S. Van Den Eynde, «Crying to God Prayer and Plot in the Book of Judith», Vol. 85 (2004) 217-231
If prayers are defined as communication in which prayers receive a response from God, this implies that they have a function as regards the plot of a story. As a test case, the impact of praying on the plot as well as the characterisation in the book of Judith (containing 21 references to praying) is analysed. The specific characterisation of God through prayer affects the plot. Apart from their importance for characterisation and plot, the prayers in Judith contribute in their own way to the development of its main theme: who is truly God, Nebuchadnezzar or YHWH?
Crying to God. Prayer and Plot in the Book of Judith 229
weapons: deceit (17) and the sword, not by relying on military or
physical strength as the Assyrians do, but by her confidence in the
might of the God of the weak. The prayers in the book of Judith
contribute in their own way to this overall theme.
Apart from the preparations for war, the people pray. In the context
of an attack by a king with divine aspirations, such a prayer is choosing
against Nebuchadnezzar and for YHWH, the God of Israel. Over and
over again, military resistance is linked with prayer. The military
resistance of the people and their leaders is consequently that of
persevering passive resistance, relying on God’s intervention. Such a
strategy was successful in the similar story of Isaiah 36–37. Yet, the
prayer of Judith works out another way of resisting the enemy: the
active counter attack, based upon the belief that God may act through
her hands. Judith’s song (Jdt 16) answers the question of the true God
by singing about the victory of God who is the God who crushes wars,
who delivers both Judith and his people, who acts not by military force
or physical strength, but by the hand of a woman.
The resistance of the people raises the question what the power of
Israel exists in. Holofernes’ questions to his military council betray in
what the power of people should, in his view, exist: the strength of
their cities, their army, their king, their military leader (Jdt 5,3). His
council will mention the location of the village on the heights of the
mountains as the basis for their confidence (Jdt 7,10), which informs
more on the enemy’s ideas of power than on those of Israel (cf. already
Jdt 2,5). Judith’s prayer characterises this attitude of the enemy: “they
glory in the strength of their foot soldiers; they trust in shield and
spear, in bow and sling†(Jdt 9,7). From such a perspective on power,
and given the superior military force of Nebuchadnezzar, Holofernes
cannot imagine that the people can rely upon another God.
Achior, though, offers Holofernes a more correct insight into the
power of Israel. In his view, a God who hates iniquity is with Israel. As
long as they do not sin, their God will protect them (Jdt 5,17-21).
Interestingly, the people of Bethulia take into account the possibility
that God punishes them (or their fathers) for their sins. Judith, on the
other hand, claims that the people have not acknowledged any other
deity than God. Therefore, they may rely on God (Jdt 8,28). In her
deceit, she takes up the idea of sin again. She lies to Holofernes that
(17) Note that Holofernes, who claims that Nebuchadnezzar only is god,
promises to serve the God of Judith (Jdt 11,23), which is a straithforward lie.