The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 251: Judith and Holofernes (2025)
Episode Date: September 8, 2025In our reading of Jeremiah today, Fr. Mike highlights Ishmael’s insurrection against Gedaliah and Jeremiah’s response. We also read about the defeat of Holofernes and the praise of Judith for her ...courage and virtue. Today’s readings are Jeremiah 41-42, Judith 12-14, and Proverbs 17:13-16. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Transcript
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Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a year podcast, where we
encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a year podcast is
brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from
Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that
story today. It is day 251. We are reading five chapters today, Jeremiah 41 and 42, reading
Judith 12, 13, and 14, as well as Proverbs chapter 17 versus 13 through 16.
As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the revised standard version,
second Catholic edition.
I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.
If you want to download or get, acquire, have in your possession, the Bible in-year
reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible any year.
You can also subscribe to this podcast and receive daily episodes and updates and all the good
things that would be at your disposal.
If only, if only on day 251, you would say,
subscribe to this podcast and all would be right with this world. But alas, I know some of you,
some of you will refuse, and that I have to be at peace with. Nonetheless, for all of us,
subscribed or not subscribed, it is still day 251, and we are reading Jeremiah 41 and 42,
Judith 12, 13 and 14, Proverbs 17 versus 13 through 16. The book of the prophet Jeremiah,
Chapter 41. Insurrection against Gadalia. In the seventh month, Ishmael, the son of Nathania,
son of Elishima, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to
Gadalia, the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate bread together there at Mizpah, Ishmael,
the son of Nathania, and the ten men with him, rose up and struck down Gedalaya, the son of Ahikim,
son of Shafan, with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the
land. Ishmael also slew all the Jews who were with Gedalia at Mizpah and the Kaldian soldiers who
happened to be there. On the day after the murder of Gadalia, before anyone knew of it, 80 men arrived
from Shekham and Shiloh and Samaria with their beards shaved and their clothes torn and their bodies
gashed to bringing cereal offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord. And Ishmael,
the son of Netanya, came out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came, as he met them,
he said to them, come in to Gadalia, the son of a hecum.
When they came into the city, Ishmael, the son of Nathania, and the men with him slew them
and cast them into a cistern.
But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, do not kill us, for we have stores
of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields.
So he refrained and did not kill them with their companions.
Now the cistern into which Ishma cast all the bodies of the men whom he had slain was the
largest cistern which King Asa had made for defense against Baasha,
King of Israel. Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled it with the slain. Then Ishmael took
all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king's daughters, and all the people who were left
at Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gadalia, the son of Ahikam.
Ishmael, the son of Nathania, took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.
Johanan and Ishmael. But when Johanan, the son of Korea, and all the leaders of the forces with him,
heard of all the evil which Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had done. They took all their men
and went to fight against Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah. They came upon him at the great
pool which is in Gibbon. And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johan, the son of
Korea, and all the leaders of the forces with him, they rejoiced. So all the people whom Ishmael had
carried away captive from Ispah turned about and came back and went to Johanan, the son of
Korea. But Ishmael, the son of Nathania, escaped from Johanin with eight men and went to
the Ammonites. Then Johan, the son of Korea, and all the leaders of the forces with him, took all
the rest of the people whom Ishmael, the son of Nathania, had carried away captive from
Mispah after he had slain Getalaya, the son of Ahikim, soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs, whom
Johan brought back from Gibbon. And they went and stayed at Garuth-Chimham, near Bethlehem,
intending to go to Egypt because of the Chaldeans, for they were afraid of them.
because Ishmael, the son of Nathania, had slain Gadalia, the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon
had made governor over the land.
Chapter 42.
Jeremiah advises survivors not to go to Egypt.
Then, all the commanders of the forces and Johanan, the son of Korea, and Azariah,
the son of Hoshiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, came near and said to
Jeremiah the prophet, let our supplication come before you, and pray to the Lord your God for us.
For all this remnant, for we are left.
but a few of many as your eyes see us, that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go
and the thing that we should do. Jeremiah, the prophet said to them, I have heard you. Behold, I will pray
to the Lord your God according to your request, and whatever the Lord answers you, I will tell you.
