Judith on Faith and Wisdom

For a rough summary of the Book of Judith's plot, see Faith and FAITH.

I got a few thoughts about faith and wisdom in my Judith quiet time, which I finished last night:

1. The Ammonite Achior tells the Assyrian general Holofernes that God will fight for the Israelites if they're good. Holofernes then exiles Achior to the besieged Israelites, angry that Achior doesn't recognize the only god to be King Nebuchadnezzar. The beautiful and pious Jewess, Judith, then decks herself out and goes to Holofernes' camp. Her goal is to find Holofernes in a state of vulnerability and to kill him.

Judith tells Holofernes that God is angry with the Israelites, since they have eaten from the tithe in their hungry desperation. (Remember that Holofernes has cut off Israel's water supply!) Judith then says that, with God's help, Holofernes can defeat the Israelites, and she will assist him in that endeavor. She just needs to seek God's guidance on what to do.

What's interesting here is that Holofernes seems to believe in Israel's God. He shipped off Achior with the claim that there is no god but Nebuchadnezzar, but that may not be how he feels deep-down. He wonders if God truly will help the Israelites. He's probably relieved to learn that Israel has sinned and that God will help him defeat her.

Of course, there's a possibility that he really does believe that Nebuchadnezzar is the only god, and he's only playing along with Judith because he wants to get her in bed. But let's assume that he actually did believe in the power of Israel's God. Do atheists think deep-down that there might be a God? I've heard evangelicals claim that homosexuals are defensive about their lifestyle because they feel that God condemns it, regardless of what they may say out loud.

Who knows? I can't read the thoughts of non-believers. I do know that one thing that hampers my own faith life is my belief that certain parts of the Bible may in fact be true. For example, Jesus says in Matthew 6:14-15: "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." That verse really troubles me, since I have a hard time letting go of grudges. Often, I don't feel as if I'm holding on to them, but rather that they're holding on to me. I can blow off the passage and focus on the "God is love" texts. But there's a question that haunts me deep-down: Maybe God will ditch me if I don't forgive others.

2. On a more positive note, Judith is an example of someone whose relationship with God leads her to have wisdom. Judith fasted throughout her widowhood, except on Sabbaths and other holy occasions. Judith 9 indicates that she was familiar with Israel's religious history, as are Christians who regularly study the Bible. Her devotion enabled her to be a fountain of wisdom to her people as well as come up with a plan to defeat Holofernes.

The people of Israel are giving God an ultimatum: they will surrender to Assyria if God does not help them in five days. But Judith tells them not to put God to the test. She states:

"Who are you to put God to the test today, and to set yourselves up in the place of God in human affairs?...You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or understand the workings of the human mind; how do you expect to search out God, who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his thought?...For if he does not choose to help us within these five days, he has power to protect us within any time he pleases, or even to destroy us in the presence of our enemies...Therefore, while we wait for his deliverance, let us call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice, if it pleases him...But we know no other god but him, and so we hope that he will not disdain us or any of our nation. For if we are captured, all Judea will be captured and our sanctuary will be plundered; and he will make us pay for its desecration with our blood. The slaughter of our kindred and the captivity of the land and the desolation of our inheritance--all this he will bring on our heads among the Gentiles, wherever we serve as slaves; and we shall be an offense and a disgrace in the eyes of those who acquire us" (Judith 8:13-22 NRSV).

Like me (and many people with Asperger's), the Israelites see the situation as a binary: either God helps them in five days, or their only option is to surrender to the Assyrians. But Judith gives them other things to think about: God can help them at the last minute, God loves them as his people, slavery to the Assyrians is not very pleasant, surrender can make things worse, etc.

Judith's words are wise. She had something to offer the Israelites because she gained wisdom through her relationship with God (Proverbs 10:11). Testing God is a sign that we do not truly entrust ourselves to his love. And God can act at the last minute any time he wishes. I often wonder why God hasn't blessed me with a job or a woman thus far. Well, the Israelites could easily ask the same sort of question: "Why hasn't God helped us so far? We might as well not even wait for him. Where's it gotten us up to now? Let's give him five days, and, if he doesn't help us, we're doing it our way." But God could help them at the last minute, within whatever time-frame he chose. Why he didn't help them until that point is a mystery known only to him.

But Judith doesn't just believe: she also acts. And she gets her plan on how to act from the Bible. In Judges 4, Jael kills the evil Canaanite general, Sisera, in her tent, after lulling him to sleep. And that's pretty much what Judith does to Holofernes! The Bible gave her a game-plan on how to help her people.

That reminds me of the movie Signs. Mel Gibson plays an Episcopal priest whose wife dies in a car accident. Her last words seem so random: "Tell your brother to swing away." Mel's brother, played by Joaquin Phoenix, is an ex-baseball player who lost out on a promising career. Well, at the end of the movie, an alien is in Mel's house and is about to hurt his family. Mel then looks at a wall, sees a baseball bat, remember's his late wife's words, and tells his brother to swing away. Joaquin then slams the bat at the alien!

A lot of ideas don't come to us automatically. They need to be prompted by something, and Mel got his strategy for how to deal with the alien from his wife's last words. Similarly, Judith gained wisdom on how to confront her situation from the word of God. She may have immersed herself in Israel's tradition, so she had an idea of what to do.

This happens for so many Christians. God can use the Bible to provide us with general guidance on how to live a righteous life. But there are also times when he uses it to give specific instructions. I'm not saying that we should see the Bible as an oracle for every situation, since that can be disastrous. But God has guided his people with his word on many occasions, and things have worked out. That's one reason I believe in God: because he has worked in other people's lives. But, in any case, whether God speaks to us or not, the Bible is still a source of ideas on what to do.

