Commentaria in Judith
Chapter 5
Achior gives counsel to Holofernes to inquire whether the Jews have sinned against their God; for thus they can easily be conquered by him; otherwise, with their God protecting them, they are unconquerable. Wherefore the nobles of Holofernes resolve to put Achior to death.
1. And it was told Holofernes the general of the army of the Assyrians, that the children of Israel prepared themselves to resist, and had shut up the ways of the mountains. 2. And he was transported with exceeding great fury and indignation: and he called all the princes of Moab, and the captains of Ammon, 3. And said to them: Tell me what people this is, that besiegeth the mountains: or what cities they inhabit, and of what sort and how great they are, and what is their strength, or their multitude, or who is the king over their warfare, 4. And why they above all that inhabit the east, have despised us, and have not come out to meet us, that they might receive us with peace? 5. Then Achior, the leader of all the children of Ammon, answering, said: If thou vouchsafe to hear me, my lord, I will tell the truth in thy sight, concerning this people that dwelleth in the mountains, and there shall not a false word come out of my mouth. 6. This people are descended from the Chaldeans. 7. And they dwelt formerly in Mesopotamia, because they would not follow the gods of their fathers, who were in the land of the Chaldeans. 8. And forsaking the ways of their ancestors, which were many gods, 9. They worshipped one God of heaven, who commanded them to go forth from thence, and to dwell in Charan. And when a famine covered all the land, they went down into Egypt, and there for four hundred years were so multiplied, that the army of them could not be counted. 10. And when the king of Egypt oppressed them, and made them serve in building his cities with clay and brick, they cried to their Lord, and he struck all the land of Egypt with divers plagues. 11. And when the Egyptians had cast them out from them, and the plague had ceased from them, and they had a mind again to seize upon them, and to call them back to their service, 12. The God of heaven opened the sea to them, so that the waters stood on each side like walls, and they went through the bottom of the sea on dry foot. 13. And there, while an innumerable army of the Egyptians pursued after them, they were so covered with waters, that there was not one left to carry the news to posterity. 14. And when they came out of the Red Sea, they occupied the deserts of Mount Sina, in which never man could dwell, or the son of man rest. 15. There the bitter fountains were made sweet for them to drink, and for forty years they received food from heaven. 16. Wheresoever they went in without bow and arrow, and without shield and sword, their God fought for them and overcame. 17. And there was no one that triumphed over this people, but when they departed from the worship of the Lord their God. 18. But as often as beside their own God, they worshipped another, they were given to spoil, and to the sword, and to reproach. 19. And as often as they were sorry for having revolted from the worship of their God, the God of heaven gave them power to resist. 20. And they overthrew the king of the Chanaanites, and the Jebusite, and the Pherezite, and the Hethite, and the Hevite, and the Amorrhite, and all the mighty ones in Hesebon, and they possessed their lands, and their cities: 21. And as long as they sinned not in the sight of their God, they prospered: for their God hateth iniquity. 22. For also some years ago when they departed from the way which God had given them to walk therein, they were destroyed in battles by many nations, and many of them were led away captives into a strange land. 23. But lately returning to the Lord their God, from the several places wherein they were scattered, they are come together, and are gone up into all these mountains, and again possess Jerusalem, where their holy things are. 24. Now therefore, my lord, search if there be any iniquity of theirs in the sight of their God: let us go up to them, because their God will surely deliver them to thee, and they shall be brought under the yoke of thy power: 25. But if there be no offence of this people in the sight of their God, we cannot resist them, because their God will defend them, and we shall be a reproach to the whole earth. 26. And when Achior had ceased to speak these words, all the great men of Holofernes being angry, thought to kill him, saying one to another: 27. Who is this that saith the children of Israel can resist king Nabuchodonosor, and his armies, men unarmed, and without strength, and without skill in the art of war? 28. That Achior therefore may know that he deceiveth us, let us go up into the mountains: and when the strong men of them shall be taken, then shall he also be run through with the sword together with them, 29. That every nation may know that Nabuchodonosor is god of the earth, and beside him there is no other.
1. “THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL PREPARED THEMSELVES TO RESIST.”—The Greek adds: And had placed stumbling-blocks in the plains, that is, obstacles, for example hidden ditches, caltrops and sharp stakes, into which the Assyrians passing heedlessly might fall or stumble.