I will keep nothing back from you. Then they said to Jeremiah, may the Lord be a true and faithful
witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the Lord your God sends you
to us. Whether it is good or evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending
you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God. At the end of 10 days,
the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Then he summoned Jehannan, the son of Korea, and all the
commanders of the forces who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest, and said to
them, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before
him. If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down. I will plant you
and not pluck you up, for I repent of the evil which I did to you. Do not fear the king of Babylon,
of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, says the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver
you from his hand. I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own
land. But if you say, we will not remain in this land, disobeying the voice of the Lord your
God and saying, no, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war, or hear the sound of
the trumpet, or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there. Then, hear the word of the Lord,
O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, if you set your faces to enter
Egypt and go to live there, then the sword which you fear shall overtake you there in the land of
Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow hard after you to Egypt, and there you shall
die. All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword,
by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have no remnant or survivor from the evil which I will bring
upon them. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, as my anger and my
wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. So my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to
Egypt. You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more.
The Lord has said to you, O remnant of Judah, do not go to Egypt. Know for a certainty that I have
warned you this day, that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives, for you sent me to the
Lord your God saying, pray for us to the Lord our God. And whatever the Lord our God says, declared
to us and we will do it. And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice
of the Lord your God in anything that he sent me to tell you. Now therefore, know for a certainty
that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire
to go to live. The book of Judith chapter 12, Judith as a guest of Halophonies.
Then he commanded them to bring her in where his silver dishes were kept and ordered them
to set a table for her with some of his own food and to serve her with his own wine.
But Judith said, I cannot eat it, lest it be an offense, but I will be provided from the
things I have brought with me.
Halophonies said to her, if your supply runs out, where can we get more like it for you?
For none of your people is here with us.
Judith replied, as your soul lives, my lord, your servant will not use up the things I have
with me before the Lord carries out by my hand what he has determined to do. Then the servants of
Holofernes brought her into the tent, and she slept until midnight. Along toward the morning watch,
she arose and sent to Holofernes and said, Let my Lord now command that your servant be permitted
to go out and pray. So Holofernes commanded his guards not to hinder her, and she remained in the camp for three
days, and went out each night to the valley of Bethulia, and bathed at the spring in the camp. When she came up from
the spring, she prayed the Lord God of Israel to direct her way for the raising up of her people,
so she returned clean, and stayed in the tent until she ate her food toward evening.
Judith attends Halafranes banquet.
On the fourth day, Holofernes held a banquet for his slaves only and did not invite any of his
officers.
And he said to Baguas, the eunuch who had charge of all his personal affairs, go now and
persuade the Hebrew woman who is in your care to join us and eat and drink with us.
for it will be a disgrace if we let such a woman go without enjoying her company,
for if we do not embrace her, she will laugh at us.
So Begoas went out from the presence of Holofernes, and approached her and said,
This beautiful maid-servant will please come to my lord, and be honored in his presence,
and drink wine, and be merry with us, and become today like one of the daughters of the
Assyrians who serve in the house of Nebuchadnezzar.
And Judith said, Who am I to refuse my lord?
surely whatever pleases him I will do at once, and it will be a joy to me until the day of my death.
So she got up, and arrayed herself in all her woman's finery, and her maid went and spread on the
ground for her before Holofernes the soft fleeces which she had received from Bagoas for her daily
use, so that she might recline on them when she ate.
Then Judith came in, and lay down, and Holoferne's heart was ravished with her, and he was
moved with great desire to possess her, for he had been waiting for an opportunity to deceive her
ever since the day he first saw her.
So Holofernes said to her,
Drink now, and be merry with us.
Judith said,
I will drink now, my lord,
because my life means more to me today
than in all the days since I was born.
Then she took and ate and drank before him
what her maid had prepared.
And 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.
Chapter 13.
Judith beheads Halophonies.
When evening came, his slaves quickly withdrew,
and the goas closed the tent from outside
and shut out the attendants from his master's presence.
And they went to bed, for they all were weary
because the banquet had lasted long.
So Judith was left alone in the tent
with Holofernes stretched out on his bed,
for he was overcome with wine.
Now Judith had told her maid to stand outside the bedchamber
and to wait for her to come out
as she did every day,
for she said she would be going out for her prayers,
and she had said the same thing to bego us.
So everyone went out, and no one, either small or great, was left in the bedchamber.
Then Judith, standing beside his bed, said in her heart,
O Lord, God of Almighty, look in this hour upon the work of my hands for the exaltation
of Jerusalem, for now is the time to help your inheritance, and to carry out my undertaking
for the destruction of the enemies who have risen up against us.
She went up to the post at the head of the bed above Holofernes' head,
and took down his sword that hung there.
