Holy Violence: is it ever okay?

(6) Just then a certain Israelite man came and brought a Midianite woman over to his companions, in the sight of Moses and of the whole Israelite community who were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. (7) When Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he left the assembly and, taking a spear in his hand, (8) he followed the Israelite man into the chamber and stabbed both of them, the Israelite man and the woman, through the belly. Then the plague against the Israelites was checked.

(10)יהוה spoke to Moses, saying, (11) “Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites by displaying among them his passion for Me, so that I did not wipe out the Israelite people in My passion. (12) Say, therefore, ‘I grant him My pact of friendship. (13) It shall be for him and his descendants after him a pact of priesthood for all time, because he took impassioned action for his God, thus making expiation for the Israelites.’”

The Gemara continues its analysis of the baraita. From where do we derive that the service of a blemished priest is retroactively invalid? Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: As the verse states with regard to Pinehas: “Wherefore say: Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace [shalom]” (Numbers 25:12), which means that he receives the covenant when he is whole [shalem], but not when he is blemished and lacking a limb. The Gemara comments: But shalom is written, rather than shalem. Rav Naḥman says: The letter vav in the word shalom is severed. According to tradition, this letter is written with a break in it, and therefore the word can be read as though the vav were missing.

Having stated the essential similarity between the two, the mishna enumerates the differences between them. What are the differences between cases of monetary law and cases of capital law? Cases of monetary law are judged by a court of three judges, and cases of capital law are judged by a court of twenty-three judges. In cases of monetary law, the court opens the deliberations either with a claim to exempt the accused, or with a claim to find him liable. And in cases of capital law, the court opens the deliberations with a claim to acquit the accused, but it does not open the deliberations with a claim to find him liable.

(23) We will not hearken to the king’s words, to go from our religion, either on the right hand, or the left.

(24) Now when he had left speaking these words, there came one of the Jews in the sight of all to sacrifice on the altar which was at Modin, according to the king’s commandment.

(25) Which thing when Mattathias saw, he was inflamed with zeal, and his reins trembled, neither could he forbear to shew his anger according to judgment:

(26) wherefore he ran, and slew him upon the altar. Also the king’s commissioner, who compelled men to sacrifice, he killed at that time, and the altar he pulled down.

(27) Thus dealt he zealously for the law of God like as Phinees did unto Zambri the son of Salom.

(28) And Mattathias cried throughout the city with a loud voice, saying, Whosoever is zealous of the law, and maintaineth the covenant, let him follow me.

(1) Now at that time Judith heard about this; she was the daughter of Merari, the son of Ox, the son of Joseph, the son of Ozel....

(2) And Manasseh was her husband, of her tribe and kindred, who died during the barley harvest. ...

(4) So Judith was a widow in her house three years and four months.

(5) And she made her a tent on the top of her house; and she put sackcloth on her loins and wore her widow's clothing. And she fasted all the days of her widowhood, except for the eves of the sabbaths and the sabbaths, and the eves of the new moons and the new moons, and the feasts and solemn days of the house of Israel.

(6) She also had a graceful temperament and was very beautiful to behold. And her husband Manasseh had left her gold and silver, and menservants and maidservants, and cattle and lands, and she remained with them.

(7) And there was no one who spoke an ill word about her, for she feared God greatly.

(8) Now she heard the evil words of the people against the governor and that they fainted for lack of water;

(9) for Judith had heard all the words that Uzziah had spoken to them and that he had sworn to deliver the city to the Assyrians after five days.

(10) So then she sent her woman servant, who was in charge of everything that she had, to call Uzziah and Chabris and Charmis, the elders of the city.

(11) And they came to her, and she said to them, "Hear me now, you governors of the inhabitants of Bethulia; for your words which you spoke before the people this day are not right, concerning this oath which you made and pronounced between God and yourselves, and your promise to deliver the city to our enemies, unless within these days the Lord turns to help you.

(12) And now who are you to have tempted God this day, and to stand among the children of men instead of God?

(13) And now test the Lord Almighty, but you will never know anything. For you cannot find the depth of the heart of man, neither can you perceive the things which he thinks; so then how can you search out God, who has made all these things, and know his mind or comprehend his purpose?

(14) No, my brethren, do not provoke the Lord our God to anger.

(15) For if he will not help us within these five days, he has power to defend us when he will, even every day, or to destroy us before our enemies.

(16) Do not bind the plans of the Lord our God; for God is not like man as if he could be threatened; neither is he like the son of man so that he would be wavering.

