Above: King John Hyrcanus I
Image in the Public Domain
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READING JUDITH
PART III
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Judith 4:1-6:2
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Holofernes represented an oppressive violent power and an ego-driven monarch. The general had succeeded in his previous campaigns, even against people who had greeted his army with garlands, dancing, and the sound of timbrels (2:1-3:10). The Israelites were in dire straits as he turned his attention toward them.
Yet the Israelites worshiped God. They prayed to God. And, as even Achior, the Ammonite leader acknowledged, the Israelites’ power and strength resided in God. Yet Holofernes asked scornfully,
Who is God beside Nebuchadnezzar?
–Judith 6:2b, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
Achior found refuge with the Israelites, at least.
A refresher on the Kingdom of Ammon and on the Ammonites is in order.
- “Ammon” comes from Benammi, both the son and grandson of Lot (Genesis 19:30-38). Lot’s daughters had gotten their father drunk then seduced him. They gave birth to the founders of the Moabite and Ammonite peoples.
- The attitude toward the Ammonites in the Bible is mostly negative.
- The Kingdom of Ammon was east of the River Jordan and north of Moab.
- The Kingdom of Ammon, a vassal state of Israel under Kings David and Solomon. After Ammon reasserted itself, it became a vassal state of the Neo-Assyrian Empire then the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire. A failed rebellion led to mass deportations of Ammonites and the colonization of their territory by Chaldeans.
Anyone who wants to read more about the Ammonites in the Bible may want to follow the following reading plan:
- Genesis 19;
- Numbers 21;
- Deuteronomy 2, 3, 23;
- Joshua 12, 13;
- Judges 3, 10, 11, 12;
- 1 Samuel 10, 11, 12, 14;
- 2 Samuel 8, 10, 11, 12, 17, 23;
- 1 Kings 11, 14;
- 2 Kings 23, 24;
- 1 Chronicles 11, 18, 19, 20;
- 2 Chronicles 12, 20, 24, 26, 27;
- Ezra 9;
- Nehemiah 2, 4, 13;
- Psalm 83;
- Isaiah 11;
- Jeremiah 9, 25, 27, 40, 41, 49;
- Ezekiel 21, 25;
- Daniel 11;
- Amos 1;
- Zephaniah 2;
- Judith 1, 5, 6, 7, 14;
- 1 Maccabees 5; and
- 2 Maccabees 4, 5.
Back to Achior…
A close reader of Achior’s report (5:6-21) may detect some details he got wrong. Not all characters speak accurately in every matter. One may expect an outsider to misunderstand some aspects of the Israelite story.
At the end of the Chapter 6, we see the conflict between the arrogance of enemies of God and the humility of Israelites. We know that, in the story, the Israelites could turn only to God for deliverance. Anyone familiar with the Hebrew prophets ought to know that this theme occurs in some of the prophetic books, too.
In the context contemporary to the composition of the Book of Judith, Jews had endured Hellenistic oppression under the Seleucid Empire. Jews had won the independence of Judea. John Hyrcanus I (reigned 135-104 B.C.E.; named in 1 Maccabees 13:53 and 16:1-23) had ordered the destruction of the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerazim and forced many people to convert to Judaism. The persecuted had become persecutors. This was certainly on the mind of the anonymous author of the Book of Judith.
May we, collectively and individually, do to others as we want them to do to us, not necessarily as they or others have done to us.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 8, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE TENTH DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF WALTER CISZEK, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIERST AND POLITICAL PRISONER
THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATUS OF LUXEUIL AND ROMARIC OF LUXEUIL, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS AND ABBOTS
THE FEAST OF ERIK CHRISTIAN HOFF, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN COMPOSER AND ORGANIST
THE FEAST OF JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, U.S. QUAKER ABOLITIONIST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIN SHKURTI, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1969
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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