Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 5:1

Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,

1. The title says that the Ode was sung by Deborah and Barak, no doubt on account of the 1st person in Jdg 5:3 ; Jdg 5:9 ; Jdg 5:13, and the verb rendered I arose in Jdg 5:7. But in Jdg 5:12 Deborah herself is addressed by name (cf. Jdg 5:15), and in Jdg 5:7 the verb can just as correctly be rendered thou didst arise; while the 1st person in Jdg 5:3 ; Jdg 5:9 ; Jdg 5:13 is readily explained by the love of personification so common in the O.T. (see on Jdg 1:3): the poet acts as the mouthpiece of his victorious countrymen. The title represents a traditional view of the Song, but it does not carry more weight than the title of the Song of Moses Exodus 15, or the headings of the Psalms.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Deborah, as a prophetess, both composed and sang this noble ode, which, for poetic spirit and lyric fire, is not surpassed by any of the sacred songs in the Bible. And, as Miriam took up the first verse of the song of Moses Exo 15:21, and sang it as an antiphony, so Barak, with the chorus of men, answered the song of Deborah by singing Jdg 5:2, which is also exactly suited for an antiphon, summing up as it does the subject matter of the whole ode. Compare Davids example 2Sa 6:15.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Jdg 5:1-11

Then sang Deborah and Barak.

Leaders who lead

This is far better given in the Revised Version: For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, for that the people offered themselves willingly, bless ye the Lord. The poetess gives two reasons why her enterprise was successful.

I. The first reason of success was that the leaders took the lead. They were not engaged elsewhere; they did not linger; they were not too excessively modest. They were in the forefront of the enterprise in resource and enthusiasm and execution. The leaders in those days in Israel were the heads of the tribes. In ancient society there was always an arrangement which provided natural leaders to whom the people could look. In spite of what some people may say to the contrary, there is a great deal of loyalty still in the people to what might be called their natural leaders, and I may say this, that our aristocracy have immense advantages on their side if only they have the heart to give themselves to public work. It is the man with the biggest and clearest and keenest brain that is the leader in modern times. The thinker, the orator, the author, the journalist, the inventor, the scientist–these are the men to whom we now look to give the watchword and lead us in public work. I think it is vain to deny that money is great power in modern times, and the making of it is a rough test of ability, although it is a very humble illustration of my text. In politics and in reforms in the Church and the municipality we should get quit of those awful wrongs and abuses which disfigure our life, and we could raise our people to higher and nobler life if only the leaders would take the lead. Unfortunately they do not do it. Very often the best causes have to do without those that should be the leaders. They do not get the people with ten talents, and have to struggle along as best they can with the people who have one talent, and who use it for the glory of God and the good of men. This may be due to the fact that those who should be leaders are occupied with their own affairs, and have no heart for the public interest. Those who have most of this worlds means and influence are often living a life of frivolity and selfishness. Those who are engaged in the struggle of life are often thinking of nothing but enriching them selves. Those who have the finest culture often keep aloof from the profane multitude. Or the fact that the leaders do not take the lead may be due to timidity and over-caution. Any change that alters the status quo must give annoyance and cause loss to somebody. When once a reform is matter of history, and is put down in books of history, all men praise it, but while it is being accomplished few men praise and many oppose. I remember a few years ago there was hardly a newspaper in the country in which there was not a leader in praise of Wilberforce and the noble men who co-operated with him in that great reform. But in his own day Wilberforee and his coadjutors were not praised at all. They were even exposed to personal violence. Every evil name was flung at them. Drunkenness is inflicting on our country evils so vast and potent that any considerable diminution of it, say the reduction of it by half, would be a reform infinitely greater than those reforms by which our statesmen are at present winning their laurels. But if a statesman of the first mark, a man of the calibre of Mr. Balfour or Mr. Chamberlain or Mr. Morley, were to take the lead on this subject, he would simply be shrieked at by all who are engaged in that traffic.

II. The other reason given by this ancient heroine for her success was that the people willingly followed. Leaders cannot win a cause; it is won by the followers. Now sometimes the people do not follow even when the leaders take the lead.

1. Instead of that, they wish themselves to take the lead. Many a cause has been wrecked by the jealousies and suspicions of those who have thought they were fit for positions greater than were assigned to them. We often hear of the need of first-class leaders, but I sometimes think what the world needs most is great numbers of men who are willing to take the second place, or the third place, or the fourth place, and to work as heartily there as if they were in the first place. That requires even more heroism. The man who is in the first place attracts the eyes of all, and may receive his reward in fame, but the man who works well in an obscure place only receives the reward of the cause itself.

2. Another reason why the people do not always follow is that they are criticising instead of following. Now I should not like to conclude without referring to the last words of my text, Bless ye the Lord. Deborah attributed the success to the leaders taking the lead and the people following willingly, but she went beyond these means, and traced all to the Lord. (J. Stalker, D. D.)

Leaders

Now in this text we are called upon to celebrate our leaders, for that the leaders took the lead in Israel. Deborah, with a fine instinct, perceived the singular value of great and heroic leaders. In some directions to-day there is a disposition to obscure greatness, to deny, I was going to say, the supreme value of splendid talents. Oh, let us recognise the rights of the people. We must never forget in this world the wonderful importance of the man as against the multitude. The Roman soldier was a master in his art and profession, but what would all the Roman soldiers have been but a rabble without Caesar? I dare say those sailors four centuries ago were brave and skilful Italians and Spaniards, but they would have done very little with that barque on the Atlantic without Columbus. You may have fine masons and painters, but if St. Peters is to be built in Rome or St. Pauls in London you must have Michael Angelo in one place and Sir Christopher Wren in the other. Oh, no, let us acknowledge the multitude, and all the rights that pertain to them, but that need not for a moment obscure our mind as to the appreciation of men of supreme genius. For the leaders that took the lead bless ye the Lord. The great architects, the great navigators, the great captains; they are all great gifts of God to humanity. Outside a great leader is the architect of civilisation, and in the Church a great leader is the organiser of victory. (W. L. Watkinson.)

Deborah: a mother in Israel

Deborah was an extraordinary woman. In strength of understanding, in strength of will, in soundness of judgment, in splendid courage, in warmth of heart, and, withal, in what we would nowadays call literary genius, Deborah was an absolute miracle of many sides. There was neither king, nor captain, nor judge, nor prophet, nor psalmist, nor a man to be called a man in all Israel in those evil days till Deborah arose with all those things in herself. To begin with, Deborahs name came to be known outside of her own house by her strong sense and her open, fair, masculine mind. Her neighbours were constantly falling into disputes and quarrels, and the way Deborah dealt with all those disputes and quarrels soon made her name famous. Her house in Mount Ephraim was a refuge to all the oppressed. Her palm tree was a strong tower to which all the afflicted people continually came up. At the same time, with all that, Deborahs name would never have come down to us had it not been for the terrible oppression that lay on all Israel from their enemies round about. But while all this went on Deborah was only walking all the closer with her God at Bethel. Deborah does not put it into her song–she cannot put everything into one song–but how she would go out to meditate and to pray under Jacobs ladder after her days work was done! How she would seek wisdom and direction at that House of God. What was it that made Deborah arise at last and come forth from her own house to be the mother in all Israel she was and is? Was it the death of Lapidoth, her husband, that made her a widow indeed, and set her free to fellow out her mighty hopes for the house of Israel? Had her sons been carried into captivity of the King of Canaan; and had it been better for her daughters that they had never been born? It was some of these things, it was all these things taken together that at last roused up the slumbering lioness in Deborahs bosom, and made her swear beside the sacred stone in Bethel that Israel should be set free. But, after all, Deborah was only a woman. And to discomfit Sisera and his nine hundred chariots of iron demanded a man at the head of ten thousand men; while in all the tribe of Ephraim there was nothing but women. And Deborah sent, says her history, and called Barak the son of Abiuoam out of Kadesh-Naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, go, and draw toward Mount Tabor, and I will draw out Sisera the captain of Jabins army, and I will deliver him into thine hand. Arise, Barak, and lead captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. In what is perhaps the most beautiful volume of sermons that has been published in England since Dr. Newman came down from the English pulpit, though a very different volume in many ways, the late Master of Balliol says that the first of Christian duties in our day is the removal of the evils of our great towns. Now one of the two worst evils of all our great towns will never be removed till a mother like Deborah arises in our Israel. There is one evil in all our great towns that our Barak-like men may and must remove. And my heart is toward the governors of Israel that offered themselves willingly among the people. But the other great evil is one that the women, and more especially the mothers, of our great towns must take into their own hands. It will need Deborah and Barak too. It will need all Deborahs strength of understanding, and all her strength of will, and all her soundness of judgment, and all her warmth of heart, and all her splendour of courage, and all her wholeness of devotion, as well as all her genius, to speak it home and to write it home to our slow and selfish hearts. But you are not a queen, or a princess, or a peeress, and because you cannot do everything you sit still and do nothing. No. But have you not a fire-side, and a lady friend or two, and a spare hour on a Saturday or a Sabbath night? Have you no imagination? Have you no heart? Have you no apprehension? Have you no son or nephew? (A. Whyte, D. D.)

National mercies and national sins

I. The grounds of thankfulness which Deborah thought she and the whole nation had.

1. She insists, first, upon the cheerful willingness of the people, their ready alacrity in obeying the call of the Lord their God, when by her voice He summoned them to arms. Oh! that there were such a heart in each one of us! Spiritual readiness is the attitude and the grace of angels. God desires, and will have, from us all, hearty service. Whether as regards our substance or our time, our talents or our affections, the Word declares, God loveth a cheerful giver.

2. Deborah notices gratefully the interference of God Himself in behalf of the nation. What could Israel, in their enslaved and enfeebled state, have done against Jabins nine hundred chariots? Of what avail would have been the willingness of the people or the valour of the chiefs if the Lord had provided no succours? But the Lord had provided them. And like mercies have been vouchsafed to us with regard to our personal and individual conflicts with sin and Satan. Satan is especially called the prince of the power of the air ; what would the rude implements of earthly warfare avail against such an antagonist? No; God puts the spiritual against the spiritual; He brings the arms of an invisible providence to bear upon the spiritual fortunes of a child of God, and to keep him from falling. Angels are ministering to us whilst we sleep; the elements are combining for our good, even when we know not the very existence of evil; and never till we are beyond the reach of evil and sin shall we know how the Lord fought for our souls from heaven, or how the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

3. Deborah finds matter of thankfulness in the peaceful and happy state of the country contrasted with its condition under the oppressions of Jabin; and to this part of Deborahs song I entreat your special attention. Her picture of two countries, or at least of the same country under two different governments, will be found to have such an astonishing parallel that I hope every heart amongst us will be lifted up to God with silent thankfulness. Observe, then, first, Deborah speaks of a country where all trade was stopped: In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The great public thoroughfares were all closed; the caravans could no longer convey their merchandise from city to city; the merchants found their occupation gone. Then, secondly, she says that in this country travelling had become unsafe: The travellers walked through byways. The complete lawlessness of the people and the bold effrontery of the robber made those who had occasion to travel seek the most lonely and unfrequented byways. Every step they took was taken with fear; they saw death or danger at every turn. Then, thirdly, she says that there was no tilling of the ground: The inhabitants of the villages ceased. The constant incursions of lawless hordes had driven the villagers from their peaceful employments; the cessation of commerce throughout the land had closed the market for their grain; whilst for the sake of personal safety the poor villagers were obliged to leave their humble abodes and take refuge in walled and fenced cities. Fourthly, she says that there was no administration of justice. The people of the Lord could not go down to the gates–the gates signifying, as you are aware, in the Jewish language, the courts of justice. In the eighth verse she gives the reason why all judicial proceedings were suspended: Then was war in the gates. The courts of justice resounded with the noise of arms; the gravity of the judge was merged in the zeal of the soldier; the magistrates had lost all dignity and the people all respect for law. Lastly, she says that no dependence could be placed on the military strength of the country: Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? All energy was now gone; all public spirit had decayed; anarchy and misrule held sovereign away, and order and good government were banished from the land. I need not stay to tell you where this awful picture of national misery and misrule has but a too faithful counterpart. I pass on to another picture, which, God be praised, hath its counterpart also. What is the state of our country now? asks Deborah. Why, our nobles ride secure on white asses; our judges, without fear, sit in judgment at the gates, undisturbed by the noise of archers in the places of drawing water; and the people, as they walk by the way, rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord. Now all is peaceful among us; our ships ride upon the sea; our caravans throng the highways; our villages revive amid the busy industry of pruning-hook and ploughshare; and now all that remains for us is to testify, by a song of thankfulness, our gratitude to God. Neither should there be lost upon us Deborahs invitation to different classes of society to join in this song of gratitude. First, you will perceive, she calls upon the noble and the wealthy: Speak, ye that ride on white asses. Who gave you your wealth? Who has preserved to you your wealth? To whom alone is the praise due that your substance has not been wrested from you by bands of marauders; that you have not been driven from your country by the insecurity of property; that, under the protecting shadow of equal laws, you can now lie down with safety, none making you afraid? Then, secondly, she speaks to magistrates and judges. Speak, ye that sit in judgment. Who has preserved your office in all its reverence? Who has continued your lives in all their sacredness? Who has kept your authority in all the respect in which the people hold it? Then, thirdly, she addresses herself to those who are engaged in the ordinary occupations of life. Speak, ye that walk by the way; following your peaceful employments without fear of the public robber, without dread of lawless assemblages, reposing under your own vine and your own fig-tree; rehearse the wonderful works of God. Yes, high and low, rich and poor, rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even His righteous acts towards the inhabitants of the villages of Israel. And have we no part to bear in Deborahs song? Oh! shall there be a British heart cold or British tongue dumb while we think of our signal, eminent–I might almost say solitarily enjoyed blessings? Awake, awake, England; awake, awake, utter a song. Let us, while we bewail her sins and confess her pride, mourn over her luxurious living when thousands are starving for the bread of life–let us also bless God for His mercies to this our land. Let us bless Him that blood hath not yet stained our streets; that our ears tingle not with the sound of artillery; that the file and the hammer are yet heard in our shops; and that our churches are still open, where we may praise and worship God.

