Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Judith 4:8

There is 1 footnote for this reference.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 399, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

Concerning Widows. (HTML)

Chapter VIII. Though many other widows came near to Judith in virtue, St. Ambrose proposes to speak of Deborah only. What a pattern of virtue she must have been for widows, who was chosen to govern and defend men. It was no small glory to her that when her son was over the host he refused to go forth to battle unless she would go also. So that she led the army and foretold the result. In this story the conflicts and triumphs of the Church, and her spiritual weapons, are set forth, and every excuse of weakness is taken from women. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3354 (In-Text, Margin)

46. And lastly, her son Barak shows the chief part of the victory was in the hands of a woman when he said: “If thou wilt not go with me I will not go, for I know not the day on which the Lord sendeth His angel with me.”[Judith 4:8] How great, then, was the might of that woman to whom the leader of the army says, “If thou wilt not go I will not go.” How great, I say, the fortitude of the widow who keeps not back her son from dangers through motherly affection, but rather with the zeal of a mother exhorts her son to go forth to victory, while saying that the decisive point of that victory is in the hand of a woman!