ABSTRACT
The second part of the problem is: What specifically are the defensive tactics that the people ofBethulia are supposed to take up in order to control their narrow mountain pass? This is most unclear. We do not find a Hellenistic phalanx of hoplites blocking the pass, nor do hilltop guerrillas send missiles down upon the Assyrians as they attempt to defile. So are the Bethulians obeying the command ofJoakim, or not? They are, but with gestures that must strike us as rather feckless: what seem to be some sort of earthworks they throw across the passes, they strew stumbling blocks in the plains, and they get ready to hunker down behind the new walls of their mountain fastnesses (5: 1). It is little wonder that the job of laying siege to Bethulia should turn out to be so easy (7:1-18). What is more of a wonder is that Holofernes does not just turn his back on Bethulians, once he has chased them inside their walls, and head toward Jerusalem.
