Day 22: Judith Chapter 8

At last Judith is mentioned. This is her book, so I’m awaiting something very special. She is a widow, but aside from losing her husband there is nothing bad to say about her. She summons Uzziah and the other town leaders to her house and lectures them.

But it’s a good lecture - she is speaking out of the wisdom that her grief has taught her. It is wrong to put the Lord to the test. even in sorrow and suffering, he is still supreme. Judith’s faith was not rocked by losing her husband, and it isn’t even dented by the siege and the water shortage. She castigate the leaders by presuming to test God by saying you’ve got 5 days to save us, or we’ll surrender.
Judith sees Bethuliah as the vanguard of Judah. If they fall, Holofernes will sweep on to Jerusalem and destroy the Temple. God will hold them responsible if that is allowed to happen. So they must resist. The responsibility of overcoming this threat rests with them.
Uzziah and friends are impressed with her words. But they could defend themselves by simply pointing to the size of the army against them. There’s no chance. He’s got so many soldiers that if he didn’t mind losing a few, he could order them to keep walking towards Bethuliah until they had trampled the town underfoot.
But Judith has a plan.

Day 21: Judith Chapter 7

Holofernes assembles his might and orders the entire army to attack Bethulia. He cannot possibly lose. Even so he is cautious, and follows prudent military advice to besiege the town, rather than trying a frontal assault. It is fairly easy to seize control of the springs that are Bethulia’s water supply. Sieges can last months, but without water, people inside will start dying in days.
As it was, they lasted 34 days before the water ran out, and in distress the people started calling on the Lord. The gather round Uzziah the town leader and insist that he surrender. He persuades them to hang on for 5 more days, to see if God will rescue them, otherwise he will surrender.
It’s always darkest just before dawn - at least it always is in stories, so let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Day 20: Judith Chapter 6

Holofernes understands the theological point that Achior made in the last chapter. Understands it, and rejects it. Why are you whining about some god these ex-slaves worship? Nebuchadnezzar is our god! He commands, and we obey. Has anybody else beaten him?
So Achior, the foreigner who understands the faith of the Israelites, is rejected and punished. But his punishment turns out to be a blessing in disguise. Holofernes orders him to be handed over to the Israelites. Don’t worry, he says mockingly, my men will soon beat this rabble before they do anything nasty to you.
Holofernes sends a detachment to Bethulia, to hand Achior over to them. But the people of Bethulia put up a spirited defence, and the soldiers can’t get close. They leave Achior tied up, and retreat. The Israelites come and take him in, listen to what has happened and pray to God for help. Achior is treated kindly, as befits a man who understands the power of God.

Day 19: Judith Chapter 5

Holofernes is enraged that one people have refused to surrender to him. But he takes counsel. A man called Achior, the leader of Ammonites, stands up and gives a potted history of Israel. He seems to know a lot about them. He describes them as “the descendants of some Babylonians” who refused to worship their gods and instead followed the God of heaven. Under this god they prospered, overcame the Egyptians, invaded Canaan and took it for their own. There they lived in great prosperity until they disobeyed their god, at which point they began to lose battles and eventually were defeated and flung out. But, they’re back.
Achior’s advice is simple - find out how faithful these people are. If they are being good, you’ll never beat them. If they are disobeying God, then attack them, you’ll easily win.
Holofernes’ other advisors think he’s talking rubbish. They point out the size and power of Holofernes’ army. How can you lose, general? Don’t listen to this madman!
What will the general decide?

Day 18: Judith Chapter 4

So what will happen to God’s people? Abject surrender isn’t an option for them - they couldn’t risk the destruction of the Temple. So they prepare for war, desperately defending the mountain passes into their land, and fortifying the towns and villages. Thankfully the harvest is in, so the oncoming army can’t burn their crops. They might be in for a siege.
And they remember God. Unlike the Biblical accounts of Israel and Judah under threat, the people are faithful in prayer and reliance on God. This is a sign that we’re reading a stylised story - more of a legend than fact - the other nations’ surrender is extreme and abject, Judah’s fortitude is noble and bold.
The people are united in begging God to protect them, there would hardly be enough sackcloth in the whole city to cover everyone is their earnest prayer and fasting.
And God heard their distress.

Day 17: Judith Chapter 3

What are the beleaguered peoples going to do? They have little choice. If they do nothing, they will be mown down by his terrifyingly efficient fighting machine. So they sue for peace. A list of nations just to the north of Judah send a message of unconditional surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. Judah is not among them. 
These peoples welcome Holofernes with every sign of ingratiating joy. The general is not moved. He systematically destroys their places of worship - an important part of breaking people’s spirit - and proclaims that everyone must worship Nebuchadnezzar as a god. Finally, the army halts at the very edge of Samarian territory, and there is a month’s delay while they are resupplied.
The tension has been building for three chapters. What will happen next?

