Synopsis of the Chapter
Holofernes surrounds Bethulia with a siege, cuts the aqueduct, seizes the springs, and thus compels the besieged by thirst to demand surrender; but Ozias persuades them to await help for five days.
Verse 2: One Hundred Twenty Thousand Foot Soldiers ¶
2. One hundred and twenty thousand (the Greek has: '170,000 infantry'), TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND HORSEMEN. — Therefore auxiliary forces had joined, and ten thousand new horsemen; for in chapter II, verse 7, only ten thousand horsemen were reckoned. Nebuchadnezzar was sending these reinforcements, and he himself planned to follow with the full strength of his army, as the Greek text has, chapter II.
Verse 3: From the Place Called Belma ¶
3. FROM THE PLACE CALLED BELMA AS FAR AS CHELMON. — Belma is a city at the foot of the mountain on which Bethulia is situated, which is called Abellina by Brocardus. Nearby next to Dothan is the city 'Chelmon,' or as the Greek has, Cyamon: in both of these Holofernes pitched camp, as the Greek text says, and drew up his battle line for fighting and assaulting the city.
Verse 6: The Spring That Directed the Aqueduct ¶
6. THAT THE SPRING THAT FLOWED DIRECTED THE AQUEDUCT, etc. — that is, it conveyed water into the city through the aqueduct, and therefore Holofernes, cutting the aqueduct, diverted the water from the city. Serarius suspects that instead of 'directed' we should read 'irrigated'; but 'directed' fits this passage well enough. For a spring through a channel directs and transmits water into the city.
Verse 8: The Children of Ammon and Moab ¶
8. THE CHILDREN OF AMMON AND MOAB CAME TO HOLOFERNES. — The Greek has: The princes of the Edomites and Moabites. For the Edomites, when attacking the Jews, pretended to be Ammonites, as I said in chapter V, verse 5. These therefore persuaded Holofernes to seize the springs, and thus destroy the Jews with thirst.
Mystically: 'Then the devil cuts the aqueduct when he causes the study of letters to be interrupted. The springs not far from the walls were the doctrines of the Philosophers, which provide some spark of knowledge and honesty, from which they seemed to draw water for refreshment rather than for drinking'; so Rabanus; likewise St. Augustine on Psalm LXXIII, and St. Gregory on chapter IV of the Song of Songs. Again the devil cuts the aqueduct when he turns us away from prayer: for through prayer, as through a channel, all the grace of God flows into us; hence when this is cut off, the devil overcomes and captures us.
Verse 11: The Cisterns and Water Supplies Failed ¶
11. THE CISTERNS AND WATER SUPPLIES FAILED. — The Greek adds: And their children were dismayed, and the young people fainted from thirst, and fell in the streets of the city and in the passages of the gates, and there was no more strength in them.
12. Then they gathered to Ozias, — exhausted by thirst, demanding with loud voices that he surrender Bethulia to Holofernes. For nothing more dreadful befalls the besieged than thirst; for thirst torments far more acutely than hunger: hence commanders, when besieging some city, usually divert the water, so that the citizens are destroyed by thirst and thus compelled to surrender, according to the saying: 'The tongue of the nursing child clings to its palate in thirst,' Lamentations chapter IV. Well known is the story of Lysimachus king of the Macedonians, who, when suffering from lack of water and thirst in Thrace, surrendered himself with his camp to the enemy, but after drinking water, exclaimed: 'O gods! For the sake of how small a pleasure I have made myself a slave instead of a king!' Let the lustful say the same, who for a moment of pleasure make themselves slaves of the infernal Holofernes, that is, the devil, who will destroy them with thirst in hell, so that they cry out with the rich man: 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame,' Luke XVI.
Verse 18: Great Weeping and Wailing in the Assembly ¶
18. THERE WAS GREAT WEEPING AND WAILING IN THE ASSEMBLY. — In Greek ἐν προσευχῇ, that is, in the synagogue, where there was a place of prayer.