She came close to his bed, and took hold of the hair of his head and said,
Give me strength this day, O Lord God of Israel,
and she struck his neck twice with all her might and severed his head from his body.
Then she tumbled his body off the bed and pulled down the canopy from the posts.
After a moment she went out, and gave Holofernes' head to her maid who placed it in her food bag.
Then the two of them went out together
As they were accustomed to go for prayer
And they passed through the camp
And circled around the valley
And went up the mountain to Bethelaya
And came to its gates
Judith called out from afar
To the watchman at the gates
Open, open the gate
God, our God is still with us
To show his power in Israel
And his strength against our enemies
Even as he has done this day
Judith returns to her people
When the men of her city
heard her voice, they hurried down to the city
gate and called together the elders of the city. They all ran together, both small and great,
for it was unbelievable that she had returned. They opened the gate and admitted them,
and they kindled a fire for light and gathered around them. Then she said to them, with a loud
voice, praise God, oh, praise him. Praise God, who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of
Israel, but has destroyed our enemies by my hand this very night. Then she took the head out of the bag
and showed it to them and said,
See, here is the head of Holofernes,
the commander of the Assyrian army,
and here is the canopy beneath which he lay in his drunken stupor.
The Lord has struck him down by the hand of a woman.
As the Lord lives, who has protected me in the way I went,
it was my face that tricked him to his destruction,
and yet he committed no act of sin with me to defile and shame me.
All the people were greatly astonished and bowed down and worshipped God
and said with one accord,
blessed are you, our God, who have brought into contempt this day the enemies of your people.
And Uzziah said to her, O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God, above all women on earth.
And blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to strike the head of the leader of our enemies.
Your hope will never depart from the hearts of men as they remember the power of God.
May God grant this to be a perpetual honor to you, and may he visit you with blessings because you
did not spare your own life when our nation was brought low, but have avenged our ruin,
walking in the straight path before our God. And all the people said, so be it, so be it.
Chapter 14. Judith's counsel. Then Judith said to them, listen to me, my brethren, and take this
head and hang it upon the parapet of your wall. And as soon as morning comes, and the sun rises,
let every valiant man take his weapons and go out of the city and set a captain over them as if you
were going down to the plain against the Assyrian outposts, only do not go down.
Then they will seize their arms and go into the camp and rouse the officers of the
Assyrian army, and they will rush into the tent of Halophonies and will not find him.
Then fear will come over them, and they will flee before you, and you and all who live within
the borders of Israel shall pursue them and cut them down as they flee.
But before you do all this, bring Akior, the Ammonite, to me, and let him see and recognize
the man who despised the house of Israel
and sent him to us as if to his death.
So they summoned Akior from the house of Uzziah.
And when he came and saw the head of Holofernes
in the hand of one of the men at the gathering of the people,
he fell down on his face and his spirit failed him.
And when they raised him up, he fell at Judith's feet
and knelt before her and said,
Blessed are you, in every tent of Judah.
In every nation, those who hear your name will be alarmed.
Now tell me what you have done during these days.
Then Judith described to him in the presence of the people all that she had done from the day
she left until the moment of her speaking to them. And when she had finished, the people raised a
great shout and made a joyful noise in their city. And when Akior saw all that the God of Israel
had done, he believed firmly in God and was circumcised and joined the house of Israel, remaining so
to this day. Helophanes' death is discovered. As soon as it was dawn, they hung the head of
Holofernes on the wall, and every man took his weapons, and they went out in companies to
the passes in the mountains. And when the Assyrians saw them, they sent word to their commanders,
and they went to the generals and the captains and to all their officers. So they came to
Helophanes's tent, and said to the steward in charge of all his personal affairs, wake up our
Lord, for the slaves have been so bold as to come down against us to give battle in order to be destroyed
completely. So Bogos went in and knocked at the door of the tent, for he supposed that he was
sleeping with Judith. But when no one answered, he opened it and went into the bedchamber
and found him thrown down on the platform dead with his head cut off and missing. And he cried out
with a loud voice and wept and groaned and shouted and tore his garments. Then he went to the tent
where Judith had stayed, and when he did not find her, he rushed out to the people and shouted,
The slaves have tricked us. One Hebrew woman has brought disgrace upon the house of King Nebuchadnezzar.
For look, here is Holofernes lying on the ground, and his head
is not on him. When the leaders of the Assyrian army heard this, they tore their tunics and were
greatly dismayed, and their loud cries and shouts arose in the midst of the camp.
