November 6, 2013 – Judith 7

I was wondering why the military leader listens this time to his troops but would not last time.  He was told to wait and scout before attacking to see in Israel was following God, but he didn’t.  Now he is being asked to wait so that they can starve them out instead of fighting and having people lost in a “sure” victory.  And he listens.  What changed in the course of days that made him cautious all of a sudden?  Who knows how long sieges can last.  They did stop the water supply, but you never know how well supplied they might have started.  Troy was under siege for 10 years.  But, he makes the decision to be patient.  Maybe the difference was the way it was put.  He wants them to suffer.  The advisor that said wait and see if they were following God was advising between attacking or not attacking.  These advisors are advising two different ways to attack and by besieging them, they will put them through more suffering.  I think that is what sold it.

I was curious about the 5 days.  Usually things are in 3’s and I would have expected the king to say wait 3 days to see if God will deliver us.  5 just does not seem to fit with the pattern.  There is nothing in the footnotes containing any insight into why 5.  Found this interesting.  http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2013/08/waiting-on-lord-lesson-from-book-of.html

“Spoilers if you read the whole blog post”

Points the fact that Israel is trying to put God on their timetable, which we can’t do.  Also, 5 days is significant because it would bring them to day 39 (40 being a number that God uses a lot and Israel not being patient enough to wait until 40.  Evidently chapter 8 is when Judith comes in to chastise Israel for their lack of faith.

Uzziah’s Compromise, and Judith’s Response

Uzziah, one of the elders of Bethulia, arises to respond to the people’s wailing and despairing. He calms them by making this speech (Judith 7:30-31):

“Have courage, my brothers! Let us hold out for five more days; by that time the Lord our God will restore to us his mercy, for he will not forsake us utterly. But if these days pass by, and no help comes for us, I will do what you say.”

At first brush, Uzziah seems to have done a good job: the people wanted to give up immediately, and he compromised, he talked them down. But two things are very wrong here: (1) the elders are trying to force God into their timetable; and (2) the elders are compromising where they’re not allowed to be compromising: they’re not taking surrendering to the Assyrians completely off of the table.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of forcing God into our timetable. Here, there’s something subtle going on with the timing. Throughout Scripture, 40 days is the period used for preparation: Noah on the Ark (Genesis 7:17; 8:6), Moses on the Mountain (Exodus 34:28), Jesus in the desert at the start of His Ministry (Mark 1:13), etc. When Goliath and the Philistines taunt the Israelites, God waits 40 days before sending David (1 Samuel 17:16). When the people in Bethulia want to surrender, the meeting takes place on Day 34 of the siege (Judith 7:20), and Uzziah “buys” God 5 more days. In other words, the Israelites agree to wait until Day 39 to give up. But that’s not God’s timetable. They’re trying to force God to act before His time.

So that’s clear enough. By what’s so bad about the Israelites considering surrendering to the Assyrians? Well, the people of Sidon and Tyre already tried that approach. At the outset of the campaign, they sent this message to the Assyrians (Judith 3:2-4):