1) As soon as Judith had ceased her prayer to the God of Israel and finished all these words,

COMMENTARY:  This phrase is set aside with its own verse because it shows that she did the most needful thing first.

 2) she rose from the ground. She called her maid and they went down into the house, which she used only on sabbaths and feast days.

COMMENTARY:  She’s going to do something very different from how she’s lived her life these past three years.

3) She took off the sackcloth she had on, laid aside the garments of her widowhood, washed her body with water, and anointed herself with rich ointment. She arranged her hair, put on a diadem, and dressed in the festive attire she had worn while her husband, Manasseh, was living.

COMMENTARY:  We each follow the lifestyle appropriate to our role in life.  In the past Judith had social ties that made it both a duty and a delight to celebrate life with her husband and others.  Widowhood cut her off from companionship, but she decided to use even her grief to propel her onto an ascetic, mystical life, bring good out of misfortune.  And it gave her a freedom to concentrate on prayer and not worry about anyone being neglected while she was at it.  Now her circumstances again calls her to re-emerge into the world she had left behind.

 4) She chose sandals for her feet, and put on her anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and all her other jewelry. Thus she made herself very beautiful, to entice the eyes of all the men who should see her.

COMMENTARY:  She has not forgotten her old skills.  To all things there is a season.

But what can we say of a woman using her beauty to bait a trap?  Judith had previously railed against conquerors who objectify the women and girls of the conquered, reducing them to mere loot.  Yet now she prepares to invite this misuse against herself, or at least the attempt.

The teaching here is that right in the seeming-strength of evil lies its weakness.  Always, from the level of viruses to the proudest of tyrants.  In this case, you cannot objectify a human being without underestimating her.  By playing to his prejudice, Judith will have a chance to get close to Holofernes.

This story matters to a little nation, still recovering from exile, surrounded by enormous, conquest-greedy empires.  However humiliating their circumstances, they have at least the hope of being underestimated.

5) She gave her maid a skin of wine and a jug of oil. She filled a bag with roasted grain, dried fig cakes, and pure bread.  She wrapped all her dishes and gave them to the maid to carry.

COMMENTARY:  That word “pure” clarifies what she does, here.  She makes provision to maintain the Jewish dietary laws even as she appears to surrender.

6) Then they went out to the gate of the city of Bethulia and found Uzziah and the elders of the city, Chabris and Charmis, standing there. 7) When they saw Judith transformed in looks and differently dressed, they were very much astounded at her beauty and said to her, 8) “May the God of our ancestors grant you favor and make your design successful, for the glory of the Israelites and the exaltation of Jerusalem.”

COMMENTARY:  Although they’re not used to seeing their ascetic widow like this, they bless her mission, trusting that she knows what she’s doing.  Nobody says, “Go home, you hussy, and wipe that unguent off!”  She has already proven her worth; they need not question her.

How different from judgmentalness today!  Far from appreciating years of virtue, we leap at any hint that good people might fall, and can hardly wait to spread the gossip.  We want to see all others as worse than ourselves, or at least just as bad.

9) Judith bowed down to God.  Then she said to them, “Order the gate of the city opened for me, that I may go to accomplish the matters we discussed.” So they ordered the young men to open the gate for her, as she had requested, 10) and they did so. Then Judith and her maidservant went out. The men of the city kept her in view as she went down the mountain and crossed the valley; then they lost sight of her.

COMMENTARY:  First she prays one last time, then confidently tells people what to do, and they obey her.  The men do fear for her; they watch her progress anxiously until they can watch her no more.  But nobody tries to stop her.

11) As Judith and her maid walked directly across the valley, they encountered the Assyrian patrol. 12) The men took her in custody and asked her, “To what people do you belong? Where do you come from, and where are you going?” She replied: “I am a daughter of the Hebrews, and I am fleeing from them, because they are about to be delivered up to you as prey. 13) I have come to see Holofernes, the ranking general of your forces, to give him a trustworthy report; in his presence I will show him the way by which he can ascend and take possession of the whole hill country without a single one of his men suffering injury or loss of life.”

COMMENTARY:  And here we have the deception:  She pretends to be a traitor, afraid for her life and willing to bargain for it with the lives of others.  Evil people find evil easy to believe.

14) When the men heard her words and gazed upon her face, which appeared marvelously beautiful to them, they said to her, 15) “By hastening down to see our master, you have saved your life. Now go to his tent; some of us will accompany you to hand you over to him. 16) When you stand before him, have no fear in your heart; give him the report you have given us, and he will treat you well.”

COMMENTARY:  It’s especially easy to believe whatever you want to believe from a beautiful woman!  Once they objectify her, they can’t imagine her actually having cunning.

17)  So they selected a hundred of their men as an escort for her and her maid, and these conducted them to the tent of Holofernes.

COMMENTARY:  I can’t help but laugh.  Did they really need a hundred men to escort one woman?  I suspect they had many volunteers!

18) As the news of her arrival spread among the tents, a crowd gathered in the camp. They came and stood around her as she waited outside the tent of Holofernes, while he was being informed about her. 19) They marveled at her beauty, regarding the Israelites with wonder because of her, and they said to one another, “Who can despise this people who have such women among them? It is not good to leave one of their men alive, for if any were to be spared they could beguile the whole earth.”

COMMENTARY:  Ah, the illogic!  They see the bait plainly—that they are, indeed beguiled—and yet they irrationally propose killing off all of the men, when it’s the women they themselves admit that they should fear.  And not one of them stops and thinks, “Oh wait...maybe that’s what’s going on right here!

20) Then the guards of Holofernes and all his attendants came out and ushered her into the tent.

COMMENTARY:  So far it’s working.

21) Holofernes was reclining on his bed under a canopy woven of purple, gold, emeralds, and other precious stones.

COMMENTARY:  The canopy was a gaudy version of mosquito netting—a highly prized luxury reserved only for the top brass.  Babylon, after all, was surrounded by swamp.

22) When they announced her to him, he came out to the front part of the tent, preceded by silver lamps.

COMMENTARY:  He’s putting on a bit of theater of his own.  The common clay lamps would not scintillate like silver ones.  He wants to daunt Judith with his wealth and royal favor.

23) When Judith came before Holofernes and his attendants, they all marveled at the beauty of her face. She fell prostrate and paid homage to him, but his servants raised her up.

COMMENTARY:  The daunting, however, goes the other way.