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Judith 11:1-2 "Then Holofernes said to her, 'Take courage, woman, and do not be afraid in your heart, for I have never hurt anyone who chose to serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of all the earth. And even now, if your people who live in the hill country had not slighted me, I would never have lifted my spear against them; but they have brought all this on themselves.'"

 

So Holofernes was a narcissist, it seems. He is convinced he is perfectly good, and he gets to decide who gets hurt and who doesn’t, but the ones he hurts deserve it. In his self-perceived magnanimity, he offers comforting words to Judith, along with a giant red flag, essentially saying “I won’t hurt you as long as you do what I want.” And the people in the hill country against whom he’s bringing his army, well, they brought it on themselves.

 

Judith is wily, though. She perceives Holofernes’ weakness right away and uses it against him. She plays on his need to feel special - “For we have heard of your wisdom and skill, and it is reported throughout the whole world that you are the one good man in the whole kingdom, thoroughly informed and marvelous in military strategy.” (Judith 11:8) “And if you follow out the words of your maidservant, God will accomplish something through you”, she tells him (Judith 11:6). And God certainly does accomplish something through Holofernes! He liberates His people by using this one brave woman to play on Holofernes’ narcissism, get him into a weakened position, and kill him in his drunken sleep, thus scattering Holofernes’ army.

 

God does this with us, too. He knows our weaknesses, our sinful tendencies, and He plays on them to get us to realize our folly and turn back to Him. It's painful when we go through it, and sometimes we still don't wake up, like Holofernes (haha!). Personally, I think we all have narcissistic tendencies, I think it is the "word of the day" being used to describe sinful, fallen man, and I think we are really quick to see those tendencies in others, but are very much less wiling to look at them in ourselves.

 

It pays to be open to the fact that we are all sinners, and have tendencies, maybe even narcissistic ones, we should be working on changing. With that open mind, when someone or something comes along challenging or playing into those tendencies, we can be alert that this is something from God, an opportunity to grow, change, and become more holy. 

 

 

                - Dayna Craig