
which is over against Esdraelon
toward the open country, near to
Dothem, charging them to keep the
passages of the hill country: for by
them there was an entrance into
Judea, and it was easy to stop them
that would come up, because the
passage was strait, for two men at
the most.

11. This is how Judith became
involved. Judith lived in
Bethuliah. Judith was of the
tribe of Simeon and had been
the wife of a very wealthy
man who had died from sun
stroke while overseeing the
harvest. He left everything to
his wife. She lived in a state
of mourning and widowhood,
though she was a young and
beautiful woman. Judith
fasted every day except the
Sabbaths, new moons and
holy days, and the eves of
the same. She was also very
wise and she feared the Lord.

12. The army of Assyria
pitched at the passage of
Bethulia. It had to have
been terrifying to the
people who lived there.
But they had shut up the
p a s s a g e a n d l a i d
impediments to prevent
the army from entering in.
All of the men of Bethulia
took up weapons of war
and kindled fires and
watched in the watch
tower all night. Then the
men of Esau and Moab
came to Holofernes and
advised him how to
defeat the children of
Israel.

13. They told him that he should stop the streams and waters that went into the mountain
and the people would have no water and would have to give in eventually because of
thirst. And that is what almost happened. Eventually the people of Bethulia ran out of
water. They began to faint for thirst and they lost courage.

14. They came to the leaders of
the city and demanded that
they fall out to the Assyrians
saying, “For it is better for us
to be made a spoil unto them,
than to die for thirst: for we
will be his servants, that our
souls may live, and not see
the death of our infants
before our eyes, nor our
wives nor our children to
die.” The people were crying
and were in so much despair
that Ozias the governor
agreed that if the Lord did
not help them in five days
that they would open up to
the Assyrians.

15. Judith heard what had
happened and what he
promised. She called for
the elders of the city and
gave them perfect counsel.
Let us read Judith 8:11-25.
Ozias and the elders told
Judith that they all knew
she was wise, and that
what she said was right,
but that they had made a
vow to the people and
would not change it. Then
Judith told them, “Ye shall
stand this night in the gate,
and I will go forth with my
waiting woman: and within
the days that ye have
promised to deliver the city
to our enemies the Lord
will visit Israel by mine
hand.”

16. Judith prayed to God and then she dressed herself in her beautiful clothes to make
herself as attractive as possible. She brought her maid with her carrying her
necessary food. They opened the gate, and these two young women walked alone
into the camp of the great army of the Assyrians. The warriors wondered at what this
could mean, two young women walking alone into their camp.

17. They also wondered at her
great beauty. They took her
to Holofernes tent. Judith had
prayed to God that she
would be able to deceive
Holofernes by her beauty.
Her beauty and her wisdom,
the subtlety of her speech
was a stronger weapon than
all of his great army. She told
him that she had left the city
because she knew that Judea
was about to sin against God
and eat the devoted things.
She said that if they ate those
things then the Lord would be
angry and punish them by
giving them over to their
enemies. She said that she
knew that the Assyrians
would come in to destroy
them.

18. She flattered Holofernes
telling him that everyone
knew of his wisdom and
policy and Excellencies,
a n d t h a t k i n g
Nabuchodonosor would
rule all of the earth
through him. She told him
that she was religious and
served God day and
night and would go out to
pray at night, and that
God would reveal to her
when the people of Judah
had sinned, and that she
would lead him in to
destroy them.

19. Well, Holofernes thought that
was a wonder ful idea.
Everything that she said
pleased him. So Judith stayed
in the camp for three days.
She developed a pattern that
they came to trust. She ate
her own food, then she slept
till midnight, then she went
out to pray. Holofernes
commanded his servants to
let her go out to pray. She
came back faithfully after her
prayers and remained in her
tent until her evening meal.

20. On the fourth day Holofernes made a feast to his servants. He decided it was
time to become intimately acquainted with Judith. He planned to force her. He
sent his servant to bring her to his tent. Judith readily agreed to come. She
made herself beautiful and sat near Holofernes.

21. They ate and drank
together. Judith ate what
her maid had brought
her, and Holofernes who
was filled with lust drank
more wine that night than
he had ever done in his
entire life. All the men
had left because they
knew what Holofernes
had planned to do with
Judith.

22. But instead he passed out
from the wine. Judith took
him by the hair, prayed to
God for strength and took the
fauchion that was on his bed
and cut off his head with two
great strokes. She put his
head in her bag, called her
maid and went out to pray as
was her custom. They didn’t
stop her because they were
used to her going. They didn’t
suspect a thing. But Judith
didn’t stop to pray.

23. She returned to the passage of Bethuliah and called for them to open the gate. The
men of Bethuliah were surprised to see her. She showed them Holofernes head and
praised the Lord. She told them that when the sun rose to hang his head on the
highest point of the wall, and for the men of war to take their weapons and act as if
they are going out to battle against them.

24. In the morning Holofernes
servant went to wake him,
knocking at the door carefully
because he thought Judith was
there. When there was no
answer he went in and found
Holofernes on the floor dead
without a head. He cried,
“These slaves have dealt
treacherously; one woman of
the Hebrews hath brought
shame upon the house of king
Nabuchodonosor: for behold,
Holofernes lieth upon the
ground without a head.” When
the men of the army heard that
they became so afraid that they
all started to run away. The
men of Judah rushed out on
them. They sent to tell the
Israelites in the coastal cities
what had happened and they
also fought against them and
made a great slaughter.

25. So the land of Judah was
saved by the hands of a very
brave and a very wise
woman. Judith was full of the
virtues of Wisdom. She
feared God first. The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of
Wisdom. She gave excellent
counsel. Counsel is advice, a
policy or plan of action and
behavior. Wisdom gives us
good counsel, and she also
teaches us to use good
counsel in everything that we
do.

26. She deceived Holofernes by
her subtility. Making herself
as desirable as possible
weakened him. Using flattery
and honoring him with her
words made him feel good
and confident of what she
told him. She developed a
custom of going to pray and
returning faithfully every day
which made them all trust
her. She used keen insight
and understood the heart of
a proud and lustful man.
Discretion means to be
cautious and reserved in the
things that you say and
prudence means the ability to
discipline and govern one
self. We see that Judith was
very careful and deliberate in
everything that she said to
the elders of her city as well
as to Holofernes. And also
she fasted almost every day
which exemplified self control
or self governance. She did
not give in to fear, but
remained steadfast in her
e n t e r p r i s e a n d i n h e r
intentions of saving her
people. She even gave them
good counsel of how to
defeat the entire army! Judith
was a perfect example of the
virtuous woman. She was
filled with the spirit of
Wisdom. She shows us that
we can do all things through
the power of God, by the
strength of his Spirit and by
Mother Wisdom who guides
us in all of our ways.