Day 16: Judith Chapter 2

We hear Nebuchadnezzar’s instructions to his general, Holofernes. It makes grim reading. He is coming to exact punishment on those countries he regards as having betrayed him. he wants their unconditional surrender, but promises he will kill their soldiers and plunder them anyway, whether they surrender or not.
We’re told in detail of the size of army that Holofernes assembled, and we watch its inexorable progress towards Judah. Every nation, fortified town and territory falls before him, fear and panic spread among the people who are next in line, and disaster seems to be about to fall.

Day 15: Judith Chapter 1

So I begin my second book of the Apocrypha. Straight away I’m looking for clues to help me work out when the action is set, and it’s the same time period - we’ve got the Assyrians and the Medes up against each other. Although we’ve got the name Nebuchadnezzar, he’s not the same one that Daniel knew - we are later in history than that. 
The turmoil of clashing empires at this time in history left little Israel stuck in the middle, bewildered by the ebb and flow of power.
Samaria are among a group of nations asked by Nebuchadnezzar to take his side in the battle. They refuse, not thinking he would win. Worryingly, he did, and threatens annihilation to those who refused to join his side.
So the stage is set for a difficult time for God’s people. An angry, powerful emperor has made threats of destruction against them, and in human terms, he looks well able to carry them out.

Day 14: Tobit Chapter 14

Tobit lives for another 50 years, and then summons Tobias for some deathbed advice. Get out of Nineveh, he tells him, for it is about to fall. He refers to Nahum, and talks in much more realistic tones about the return to Jerusalem, saying that the rebuilt Temple will not be as splendid as the first, not until the proper time has come.
The Assyrian empire is about to fall. Tobias escapes, and returns to his parents in law in Ecbatana, caring for them until they die. The story wraps itself up nicely with praise for the righteous life of Tobit.
Although set in the time of the Assyrian empire, the beliefs it contains about angels and demons with names would seem to date it to much later, to the Babylonian exile at least. This last chapter with its more realistic depiction of return from exile was perhaps written after those events had really occurred, to say to the Jew, okay the Temple doesn’t look much yet, but there is a glory to come. No sniff, though, of any belief in a Messiah - I shall have to wait for that to come. Tomorrow it’s Judith. Bring it on!

Day 13: Tobit Chapter 13

Tobit prays.
As befits a man in exile, he talks as much about suffering as about God’s mercy.  But he puts his faith in Gog, hoping and believing that, since he has received small mercies from God, so he and his people will receive the largest mercy of all: return to their own land.
The day will come when God’s mercy will be complete and the people will be restored. Tobit has no doubt. It doesn’t sound like he believes that he himself will see that day, but God won’t be God if it doesn’t happen.
He envisions the new Jerusalem built with precious stones and gold - a far cry from the humble and difficult days of the real return, but this is a vision that never went away. John in his Revelation sees something similar, a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, beautifully adorned for her husband. The Jews were beginning to lift their eyes beyond the immediate, physical answer to their prayers, and believe in another world, a spiritual or heavenly fulfilment of their prayers.

Day 12: Tobit Chapter 12

After the obligatory feast, there is the question of how to reward Raphael. How do you reward an angel?
After some debate, they decide it would be right to give him half of all the money he collected for them from Gabael.
When they approach him to make this offer, he begins by giving advice. Don’t keep goodness a secret, he tells them. Tell the world what God has done. Don’t be tempted to seek wealth rather than righteousness, but do good always.
Then he reveals his true identity. He tells Tobit that he knows the old man much better than he ever suspected. He has had the job of carrying Tobit’s prayers to God for years, standing beside the old man as he buried his compatriots, not caring if he got into trouble.
And when he is not standing next to Tobit or Sarah, watching their suffering, he is one of the seven angels standing in God’s presence, ready to serve him.
Keep a king’s secret, but don’t keep secret the goodness and mercy of God.
Tobit and Tobias fall to the ground in fear and trembling, but Raphael tells them not to be afraid. God is good.

Day 11: Tobit chapter 11

Pure joy today, as Tobias arrives home. Raphael leads him in first, to be greeted by Anna, and then to go to his father and heal his blindness. In a touching moment, Tobias steadies his tottering father, tenderly applies the fish gall to his father’s eyes and restores his sight. The first thing the old man sees is his son. It brings freshness to the saying “The light of my eyes.”
Then Tobit walks out confidently with Tobias to meet the arriving Sarah, and all the Jews in Nineveh rejoice to see the kindly old man walking unaided.
God is praised. Healing has come to this house.