3. “AND HE SAID TO THEM: TELL ME WHAT PEOPLE THIS IS?”—Hence again it is gathered that this happened not under Manasses but under Xerxes. For under Manasses, and from Manasses and the chief men of the Jews, who were captives, the Babylonians and Assyrians had come to know well who and what sort the people of the Jews was. Hence those who will have it that these things happened under Manasses say that this question of Holofernes is not that of one ignorant, but of one marvelling and indignant, and despising the Jews as vile.
The Greek has: in the West.
5. “THEN ACHIOR, LEADER OF ALL THE CHILDREN OF AMMON.”—Serarius includes under the children of Ammon also the Idumeans. These too, though they were brothers of the Jews (Jacob, parent of the Jews, was brother of Esau, or Edom, parent of the Idumeans), when they wished to attack them, called themselves Ammonites, not Idumeans, lest they be openly ill spoken of, because they were attacking their brothers, “The children of Moab and the children of Ammon were gathered, and with them some of the Ammonites, against Josaphat.” Where that book of traditions says: “He means the Ammonites to be understood as Idumeans, who out of reverence for their father’s name were unwilling to move arms against Israel in their former garb, but transfigured themselves into the dress of the Ammonites.”
6. “THIS PEOPLE ARE DESCENDED FROM THE CHALDEANS,”—because the God of Abraham led out the parent of the Hebrews
9. “THEY WENT DOWN INTO EGYPT, AND THERE FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS WERE SO MULTIPLIED.”—Count these 400 years from the departure of Abraham from Chaldea and Haran: for otherwise the Hebrews dwelt in Egypt for only 215 years, as I showed on Exodus 12:40.
13. “THEY WERE COVERED WITH WATERS,”—Pharao with all his. Achior recounts the miracles by which God led the Hebrews through Egypt into Chanaan, all of which I explained on Exodus.
17. “AND THERE WAS NO ONE THAT TRIUMPHED OVER THIS PEOPLE, BUT WHEN THEY DEPARTED FROM THE WORSHIP OF THE LORD THEIR GOD.”—Learn here to serve God: for so God will make you unconquerable, and superior to all enemies. But if not, He will let you be subdued and trampled by anyone. Let cities and kingdoms, and their kings and princes, learn the same. Hear the weighty words of two Fathers on this matter. One says: “By our sins the barbarians are strong; by our vices the Roman army is put to flight.” The other, in sermon 85: “Destruction is brought upon a city only on account of the sins of its citizens. Cease to sin, and wars cease.” Therefore for nations that sin the vengeance and destruction of God are to be feared; for those that do not sin, security and happiness are to be hoped for; but they were the questions of a leader wishing to know more diligently how the Hebrews dared to resist him leading such forces.
22. “FOR ALSO SOME YEARS AGO, WHEN THEY DEPARTED FROM THE WAY (religion and law) WHICH GOD HAD GIVEN THEM,” etc., “THEY WERE LED AWAY CAPTIVES.”—Properly the captivity of the Jews was that by Nabuchodonosor, from which they returned under Cyrus; but such was not that which happened under Manasses; for that was not universal. The other captivity, of the ten tribes under Ezechias, made by Salmanasar, likewise was not universal, because it was not of all, namely the 12 tribes, but of ten only. Again that was perpetual, because from it the Israelites never returned.
The Greek adds: And the temple of their God was made a pavement. Vatablus: levelled to the ground, because burned by the Chaldeans. Hence it is plain that this happened after the destruction of Jerusalem. But Bellarmine, Serarius and others, who will have it that these things happened before the destruction, answer that these words were inserted by someone into the Greek text, because they are lacking in the Latin, and therefore are to be little regarded. Others answer that Manasses despised, rejected and profaned the temple by his idolatry, indeed in many places demolished it and as it were levelled it to the ground.
25. “WE CANNOT RESIST THEM, BECAUSE THEIR GOD WILL DEFEND THEM.”—Like “If God be for us, who is against us?” Romans 8. These words moved the bile of Holofernes, so that he resolved to put Achior to death, because he acknowledged no god but Nabuchodonosor.
29. “THAT EVERY NATION MAY KNOW THAT NABUCHODONOSOR IS GOD OF THE EARTH.”—Rightly “of the earth,” because he has no right or power over heaven, nor does his rule extend beyond the earth. Wherefore he wants to be a god [who is god only of the earth.] For God rules heaven as well as earth. Why then do you swell with pride and rave, O pitiful speck of earth, and challenge the God of heaven to a duel, to deprive Him of His divinity and cast Him down? Prudently Tertullian, *Apology* 13: “Be,” he says, “religious toward God, you who wish Him favourable to the Emperor. Cease to believe or worship another god, and to call him god who needs a god.”