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Morning Meditation
September 24, 2026
Reading: Judith 12:13-20
So Bagoas left the presence of Holofernes, and approached her and said, ‘Let this pretty girl not hesitate to come to my lord to be honoured in his presence, and to enjoy drinking wine with us, and to become today like one of the Assyrian women who serve in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar.’ Judith replied, ‘Who am I to refuse my lord? Whatever pleases him I will do at once, and it will be a joy to me until the day of my death.’ So she proceeded to dress herself in all her woman’s finery. Her maid went ahead and spread for her on the ground before Holofernes the lambskins she had received from Bagoas for her daily use in reclining.
Then Judith came in and lay down. Holofernes’ heart was ravished with her and his passion was aroused, for he had been waiting for an opportunity to seduce her from the day he first saw her. So Holofernes said to her, ‘Have a drink and be merry with us!’ Judith said, ‘I will gladly drink, my lord, because today is the greatest day in my whole life.’ Then she took what her maid had prepared and ate and drank before him. Holofernes was greatly pleased with her, and drank a great quantity of wine, much more than he had ever drunk in any one day since he was born.
Meditation-Rebecca Northington
Judith is one of my favorite stories from scripture, though it is not included in the Protestant canon it can be found in the Apocrypha. Jewish tradition and post Reformation Protestant leadership find Judith to be instructional and allegorical but they do not believe her story to be historically accurate or divinely inspired, as the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions have argued. Regardless of the accuracy of the narrative, Judith remains a character who has inspired incredible art, music and steadfastness in the face of profound despair. She is one of many women in scripture who represent hope and courage, though few of us know her story.
The widow Judith, like Queen Esther, sacrifices her own security to protect her people at great risk to her own body. As the Assyrian army moves to take over Israel, Judith uses flattery and charm to disarm the soldiers and their leader Holofernes, and gains entry into the camp near her town of Bethulia. Judith persuades and manipulates Holofernes into believing she is there to help him. In this passage Holofernes finds himself incapacitated by drink after plotting an intimate evening with Judith. Judith proceeds to decapitate him and brings his head back to her people. The event so shocks the Assyrians that they flee in every direction and the people of Israel plunder their camp, confident that the Lord is with them once again. Judith’s faith and confidence in God delivered her without comprising her virtue, and her prayer has been compared to Mary’s Magnificat. Both women celebrate a God who uses the lowly (a “useless widow”), to do the work of overturning the mighty. For Christians, Judith is a precursor to Mary, and her chastity and willingness to serve God has been seen as a model for women over the centuries.
This story is certainly one of hope over fear, a theme we will be devoting our year to in RYG (Redeemer Youth Group). Whether historically accurate or not, Judith's tale offers us a pathway to salvation; and like many Biblical accounts, the relevance of this story transcends its particularities in time and place. The hope that Judith represents is exactly what St. Paul talks about in Corinthians; it is the manifestation of faith and love. This is an eternal message for Christians.
We will approach “hope” in RYG through many lenses this year, including philosophy and literature. Byung-Chul Han writes as a South Korean born German Philosopher and Theologian on hope and fear in his book The Spirit of Hope. “The rule of fear makes freedom impossible. Fear and freedom are mutually exclusive. Fear can turn society into a prison, a kind of quarantine. Fear puts up warning signs. Hope, by contrast, sets up signposts and pathmarks. Only when there is hope can we be on our way. Hope provides meaning and orientation. Fear, by contrast, stops us in our tracks."
What Judith did would be considered reckless by many of us. I would be terrified if one of my daughters took those risks. But Judith knew something many of us disregard far too easily: God was with her. Her hope in God was more powerful than her fear of the dangers she faced. Han is right that fear can cage us like it did with Judith’s townspeople. They feared God had abandoned them and they gave up. God asks us not to give up, and not to give in to evil interlopers, or to the things and people that would try to take our freedom. God asks us to be vigilant and courageous, even and especially, when it is uncomfortable.
A Prayer by Rowan
My breath, my heart, my mind, my whole life fills with joy
Because of God, who’s not forgotten me, whose strength surrounds and lifts me up.
All through the centuries that have passed
God showed his patience and forgiveness;
God makes the proud and pompous folk look foolish, and cares for the simple ones who trust him.
God turns the rich and selfish into beggars. God feeds the hungry and the poor.
All through the centuries, God is faithful to those he promises will be his friends.
Your beauty fills the earth and the sky; the saints and angels sing to you;
God everlasting, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen
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