(17) Therefore let us wait for salvation from him and call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice, if it pleases him. For there arose none in our age, neither is there any now in these days, neither tribe, nor family, nor people, nor city among us, who worship gods made with hands, as has happened in past times. For this reason our fathers were given to the sword and as a spoil and had a great fall before our enemies.

(18) But we know no other God, therefore we trust that he will not despise us, nor any of our nation.

(19) For if we are overcome, then all Judea will lie waste and our sanctuary will be pillaged; and he will place the blame for the profanation of it at our mouth;

(20) and the slaughter of our brethren and the captivity of the country and the desolation of our inheritance, he will blame on our heads among the Gentiles, wherever we will be in captivity;

....

(24) Moreover, let us give thanks to the Lord our God, who tests us, even as he did our fathers. Remember the things he did to Abraham, and how he tested Isaac, and what happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria, when he kept the sheep of Laban his mother's brother...

(26) Then Uzziah said to her, "All that you have spoken, you have spoken with a good heart and there is no one who can refute your words.

(27) For this is not the first day that your wisdom has been manifested; but from the beginning of your days all the people have known your understanding, because the disposition of your heart has been good.

(28) But the people were very thirsty; and they compelled us to do to them as we have spoken and to bring an oath on ourselves, which we will not break.

(29) Now therefore pray for us, because you are a godly woman, and then the Lord will send us rain to fill our cisterns and we will faint no more."

(30) Then Judith said to them, "Listen to me and I will do something which will be remembered throughout all generations among the children of our nation.

(31) You will watch this night at the gate, and I will go forth with my woman servant; and, within the days that you have promised to deliver the city to our enemies, the Lord will visit Israel by my hand.

(32) But do not ask me what I will do, for I will not reveal it to you until the things that I do are completed."

(33) Then Uzziah and the princes said to her, "Go in peace, and may the Lord God go before you to take vengeance on our enemies."

(10) "Go now and persuade this Hebrew woman who is with you that she should come to us, and eat and drink with us.

(11) For, see, it will be a shame upon our person, if we let such a woman go without having had her company; for if we do not draw her to us, she will laugh at us in scorn."

(12) Then Bagoas went from the presence of Holofernes, and he came to her and said,

(13) "Let not this fair gentlewoman fear to approach my lord and to be honored in his presence, and to drink wine and be merry with us,

(14) and to become this day like one of the daughters of the Assyrians, who serve in the house of Nebuchadnezzar."

(15) Then Judith said to him, "Who am I now, that I should contradict my lord? Surely whatever pleases him I will do without hesitation, and it will be my joy until the day of my death."

(16) So she arose, and she decked herself out with her apparel and all her woman's attire.

(17) And her maid went and laid soft skins on the ground for her opposite Holofernes, which she had received from Bagoas for her daily use, so that she might sit and eat upon them.

(18) Now when Judith came in and sat down with Holofernes, his heart was inflamed with her, and his mind was stirred up, and he greatly desired her company; for he had been waiting for sometime to deceive her, even from the day that he had first seen her. Then Holofernes said to her, "Drink now and be merry with us."

(19) So Judith said, "I will drink now, my lord, because my life is exalted in me this day more than all the days since I was born." Then she took and ate and drank before him the things which her maid had prepared.

(20) And Holofernes took great delight in her, and he drank more wine than he had drunk at any time in one day since he was born.

(1) Now when evening had arrived, his servants hurried to depart, and Bagoas shut his tent from the outside and dismissed the waiters from the presence of his lord; and they went to their beds,

(2) for they were all weary because the feast had been long.

(3) And Judith was left alone in the tent with Holofernes lying by himself on his bed, for he was filled with wine.

(4) Now Judith had commanded her maid to stand outside her bedroom and to wait for her to go forth, as she did daily; for she said she would go forth to her prayers,

(5) and she spoke to Bagoas towards the same purpose.

(6) So everyone left and no one was left in the bedroom, neither little nor great. Then Judith, standing by his bed, said in her heart:

(7) "O Lord God of all power, look at this time upon the works of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem.

(8) For now is the time to help your inheritance and to execute your purposes for the destruction of the enemies who have risen against us."

(9) Then she went to the pillar of the bed, which was at Holofernes' head, and took down his broadsword from there.

(10) And she approached his bed, and took hold of the hair of his head, and said, "Strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, this day."

(11) And she twice struck his neck with all her might, and she took his head away from him. And she tumbled his body down from the bed, and pulled down the canopy from the pillars; and, soon after, she went out

(12) and gave the head of Holofernes to her maid. And she put it in her bag of meat,

(13) so these two went together, according to their custom, to prayer; and when they passed the camp, they circled the valley and went up the mountain of Bethulia and came to its gates.