II. Some causes of sorrow and stern rebuke. The Lords cause had triumphed, as triumph it ever will, whether we come to the help of the Lord or not. Still the names of those shall be told up who come to the Lords help, in order that it may be seen who are to be shutout from the triumph, who are to have no part in the joy, who are to have no mention in Gods book of remembrance, save to their dishonour and their shame.

1. First, some are noticed reprehensibly by Deborah because of the contentions and strifes among them: For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. Oh! take ye good heed; for if at this moment you are cherishing an unkind feeling towards any human being, you are cherishing that which is an eternal foe to godliness; you are cherishing that which may drive the Spirit of God from your souls; you are cherishing that which in your dying hour will cause you bitter searchings of heart.

2. But another sin which Deborah notices, as excluding the parties who had committed it from all part in Israels triumph, is the sin of slothfulness–the love of ease, an unwillingness to endure the hardships and encounter the difficulties of the Christian life: Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? Are there not many who never make a sacrifice, never impose on themselves any form of restraint, who are conscious of nothing worthy of the name of effort, whose life is one of gilded, cushioned, luxurious ease, without one struggle or one act of self-denial?

3. But another occasion of unfaithfulness to the Lords cause is an absorbing interest in worldly engagements: Dan remained in ships, and Asher continued on the sea-shore. Oh! be not deceived by that refined artifice of Satan which tempts you to persist in the pursuit of that which he persuades you is lawful. Heaven has fixed its own law of preferences, has determined which of two interests shall be sacrificed if an occasion arise in which we must sacrifice one. What amount of corn and wine and oil will compensate us for the loss of the light of Gods countenance? What emergency or extremity in our domestic affairs could ever supersede that imperative law, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you?

4. There is one more excluding sin mentioned by Deborah, the sin of religious indifference–the sin of a Gallio-like, uncaring, unthinking spirit–the sin of a Loadicean lukewarmness about the things of God. Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof. Why? For any positive sin which they had committed? For any great scandal which they had brought on the Lords name and cause? No, but because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. It seems as if God were speaking from the thick cloud to each one amongst us, and asking, not What have you left undone? but What have you done?–done for God, done for eternity, done for the help of the Lord against the mighty? And think not to escape with the plea that opportunity is wanting for thus serving God. I tell you that every relation in life affords scope for this pious activity. As masters, you may counsel; as parents, you may teach; as friends, you may speak a word in season; as rich, you may give of your substance to promote good works; as poor, you may promote benevolent objects by daily and earnest prayer. But if in none of these ways you are conscious of helping the Lord, if neither by your counsel, nor by your encouragement, nor by your example, nor by your prayers, you come to the Lords help, then are you included among the inhabitants of Meroz, and the curse of Meroz abides upon your souls. (D. Moore, M. A.)

I, even I–

The big I

Archdeacon Hare tells us that of all peoples, so far as he knows, the English people are the only people who write the first personal pronoun in one capital letter, I. He further tells us that this fact lets in a good deal of light upon the English character, much that is favourable to the Englishman, and perhaps a good deal that is unfavourable. Now I will dwell–

I. Upon two of the favourable things he mentions.

1. He says that the letter I, that stands up by itself, expresses the freedom and independency of the Englishman. It is a good thing to be free and independent. But I dont want you children to be independent in the wrong sense. You are very dependent little creatures, and have all been very dependent ever since you were born–so dependent upon your mothers care and your fathers love. I want you to feel that you are very dependent indeed, and above all that you are very dependent upon God. But yet there is a sense in which we ought to be independent and free. The boy who does not insist upon exercising his own freedom and independency is very soon despised, and he very soon goes to the bad.

2. The letter I also denotes the Englishmans firmness. It is wonderful how firm we can be if we have planted our foot in the right place. No one is so firm as the man who has planted his foot upon the Rock of Ages, or the Truth as it is in Jesus. When a man has learnt what the Saviour expects of him, and says, God helping me, I will do it, he puts down his foot upon a foundation which can never give way.

II. I will mention now two of the unfavourable things referred to by Archdeacon Hare.

1. He tells us that the letter I shows a certain amount of arrogance. He says that the proudest word in English, to judge by its way of carrying itself, is this I. There it is, lifting its head up above everybody else, and looking down with contempt upon its little neighbours. Now theft is not a good thing. That is utterly unlike the Lord Jesus. He was meek and gentle in spirit: He never looked down upon any one, but welcomed poor broken-down sinners to His presence, and ever spoke a kind word to the worlds outcasts.

2. The capital I represents the Englishmans reserve and isolation. It loves to stand alone, and does not believe in mixing up with others. Let us no longer hold ourselves aloof, but be kind and gentle to all. Whenever you meet another, do not gather yourself up in your little coat, and conclude that you must be better than he; but be ready to draw near and shake hands with another little boy; and, if he is poorer than you, there is a special chance for you to do him a little kindness. Remember that it is the will of Jesus that we should be very kind to each other, and in His name, yea, and for His sake, bless all. (D. Davies.)

They chose new gods; then was war in the gates.

The soldiers honour

Here is–

1. The apostasy of the people: They chose new gods. This I call the alarm; for ungodliness calls to war. If we fight against God, we provoke God to fight against us. Then–

2. A laying on of punishment. God meets their abomination with desolation; the hand of justice against the hand of unrighteousness: Then was war in the gates. This I call the battle. Then–

3. A destitution of remedy: Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? Sin had not only brought war, but taken away defence–sent them unarmed to fight. And this I call the forlorn hope.

I. The alarm: They chose new gods. Their idolatry may be aggravated by three circumstances or degrees. They are all declining and downwards: there is evil, worse, and worst of all.

1. They chose. Here is a frank choice, no compelling. They voluntarily took to themselves, and betook themselves to, other gods. There is evil, the first degree.

2. Gods. What! a people trained up in the knowledge of one God: Jehovah, I am; and there is none besides Me. The bees have but one king, flocks and herds but one leader, the sky but one sun, the world but one God.

3. New gods. Will any nation change their gods? No; the Ekronites will keep their god, though it be Beelzebub; the Ammonites will keep their god, though it be Melchom; the Syrians will stick to their god, though it be Rimmon; the Philistines will not part with their god, though it be Dagon. And shall Israel change Jehovah, the living God? This is worst of all.

II. We come now to the battle: Then was war in the gates. If Israel give God an alarm of wickedness, God will give them a battle of desolation. Idolatry is an extreme impiety; therefore against it the gate of heaven is barred (1Co 6:9). Let us view the punishment as it is described: Then was war in the gates.

1. The nature of it: War. War is that miserable desolation that finds a land before it like Eden, and leaves it behind it like Sodom and Gomorrah, a desolate and forsaken wilderness. Let it be sowed with the seed of man and beast, as a field with wheat, war will eat it up. In itself it is a miserable punishment.

2. The time: Then. When was this war? In the time of idolatry. They chose new gods; then. When we fight against God, we incense Him to fight against us. Yet if timely repentance step in, we escape His blows, though He hath not escaped ours. But if Israels sins strike up alarm, Israels God will give battle. If they choose new gods, the true God will punish. Then was war. It is a fearful thing when God fights.

3. The place: In the gates. This is an extreme progress of war, to come so near as the gates. If it had been in the land of their enemies, a preparation of war a great way off, the noise of war–yea, if it had come but to the coasts and invaded the borders, as the Philistines did often forage the skirts of Israel, yet it had been somewhat tolerable, for then they had but seen it only. Thou hast shewed Thy people grievous things (Psa 60:3)–shewed, but not inflicted; shaken the rod, but not scourged us. But here war is come to their thresholds, yea, to the heart of the land, to defy them in the very gates. And now they more than hear or see it; they feel it. You now see the punishment. Happy are we that cannot judge the terrors of war but by report, that never saw our towns and cities burning, our houses rifled, our temples spoiled. We have been strangers to this misery in passion, let us not be so in compassion. Let us think we have seen these calamities with our neighbours eyes, and felt them through their sides.

III. We now come to the forlorn hope: Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? Was there? There was not.This question is a plain negative. Here is the want of help; great misery, but no remedy; not a spear to offend, no, not a shield to defend. War, and war in the gates, and yet neither offensive nor defensive weapon! It takes away all, both present possession and future possibility; help and hope. You see now all the parts of the affliction: the alarm in sin, the battle in war, and the forlorn hope in the want of remedy. Two useful observations may hence be deduced–

1. That war at some times is just and necessary; indeed, just when it is necessary: as here. For shall it come to the gates, and shall we not meet it? Yea, shall we not meet it before it come near the gates? There is, then, a season when war is good and lawful. Now there are two cautions observable in the justness of wars–

(1) That they be undertaken upon just and warrantable cause. That they be prosecuted with an honest mind. The cause must be just.

(a) The peace of the people; for we must aim by war to make way for peace. We must not desire truce to this end, that we may gather force for an unjust war; but we desire a just war that we may settle a true peace.

(b) The health and safety of our country: some must be endangered that all may not be destroyed.

(c) The glory of the kingdom; and that is, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Wars for God are called Gods battles. The destruction of their cities that revolt from God to idols, and the whole spoil, is for the Lord; it is the Lords battle and the Lords spoil (Deu 13:16).

(2) The next caution, after a good ingression, is to be sure of a good prosecution. We say of the surgeon that he should have a ladys hand and a lions heart; but the Christian soldier should have a ladys heart and a lions hand. I mean, though he deal valiant blows, yet not destroy without compassion.

2. The other inference that may hence be deduced is this, that munition and arms should at all times be in readiness. Wise men in fair weather repair their houses against winter storms; the ant labours in harvest that she may feast at Christmas. Be long in preparing for war, that thou mayest overcome with more speed. A long preparation makes a short and quick victory. I have held you long in the battle; it is now high time to sound a retreat. But as I have spoken much of Israels affliction, so give me leave to speak one word of the prophetesss affection, and of this only by way of exhortation: My heart is set on the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lord. Here is the subject in which this affection resides and the object on which this affection reflects. The subject wherein it abides is the heart–a great zeal of love. Not only the affection of the heart, but the heart of affection: My heart is set. The object on which it reflects is double, man and God; the excellent creature, and the most excellent Creator; the men of God, and the God of men. Upon men: My heart is towards the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Upon God: Bless ye the Lord. Among men two sorts are objected to this love: superiors in the first place, inferiors in the latter. To the commanders primarily, but not only; for if they offered themselves willingly among the people, as we read it, then certainly the people also willingly offered themselves, as the other translations read it, Those that were willing amongst the people.

1. To the governors of our Israel; that they offer for themselves willingly to these military designs, not on compulsion. His brows deserve no wreathed coronet that is enforced. Come with a willing mind. In every good work there must be cheerfulness in the affection and carefulness in the action. God loves a cheerful giver; so thou gainest no small thing by it, but even the love of God. Whatsoever good thing thou doest, saith Augustine, do it cheerfully and willingly, and thou doest it well. You that have the places of government, offer willingly your hands, your purses, yourselves, to this noble exercise. Your good example shall hearten others.

2. Now for you that are the materials of all this, let me say to you without flattery, Go forth with courage in the fear of God, and the Lord be with you. Preserve unity among yourselves, lest as in a town on fire, whilst all good hands are helping to quench it, thieves are most busy to steal booties; so whilst you contend, murmur, or repine one at the honour of another, that subtle thief, Satan, through the crack of your divisions, step in, and steal away your peace. Offer yourselves willingly; and being offered, step not back. Remember that it is base for a soldier to fly. And remember always the burden of this song, which everything that hath breath must sing, Bless ye the Lord. (T. Adams.)

Delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water.—

Songs of deliverance

I. Our text tells us of wells cleared from the foe, and speaks of those who are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water.

1. We thank God that we who are children of the Most High have wells to go to. The world is a wilderness, say what we will of it. This is not our rest; it is polluted. Our great inexhaustible well is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is, indeed, the great deep that lieth under, the deep that coucheth beneath, the secret spring and source from which the crystal streams of life flow, through the wells of instrumentality and ordinance. All my fresh springs are in Thee. Whenever we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we drink and are refreshed. No thirst can abide where He is. Arising out of this greatest fountain, we have wells from which we draw the waters of comfort. First there is this book, this golden book, this book of God, the Word of God, with its thousands of promises, suitable to every case, applicable to all seasons. So it is also with the well of ordinances–baptism and the Lords Supper. I must not forget the mercy-seat. What a well that is to the Christian when he can draw nigh unto God with true heart! It is a glorious thing to have such a well as that in the family, where, in prayer with the children, you can bring all the necessities of the household before God. Let us never give up that well. But, as for private prayer, this world were drear indeed if we could not pour out our sorrows into our Fathers ear. Over and above this, every form of fellowship with Jesus, wrought in us by the Spirit, is a well of salvation. He is our dear companion, our ever present help in time of trouble.

2. Thus have I mentioned some of the wells. Now, concerning them all, it may be said, that they can never be stopped up by our foes. If outward ordinances be stopped, yet the great deep that lieth under will find a vent somewhere.

3. Moreover, as they cannot be stopped, so neither can they be taken away from us. They are ours by covenant engagements; they are guaranteed to us by the solemn league of the Eternal Three; and none of these covenant blessings shall be wrested from the heirs of life, who are heirs of all things in Christ Jesus.

4. Though these fountains cannot be stopped up or taken away, yet we can be molested in coming near to them. It seems that archers and wells frequently go together. It was the blessing of Joseph.–Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall. But what next? The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him. And so in the text: here are wells, but there is the noise of archers, which greatly disturbs those who go to draw water. I think you know what the noise of archers has been to you when you have tried to draw water. Years ago, with some of us, our sins were the archers that shot at us when we would fain come to Christ and drink of His salvation. When we bowed the knee in prayer a fiery arrow would dart into our hearts–How dare you pray? God heareth not sinners! When we read the Word of God another barbed shaft would be shot against us–What hast thou to do with Gods Word? There can be no promise there for such as thou art. I thank God, when our faith is in exercise, and our hope is dear, we can see our interest in Christ; we come to Him just as we came at first, and cast ourselves wholly upon him. Then we no longer fear the archers, but are rid of every fear. I should not wonder if another band of archers has sometimes attacked you when you have been at the wells, namely, your cares. Dear mother, the thought of the children at home has frequently disturbed your devotions in the assembly of the saints. Good friend, engaged in business, you do not always find it easy to put a hedge between Saturday and Sunday. The cares of the week will stray into the sacred enclosure of the day of rest, and thus the cruel archers worry you. It is well to be able to cast all our cares on Him who careth for us, and thus, by an act of faith in our heavenly Father, to be delivered from the noise of these archers.

