Chapter Two

1–13. Nebuchadnezzar entrusts Holofernes with avenging the peoples who refused to obey him voluntarily and to conquer them by force. 14–28. Holofernes sets out on campaign with a huge, select army and through his successes and cruelty spreads terror over Judea.

Judith 2:1. In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, there was a decree in the house of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, to accomplish, as he said, vengeance upon all the land. Judith 2:2. And he called together all his ministers and all his nobles, and communicated to them the secret of his counsel, and pronounced with his own mouth the final condemnation of all the land. Judith 2:3. And they resolved to destroy all that would not obey the word of his mouth. 1–3. Instead of the “18th” year the Vulgate gives the “13th” (tertio decimo). This would be plausible only by ignoring verses 13–16 of chapter I and is allowable in connection with 1:1. The date in verse 13 of chapter I makes the date of verse 1 of chapter II of the Greek text – “in the eighteenth year” (en tō etei tō oktōkaidekatō) more plausible and allowable. “The first month” = Nisan, corresponding to our April. – “As he said” – (see above 1:12): the intention of Nebuchadnezzar to avenge the disobedient nations is expressed in 1:12 much more forcefully. He did not simply “say” and “swear by his throne and his kingdom to avenge” the disobedient. This intention was preserved, as can be seen from verse 2, in secrecy, which Nebuchadnezzar now reveals to his nobles. Intoxicated by the successes in the war with Arphaxad, they with great readiness give themselves over to the execution of his will – “to destroy all who did not obey the word of his mouth.”

Judith 2:4. And when he had finished taking counsel, Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, called Holofernes the chief captain of his army, who was second only to him, and said to him: Judith 2:5. Thus says the great king, the lord of all the earth: Behold, you will go forth from my presence, and will take with you men that trust in their own strength, of footmen one hundred and twenty thousand, and of horsemen with horses twelve thousand, Judith 2:6. And you will go forth against all the west country, because they have not obeyed my commands. Judith 2:7. And you will declare to them, that they prepare for me earth and water: for I will come forth in my wrath against them, and I will cover all the face of the earth with the feet of my army, and I will give them up to be spoiled by them. Judith 2:8. And their slain shall fill their valleys and their rivers, and the river shall be filled with their dead, Judith 2:9. And I will carry away their captives to the uttermost parts of all the earth. Judith 2:10. But you will go and take possession of all their borders for me: and such as yield themselves to you you will keep for the day of their condemnation; Judith 2:11. But as for the rebels, let not your eye spare them: give them up to slaughter, and to spoiling throughout all your land. Judith 2:12. For as I live, and by the power of my kingdom, whatsoever I have spoken, that will I do by my hand. Judith 2:13. And take heed that you do not transgress any of the commandments of your lord, but accomplish them fully, as I have commanded you, and do not fail to do them. 4–13. The name Holofernes is known from Polybius (III, 5, 2) under another form, Orophernis. “That they prepare for me earth and water” (verse 7) – a customary formula used by Persian kings to those from whom they demanded submission, accordingly the expression – “to give earth and water” – meant to express complete submission. “The river” (potamos), mentioned in verse 8, is not some specific river, but a collective designation of all local rivers in general. “Throughout all your land” (verse 11) – is meant all the region subject to the attack and conquest by Holofernes. “As I live, and by the power of my kingdom!” – a kind of oath and the most decisive confirmation of the truth of the words (cf. Num 14:21; Jdt 11:7).

Judith 2:14. So Holofernes went forth from the presence of his lord, and called together all the governors, and the captains, and the officers of the army of the Assyrians, Judith 2:15. And he mustered the chosen men for the battle, as his lord had commanded him, one hundred and twenty thousand, and twelve thousand horsemen with their bows. Judith 2:16. And he arranged them in order as a great army is set in array for the fight. Judith 2:17. And he took a very great number of camels and asses and mules for the baggage, and herds of sheep and oxen and goats without number for the provision, Judith 2:18. And much food for every man, and a great quantity of gold and silver out of the king’s treasure. Judith 2:19. And he went forth with all his army, to go before the king Nebuchadnezzar, and to cover all the face of the earth on the west with his chariots, and horsemen, and his chosen foot soldiers. Judith 2:20. And a multitude of the allied nations went with him like the locusts, and like the sand of the earth, so that for the multitude there was no number. 14–20. The enormous army of Holofernes, composed of “chosen men,” supplied with provisions and everything necessary for a distant campaign, was only to “go before” (verse 19) the king Nebuchadnezzar himself, who intended (verse 7) to come himself immediately upon the conquered territories with an even greater army and complete over them his dread and inexorable judgment. This is made clear also from verse 10, where Holofernes is ordered – all those who surrender to him, to keep “for the day of their condemnation.”

