Judith 1: A Lesson Worth Learning
Thursday, December 4, 2025
To the penitent God provides a way back, he encourages those who are losing hope and has chosen for them the lot of truth. Return to him and give up sin, pray to the Lord and make your offenses few.
This is good advice to follow when we find ourselves baffled, lost or alone; but it is impossible to follow if we are actively involved in anger. Strong, negative emotions are easy to use against others; they are difficult to put aside once they have become comfortable tools.
Who in the nether world can glorify the Most High in place of the living who offer their praise? Dwell o longer in the error of the ungodly, but offer your praise before death.
This is good advice to follow when we are embroiled in conflict or swamped with fear. If we can do nothing else, we can begin to praise God, even if we can only begin half-heartedly.
How great the mercy of the Lord, his forgiveness of those who return to him!
There is a good ending that comes to the faithful in today’s story if we want to read ahead; and this story teaches us a lesson worth learning. “There can be no doubt that Judith was meant as didactic fiction, not factual history . . . Part 1 narrates a military and religious struggle that begins in Persia and makes its way across the western nations to the little Israelite town Bethulia . . . Part 2 tells how the God-fearing woman Judith destroys the enemies of Israel. This ‘beautiful’ widow of Manasseh (8.7) lays aside the sackcloth of her widowhood in order to make herself ‘very beautiful, to entice the eyes of all the men who might see here’ . . . Together Parts 1 and 2 show what it means to serve only one God, to turn to this God for an easing of life’s plights, and to trust God without reserve. The book teaches that by vocation and God’s design, the covenant people are free if they fear only God and rely wholeheartedly on the covenant.” (Mays 1460-1461)
Repent, return and celebrate. This is a lesson worth learning. It is a lesson worth enacting in our lives.
A re-post from November 9, 2011.
Image from: http://bible-women.blogspot.com/2009/07/proud-judith.html
Mays, James L., ed. HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE COMMENTARY. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988. 1460-1461. Print.
Written on February 28 and posted today as a Favorite . . .
The Noontimes 