II. The songs by the well. As when the people came to the wells of old they were wont to talk with one another if all was peaceful, so when we come up to the ordinances of Gods house, and enjoy fellowship with Jesus, we should not spend our time in idle chat, but we should rehearse the works of the Lord. Around all the wells, whichever they may be, of which we drink, let our conversation be concerning Christ and His dying love; concerning the Holy Spirit and His conquering power; concerning the providence of God and its goodness and its faithfulness; and then, as we wend our way to our different homes, let us go with music in our hearts, and music on our lips, to take music to our household, each man and woman magnifying the name of the Lord. Did you observe carefully what it was they sang of?–The acts of the Lord. But there is an adjective appended, The righteous acts of the Lord. Righteousness is that attribute which the carnal man fears, but he who sees the righteousness of God satisfied by the atonement of Christ is charmed even by the severe aspect of God dressed as a judge. Then, if you observe, it was the righteous acts of the Lord toward His people. Yes, the very marrow of the gospel lies in special, discriminating, distinguishing grace. Note with care that the works which are to be rehearsed are done towards the inhabitants of the villages of Israel. Does not this suggest that we ought frequently to magnify the Lords choice favour and tender indulgence towards the least and feeblest of His family?

III. The text says, Then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates, by which several things may be intended.

1. When the people of God are altogether delivered from their sins, and their cares, and their troubles, by the great redemption of the Lord Jesus and the power of His Spirit, then they enjoy great liberty. The liberty of the man of the world is liberty to commit evil without restraint; the liberty of a child of God is to walk in holiness without hindrance. When the believers ways are enlarged, he delights to run in the statutes of the Lord; obedience is freedom to the Lords servant. It is a most glorious liberty which a man possesses when he is no longer in bondage to men, to smart under their threats or to fatten in their smiles. Glorious was that ancient father who threw back the threatenings of his enemies, and laughed them to scorn.

2. To go down to the gates, however, means something else, for citizens went down to the gates to exercise authority and judgment. He that is in Christ discerneth spirits, and separateth between the excellent and the reprobate. The spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. Instead of being judged and following others, they who love God become the leaders in right, and are as Gods mouth rebuking iniquity.

3. To go down to the gates signified also to go forth to war. When a Christian man is saved, he is not content with his own safety, he longs to see others blessed. He can now go out of the gates to attack the foe who once held him in bondage, and therefore he girds on his weapon. When will the Church of God be inflamed by the sacred desire of carrying the war for Christ into the enemys territory? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The noise of archers in the places of drawing water

I. These words make intelligible what has been called the savage act of jael in killing sisera, and the fierce words with which deborah praises the act. We see the place of drawing water–the well belonging to some little town or village. Thither in the still summer evening come the women and children. The men are absent at the wars. The women come to draw water for household and flock. As they wait their turn, the elder women talk together of their common cares and interests. The fair young maidens group together apart for the merry jest or confidential intercourse. Amongst them, moving in and out, are the laughing, bright-eyed children. What a pretty picture it makes–pretty, peaceful, glad! And then suddenly the whole is changed. The cruel, hated Canaanite is at hand. The noise of archers is heard. The mothers fly to guard the little ones, some of whom are laid low by the arrows. In the confusion the band sweeps down upon the group of fair maidens. The brightest and youngest and most beautiful are taken to be the slaves of the tyrant conquerors. Oh, who wonders now at Jaels cruelty and Deborahs vindictive triumph? It was not because the fair gardens were laid waste, the homes burned, the cattle and household treasures carried off, that these women so hated the oppressors; but because in the division of the spoil there would always fall to every man a damsel or two, each the bright, sweet flower of some home, to be degraded, spoiled, trampled down, and brought to shame. We from our lofty standpoint, in the very midst of the full light of Christs gospel–we who have learned to be patient, long-suffering, forgiving, tender-hearted–may be able to condemn them. They lived in a darker age; they had not our advantages. And yet I sometimes think that if we fully realised what that twenty years of mighty oppression must have been, how the hearts of the people will have burned with indignation at the cruelties and abominations they had to witness, we should be forced to acknowledge that Jael and Deborah would have been either more or less than women if they had acted otherwise. Deborahs song is a thanksgiving to God for deliverance. The one point she wishes to be ever remembered is that the victory was of God alone.

II. There is ever going on around us the great battle of good against evil, in which each of us is called to take our part. He who does not hate the evil with earnest hatred, who rests in selfish indolence like Asher, who lets his searchings of heart and all his religious purpose end in talk like Reuben, who is indifferent and lukewarm like Meroz, he must needs fall under the scathing curse of those who come not to the help of the Lord against the mighty. We are all bound to range ourselves on the side of the good; to fight bravely for it; if need be, to suffer or to die for it. Again, as Sisera fell at last, so will all Gods enemies fall for ever one day.

III. The noise of archers in the places of drawing water–that is to say, the attack of the enemy upon those who only seek for peace, as they go about the innocent employment of daily life. How this makes us think of one great mystery of temptation. How depressing and terrifying to many a poor soul! I began the day with prayer not to be led into temptation; I resolved to be so careful. I was careful, and then all at once in my work it came. I was not thinking of it, till I found myself wounded with the poisoned arrows of temper, lust, selfishness, sloth, avarice, or pride. More mysterious still, even amid our religious duties, the enemy can make his deadly onslaught–the distraction, the vain thought, the cruel doubt, even the blasphemous suggestion, come whistling like the deadly arrow, striking us back and wounding us, and marking us, as we think, for death. Well, all this is at least no difficulty to us who believe. The arrows do not come by chance. An enemy has done this. Whilst the war lasts, he is to be hated, avoided with watchful care. But there is deliverance. Even now the victory has been won, and protection assured, and none need fear the arrows who are willing to dwell under the defence of the Most High. And there shall be a hereafter, when the noise of archers shall be no longer heard; when we shall have our noble work assigned to us, such work as God has for His saints to do; when we shall go about the work in perfect security; when we shall rehearse one to another the righteous acts of the Lord who has wrought mightily for the deliverance of His people. (R. H. Parr, M. A.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER V

The triumphant song of Deborah and Barak, after the defeat of

Sisera, captain of the armies of Jabin, king of Canaan.

NOTES ON CHAP. V

Verse 1. Then sang Deborah, and Barak] There are many difficulties in this very sublime song; and learned men have toiled much to remove them. That there are several gross mistakes in our version will be instantly acknowledged by all who can critically examine the original. Dr. Kennicott has distributed it into parts, assigned to Deborah and Barak alternately. But his division is by far too artificial.

Dr. Hales has also given a version of it which, perhaps, comes nearer to the simplicity of the original; but it also leaves several difficulties behind. As these are the two best versions I have met with, I shall lay them both in parallel columns before the reader, after introducing the general description of this song, given by each of these learned men. These the reader will find at the conclusion of the chapter.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Deborah was the composer of this song as may be gathered from Jdg 5:7.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. Then sang Deborah and Barak . . .on that dayThis noble triumphal ode was evidently thecomposition of Deborah herself.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam,…. Deborah is first mentioned, because she was, as Kimchi says, the root or foundation of the work, the chief person in it, both in the direction of the war, and in the composition of this song; and indeed, as Ben Gersom observes, she alone composed it, see Jud 5:7; and the verb is singular: “then sang Deborah”; and after her, and in her words, sung also Barak; he joined with her, not in making the song, but in singing it; and so likewise the people of Israel joined with her in singing it, as they did with Moses at the Red sea; and this song was sung

on that day; not on the precise day on which the victory was obtained over Sisera and his army, but on occasion of that memorable day, and what followed upon it:

saying; the following divine hymn or song, penned by Deborah, under divine inspiration, as the sublimity of the style, the fine and noble thoughts and sentiments that are in it, the beautiful and elegant phrases in which they are expressed, abundantly show; no Sappho, or any Grecian poetess, nor indeed any poet whatever, uninspired, being equal to the writer of this poem.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The historical introduction (“ Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying ”) takes the place of a heading, and does not mean that the song of Deborah and Barak which follows was composed by them jointly, but simply that it was sung by them together, in commemoration of the victory. The poetess or writer of the song, according to Jdg 5:3, Jdg 5:7, and Jdg 5:12, was Deborah. The song itself opens with a summons to praise the Lord for the willing and joyful rising up of His people.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Song of Deborah and Barak.

B. C. 1285.

      1 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,   2 Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.   3 Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.   4 LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.   5 The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel.

      The former chapter let us know what great things God had done for Israel; in this we have the thankful returns they made to God, that all ages of the church might learn that work of heaven to praise God.

      I. God is praised by a song, which is, 1. A very natural expression of rejoicing. Is any merry? Let him sing; and holy joy is the very soul and root of praise and thanksgiving. God is pleased to reckon himself glorified by our joy in him, and in his wondrous works. His servants’ joy is his delight, and their sons are melody to him. 2. A very proper expedient for spreading the knowledge and perpetuating the remembrance of great events. Neighbours would learn this song one of another and children of their parents; and by that means those who had not books, or could not read, yet would be made acquainted with these works of God; and one generation would thus praise God’s works to another, and declare his mighty acts, Ps. cxlv. 4, c.

      II. Deborah herself penned this song, as appears by &lti>v. 7: Till I Deborah arose. And the first words should be rendered, Then she sang, even Deborah. 1. She used her gifts as a prophetess in composing the song, and the strain throughout is very fine and lofty, the images are lively, the expressions elegant, and an admirable mixture there is in it of sweetness and majesty. No poetry is comparable to the sacred poetry. And, 2. We may supposed she used her power as a princess, in obliging the conquering army of Israel to learn and sing this son. She expects not that they should, by their poems, celebrate her praises and magnify here, but requires that in this poem they should join with her in celebrating God’s praises and magnifying him. She had been the first wheel in the action, and now is so in the thanksgiving.

      III. It was sung on that day, not the very day that the fight was, but on that occasion, and soon after, as soon as a thanksgiving day could conveniently be appointed. When we have received mercy from God, we ought to be speedy in our returns of praise, while the impressions of the mercy are fresh. It is rent to be paid at the day.

      1. She begins with a general Hallelujah: Praise (or bless, for that is the word) you the Lord, v. 2. The design of the song is to give glory to God; this therefore is put first, to explain and direct all that follows, like the first petition of the Lord’s prayer, Hallowed be thy name. Two things God is here praised for:– (1.) The vengeance he took on Israel’s enemies, for the avenging of Israel upon their proud and cruel oppressors, recompensing into their bosoms all the injuries they had done to his people. The Lord is known as a righteous God, and the God to whom vengeance belongs by the judgments which he executeth. (2.) The grace he gave to Israel’s friends, when the people willingly offered themselves to serve in this war. God is to have the glory of all the good offices that are at any time done us; and the more willingly they are done the more is to be observed of that grace which gives both to will and to do. For these two things she resolves to leave this song upon record, to the honour of the everlasting God (v. 3): I, even I, will sing unto the Lord, Jehovah, that God of incontestable sovereignty and irresistible power, even to the Lord God of Israel, who governs all for the good of the church.

      2. She calls to the great ones of the world, that sit at the upper end of its table, to attend to her song, and take notice of the subject of it: Hear, O you kings! give ear, O you princes! (1.) She would have them know that as great and as high as they were there was one above them with whom it is folly to contend, and to whom it was their interest to submit, that horses and chariots are vain things for safety. (2.) She would have them to join with her in praising the God of Israel, and no longer to praise their counterfeit deities, as Belshazzar did. Dan. v. 4, He praised the gods of gold and silver. She bespeaks them as the psalmist (Psa 2:10; Psa 2:11), Be wise now therefore, O you kings! serve the Lord with fear. (3.) She would have them take warning by Sisera’s fate, and not dare to offer any injury to the people of God, whose cause, sooner or later, God will plead with jealousy.

      3. She looks back upon God’s former appearances, and compares this with them, the more to magnify the glorious author of this great salvation. What God is doing should bring to our mind what he has done; for he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever (v. 4): Lord, when thou wentest our of Seir. This may be understood either, (1.) Of the appearances of God’s power and justice against the enemies of Israel to subdue and conquer them; and so Hab 3:3; Hab 3:4, c., is parallel to it, where the destruction of the church’s enemies is thus described. When God had led his people Israel from the country of Edom he brought down under their feet Sihon and Og, striking them and their armies with such terror and amazement that they seemed apprehensive heaven and earth were coming together. Their hearts melted, as if all the world had been melting round about them. Or it notes the glorious displays of the divine majesty and the surprising effects of the divine power, enough to make the earth tremble, the heavens drop like snow before the sun, and the mountains to melt. Compare Ps. xviii. 7. God’s counsels are so far from being hindered by any creature that, when the time of their accomplishment comes, that which seemed to stand in their way will not only yield before them, but be made to serve them. See Isa 64:1; Isa 64:2. Or, (2.) It is meant of the appearances of God’s glory and majesty to Israel, when he gave them his law at Mount Sinai. It was then literally true, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, c. Compare Deu 33:2Psa 68:7; Psa 68:8. Let all the kings and princes know that this is the God whom Deborah praises, and not such mean and impotent deities as they paid their homage to. The Chaldee paraphrase applies it to the giving of the law, but has a strange descant on those words, the mountains melted. Tabor, Hermon, and Carmel, contended among themselves: one said, Let the divine majesty dwell upon me; the other said, Let it dwell upon me; but God made it to dwell upon Mount Sinai, the meanest and least of all the mountains. I suppose it means the least valuable, because barren and rocky.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Judges – Chapter 5

Conditions in Israel, vs. 1-8

The account of the victory over the Canaanites was put into a beautiful song by Deborah and Barak, which they sang on that day. This is another example of Hebrew poetry, which- commonly expresses a thought in its first line, then reiterates it in the second. Sometimes the first line is built on through several succeeding lines. A complete poetic structure is known as a strophe. The title of the song of Deborah and Barak seems to be stated in the first words, “Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel.”