The book of Proverbs chapter 17, verses 13 through 16. If a man returns evil for good,
evil will not depart from his house. The beginning of strife is like letting out water. So quit
before the quarrel breaks out he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both
alike an abomination to the lord why should a fool have a price in his hand to buy wisdom when he has
no mind father in heaven we give you praise and glory we thank you gosh god this day we give you
praise we you are good and you are just and your fair and you are faithful and you continue for
whatever reason god because of your unstoppable love for us you continue to call us to yourself and you
call us to be yours and help us to say yes today and help us to say yes every day in jesus name we pray
amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen so gosh you guys jeremiah
man, golly. In Jeremiah chapter 41 and 42, we not only have the destruction of Jerusalem, right?
We have Gethalaya, who's appointed governor of the remnant by King Nebuchadnezzar, but we also have this guy, Ishmael.
And Ishmael wants to have an insurrection against Gethiela. So remember, what's left back in the
promised land are people that no one wants. They are the poor. They are the weak. They're the sick.
There's Getalaya, who's the governor over them. And there's also kind of the resistance, right? The roving band
of marauders. This is like.
post-apocalyptic, the structure of government is kind of thrown to the wind, and it's the Wild West,
basically. And in the Wild West, there's a guy named Ishmael. And he belongs to the House of Judah.
This is very important. We recognize this, that the very first verse in chapter 41, it talks about
the fact that Ishmael belong to the royal family. And we recognize that maybe he resents a little bit
of the fact that Nebuchadnezzar did not appoint him or any members of his family to be the governor of Judah.
as it's now under Babylonian occupation and under Babylonian rule.
Now, he says it's crazy.
Gitalia already knows that Ishmael wants to kill him, is going to kill him, has a plot to kill him.
And what does he do?
He doesn't take any steps to protect himself.
In fact, he not only does that, but he breaks bread with Ishmael and his roving band of marauders, essentially.
And at that moment of breaking bread, Ishmael murders Getalaya and everyone with him,
which is kind of a double offense, right?
Right? We recognize that to share a meal with someone, even in our context now, is kind of a big deal.
In the ancient world and still in Middle Eastern worlds now, to break bread with someone, to share a meal with someone, is incredibly significant.
And here is Ishmael breaking bread with Gitalia, the person he knows he's going to murder in just moments from now.
We even have the Psalms, right? The Psalms says, the one who ate bread with me has raised his foot against me.
And Jesus, he lived that out perfectly as a good friend of his, Judas, betrays Jesus.
even after they've shared the Eucharist, which is just incredible.
Now, if the book of Jeremiah wants to highlight how bad Ishmael is,
not only are there pilgrims, essentially, 80 men arriving from Shechem and Shiloh and Samaria.
It says their beards shaved and the clothes torn with their bodies gashed,
bringing serial offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord.
Basically, they are men of faith who are going to worship at the temple, even though the temple has been destroyed.
They're going to find some place to worship God around that area,
even though Jerusalem is destroyed, the temple inside it is destroyed, they're on their way to honor
the Lord, to worship the Lord. And here's Ishmael, and he just kills him. And he cast their bodies
into the cistern. And even this book of the prophet Jeremiah makes a point of saying, now, the cistern to which
Ishmael cast all the bodies of the men whom he had slain was the largest cistern, which King Asa had made
for defense against the king of Israel. And he filled it with bodies. It is a massive cistern. And it was full.
of bodies. That's how evil and how wild that after all this pain that the Israelites, the Jewish
people had gone through, now it's just utter chaos. A complete utter chaos. And that's going to set up
the next stage. And the next stage is basically the people like Ishmael who have just killed
Gethalaya. Now we're afraid, and we're afraid of two things. We're afraid of the fact that there's people
like Ishmael here. So, you know, the guy with the black hat and rides into town. Who knows if he's
going to ride into our town and kill us? But also, yeah, the guy in the black hat,
Ishmael, he killed Gethalaya, who was the governor appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar.
Who's to say that King Nebuchadnezzar isn't going to hear about this insurrection and say,
you know what?
Forget those people.
Forget the remnant.
We're just going to wipe them all out and comes back with his army and just kills everyone.
And that's the big fear because of what Ishmael had done.
Now the people of Israel, the remnant, are living in fear of either the outlaws, right, or King Nebuchadnezzar.
And so they come to Jeremiah.