Judith 2:21. And he journeyed three days’ journey from Nineveh to the plain of Bectileth, and he pitched his camp near Bectileth, by the mountain which is on the left of the upper Cilicia. Judith 2:22. Then he took all his army, his foot soldiers, his horsemen, and his chariots, and went up into the hill country, Judith 2:23. And spoiled Phutim and Ludim, and plundered all the children of Rasis, and the children of Ismael, who dwelt in the wilderness on the south of the land of Chellon. 21–23. Despite the comparative abundance of, apparently, “precise” designations of the whole campaign, it is difficult to determine many of them more closely and clearly. “Bectileth” – Greek Baikileth, otherwise Bektilath, Latin Bethulia, shorter Bithila. – Judging from the distance of “3 days’ journey from Nineveh,” this was a locality in northern Mesopotamia, in the fertile Antimusias, – Migdonia. “Near the mountain” – in Greek precisely the mountain Aggios, Latin Agge and Ange (Vulgate) – a name found nowhere else. “The Phutim” (verse 23) are the Libyans (Jer 46:9; Ezek 30:5). “The Ludim” – an inaccuracy that makes it difficult to say who is meant here. It may be supposed that if this was an independent nation, it was certainly not in this area. May it not be that they appeared here as mercenaries in military service (Ezek 27:10)? “The children of Rasis” – Rassis. Vet. Lat. – Thiras et Rasis, Vulgate – Tharsis, i.e. Tarsus. Perhaps Rassis is from Rhosos, or Rhos, a mountain range and city, south of the Ammonites. “The children of Ishmael” – various Bedouin tribes – had very significant places of settlement in northern Arabia south of Babylon. “To the land of Chellon,” some texts attempt to correct and explain – “to the land of the Chaldeans.” The success of such a correction, however, is very questionable.

Judith 2:24. Then, having crossed over the Euphrates, he went through Mesopotamia, and broke down all the fortified cities on the brook Abron, even to the sea. 24. “Fortified cities,” i.e. cities that are fortified, strongholds. “By the brook Abron” – Abrwona, otherwise Arwonai, Chevron or Cheuron, according to some, the river Chaboras (Chabur or Habur). Other scholars supposed that in the original text of the book there stood the Hebrew – “on this side of the river,” i.e. the Euphrates, but the translator mistakenly took ??? for the name of a river, to which he added a Greek ending.

Judith 2:25. And he took the coasts of Cilicia, and killed all that resisted him, and came to the borders of Iapheth, which are towards the south, over against Arabia, 25. “To the borders of Iapheth” – Iapeth. According to some scholars, this Iapeth came from Nabataíoi, which makes the further explanation of the Bible – (to the borders of the Nabataeans) “towards the south, over against Arabia” more consistent.

Judith 2:26. And he compassed about all the children of Maadim, and burnt their tabernacles, and spoiled their flocks. Judith 2:27. And he went down to the plain of Damascus in the time of the harvest of wheat, and burnt all their fields, and destroyed their flocks and herds, and spoiled their cities, and laid waste their lands, and smote all their young men with the edge of the sword. Judith 2:28. And fear and trembling fell upon the inhabitants of the sea coast, them that dwelt in Sidon and Tyre, and them that dwelt in Sur and Ocina, and all the inhabitants of Jamnaa, and they that dwelt in Azotus and Ascalon were exceedingly afraid of him. 28. “The inhabitants of Sur and Ocina” – Zour, otherwise Zoud, Hebrew ???, Dora 1 Macc 15:11 – a coastal city near Carmel. Instead of “and Ocina” (kai Okeina) – some manuscripts have “and beyond” (kai epekeina) (the Kinnaeans). If we accept the first reading as more correct (kai Okeina), then under Okeina one may understand the Hebrew ???, perhaps with ??? at the end – Accaho or Accon, the well-known seaport, Ptolemais, north of Dora. “The inhabitants of Jamnaa” – Iemnaan, otherwise Iamnian, a Philistine city on the Mediterranean (2 Chr 26:6; cf. 1 Macc. 5:58, 4:15). On the basis of more or less precise designations of the localities visited by Holofernes, it becomes possible to form a general picture of the activities of Holofernes. First, he made a kind of raid on Cappadocia and part of Asia Minor. Then he moved to the east of the Euphrates, which the revolt of the inhabitants of Babylon and Mesopotamia drove him to. Stationed with his huge army from the river Chaboras to the Persian Gulf, he suppressed the rebellion of Chaldea and took part in the defeat of Babylon and its allies, which is described in detail in the history of Assurbanipal. The joining of the Arabs to the rebels against Nebuchadnezzar caused Holofernes to pay special attention to this troublesome element, scattered throughout all the lands mentioned in the Bible along Holofernes’ route. The astonishing energy and success with which Holofernes subdued the rebels against his supreme ruler scattered terror and dread everywhere before the formidable commander, who knew no mercy or compassion for anything that came in his way.