The singers begin by attributing the victory to the Lord, but also sing praise to the men of Israel who willingly came to the Lord’s battle. It is news for the ears of kings and princes. Israel who had no royal rulers won through the might of their God. They needed no king, for their God came to their deliverance.

It is learned from the song that the Lord aided Israel by coming to them in His storm cloud. The song shows that the cloud arose over the mountains of Seir, in the country of Edom. The thunder shook the earth, and the rain came down. The melting of the mountains refers to the torrents of water from the flash flood of the thunderstorm. The Lord makes even His creation come to His aid in destroying the Canaanite army. The reference to Sinai is somewhat vague, since that notable mountain was many miles south of the Kishon valley. Perhaps the inference is that the storm reached all the way to that place.

Deborah and Barak next turned to a consideration of affairs in Israel in the times of the Canaanite bondage. It was a condition stemming from the times of Shamgar. The mention of Jael might be an indication as to why her family had moved from their kindred. Perhaps the Canaanites had been troubling them in their former home. The Israelites stayed off the main roads and travelled on the trails and bypaths out of fear of the Canaanite oppression. People had moved from the villages to find escape from their heavy hand. This was the condition when Deborah arose, a mother in Israel. She was the mother of Israel in the sense that she cared for their welfare, and interceded with the Lord for them. She loved her God and her people and prayed for them. So He used this faithful woman to bring about their repentance and deliverance. How desperately does the world need mothers like Deborah today! (2Ti 1:5)

The cause of their trouble is found in verse 8. They chose them the gods of the land, and they had found out what the gods of the land would bring them. There was war in their gates, and there was no material means by which they could fight back.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

THE BOOK OF JUDGES

Judges 1-21.

THE Book of Judges continues the Book of Joshua. There are some Books of the Bible, the proper location of which require careful study, but Judges follows Joshua in chronological order. The Book opens almost identically with the Book of Joshua. In the latter the reading is, Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua. In the Book of Judges, Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the Children of Israel asked thd Lord, saying Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. God always has His man chosen and His ministry mapped out. We may worry about our successors and wonder whether we shall be worthily followed, but as a matter of fact that is a question beyond us and does not belong to us. It is not given to man to choose prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers. That prerogative belongs to the ascended Lord, and He is not derelict in His duty nor indifferent to the interests of Israel. Before one falls, He chooses another. The breach in time that bothers men is not a breach to Him at all. It is only an hour given to the people for the expression of bereavement. It is only a day in which to calm the public mind and call out public sympathy and centralize and cement public interest.

Men may choose their co-laborers as Judah chose Simeon; leaders may pick out their captains as Moses did, and as did Joshua; but God makes the first choice, and when men leave that choice to Him, He never makes a mistake.

Whenever a captain of the hosts of the Lord is unworthily succeeded, misguided men have forgotten God and made the choice on the basis of their own judgment.

People sometimes complain of some indifferent or false preacher, We cant see why God sent us such a pastor. He didnt! You called him yourself. You didnt sufficiently consult God. You didnt keep your ears open to the still, small voice. You didnt wait on bended knees until He said, Behold your leader; follow him!

When God appoints Judah, he also delivers the Canaanites and the Perizzites into his hands. Adoni-bezek, the brutal, will be humbled by him; the capital city will fall before him; the southland will succumb, also the north and the east and the west, and the mountains will capitulate before the Lord of Hosts.

But the Book of Judges doesnt present a series of victories. There is no Book in the Bible that so clearly typifies the successes and reverses, the ups and downs, the victories and defeats of the church, as the history of Israel here illustrates. It naturally divides itself under The Seven Apostasies, The Successive Judges, and The Civil War.

THE SEVEN APOSTASIES

The first chapter is not finished before failure finds expression. Of Judah it was said he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had chariots of iron (Jdg 1:19). Of the children of Benjamin it was said, They did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem (Jdg 1:21). Of Manasseh it was said, They did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-Shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land (Jdg 1:27). Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer, (Jdg 1:29); neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron (Jdg 1:30), nor the inhabitants of Mahalol. Neither did Asher (Jdg 1:31) drive out the inhabitants of Acho nor of Zidon; neither did Naphthali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh (Jdg 1:33), and this failure to clear the field results in an aggressive attack before the first chapter finishes, and the Amorites force the children of Dan into the mountain (Jdg 1:34).

If one study these seven apostasies that follow one another in rapid succession, he will be impressed by two or three truths. They resulted from the failure to execute the command of the Lord. The command of the Lord to Joshua was that he should expel the people from before him and drive them from out of his sight, and possess their land (Jos 23:5). He was not to leave any among them nor to make mention of any of their gods (Jos 23:7). He was promised that one of his men should chase a thousand. He was even told that if any were left and marriage was made with them that they should know for a certainty that the Lord God would no more drive out any of these nations from before them; that they should be snares and traps and scourges and thorns, until Israel perished from off the good land that God had given them (Jos 23:13). How strangely the conduct of Israel, once in the land, comports with this counsel given them before they entered it; and there is a typology in all of this.

The Christian life has its enemiessocial enemies, domestic enemies, national enemies! Ones companionship will determine ones conduct; ones marriage relation will eventuate religiously or irreligiously. The character of ones nation is more or less influential upon life.

The ordinance of baptism, the initial rite into the church, looks to an absolute separation from the world, and is expressed by the Apostle Paul as a death unto sin, the clear intent being that no evil customs are to be kept, nor companions retained, nor entangling alliances maintained. The word now is as the word then, Come out from among them, and be ye separate (2Co 6:17).

They imperiled their souls by this forbidden social intercourse. It is very difficult to live with a people and not become like them. It is very difficult to dwell side by side with nations and not intermarry. Intermarriage between believers and unbelievers is almost certain to drag down the life of the former to the level of the latter. False worship, like other forms of sin, has its subtle appeal; and human nature being what it is, false gods rise easily to exalted place in corrupted affections.

If there is one thing God tried to do for ancient Israel, and one thing God tries to do for the new Israel, the Church, it was, and is, to get His people to disfellowship the world.

There are men who think God is a Moloch because He so severely punished Israels compromises. They cant forget that when Joshua went over Jordan and Israel lay encamped on the skirts of the mountains of Moab, her people visited a high place near the camp whereon a festival of Midian, idolatrous, licentious in the extreme, was in process, and they went after this putrid paganism and polluted their own souls with the idolatrous orgy. Then it was that Moses, speaking for the Lord, said, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, and while that hideous row of dead ones was still before their eyes, the plague fell on the camp and 24,000 of the transgressors perished! But severe as it was, Israel soon forgot, showing that it was not too severe, and raising the question as to whether it was severe enough to impress the truth concerning idolatry and all its infamous effects.

Solomon is commonly reputed to have been the wisest of men, and yet it was his love alliances with the strange women of Moab, Ammon, Zidon and the Hittites, these very people, that brought the Lords anger against him and compelled God to charge him with having turned from the Lord God of Israel and in consequence of which God said, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant (1Ki 11:11).

Again and again the kingdom has been lost after the same manner. The present peril of the church is at this point, and by its alliance with the world, the kingdom of our Lord is delayed, and Satan, the prince of this world, remains in power, and instead of 24,000 people perishing in judgment, tens of thousands and millions of people perish through this compromise, and swallowed up in sin, rush into hell.

But to follow the text further is to find their restoration to Gods favor rested with genuine repentance. There are recorded in Judges seven apostasies; they largely result from one sin. There are seven judgments, increasing in severity, revealing Gods determined purpose to correct and save; and there are seven recoveries, each of them in turn the result of repentance. God never looks upon a penitent man, a penitent people, a penitent church, a penitent nation, without compassion and without turning from His purposes of judgment. When the publican went up into the temple to pray, his was a leprous soul, but when he smote upon his breast and cried, God be merciful to me a sinner, his was the instant experience of mercy. When at Pentecost, 2500 sincere souls fell at the feet of Peter and the other Apostles, and cried, Men and brethren, what shall we do, the response was, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and the promise was, Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

When David, who was a child of God, guilty of murder and adultery combined, poured out his soul as expressed in the Fifty-first Psalm, God heard that prayer, pardoned those iniquities, restored him to the Divine favor, and showered him with proofs of the Divine love.

When Nineveh went down in humility, a city of 600,000 souls, every one of whom from Sardana-palus, the king on the throne, to the humblest peasant within the walls, proving his repentance by sitting in sackcloth and ashes, God turned at once from the evil He had thought to do unto them and He did it not, and Nineveh was saved.

The simple truth is, God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He never punishes from preference, but only for our profit; and, even then, like a father, He suffers more deeply than the children upon whom His strokes of judgment fall.

What a contrast to that statement of Scripture, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, is that other sentence, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. The reason is not far to seek. In the first case it is death indeed; death fearful, death eternal. In the second case, death is a birth, a release from the flesh that held to a larger, richer, fuller life. In that God takes pleasure.

There is then for the sinner no royal road to the recovery of Gods favor. It is the thorny path of repentance instead. It is through Bochim, the Vale of Tears; but it were just as well that the prodigal, returning home, should not travel by a flowery path. He will be the less tempted to go away again if his back-coming is with agony, and home itself will seem the more sweet when reached if there his weary feet find rest for the first time, and from their bleeding soles the thorns are picked; if there his nakedness is clothed, his hunger is fed and his sense of guilt is kissed away. Oh, the grace of God to wicked men the moment repentance makes possible their forgiveness!

The court in Minneapolis yesterday illustrated this very point. When a young man, who had been wayward indeed, who had turned highway-robber, saw his error, sobbed his way to Christ and voluntarily appeared in court and asked to have sentence passed, newspapers expressed surprise that the heart of the judge should have been so strangely moved, and that the sentence the law absolutely required to be passed upon him, should have been, by the judge, suspended, and the young man returned to his home and wife and babe. But our Judge, even God, is so compassionate that such conduct on His part excites no surprise. It is His custom! Were it not so, every soul of us would stand under sentence of death. The law which is just and holy and good has passed that sentence already, and it is by the grace of God we have our reprieve. Seven apostasies? Yes! Seven judgments? Yes! But seven salvations! Set that down to the honor and glory of our God! It is by grace we are saved!

THE SUCCESSIVE JUDGES

Evidently God has no special regard for some of our modern superstitions, for in this period of conquest He deliberately chooses thirteen judges and sets them over Israel in turn, beginning with Othniel, the son of Kenaz, and nephew of Caleb, and concluding with Samson, the son of Manoah.

They represented varied stations of Israelitish society. A careful review of their personal history brings a fresh illustration of the fact that God is no respector of persons; and it also illustrates the New Testament statement that Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. With few exceptions these judges had not been heard of until their appointment rendered necessary some slight personal history. That is the Divine method until this hour. How seldom the children of the great are themselves great. How often, when God needs a ruler in society, He seeks a log cabin and chooses an angular ladAbe Lincoln. The difference between the inspired Scriptures and yesterdays newspaper is in the circumstance that the Scriptures tell the truth about men and leave God to do the gilding and impart the glory, instead of trying to establish the same through some noble family tree. There is a story to the effect that a young artist, working under his master in the production of a memorial window that represented the greatest and best that art ever knew, picked up, at the close of the day, the fragments of glass flung aside, and finally wrought from them a window more glorious still. Whether this is historically correct or not, we know what God has done with the refuse of society again and again. Truly

God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

That no flesh should glory in His presence * * * * He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord (1Co 1:27-29; 1Co 1:31).

Out of these un-named ones some were made to be immortalGideon, Jephthae, Samson, Deborah.

Gideon, the son of Joash, became such because he dared to trust God. The average Captain of hosts wants men increased that the probabilities of victory may grow proportionately. At the word of the Lord Gideon has his hundreds of thousands and tens of thousands reduced to a handful. What are three hundred men against the multitude that compassed him about? And what are pitchers, with lights in them, against swords and spears and stones; and yet his faith failed not! He believed that, God with him, no man could be against him. When Paul comes to write his Epistle to the Hebrews and devotes a long chapter of forty verses to a list of names made forever notable through faith, Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthaethese all appear, and they are put there properly, reason confirming revelation. Barak had faced the hundreds of iron chariots of the enemy, and yet at the word of the Lord, had dared to brave and battle them. Samson, with no better equipment than the jaw-bone of an ass, had slain his heaps. Jephthae, when he had made a vow to the Lord, though it cost him that which was dearer than life, would keep it. Such characters are safe in history. Whatever changes may come over the face of the world, however notable may eventually be names; whatever changes may occur in the conceptions of men as to what makes for immortality, those who believe in God will abide, and childrens children will call their names blessed. Gideon will forever stand for a combination of faith and courage. Barak will forever represent the man who, at the word of the Lord, will go against great odds. Jephthae will forever be an encouragement to men who, having sincerely made vows, will solemnly keep the same; and Samson will forever represent, not his prowess, but the strength of the Lord, which, though it may express itself in the person of a man, knows no limitations so long as that man remains loyal to his vows, and the spirit of the Lord rests upon him.

Before passing from this study, however, permit me to call your attention to the fact that there was made a political exception in the matter of sex. We supposed that the putting of woman into mans place is altogether a modern invention. Not so; it is not only a fact in English language but in human history, that all rules have their exceptions. Gods rule for prophets is men, and yet the daughters of Philip were prophetesses. Gods rule for kings is men, and yet one of the greatest of rulers was Queen Victoria. Gods rule for judges is men, and yet Deborah was long since made an exception. Let it be understood that the exception to the rule is not intended to supplant the rule. The domestic circle is Gods choice for womankind, and her wisdom, tact and energy are not only needed there, but find there their finest employment. And yet there are times when through the indifference of men, or through their deadness to the exigencies of the day, God can do nothing else than raise up a Deborah, speak to a Joan of Arc, put on the throne a Victoria.

