Friday, May 10, 2013

Nebuchadnezzer as God

In the book of Judith, Holophernes, chief general of the armies of Assyria, makes the following argument:
Who is God if not Nebuchadnezzar? He sends his might and he will destroy them from the face of the earth, and God will not save them (Judith 6:2).
A variation on the might make right argument, this one is more might makes not just right but deity. The standard ancient rebuttal was to point out that God could not only destroy but create as well. Any idiot can destroy something. Many of them do so unintentionally. To create, to build, shows more divinity than destruction does.