And this is so remarkable.
they have this great prayer, these great words that they speak to Jeremiah, and they basically
say, let our supplication come before you. Pray to the Lord your God for us. For all this
remnant, we're just left but few of many, that the Lord, your God may show us the way we should go
and the thing that we should do. And he goes on to say, and we'll do it. Whatever it is you tell
us to do it, we're going to do it. Should we flee? Should we stay? What is it? And we'll do
it. And Jeremiah prays for 10 days. And he gets the word of the Lord back to him. The word of the
Lord speaks to him and says, if you leave, if you go to Egypt, you'll die by the sword,
by famine, by pestilence. If you stay here in Jerusalem, if you stay here in Judah, you'll be
saved. You just have to trust in the Lord. Remember this, this word of just trust in the Lord.
Just stay here. And what are the people who are the remnant? What do they say? They say,
nope, we're not going to do this. We're not going to do as you've told us, as the Lord God has
spoken to us. And this is just so awful. Tomorrow we're going to hear about how Jeremiah makes
another plea to them. Just please do not do this thing. Do not flee to Egypt because you will not be able to escape death. But if you stay here and trust in the Lord, God is going to do something incredible with you here. The people are not listening. They will not listen. And so Jeremiah has a couple last words of judgment that he's going to say tomorrow in the next couple of days as we journey through this. We also have Judith, who is one of these great women of the Old Testament, who has killed Holofernes, cut off his head. And then not only that, she,
tells the people at Bethelaya say, here's the plan.
And she has the plan.
She's, you know, walk down as if you're going to battle, but don't go to battle because
they're going to wake everyone up and realize Lafranes is dead.
Then they're going to be fleeing.
And while they're fleeing, that's when you charge after them.
And that's when you destroy the fleeing army.
And that's just so wise.
I mean, she's just so prudent, so genius, so brilliant.
But also, so virtuous.
And that's one of the things that the scripture makes a very clear point.
It says that, nope, she was not in any point compromised in her purity.
I remember at one point I think it was someone I'm related to said they always wanted to be a spy
but they said but you know all the spies in the novels all the spies in the movies they have to
kind of sleep around to get you know information and stuff and she said I would never do that
I could never compromise myself like that and Judith she was able to be in this position of intrigue
this position of espionage and she makes a point of saying that all throughout it she did not violate her
purity and it's important because here is a woman who is righteous she is virtuous
from beginning to the end.
And there's this incredible prayer, right?
This prayer that Uzziah says, basically praising God about Judith and what she's done.
And it's so incredible.
Oh, daughter, you are blessed by the most high God above all women on earth.
And blessed be the Lord God who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you
to strike the head of the leader of our enemies.
You guys, you realize, once again, we had J.L., right, in the book of judges, who drove
the tent peg through Cicera's head into the ground, killing him, crushing the head of the
enemy. You have in Genesis chapter three, you have this prophecy of you will strike at his head while
he strikes at your heel, you know, crushing the head of the serpent. And we have J.L. crushing the head
of the enemy. We have Judith here crushing the head of the enemy. And that prophecy that ultimately
Jesus Christ, the descendant, the offspring of the woman is going to crush the powerful head of death.
And yet these women, J.L., Judith and others, they are a sign or a type of pre-shadowing of the role
Mary. And Mary is the one who crushes the head of the serpent, obviously through the power of
Jesus, her son. But see how the gospel of Luke will echo these words that are spoken by Uzziah to
Judith, the one who has crushed the head of the enemies of the people of God. And it goes on,
your hope will never depart from the hearts of men as they remember the power of God.
It goes on and on. And just at the end of chapter 13, if you want to go back and reread that
that great prayer praising this heroine, this hero of the people of Israel, who took her life in
her hands. Now, in a little bit, we're going to read the story of, actually it's going to be a
couple weeks from now. We're going to read the story of Esther. When I say a couple weeks,
I mean roughly a month. Sorry, of Esther, who also took her life in her hands to deliver the people
of Israel. And that's going to be an incredible story as well. But today, gosh, the bravery, the courage.
And we've had so many stories of men of courage in the Bible and also men of corruption in the
Bible. But this is one of those incredible stories. We get to really highlight and say a story of
an incredible courage of the woman of God, the incredible courage of these daughters of the
father. And that's the courage that my sisters, my daughters, you are called to walk in every day
because the Lord God, just like he was with Judith, the Lord God is with you as well. And so my
brothers, let us pray for all of our sisters in Christ. And sisters, let's pray for all of our
brothers in Christ as well. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me.
My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.