I noticed in a paper recently a discussion as to whether women prominent in politics proved good mothers, and one minister at least insisted that they did. We doubt it! The text speaks of Deborah as a mother in Israel, but we find no mention of her children. Our judgment is that had there been born to her a dozen of her own Israel might never have known her leadership. The unmarried woman, or the barren wife, may have time and opportunity for social and political concern; but the mother of children commonly finds her home sphere sufficient for all talents, and an opportunity to reach society, cleanse politics, aid the church, help the world, as large an office as ever came to man. However, let it be understood that all our fixed customs, all our standard opinions, give place when God speaks. If it is His will that a woman judge, then she is best fitted for that office; if He exalts her to lead armies, then victory will perch upon her banners; if He calls her to the place of power on the throne, then ruling wisdom is with her.

In the language of the Apostle Paul, And what shall I say more, for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Samson and of Barak and of Jepkthae. They are all great characters and worthy extended discussion. It would equally fail me to rehearse the confusion, civil and religious, that follows from the seventeenth chapter of this Book to the end, but in chapters nineteen to twenty-one there is recorded an incident that cannot in justice to an outline study, be overlooked, for it results in

THE CIVIL WAR

Tracing that war to its source, we find it was the fruit of the adoption of false religions. We have already seen some of the evil effects of this intermingling with heathen faiths, but we need not expect an end of such effects so long as the compromise obtains. There is no peace in compromise; no peace with your enemies. A compromise is never satisfactory to either side. Heathen men do not want half of their polytheism combined with half of your monotheism. They are not content to give up a portion of their idolatry and take in its place praises to the one and only God. The folly of this thing was shown when a few years since the leaders of the International Sunday School Association attempted to temporarily affiliate Christianity with Buddhism. The native Christians in Japan, in proportion to their sincere belief in the Bible arid in Christ, rejected the suggestion as an insult to their new faith, and the followers of Buddha and the devotees of Shintoism would not be content with Christian conduct unless the Emperor was made an object of worship and Christian knees bowed before him. It must be said, to the shame of certain Sunday School leaders, that they advocated that policy and prostrated themselves in the presence of His Majesty to the utter disgust of their more uncompromising fellows. The consequence was, no Convention of the International Association has been so unsatisfactory and produced such poor spiritual results as Tokios.

Confusion is always the consequence of compromise, and discontent is the fruit of it, and fights and battles and wars are the common issue.

Idolatry is deadly; graven images cannot be harmonized with the true God. The first and second commandments cannot be ignored and the remainder of the Decalog kept. It is God or nothing! It is the Bible or nothing! It is the faith once delivered or infidelity!

The perfidy of Benjamin brought on the battle. We have already seen that men grow like those with whom they intimately associate. This behavior on the part of the Benjamites is just what you would have expected. The best of men still have to battle with the bad streak that belongs to the flesh incident to the fall; and, when by evil associations that streak is strengthened, no man can tell what may eventually occur. Had this conduct been recorded against the heathen, it would not have amazed us at all. We speedily forget that as between men there is no essential difference. Circumstances and Divine aidthese make a difference that is apparent indeed; but it is not so much because one is better than the other, but rather because one has been better situated, less tempted, more often strengthened; or else because he has found God and stands not in himself but in a Saviour.

Pick up your paper tomorrow morning and there will be a record of deeds as dark as could be recorded against the natives of Africa, or those of East India or China, Siberia or the South Sea Islands. The conduct of these men toward the concubine was little worse than that of one of our own citizens in a land of civilization and Christianity, who lately snatched a twelve-year-old girl and kept her for days as his captive, and when at last she eluded him, it was only to wander back to her home, despoiled and demented. Do you wonder that God is no respecter of persons? Do you wonder that the Bible teaches there is no difference? Do you doubt it is all of grace?

The issues of that war proved the presence and power of God. There are men who doubt if God is ever in battle; but history reveals the fact that few battles take place without His presence. The field of conflict is commonly the place of judgment, and justice is seldom or never omitted. We may be amazed to see Israel defeated twice, and over 40,000 of her people fall, when as a matter of fact she went up animated by the purpose of executing vengeance against an awful sin. Some would imagine that God would go with them and not a man would fall, and so He might have done had Israel, including Judah and all loyal tribes, been themselves guiltless. But such was not the truth! They had sins that demanded judgment as surely as Benjamins sin, and God would not show Himself partial to either side, but mete out judgment according to their deserts. That is why 40,000 of the Israelites had to fall. They were facing then their own faithlessness. They were paying the price of their own perfidy. They were getting unto themselves proofs that their fellowship with the heathen and their adoption of heathen customs was not acceptable with God.

Many people could not understand why England and France and Belgium and Canada and Australia and America should have lost so heavily in the late war, 19141918, believing as we did believe that their cause was absolutely just. Why should God have permitted them to so suffer in its defense? Millions upon millions of them dying, enormous wealth destroyed, women widowed, children orphaned, lands sacked, cities burned, cathedrals ruined, sanctuaries desecrated. The world around, there went up a universal cry, Why? And yet the answer is not far to seek. England was not guiltless; France was not guiltless; Belgium was not guiltless.

Poor Belgium! All the world has turned to her with pity and we are still planning aid for the Belgians and to preach to them and their children the Gospel of grace, and this we should do; but God had not forgotten that just a few years ago Belgium was blackening her soul by her conduct in the Belgian Congo. Natives by the score and hundreds were beaten brutally, their hands cut off because they did not carry to the Belgian king as much rubber and ivory as Belgian avarice demanded. American slavery, in its darkest hour, never knew anything akin to the oppression and persecution to which Belgium subjected the blacks in the Congo. Significant, indeed, is the circumstance that when the Germans came into Belgium, many Belgian hands were cut off; hapless and helpless children were found in this mangled state. Frightful as it was, it must have reminded Belgian authorities of their sins in Africa and of the certainty and exactitude of final judgment.

We have an illustration of this truth in the Book of Judges. When Judah went up against the Canaanites and the Lord delivered them into his hands, they slew in Bezek 10,000 men. They found Adoni-Bezek, the king, and fought against him, and caught him and cut off his thumbs and great toes. We cry Horror! and wonder that Gods own people could so behave; but, complete the sentence, and you begin to see justice, And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table. As I have done, so God hath requited me (Jdg 1:7).

Think of England in her infamous opium traffic, forcing it upon natives at the mouths of guns, enriching her own exchecquer at the cost of thousands and tens of thousands of hapless natives of East India and China!

Think of France, with her infidelity, having denied God, desecrated His sabbath, rejected His Son and given themselves over to absinthe and sensuality!

Think of the United States with her infamous liquor traffic, shipping barrels upon barrels to black men and yellow men, and cursing the whole world to fill her own coffers.

Tell me whether judgment was due the nations, and whether they had to see their sin in the lurid light of Belgian and French battlefields; but do not overlook the fact that when the war finally ends, Benjamin, the worst offender, the greater sinner, goes down in the greatest judgment, and one day Benjamins soldiers are almost wiped from the earth! Out of 26,700, 25,000 and more perish. Tell us now whether judgment falls where judgment belongs!

Take the late war. Again and again Germany was triumphant, but when the Allies had suffered sufficiently and had learned to lean not to themselves but upon the Lord; when, like Israel, they turned from hope in self and trusted in God, then God bared His arm in their behalf and Germany went down in defeat, a defeat that made their come-back impossible; a defeat that fastened upon them the tribute of years; a defeat that proved to them that, great as might have been the sins of the allied nations, greater still, in the sight of God, was their own sin; for final judgment is just judgment.

God is not only in history; God has to do with the making of history. If men without a king behave every one as is right in his own eyes, the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, will do that which will eventually seem right in the eyes of all angels and of all good men. That is GOD!

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

THE THANKSGIVING SONG OF THE REDEEMED CHURCH.Jdg. 5:1-11

CRITICAL NOTES.The subject matter of this song is an ascription of praise to the God of Israel, as the Deliverer of His people in an evil day. While many hands were at work to bring out the happy issue, all the glory is reckoned to be due to Jehovah; or, if others are mentioned, it is as being instruments in His hand. This is the uniform manner of Scripture; hence the tone of piety which marks all its histories and meditations alike.

The definite purpose of the ode is, to express the gratitude which Israel owes to its God, for granting so sudden and complete a deliverance from the calamity, which had weighed down the spirit of the nation for twenty years, and had at last become so oppressive that it threatened to extinguish their name from the list of nations in the earth. This expression of gratitude is made in the form of a commemoration of Gods goodness, such as might live for the benefit of after ages; for no monument is so sure of preservation, or is of such wide-spread publicity, as that of a poem written with much warmth of feeling and beauty of style by an ardent, enthusiastic spirit, that feels devoutly thankful to God for His great mercies to His covenant people.

The time selected for raising this hymn of praise to Jehovah was at the moment of victoryafter the work was done, and ere the people had retired to their homes. It was said to be sung on that day, not literally so, but before the occasion had passed, and in immediate connection with the great deliverancewhile the flush of victory still mantled the cheek, while every heart was a-glow with gratitude, and while every tongue was attuned to song. Delay cools down; indeed it indicates that the feeling is not irrepressible (2Ch. 20:26; Isa. 38:9-22; Luk. 1:64-79).

Poetry is selected as the fitting form, in which to give expression to the adoration and thanksgiving so due to God on such an occasion. It better accords with the exultation of the national heart, and those glowing conditions of soul which are kindled by the sense of a newly-won deliverance. Prose usually moves within a fixed frame-work of rules, and partakes somewhat of the coldness and stiffness of artificialism; while poetry, spurning the trammels of art, rises up to a sphere of its own, where natural instincts are the only guide, and where the utterance is prompted by a fervid state of the feelings. The freedom of the poet is the freedom of the eagle, now moving along the smiling fields, now soaring in mid-heaven at pleasure; at one time frequenting the picturesque valley, at another wandering at will among the frowning crags, or dark mountain gorges. But while inspiration may often more fitly express itself in poetic than in other forms of speech, it would be wide of the mark indeed to identify the one with the other in any way whatever. The mountains are higher than the plains, but we never commit the mistake of identifying the highest mountains with the height of the stars. Human inspiration and Divine inspiration are separated by an immense interval. The former often appears in the form of poetical conception and expression, and is identical with it; the latter never so. Of the former there is very little in chaps. 3 and 4, while Judges 5 is full of it; but all the chapters in the Book are pervaded by the latter.

The order of thought in the chapter seems to be as follows:First, comes a general announcement of the subject of song in Jdg. 5:2. The song itself is then divided into three sections, each containing three strophes, and each strophe consists of three verses. Thus section first extends from Jdg. 5:3-11 inclusivethe spirit of which is, to show the immense value of the victory which had been gained, as bringing back the ancient glory of the sacred nation. The first strophe (Jdg. 5:3-5) refers to the happy times of old when Israel was acknowledged before the whole earth as the chosen nation of the living God. This was a fact never to be forgotten; and hence it forms the prelude in almost every sacred hymn that was sung by that people in all their generations. This is attested by the whole Book of Psalms. The second strophe (Jdg. 5:6-8), in a few graphic touches, shows how far the nation had sunk from its former pitch of prosperity. And strophe third (Jdg. 5:9-11) glances at the state of liberty and of peace that would now be enjoyed by the people in the transactions of daily life, as contrasted with the terror to which they had been so long subjected. After a pause, section second begins at Jdg. 5:13-21, and presents us with a vivid account of the actors in the battle, and the means by which victory was decided for Israel. The first strophe describes the enthusiastic assembly of the good men and true who gathered themselves together to fight the Lords battle (Jdg. 5:13-15). In strophe second is set forth the faint-heartedness of those who would risk nothing in fighting such a battle (Jdg. 5:16-18). And the third strophe (Jdg. 5:19-21) describes the forces of the enemy, and the mighty powers by which they were overwhelmed. Section third (Jdg. 5:23-30) describes the dreadful fate of those who are opposed to God in battle, beginning with the frustration of hopes, and ending in utter ruin. First, a curse is pronounced on the men of indecision (Jdg. 5:23); next the enemy meets with death where he expected protection to life (Jdg. 5:24-27); and finally, a contrast is drawn between high expectations formed, and bitter experiences reaped (Jdg. 5:28-30). The expression of a wish that all Gods enemies would so perish (that is, the stubborn and impenitent) concludes the chapter.

Jdg. 5:1. Then sang Deborah and Barak, etc.] Not equally, or together. The verb for sang is singular, and of feminine gender. Deborah was a prophetess, and the mainspring of the whole movement. We may naturally suppose that she composed this beautiful lyric hymn, which is indeed full of the same force and fire that we see in the other glimpses of this remarkable womans character. Indeed the hymn itself indicates its authorship (see Jdg. 5:3; Jdg. 5:7; Jdg. 5:12). But Barak is associated with Deborah in the work of thanksgiving, for he, though guided by her, was yet the chief actor, and also represented the victorious host. A similar case occurs in Num. 12:1, where Miriam and Aaron are said to have spoken together against Moses; but Miriam took the lead in this opposition, and Aaron merely went along. Hence the verb is singular and feminine. So it is here (). Deborah, with probably a number of female choristers, would begin the song, while Barak, with a company of men-singers, would respond, or sing the antistrophe, as in Exo. 15:1-21. There may have been a choir of priests and Levites, or the whole congregation may have joined in the exercise, returning to Mount Tabor for the purpose before dispersing to their homes. They had had no jubilee like it for at least twenty years. Every heart was full, and the difficulty was for anyone to be silent on such an occasion. And not only then, but the whole year round, every home in Israel would daily resound with similar strains of joy and gratitude.

A vast importance attaches to this song, because it was to be preserved among the treasured archives of the nation, and to be taught to the childrens children for many generations. Thus it would not only be a permanent memorial of Gods mighty acts on behalf of His people, but would form part of the public instruction of the nation for many ages, and so would assist in moulding the characters of myriads of minds, so that those who were not yet created should in due time praise the Lord. This truth is exemplified by the whole Book of Psalms.
That such a composition should have had its birth in such a declining age is indeed a marvel. We do indeed believe in its proper inspiration; for if it were not inspired, why should it form an integral part of the Book of Judges, and why should the Book of Judges form part of the Canon of Scriptureto which the Saviour Himself set His seal by so frequently referring to it as the sacred Word of God. Yet the literary beauty of the style is not altogether due to the Spirit of inspiration. In the act of inspiration, we believe, that the matter to be communicated to the world, through the medium of a particular human mind as the organ, is communicated by the Divine Spirit, but there is no interference with the natural organisation of that mind, its individual characteristics, or even the measure of its natural gifts, or educational accomplishments. The Spirit communicates the truth through that mind precisely in the way in which it is natural for it to express itself. Hence though even the language we believe to be inspired, it is language selected in the style of the mind that is inspired. Thus the language that dropped from the pen of a David, or an Isaiah, was that of the poet, for it was natural for these men to write poetically. Again, the language employed in the Books of Kings and Chronicles was natural to such a man as Ezra, or whoever may have been the author of the Booksone accustomed to deal with records, and conversant with facts and figures. In like manner, Deborah was not made a poetess for this particular occasion, and the gift withdrawn immediately on the completion of the ode. Rather do we regard her as having been a poetess by natural gifts and the proper cultivation of them; and in this ode we see the appropriate exercise of those gifts. We are not to suppose that the style here used was in any degree essentially different from what was natural to her. It was Deborah speaking, and not another mind created for the moment under her form; but it was the highest form of Deborahs style.