Faith and FAITH

For my daily quiet time, I'm reading the Book of Judith. In it, the Assyrian king Nebuchadnezzar sends his general Holofernes to invade Jerusalem. This occurs in 586 B.C.E, right after the Jews have returned from exile and rebuilt their temple. (I know, we have some major historical errors here! The debate among scholars is whether or not they're deliberate on the part of the author).

In Holofernes' camp, there's an Ammonite named Achior. Achior advises Holofernes not to invade Jerusalem, since God is on the Jews' side when they're behaving themselves. Holofernes gets mad, affirms that the only god is Nebuchadnezzar, and sends Achior to the Israelites. Now, Achior will be among the besieged people!

There are many things that I can say about this, but here's a lesson I want to share. The Israelites reassure Achior and praise him highly (Judith 6:20). And, after the beautiful Jewish widow Judith goes to Holofernes' camp, seduces him (while not actually sleeping with him), and cuts off his head, she shows the head to Achior. Achior then converts to Judaism and is circumcised (even though that's a no-no according to Deuteronomy 23:3).

Achior had faith when he was in Holofernes' camp, for he said that God could fight on the side of the Israelites. But head-faith can easily be tested. When Achior was among the besieged Jews, who were going thirsty because Holofernes had cut off their water supply, he may have doubted the beliefs he expounded to Holofernes. But, after he saw the general's head, he truly believed in God, and he decided to serve him. He had moved from a generic head-faith that was based on things he heard about Israel's history, onto a genuine conviction.

I often feel that I just have head-faith. I believe in a set of doctrines, and they're relevant to me when I'm praying, studying the Bible, or sharing my faith on my blog. But how's my faith relate to the rough and tough reality of day-to-day life? I'll need a job, especially in these hard economic times. But I wonder if God will bless me with one, especially considering that so many people with Asperger's are unemployed or under-employed. Even when they do get jobs, they tend to mess up. Where is God in all of that? I'm like Achior: I can recite a bunch of doctrines I've heard, but when I'm sent to the besieged area, is my faith as strong? Achior needed continual encouragement, and he truly believed in God only after he saw the head of the enemy.

I can have faith on the mountain-top. It's a lot harder on the ground-level!

When Did Abraham Convert?

For my daily quiet time right now, I'm reading through the Book of Judith. Judith 5:6-9 caught my eye:

"[The Israelites] are descended from the Chaldeans. At one time they lived in Mesopotamia, because they did not wish to follow the gods of their ancestors who were in Chaldea. Since they had abandoned the ways of their ancestors, and worshiped the God of heaven, the God they had come to know, their ancestors drove them out from the presence of their gods. So they fled to Mesopotamia, and lived there for a long time. Then their God commanded them to leave the place where they were living and go to the land of Canaan" (NRSV).

According to this passage, Abraham abandoned idolatry and converted to the one true God in Chaldea. Then, he moved to Mesopotamia, where God commanded him to go to Canaan.

There are biblical traditions that coincide with this picture, as well as traditions that seem to contradict it.

What coincides with it is Genesis 11:31-12:5. In Genesis 11, Terah and his family leave Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan, but they stop in Haran (in Mesopotamia) and stay there. Then, God calls Abraham and tells him to go to Canaan. And so this passage presents God calling Abraham out of Mesopotamia, not Chaldea.

What seems to contradict Judith's picture, however, are the passages in which God brings Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans, not Haran, Mesopotamia (Genesis 15:7; Nehemiah 9:7). Many try to reconcile these passages by saying that God originally called Terah to go to Canaan, since we see in Genesis 11:31 that Terah was heading there (for some reason). But, according to these preachers, Terah neglected God's call on his life, leaving the torch to his son, Abraham.

Joshua 24:2-3 also appears to contradict Judith's scenario:

"And Joshua said to all the people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors--Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor--lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac[.]"

According to the Book of Judith, Abraham converted to the worship of the one true God in Chaldea, so he wasn't an idolater when he moved to Mesopotamia. But Joshua 24 says that he served other gods "beyond the Euphrates," which refers to Haran in Mesopotamia. Haran is on the other side of the Euphrates, whereas Ur is right in front of the river. Joshua 24 seems to assert that Abraham converted to the one true God when God called him in Mesopotamia.

That inspires me to ask about other traditions in the history of interpretation. When do they say that Abraham left idolatry to serve the one true God? I've not surveyed the entire history of biblical interpretation, but there are sources that come to my mind: Josephus and rabbinic literature. For the latter, I'll take a look at the Jewish Encyclopedia and see if it references other sources as well.

According to Josephus, Terah left Chaldea because his son Haran died there (AJ 1:152). Terah obviously wanted a change of pace, since Chaldea made him sad. But Antiquities 1:157 suggests that Abraham was persecuted for his belief in God in Chaldea: "For which doctrines, when the Chaldeans, and other people of Mesopotamia raised a tumult against him, he thought fit to leave that country; and at the command, and by the assistance of God, he came and lived in the land of Canaan." Josephus seems to assume that Babylon is part of Mesopotamia, which may be true, even though Ur technically isn't between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers (at least not according to maps I've seen).

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia (see ABRAHAM), other Jewish sources line up as follows:

Philo presents Abraham revolting against Chaldean astrology ("On Abraham" 17).

In Jubilees 11-12, Abraham destroys his father's idols and learns of the one true God in Chaldea. Terah then moves with his family to Haran, which is where Abraham is called by God.

According to Genesis Rabbah 38:13's interpretation of Genesis 11:28, Abraham destroyed his father's idols and was persecuted by Nimrod in Chaldea.

And so Jewish sources present Abraham converting to God in Chaldea, not Haran. This is probably because Babylon epitomized for them an anti-God system, since it destroyed the first temple and sent the Jews into exile.