Day 10: Tobit chapter 10

At last some tension in the story. Persuaded to stay for a fortnight, Tobias is anxious to get back home to his family. But Raguel and Edna, overjoyed that at last their daughter’s sorrow is ended, don’t want Tobias to leave.
Back home, Tobias’ mother fears the worst. Like the prodigal father in Jesus’ parable, she takes to walking out every day and watching for her boy to come home.
The tension between hospitality and family obligation is very clear here. Genesis says, “A man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife.” (Genesis 2:24) but Tobias wants to get back home. Eventually he and Sarah are sent on the way with prayers and blessings from Raguel and Edna.

Day 9: Tobit chapter 9

So is that it? The rewards of faithfulness. If you’re a good Jewish boy and you marry a good Jewish girl, God will keep you safe. Is that the message of this book? How does that sound to Jews who have lived through the Holocaust?
Chapter 9 just advances the plot a little further, with Raphael is his guise as the trusty Azarias, despatched to collect the money and to bring Gabael back for Tobias’ wedding feast.
The echo that’s ringing today is that of Jacob’s sons sent to Egypt to buy grain in the famine. The father back home is anxious for his sons to return, and the detail about the camels reminded me very strongly of Joseph loading up his brothers’ camels with grain, and the money they had brought to pay for it, and planting his cup in Benjamin’s sack (Genesis 44:2).

Day 8: Tobit chapter 8

The sweet story continues its happy way. Tobias banishes the demon with the heart and liver of the fish, and Raphael (presumably reverting to spirit form) chases it to Egypt and binds it hand and foot. He and Sarah pray a lovely prayer together: “‘Please be merciful to us and grant that we may grow old together.’ Then they both said Amen and went to bed for the night.”

So what of Raguel and Edna, Sarah’s parents? They are digging a grave. They’ve been through this seven times already, and they’re expecting nothing else. But before they shovel the sleeping Tobias into it, they check and find he’s still breathing, and rejoice. God at last has had mercy on them.

Day 7: Tobit chapter 7

The story advances a little further as Tobias meets Sarah’s parents, finds out they’re related, and prepare to enjoy a meal together. Like Isaac getting Rebecca his kinswoman as a wife, Tobias is keen to hook up with Sarah. He asks Raphael to get on with the matchmaking.
Although initially reluctant, Sarah’s parents soon decide that this is all too nice not to work, and that it must be God’s doing. Sarah is presumably thinking “Here we go again,” but her mother tells her everything will be fine.
Tobias has got the bit between his teeth. He wants to get married right here, right now, and to get into bed with Sarah this very night. Is everyone being very faithful, or very naive? Or am I not supposed to ask such questions of a homespun little story such as this?

Day 6: Tobit chapter 6

Aha! The dog! I knew there was a dog in this book somewhere. But actually it’s a fish we hear about first. Tobias is nearly sucked to death by a fish, and Raphael tells him to keep parts of it for medicine.
As they walk along, Tobias asks, what diseases can this fish cure, then? Oh, demon possession and blindness, replies Raphael. Well there’s handy!
Then Raphael springs the idea of marriage to Sarah on Tobias. At first, he’s reluctant. he’s heard about the husband-killing demon. But Raphael just tells him to use the heart and liver of the fish to drive off the demon, and assures him all will be well. Tobias begins to warm to the idea.
This is a simple tale, pleasing but rather simply written. No great depth or insight in it, though. Not much suspense either. Surely something will go wrong soon?

Day 5: Tobit chapter 5

Right you are Dad. I’ll remember what you told me. But this money. How am I going to be able to get it? What are the security arrangements. And where does this fellow live?
Well, Tobit can help with the security, and Raphael turns up to help with the rest. Tobit wants to be sure he’s kosher, so asks him who he is and who are his family. Raphael spins a story that convinces blind Tobit, and he is content to let Tobias go with him. I was expecting Tobit to get healed at this point, but we’ve got to wait a while for that. Anna’s worries are soothed by Tobit, and the angel and the young man set off together.
Will there be adventures on the way?


Yesterday I got accused of being "smug" in what I have written about Tobit so far. Fair cop, is my reply, except that I would suggest I'm not being as deep as that! But perhaps I am not showing the text enough respect.
I'll try and think a little more seriously about the rest of the story, though in my defence I have to say that so far it has genuinely struck me as a fairly formulaic morality tale.

Day 4: Tobit chapter 4

Yesterday the action hotted up, and we have two narratives running in parallel. Perhaps today they’ll join up.
Oh yes, thinks Tobit. That money of mine. I must tell Tobias about it. Ooh, we’re heading towards a happy ending here! Is the boy going to end up rich and happy ever after with a new wife?
Then Tobit gives his farewell speech to his son. Be good, now. Look after your mother, don’t give her cause to worry. Be generous, don’t get drunk, play fair and remember God. Oh, and don’t go getting involved with strangers. Marry a good Jewish girl - one of your relatives. It never did Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob any harm.