If such a style were natural to Deborah, it is wonderful to meet with such a degree of literary refinement in an age, which is generally reputed to have been so barbarous and rude. Such regularity of accents, such harmony of cadences, and such attention to quantities, render this composition one of the most beautiful specimens of rhythm we have on record. It has all the perfection of art, yet all the freedom of natureno fetter, yet perfect beauty. Cassel says, There is no want of finish; but the pauses subordinate themselves to the thoughts, and these unfold themselves free as the waves. The peculiar character of the song consists of the boldness of its imagery, and the force of its unusual languagethe most interesting feature being its alliteration, which appears in the highest development, as in the old Norse poems. We might add, that it is also distinguished by its abrupt transitions and impassioned appeals, by its apostrophising both of the absent and the present, by its quick seizure of the salient features of the scene, and the dramatically vivid picture it presents, both of occurrences and of persons.

Jdg. 5:2. Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, etc.] The order in the original is more emphaticfor the avenging of the avenges of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselvesPraise ye Jehovah! This is a statement of the subject matter of the poem. The key-note is here pitched. The spirit of the meaning, according to our translation, seems to be, for the rolling back on the heads of the enemy the long series of injuries which Gods Israel had received from themPraise ye Jehovah. Many find fault with this sentiment, as being not in accordance with the spirit even of the Old Testament, and try to bring a different meaning out of the words. The difficulty lies in the rendering of the phrase . Gesenius takes it from an Arabic root, signifying to lead. So also does the Alexandrian MSS of the Sept. and some modern interpreters, as Bertheau, Ewald, etc. They accordingly make it, for the bold leading of the leaders, as well as for the willing offering of themselves by the people. Praise Jehovah! This is a just idea in itself, but it does not express the ultimate sentiment of the song, which refers to what was done, and not merely the manner of doing it. Besides this is not the direct meaning of the word , which originally refers to the hair of the head, and especially to the long waving hair, as in Eze. 44:20. Keil takes this sense of the word, but gives to the meaning an unexpected turn by saying, that as luxuriant hair is the sign of strength, so the hairy ones mentioned here mean the strong in Israel showed themselves strong. The champions in the fight went forth before the others bravely. This is a very free translation indeed, and is scarcely adopted by any others. Cassel makes the word signify to make loose, or to become wild, as when the hair flies wild and loose about the neck. The person who made a vow of consecration to God was directed to let his hair grow (Num. 6:5); and the loose waving of his hair in the wind was a visible proof of his having devoted himself to the service of God. This, he says, applies to the whole army of Barak, who all wildly waved their hair in token of their entire consecration to Him. The praise was due for the appearance of so many persons with long locks to fight the battle of their God. He renders it That in Israel wildly waved the hairIn the peoples self-devotionPraise God. This view also seems to be more ingenious than accurate. The most natural view seems to us to be that given in the authorised version. The head is uncovered, and the hair gets loose and disordered, when one is greatly agitated with some strong feelingespecially that of resentment for great injuries received. It is this condition of the hair that is here indicated by the word , and when its plural goes along with it, it means the highest degree, or the fullest measure of vengeance was taken on behalf of Israel. The plural form of the word is only used here and in Deu. 32:42, where it is translated revenges upon the enemy. In what sense the word avenges or revenges is to be taken is very important, and will receive due notice afterwards.

When the people willingly offered themselves.] All who would do anything acceptably to God must first give themselves a free-will offering to Him (Rom. 12:1; 2Ch. 17:16; Psa. 110:3; 2Co. 8:5). Deborah praises God for conferring on the people this spirit of willingness. An unwilling, or a mechanical service, is one which the God who looketh on the heart cannot accept of. No service without the heart can be pleasing to Him. It is a dead service; and is the same with laying a putrefying corpse upon the altar.

Jdg. 5:3. Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord, etc.] Having announced the subject, the speaker next calls for the close attention of the audience. It is a tale of such sacred importance as might well have kings for its listeners (comp. Deu. 32:1; Isa. 1:2; Isa. 44:23; Mic. 6:2). The allusion is not to any special class of kings, such as the kings of Canaan, but to kings in general, as being most dignified in station. Also, perhaps, as representing the powers of this worldthat they may bow their heads, and confess they are nothing before Sions King. Farther, that they might learn the sin, danger, and folly of lifting themselves up against Israels God. To magnify Israels God is indeed the aim of the whole history (comp. Psalms 2). The singer says, she will sing, even shewith marked emphasis, to denote that she will make a special point of doing this service, and she will give her whole heart to the doing of it. Not only would she sing with the mouth, but she would add praise on the ten-stringed lute or cithernone of the sweetest lyres or harps in use. Such is the force of to sing to an instrument, generally a lyre or harp. Lias says, The word is onomatopoetic, and denotes the buzz of the chords of a stringed instrument. Everything in the externals of worship had in that age of signs a deeper meaning than it has with us. The spirit of the statement isI will take all the ways of praising my God, so that the work may be done in the fullest manner. The service of the heart shall be fully given, and that shall be expressed by the use of the sweetest stringed instruments. The name is Jehovah, the God of Israelthe covenant name of God. This implied that all that God had done for Israel was done on account of His gracious relations to that people, and the gracious promises He had made to them.

Jdg. 5:4. Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, etc.] The singer here breaks off abruptly, and goes back at a bound over nearly 200 years to the time when God first adopted this people to be His own. This abrupt manner of shooting from point to point, selecting the chief points of the ever memorable history; and graphically grouping them together, is quite in the style of Hebrew poetry. Here the point of view occupied is what God was when He first met with them as a nation. What He showed Himself to be then was a standard for them to reckon by in all their after history. They might count with good reason that He would in all their after history be to them the same God that he was then. What was He then? The group of mountains which are usually known by the name of Sinai, or Horeb, were within the large tract of country known as Edom, or Seir. Indeed, the name Seir was sometimes given to the whole mountainous district which included Sinai (Deu. 33:2). The boundary lines of the districts in the wilderness do not appear to have been very sharply defined. The scene at the giving of the law is doubtless referred to, with all the displays of unequalled majesty which Jehovah then made. He then made a revelation of Himself, showing what kind of a God He wasinfinite in power, of sovereign authority, most jealous of His great name, of spotless purity, of inviolable truth, and resplendent in righteousness; while at the same time merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, etc. This character was most impressively displayed at Mount Sinai, and the memory of it was to be kept up at every step in all their future history, that they might have vividly before their minds the character of the God to whom they sustained so close a relation, and with whom they were in constant dealing. The application to the present case was, that the same glorious perfections of character which Jehovah manifested at Sinai were now displayed against Sisera and his host, in so far as the case required, and that God was faithful in keeping His word to His people even at that distance of time. One broad feature of the Sinai scene is seized on as specially fit to be mentioned in connection with the destruction of Jabins armythe mighty power of the God of Israel. The solid earth trembled under His step as He marched out through the wilderness at the head of His people; referring to the fact, that when God came down on Mount Sinai to enter into covenant with Israel, the whole mount quaked greatly.

The heavens dropped, the clouds dropped water.] In Exodus 19 we read of a thick cloud and of thundersin Jdg. 20:21 we read of the thick darkness where God was. In Heb. 12:18 we read of a tempest as well as of blackness and darkness. In Psa. 68:8-9, we read that the heavens dropped at the presence of God, and He sent a plentiful rain. In Psa. 77:17-18, we are told the clouds poured out water, the sky sent out a sound, etc. All these references seem to point to the Sinai scene, and warrant us to conclude there was a thunder-storm, with a deluge of rain at the time of the giving of the law. It was an unheard of thing that that perpetually clear firmament should be darkened with thick clouds, and that that ever-brazen sky should pour water in floods on the arid sands of the desert.

Jdg. 5:5. The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai, etc.] Many render shook or staggered. So Sept., Keil, Cassel, Lias, etc. The Greek, Chald., Arab, and Syr. This rendering is the most direct meaning of the word employed, and is supported by Isa. 64:1-3, which should be translated might tremble at thy presenceEven that Sinai, etc.] Rather this Sinai, as if it were actually before her eye. It makes the account more vivid. Full of rocks though Sinai was, with rock piled on rock all the way to the summit, and, therefore, might be supposed firm as adamant, it yet trembled like a leaf in the wind! No wonder that Sisera with all his iron chariots could not stand before such a God as this!

Jdg. 5:6. In the days of Shamgar, etc.] These verses (68) were probably sung by a responsive choir to those who sang the verses going before (35). The singer now as abruptly returns to the times of Deborah, as at first she left them to sing of Sinai. Nothing is lost in preface. Even of the main subject only a few strokes are given. The purpose now is, to put the present down-trodden condition of Israel, when lying under the heel of the oppressor, in contrast with the enviable condition in which they stood, when so highly favoured of their God in the wilderness (Deu. 4:7; Deu. 4:32-38.)

Some would read, After the days of Shamgar, etc., or since his days. But this looks like leaving the natural interpretation of the phrase in order to get quit of a difficulty. Why not keep by the usual rendering? In the days of Shamgarand of Jael. This Jael was not another Jael then the wife of Heber. Such a supposition (see Cassel) is purely arbitrary, and is merely adopted to escape a difficulty. Why not suppose these two persons to be contemporary? And why not regard the phrase to mean simplyin the days which Shamgar had to deal withthe hard times which he had to contend with; and so of Jael. These were the days on which their lot was cast, which they endured for a timeit might be for some years, but which at length, they were the means of entirely changing into a long course of bright and sunny daysso that all around them had the privilege of singing, according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil, so do thou make us glad. The poem may have been composed very soonperhaps within a day or two after the terrible slaughter of Siseras army; but it is thrown into a form suitable for being sung in after ages. We believe Shamgars ground was somewhere in the South-West of the land; and we know Jaels home was in the North of Israel.

The highways were unoccupied, or deserted.] Lit. the paths ceased. There was no security on the public highways of the countryno safety for life and property, and hence no one could leave his house in peace, and go along the public roads to do the duties of business. The enemy were prowling in all directions, and travellers were afraid to walk in the usual highways, lest they should be either robbed or murderedperhaps both. Reference is made to such times, supposed to be the days of the Judges, and to no times more fitly than the present, in 2Ch. 15:5. And the travellers walked through by-ways.] Those who were obliged to travel at all slunk into concealed by-paths to elude the bands of the oppressor. They are called twisted paths, or circuitous footpaths, which turned away from the high roads. The caravans proper had ceased to exist; there were only foot passengers anywhere to be seen moving through the land. Trade had been completely driven off the roads. Business was at a standstill everywhere. The whole population were in hiding! They were afraid to show themselves in public at any point.

Jdg. 5:7. The inhabitants of the villages ceased.] Rather the villages ceased. Cassel makes it, the open places, the hamlets, which were unwalled, and, therefore, liable to become a prey to the spoiler. It was thus in Hungary in the 17th century when it was overrun by the Turks. The dwellers in the open flat country, with unwalled villages (the farmers and others) in contradistinction to the walled towns disappeared (Deu. 3:5; 1Sa. 6:18; Eze. 38:11.) Lawlessness and terror prevailed, and the intercourse of commerce was unknown. The sons were afraid to traverse the plains which their fathers had conquered, and stayed shivering at home. (Wiseman), Compare the times of the captivity as pictured by Zechariah in Jdg. 7:14; or that seen in the visions of Isaiah as the natural effects of sinful times. (Isa. 33:8). That there should be villages or hamlets, and homesteads unprotected, scattered all over the country, is the indication of security and peace. But where a country is unprotected while there are enemies all around, the people feel compelled to shut themselves up in walled towns. So it now was. Many indeed had no other homes than the holes of the rocks, the caves, the thickets or jungles, the high places, and even the pits, in which that picturesque land abounded. (1Sa. 13:6). What a commentary on the statement that sin is the reproach of any people!until that I Deborah arose, a mother in Israel.] Not meaning so much, as that Israel was born again as a nation through her; though it might be said that Israel recovered its nationality through her influence. But the phrase is similar to that applied to certain patriots, who on account of their noble conduct in defending and acting as protectors of their country, are called the fathers of their country. Deborah was the deliverer of her country, and so earned the title of a mother in Israel. (2Sa. 20:19). The phrase, a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, occurs in Isa. 22:21. (Comp. Job. 29:16). Queen Elizabeth was accustomed to say, she could believe nothing of her people that parents would not believe of their children.

Jdg. 5:8. They chose new gods.] Hence the loss of all their strength. The real strength of Israel they abandoned. They lightly esteemed the rock of their salvation. They had no desire for the fellowship of a holy God. They chose gods with a character like their own, gods of their own invention. Not one, but many. The serpents grammar first taught men to decline God plurally: Ye shall be as gods (Trapp)new godsnot worshipped by their fathers. (Deu. 32:17).

There was war in the gates.] They so provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, that He allowed the enemy to press even up to the gates of their towns, and besieged them; so that the gates, which were usually the seat of the administration of justice, became the scene of war. The word means, as Cassel says, not simply war, but an already victorious and consuming oppression. There was a besieging of the gates. None went out and none came in. Quiet was completely driven out of the land. There is no peace to the wicked. As the tide of idolatry rolled over the land everywhere, so did the flood of national misery. Resistance in the open field there was not anywhere; and even in their fortified places, the enemy kept clamouring at the gates. Their manliness had vanished; they kept skulking behind their shut gates; while outside the enemy had it all their own way, and were ever on the point of breaking through! All the bitter fruit of sin.

Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?] Not that the people had not any such weapons (as in 1Sa. 13:22), for if so, the battle of Kishon could not have been fought. The reference is not to Baraks army, which consisted of 10,000 men. The meaning seems to be, that a spirit of trembling had so generally seized the people of Israel, that not a single man among so many as 40,000 had the courage to stand forth to fight his countrys battle in the field. There were three kinds of spears, as referred to in the Old Testament. The first was a long slender lance; the second a javelin; and the thirdthat referred to here (romach), a heavier weapon.

Jdg. 5:9. Again there is a turn in the song. The transition is abrupt, as all transitions are here. There are no prefaces, and no connecting narratives. Central statements only are made. They break on the ear without warning and without comment. My heart is toward the governors of Israel,] i.e. is drawn to them in admiration of their conduct. The leaders came to the front when the call was made for volunteers to fight the Lords battle. They had all the more merit in doing this, because on them lay the burden of the responsibility, and on them fell the brunt of the danger. Their conduct also would powerfully stimulate the rank and file. God was to be praised for this; for it was His Spirit that rested on the leaders, and put such courage and self devotion into them.

Jdg. 5:10. Speak, ye that ride on white asses, etc.] Rehearse ye, celebrate in a song of praise. Lit.meditate ye. Many render it, sing. (Comp. Psa. 145:5; Psa. 105:2). White spotted asses. There are no asses white all over, but asses with white spots. Asses in Palestine were usually of a red colour. The white spotted were highly prized on account of their beauty, and were rare, consequently were costly, and hence were used by the upper classes. (Jdg. 10:4; Jdg. 12:14). Ye that sit in judgment.] Rather that sit on carpets, or coverings, some make it saddle-clothes, such as are put on asses. (Mat. 21:7). These are the rich and prosperous. Those who walk by the way.] Those who travel on foot represent the middle and lower classes, who have to do their business without any such help. Keil, however, supposes three classes are referred to: the upper classes, judges and others who ride on costly animals; the rich resting at home on their splendid carpets; and the poor travellers and common people who can now go quietly along the high road again without fear of interruption from the foe. The nobles, the wealthy, and the poor alike enjoyed a long-wished for security in going abroad through the country which their God had given them.

Jdg. 5:11. They that are delivered from the noise of archers, etc.] This verse has received many different renderings, which we cannot notice in detail. It seems to express a new thought, and to refer to a dreadful hardship which was daily experienced all over the land. People could not want their supplies of water, and the wells were usually situated outside the towns, so that in going to the wells there was always exposure. The enemy knowing this oftentimes planted a company of skilled archers to shoot arrows at those who came to the wells, and while in the act of drawing water many were either wounded or killed. But now such as had this duty to perform were no longer in danger. They were delivered from the cry of the sharp-shooters, or the tumult of the archers at the places where they drew waters. And now having no fear of any sudden attack there, and of being wounded, or robbed, or carried captive, they at these spots shall henceforth be so filled with gratitude at the consciousness of their profound security, that they shall there rehearse the mighty acts of the Lord, etc. Strifes at these places were not uncommon. (Gen. 26:18-21; Exo. 2:17-19; Jer. 4:29). Righteous acts. because they were performed in truth to His covenant, and were in themselves righteous. Then shall the people go down to the gates.] The people could leave their hiding-places in the mountains and walled towns, and return to pass through the gates to the villages and the open plains, to pursue again the peaceful work of commerce, and of carrying on the daily business of life. The victory so recently gained had cleansed the land of these marauders.

MAIN HOMILETICS.Jdg. 5:1-11

A HIGH STARTING POINT AND A GREAT DOWNFALL

1. Gods people have songs given them to sing in the night. The times of the Judges were for the most part a night season in the history of the Church, and especially the period to which this chapter refers. But no night is so dark as to be without its stars, or so cheerless as to be without its songs in Gods dealings with the children of the promises. This effusion of the person chosen for the time to represent Israels feelings under the treatment they received at the hands of Gods Providence, is hung up like a torch in the night of the national history, to revive faith and encourage hope. When passing through the waters, the river is not permitted to overflow, neither when walking through the fire, as Gods people must sometimes do, is the flame allowed to kindle upon them. Though sorrowful they are yet always rejoicingthough persecuted they are not forsakenthough cast down they are not destroyed. When troubles abound their consolations do much more abound by Christ. They are never altogether without hope. They are saved by hope. Bunyan rightly makes his Christian sing after each trying episode of his historyafter his fight with Apollyon, his getting clear of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, his deliverance from Vanity Fair, and his escape from Doubting Castle.

The Church of God, even amid the dark shadows of the Old Testament age, had her times for the use of the harp, and every instrument of joy. There was a time to laugh as well as a time to weep. And these times would have been far more numerous, and greatly more exultant had there been more true penitence, and less relapsing into sin. But no night was so long as entirely to extinguish the hope of returning day, or so dark as to put out all the stars, or so destructive in its effects as to prevent the recovery of all that is really valuable. It is part of Gods arrangement in His Providential rule over this sorrowful world, to give men songs to sing in the night, perhaps lest they should become demoralised. Though there can be no real hearty singing and thorough enjoyment without being able to say of God: He is my God! though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away. (Job. 35:10.) True heart-singing in the night of trouble is exemplified in Psalms 42, 57, 22, 77, 116.

2. The duty of keeping Gods works in everlasting remembrance. The object of composing this ode was not only to make it the matter of praise on a single occasion, but especially to keep up the memory of this great deliverance to remote generations, for the honour of the Divine name. The same sentiment pervades most of the Davidic Psalms, which, as a matter of fact, have served this purpose in the past. In like manner, this song has been the means of preserving to the Church, for many generations, a most instructive chapter of Gods doings for her, and His dealings with her, at a critical stage of her history. Gods mighty acts are worthy of being thus remembered for many reasons:

(1.) They are marvellously instructive. The two points on which, for our own benefit, it is needful to have the fullest instruction, are Gods character and ways, and our own character and ways. Instruction on these points is of permanent value; and it is the light which is thrown upon these that is specially noticed in the Book of Psalms, when the writers make mention of Gods mighty acts. What an instructive revelation is made of mans character as it is exhibited in the times of Deborahthe perversity of his nature in so stubbornly baking the wrong course, notwithstanding all the Divine teaching given, though so many remonstrances were used, so many warnings given, so many chastisements up to this point inflicted. And after the cloud of vengeance had burst on these sinners, how long do they continue suffering bitterly before they will turn to Him who smites them, or acknowledge their offence! What tenacity of sin belongs to the depraved human heart! What blindness of mind and hardness of heart! What depth of alienation from God! What infatuation in kicking against the pricks! What daring defiance of Gods authority! What desecration of His holy covenant!

On the other hand, what a revelation is given of Gods long-suffering patience in dealing with this people! How long does He remain silent while they go on sinning against Him! We see Him faithfully warning, earnestly entreating, and strongly expostulating. We see Him loathe to smite at all, and for a long time the sword remains in the sheath. When at last it must come forth, it is used at first but lightly; very reluctantly the severity of the stroke is increased; but the moment that true penitence is shown, it is removed, and the penitent is dealt with as a child. Even when the sword, or rather the rod, is used most severely, it is still in measure; it is always to correct, and not to destroy, or make a full end. And at the very worst, we never see God renouncing His character to this people as their covenant God! This is the climax of the whole revelation of Gods character made. How rich the instruction conveyed!

(2.) They are in themselves spectacles of great beauty. A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. And here the beauty is absolutely perfect. The eye never wearies with looking on perfection. The soul is satisfied with it, so that it can demand nothing more of excellence in the object than what it already has. All human works, however, at the very best, are only relatively perfect. There is something both on the surface and under the surface, which indicates decay, defect, or alloy. The sweetest music after a time begins to pall on the ear. The most exquisite picture does not always continue to charm the eye. Mans works, when looked at in different lights, will always present some feature of imperfection. Not so with the works of God. The most minute, even microscopical examination, will only reveal their absolute perfection more and more.

In all these redemption-works, on behalf of His people, which God wrought in the days of the Judges, what a God-like manner of working do we see in them all! How tame and vapid would they all have become if the events and means had been left in the hands of men! Have they not all a sacred touch about them, which no hand can give them but Gods own? What a marvellous perpetuity of freshness belongs to everything which bears that touch! We read the tales a thousand times, and yet the interest continues fresh. The print of the Divine hand on the page preserves it so. How perfectly is every work done which Gods hand undertakes to do. When that hand begins to work, how smoothly does every wheel go round to accomplish His purpose! What a complete change passes over the land in an incredibly short space of time! There is no hurry or bustle, no driving in hot haste. Everything is done calmly, with simplicity, in a way to confound human reason, but with irresistible efficacy. The most unlikely instruments are chosen to do great things. A mighty army is utterly destroyed by the strategy of a woman; and the most celebrated general of the age is brought down to the dust of death by the hand of another woman and an alien! Such efficiency can God impart to the weakest instrumentality, when it so seems good in His sight. He can make everything converge to carry out His purpose.

What a magnificent spectacle of beauty there is in the display of Gods goodness to this people! How often did He pardon them! How often turn away His anger! How patient in waiting for their repentance! How long-suffering in bearing with their provocations! Each of these features is a perfect study, and the longer each is studied the perfection of its beauty becomes more and more visible. So with the glorious display of power made, which is unapproachable in its grandeur. The manifestation also of wisdom surpasses mans power to appreciate itof His justice, which is like the great mountainsof His faithfulness, which reacheth unto the cloudsand of His righteousness, which is very high. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth all His praise? His works are honourable and glorious: they are all done in truth and uprightness.

(3.) They are never fully comprehended. The thought of Gods own character is something too vast for our minds to comprehend. It is not true philosophy to take no higher ground, to suppose that the human mind can adequately comprehend any of the thoughts of the Infinite mind; God alone can comprehend Himself. Hence Gods plan of salvation is called a mystery. But so difficult is it to comprehend it, that the angels of God, so remarkable for their wisdom, have been studying it with rapt interest through the whole history of time, and still have not made it out. The narrow mind of a creature never can fully grasp any of the thoughts of God. Hence He must always remain, more or less, the Unknown God. The same grand attributes of character He has so often presented to our view we have never yet fully comprehended, and never can; so that every time we come again to look at the great perfections set before us, we feel the subject is perpetually fresh, in a greater or less degree. We may be always forming larger, and still larger, conceptions of Gods majesty, and every feature of His character, without ever exhausting the subject.

(4.) They are of such vast importance to our interests. What an infinitely valuable privilege to have this God for our God!one so full of condescension as to come down and hold fellowship, so intimately and so freely, with men on the earthto ally Himself so closely with themto permit such freedom of access, and to promise to do so much in answer to humble and believing prayer! What a great possession it is for the soul of man to be able to saythe God who can do such mighty works is my God, in all the love of His heart, and in all the strength of His arm. Whatever else is overlooked, I cannot for a moment forget this grand truth that God is mine! Gods works in the past are all pledges for the future, for those whom He begins to love He loves to the end. A record of His mighty acts is thus virtually a treasury of exceeding great and precious promises. Every good thing He has done to any of His people already is a proof that He will repeat the same favour to the same person, or to any others of His people, when they are in all respects placed in the same circumstances. His right hand never loses its power. What it was in the days of Barak it is still, and will be to the end of time. These mighty acts show what resources belong to our God, and how much we have to draw upon when an emergency arises.

3. The high starting-point of the Divine Love never to be forgotten. Jdg. 5:4-5. Here the prophetess looks back, as the eye of the godly Israelite was always instructed to do, to the early days of Gods church, to compare what took place then with the chequered experiences of her own day. That light of the early days was already a good way in the distance, but it shone as a fixed star, an object of hope to the people of God, in all the future stages of their eventful history. There they saw the high pitch of that Love at its outset, in dealing with this people, and they were taught to regard it as the love of an unchangeable God, whose gifts and calling are without repentance or any change of purpose. However obscured the future manifestations of that love might be, or however mysterious it might seem in its workings, it was always a fact that it was pitched high at first. The march of that people, as the people of God, was first seen as they came over the mountains, or along the desert of Seir, and then Jehovah Himself was at their head, acknowledging them as His own people, and showing, by mighty signs and wonders, what resources of power He was prepared to put forth on their behalf. The solid earth trembled, the heavens dropped rains, yea the clouds poured out a deluge in the arid wilderness. The mountains also melted before His step. These phenomena only are mentioned, owing to the rule of severe brevity which is observed in the text. But they are given as a specimen of what actually occurred. (See Psa. 68:7-9; also Hab. 3:12.

1. The sentiment is this, that as that love was when it first took them by the hand, so it would ever continue to be at all future stages of their history. The question for them to determine simply was how high did that love rise at its beginninghow did it show itself? and to what extent did it manifest itself? The answer is to be found in the phenomona of Sinai, when God first formally adopted them to Himself to be His people, and showed how far he was prepared to go on their behalfhow much power He kept in readiness to fulfil the promptings of His love. The great mark of His love to these children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was, that He made use of them and their history as a medium to reveal His own glorious character, in the eyes of all the nations. Their history was rendered illustrious at every step by the glimpses that were given of His glorious perfections, and from first to last He was known as the Holy One of Israel! In being thus brought so nigh to God they were raised to an unspeakable height above all other nations, so that their history at the outset read like no other history.

2. These antecedents were never to be forgotten. They laid the foundation of all future expectations. However low at any time they might sink, there was always a ground of hope, that they would sooner or later rise to the enviable height of being a people beloved of the Lord, and dwelling safely under the shadow of His protecting wing. For there was none like unto the God of Jeshuran, when He rode upon the heavens in their help, and in His excellency on the sky! Throughout the whole of the hazardous journey which He led them, when He conducted them to their future promised home, His language was, I bare you on eagles wings, and brought you unto myself.