This is turning out to be a pleasing yarn.

Day 3: Tobit chapter 3

Tobit sees the error of his ways and weeps bitterly. He prays to God in his anguish, sounding even more like Job than before. He’s had enough. He wants to die.
Meanwhile...
Suddenly we are introduced to someone new - a woman called Sarah who lives in Ecbatana, which Google tells me was the capital city of the Medes. Sarah too is unhappy with life - she is troubled by a demon called Asmodeus who has a habit of killing her husbands. He’s popped off seven so far, so he’s clearly been busy. Sarah’s had enough and wants to die.
God, faced with two such urgent prayers in his inbox, despatches an angel to sort it out. Raphael is instructed to cure Tobit’s blindness and do a bot of matchmaking between Sarah and Tobit’s son Tobias. And while he’s at it, he can turf out Asmodeus as well.

Day 2: Tobit chapter 2

Today it’s echoes of Job. Tobit, released from prison, comes back home to resume his good deeds. He refuses to enjoy the good food with his family until he’s shared it with the poor, and on finding that one of his countrymen has been killed, he takes it upon himself to bury the man, even though doing this was what got him into prison in the first place.
This misfortune strikes in the most unlikely way- he is blinded by birds poohing in his eyes!
Yes I know. But that’s what it says. At first his nephew provides for him, then his wife takes up work as a weaver. Blind Tobit finds his trust in her weakening, and accuses her of stealing a goat which was in fact a gift. His iron determination to do right is overwhelming his love and trust of his family. How hard it is to stay righteous in the face of adversity!

Day 1: Tobit Chapter 1

So today I begin the Apocrypha. Should gave been yesterday, but, hey.

The first character I meet, Tobit son of Tobiel, is from Galilee, and at once my interest is piqued. Galilee hardly gets a mention in the Old Testament, but is clearly so crucial in the New. It will be fascinating to find out more about the place and its people.
Tobit remained faithful to the Temple in Jerusalem, even though all his neighbours and even the rest of his family worshipped at the alternative site in Dan, which Jeroboam had established, to prevent people keeping their allegiance to the south.
However, we find Tobit not in Galilee, but in Nineveh, where he as been deported by Shalmaneser, the Assyrian emperor. So this dates him to the around the time of the fall of Samaria, in the 700s BC. There his career seems to mirror that of Daniel, later deported by the Babylonians. He insists of eating kosher, and is trusted by the emperor and given high responsibility.
Tobit incurs the emperor’s wrath by being kind to Israelites, specifically by burying them decently after they had been killed (which seems to be a frequent occurrence). But his punishment doesn’t last long, because Shalmaneser dies and a new emperor listens to another Jew (Ahika, Tobit’s nephew) and pardons him.
So, echoes of Daniel. Echoes too of Esther, but Tobit is more explicit about his Jewish faith than she was. The flavour of exile is here. Let’s see how Tobit’s fortunes go tomorrow, under a new emperor.

The new challenge

I've spent January looking back at last year, and my journey through the Bible. Now I've decided to venture in to at least partly uncharted territory.

Between the Old and New Testaments lies a period of 400 years. Sometimes called a period of silence. The spiritual dark ages of Israel. But it's not true to say that nothing was happening then. Lots did happen, and lots of books were written. Jewish thought was developing - their ideas about God, about life after death, and about the Messiah were being formed and reformed as empires fought over the land flowing in milk and honey. Here's a quick introduction.

Did you know that they had a Messiah during that time, who led his people to independence from the Imperial power? Did you know that there is a book with a dog in its title? Or another female hero of the faith like Esther or Ruth?

Collectively, these books are known to Protestant Christians as the Apocrypha. We don't read them, and we regard them as not having the same authority as the Old and New Testments. Catholics call them the Deutero-Canonical books, the second canon, and in their lectionary they do read them, or at least parts of them.

I have never read the Apocrypha through in its entirety, I read much of it while I was at theological college, but to be honest I wasn't concentrating very hard - I was more concerned with learning all sorts of other things.

There isn't an easy to use reading plan, at least partly because there isn't universal agreement about what is actually in the Apocrypha! So I'm going to be using my NRSV, which contains all these extra goodies. Counting it all up, I have around 195 chapters to read, and I intend to do roughly one a day, roughly five days a week.

So I should be finishing around November time!

Stay with me on this new journey, and please share your thoughts with me as we go. It'll be different to last year, but hopefully fun and rewarding in its own way. First instalment coming up tomorrow!