3. Hence when Israel was lying among the pots, with soiled garments, and filthiness was in all her skirts, she is yet called upon to remember Sinai and its manifold gloriesthe days of her youth when she stood forth as the Queen of all the nations of the earth; and, as she was in those golden days, so she was to think she might become still. So should Gods people in every age act. They are to look at the terms on which God enters into covenant with all who truly repent and believe the Gospel. However low they may sink under the trials and afflictions of this life, they must never forget that they are the sons of Godand are therefore heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christthat all which the promises of God contain is theirstheirs by good legal rightthat all the titles spoken of in the Gospel are theirs, all the privileges, all the hopes and prospects, all the immeasurable advantage of being the brethren of the Son of God, all the infinitely valuable possession of having the Holy Spirit of God to dwell in the heart as His proper homethat all these unspeakably precious things are theirs; and though concealed as yet from the eye of the world, that it will not be possible long to conceal such possessions; and when they come out, their possessor will be elevated to a throne in the heavens, and will spend a glorious life, rejoicing with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.

4. Remember the starting-pointis the exhortation addressed to every soul that embraces Christ as its Saviour, in all the future stages of its history. That love which redeemed you, and called you by name; which brought you out of darkness into light; which first you saw bleeding on a cross, bearing the weight of Divine, not merely human, wrath on your account, and which procured for you the means of getting the pardon of every sin, and acceptance before God as righteous; that love which presented to you Gods highest possessionHis own Son in human form, that it might become your possession; that love, as you first met it, is always to be carefully remembered as the measure of the kindness which the soul may always expect to receive at the hands of the God to whom it is reconciled. When God gives Christ, He gives Himself. He becomes a God to the receiver of Christ. He opens out His glorious perfections, and says, Having given so much in making my first gift, I will now keep back nothing. There is the fountain out of which the streams of your souls supplies are for ever to flow. And when future and further wilderness journeys are to be made, remember the Rock you met with at the beginning of the way, and form your expectations from what you saw and experienced then. The streams may rise as high as the fountain head. Higher they do not need to rise. There will be consistency in the love that follows thee all the way; for I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt.

What a comforting memory for the Christian pilgrim to carry in his bosom as he pursues his weary journey, often finding the journey to be too great for him, and his soul much discouraged because of the way! God never forgets the first high pitch of His love, but will from time to time go as high again in its manifestations, to prove that, notwithstanding its being occasionally obscured by clouds of sin, He yet really loves with an everlasting love.

4. The desolation produced by departure from God. Jdg. 5:6-11. From the days of Eve and downwards, departure from God ever leads to a great fall. From that cause, how soon did every leaf in paradise wither! and how quickly did paradise itself disappear from the earth! Here the languagethey forsook the Lordis the constant refrain in the melancholy dirge of Israels history. And now, through Deborah, as the mouthpiece of sinning Israel in her day, we have confession made of the terrible downfall from the most exalted prosperity to the lowest adversity, through departure from the living God. The enemy is seen coming in like a flood, and overrunning the land. The happiest land under heaven becomes the most miserable. Her tale is meant for posterity, as well as the time then passing, and she fixes the date. She writes the history of her own timesthe times of her youth, but which she lived long enough, to be the means under God of changing into something bright and glorious. Distress unexampled prevailed. A weighty incubus pressed down every energy. The humiliation of sin was complete. For

(1.) There was no liberty. The Israelite could not freely walk through his own country. That land, where formerly he was accustomed to sit under his vine and his fig-tree, none making him afraid, had now become his prison. The public roads were unoccupied. They that travelled at all skulked along the by-paths. What an expressive history have we here in a single line! Those whom the Lord had made free were now become slaves. The inhabitants were deprived of the use of their country, so that all business had practically come to a stand-still. Their departure from God had led to His departure from them; and they had now to reckon on their best friend as become their most dreadful enemy. There can be no neutrality. If God is not for us, we will soon find He is against us. If we forsake Him, He will cast us off.

(2.) They led a life of danger. They could not even go to the wells for water to drink. Knowing the necessity of their frequently being obliged to go there for supplies of the refreshing liquid in that land of drought, the archers planted themselves in the thickets around these wells; and it was generally at the risk of robbery, or even death, that the precious boon could be gained. Indeed, the enemy might appear at any hour, or at any point, all over the land. From unexpected quarters he might descend without a moments warning, like the hawk swooping down on the dove, and no safety to life or property could be relied on anywhere. It was a reign of terror. It was an enemy whose tender mercies were cruel. The old serpent that had been scotched, not killed, now reared its head, and darted its venom, against the hand that was once raised against it. Instances, indeed, were of daily occurrence to show what Canaanitish malice could do in retaliation for the past attempts which Israel made to destroy them.

When a man forsakes his God, and walks after the lust of his own heart, dangers quickly rise up around him. His cry is, Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! how many rise up against me! On the other hand, when a mans ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

(3.) They led a life of degradation. They were in the position of a people trampled down, and unable to help themselves, while no one cared to come to their assistance. When they went abroad at all, they durst not look the enemy in the face, they had to skulk along in the by-paths. They made their most innocent visits furtively. They had to snatch the most common blessings of life by stealth. If their enemies could have prevented it, they would have been deprived of the very air and light of heaven!O, sin is a hard master! All its service is a service with rigour. The way of transgressors is hard.

(4.) A stop was put to the industries of life. Trade ceased on the public highways. There could be no commerce. Intercourse of one part of the country with another was completely blocked. The land too must have ceased to be tilled, and the ordinary harvests would be nowhere. Famine must have begun to stare them in the face. The acquisition of wealth too would be impossible, and, in the case of the great majority, the means of supporting life would be reduced to a minimum.

(5.) There was no peaceful enjoyment of life. The villages or unwalled towns ceased out of the land. Those models of peaceful homes which are scattered everywhere over our own land, whether in the valley, on the plain, or on the mountain-side, especially in sequestered districts, had one after one in that country to be forsaken, because of the ruthless assaults made on their inoffensive occupants by men of marauding instincts. Where pillage, and possibly wanton barbarities became general, it was impossible to live without protection. Hence, villages, hamlets, and country districts were deserted, and the refuge of walled towns was universally sought. The whole nation had to live in hiding, or shut up within walls and gates. Quietude throughout the land was destroyed. The pleasures of home-life were unknown. There was no home at home.

(6.) There was no repose from trouble. It was a state of perpetual alarm. The enemys grasp was on the nations throat. War was brought to the very gates. They had to fight for their altars and their firesides. The enemy was a stranger to pity. The spectacles of family suffering that ever met the eye made no impression on hearts of stone; and there was no relaxation of the iron grip. From day to day, and all the year round, thus it was with poor crushed Israel, whose life was one continual moan. It was not life, but a living death. The dreams of night, and the waking realities of day, spoke only of wretchedness; while a dull leaden cloud of despair seemed to close over their national prospects for ever.

(7.) To crown all, there was a general spirit of trembling. The manhood was taken out of them, and no wonder. They had become a nation of cowards. There was panic everywhere. Not a single hand was raised to grasp a shield or spear among so many as forty thousand of Israel. It was an absolute prostration of the national energies. They were chicken-hearted, crestfallen cowed and spiritlessa community of poltroons and dastards.

The Spirit of the Lord had departed from them, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled them. To depart from the Lord and observe lying vanities, is to forsake our own mercies. When the Lord departs from a soul, it becomes stricken with fear, and trembling seizes upon it. The strong man becomes as tow. The mighty is clothed with trembling. Witness the great ones from whom God has departed (1Sa. 13:7; Dan. 5:6; Act. 24:25). What a striking commentary does this pass of Israels history read on the sure words of prophecy uttered, respecting the evil result of their forsaking the Lord God of their fathers! The Lord shall give thee a trembling heart, and sorrow of mind. Thy life shall hang in doubt before the, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart, and for the sight of thine eyes.

5. Thanksgiving for a great Deliverance. Jdg. 5:1-11. This is the entire purpose of the song. When the deliverance had been accomplished, then sang Deborah, etc. And the subject of this strong heart-utterance is stated to be to praise the Lord for the avenging of IsraelThe singer is most explicit in stating the object in view. I will sing unto the LordI will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. Again she breaks out, Bless ye the Lord. The people who are delivered shall rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, etc. It was customary for the sweet singers of Israel, with David in the foreground, to call on the whole people at fitting times to give thanks to the God of Israel for His great mercies to His people (Psa. 105:1-2; Psa. 106:1-2; Psa. 107:1-3; Psa. 111:1-2; Psa. 118:1-4). Indeed, the whole Book of Psalms is a prolonged exercise of thanksgiving and praise to God for mercies received, along with confession of sin, and petition for Divine blessings. Such praise is comely in Gods redeemed ones. The merest glance at Gods acts towards those whom He has delivered from sin and wrath justifies the expectation of never-ceasing gratitude. While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have any being. The obedience of the Christian life, as regards means, springs entirely from this source; for it is out of gratitude for the great blessings of redemption, so freely and richly bestowed, that every believer runs in the ways of new obedience. The gratitude shown here was genuine and acceptable to God, because:

(1.) It was spontaneous. It was not required by any command given, but it came unbidden from hearts overflowing with thankful feelings for the mercies received. This spontaneous character of the thanksgiving made it come up as a savour of sweet incense unto the Lord; for gratitude, if not a free-will offering, is nothing. In the present case, it was full-hearted and fresh; it was warm and enthusiastic; it was suitable for the occasion, and thoroughly natural. It was altogether up to the mark; for the heart comes out in every line, and, though more than three thousand years have passed since this anthem was first sung, it seems as fervid and glowing as if it had been sung but yesterday.

(a). Nature of gratitude. Gratitude is love responding to love. It is the magnetism of love. When a generous heart magnetises another heart with something of its own nature, the effect comes out in the form of gratitude,

Which makes each generous impulse of our nature,
Warm into ecstasy.

It is the offspring of goodness; the acknowledgment of loves conquests; the homage which the heart presents at the footstool of loving kindness. It is something more excellent than ordinary obedience. The latter is virtue in the positive degree; gratitude is the same in the superlative degree of comparison. In ordinary obedience, the will is tranquil and moderate in its action; in gratitude, it is enthusiastic and overflowing.
(b). Hence the superior excellence of the kind of obedience which the gospel of Christ produces. No obedience is so free, for it springs entirely from the hearts own promptings. None is so powerful, for it has in it the full force of the will. None is so unconstrained, for it needs no command to call it forth. None is so sure in its action, for it is instinctive and irrepressible. None is so living and buoyant, for the deepest and finest strings of the soul are touched, and the highest electric life, of which it is susceptible, is elicited. Hence no offerings are more acceptable to God than the outpourings of grateful hearts. This is the kind of worship rendered in heaven by the redeemed ones before the throne; and no incense is so grateful and precious, as the boundless gratitude which every one of that vast company expresses in honour of the Redeemers name. Even among fellowmen nothing is more pleasant to receive than genuine gratitude;

Sweet is the breath of vernal shower
The bees collected treasures sweet,
Sweet musics melting fall, but sweeter yet
The still small voice of gratitude.

(2). It was religious. This is something far deeper than patriotism. That Deborah and Barak with all the willing-hearted volunteers whom they led were sterling patriots, we cannot for a moment doubt. The very dust of their country was dear to them, and had that been the only impulse under which they acted, everyone in his place would, we believe, have well earned the reputation of a hero. But they felt they were fighting for the cause of their God on the earth, and the promotion of His glory in the eyes of the nations, much more than their countrys renown, was the motive that stirred their hearts. Deeper was the patriotism of the Jew than the representative of any other nationality, for his country was a gift specially bestowed by the hand of his God in token of very peculiar favour (Gen. 17:4-8). It was therefore a sacred land, and on it the Divine blessing was supposed continually to rest, unless in so far as it might be prevented by the peoples sins. It was the chosen theatre for the display of the Divine perfections on the earth. It was occupied by Gods churchthe people with whom He was in covenant relationship as His own people. It was therefore Gods own land. (Psa. 85:1; Psa. 79:1). It was a Holy Land. The patriotism of the Israelite therefore had necessarily much of the religious element in it, in a manner and on grounds, which the member of no other nation had. Yet it was ever the glory of the Divine name, to which the true people of God had regard, as that which was most dear to them in all the anxieties they cherished, and in all the sacrifices they made. Their thanksgiving was strictly a religious act.

(3). It proceeded from a due sense of the magnitude of the favour shown.Knowledge to appreciate the excellence of the Divine blessings, and the loving-kindness of God in bestowing them, is ever regarded in Scripture as a root principle of religious character. Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. (Psa. 64:9; Psa. 111:2; Psa. 34:8). It is set forth as one of the chief barriers to all real improvement, that the professing people of God were so often a people of no understandingsottish childrenmy people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. (Comp. Psa. 73:20-21; Psa. 94:7-10; Psa. 32:8-9; Psa. 78:34-35, also 11, 42; and Isa. 11:3).

That the faithful Israelites fully appreciated the value of the Divine favour shown them in this deliverance appears in the whole character of the effusion. This is proved indeed by the very fact, that it should have been determined to hand down the memory of the event in the form of a national ode to be sung to latest generations. The stirring nature of the composition too shows not only a state of warmth, but even of exultation. Such appreciative worship is in the highest degree glorifying to God. They regarded this deliverance as:
(a). Coming from Gods own hand. The nation was so spirit broken, that no thought of resistance arose among the people themselves. The idea of raising a breakwater, to the over-running flood came from Deborah, and to her as a prophetess of the Lord, it was communicated by the God into whose ear so many penitential confessions on the one hand, and cries for help on the other, came up. His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. It was His Spirit that rested on Deborah, and that passed from Deborah to Barakand from these again, first to the princes, and then to all the willing ones among the people. The scheme of obtaining emancipation by means of a battle was of the Lord. The proclamation to assemble for the fight was Histhe place of rendezvous was of His appointment, and the rule to be followed in selecting soldiers for the army, in choosing only the willing-minded, was expressly ordered by Him. The spirit of dauntless courage and assured confidence of success, which animated the little army of Barak, was infused into them by Him; while the mighty forces of nature which awoke so suddenly, and so marvellously, against the formidable host of Sisera, producing an absolute panic among their ranks, were all arrayed against them by the God of Israel. Thus it ever is with the truly pious. They see Gods wisdom planning and directing, and Gods hand controlling and bending all things to carry out His own mind and will. And to Him, in every event, they ascribe all the praise.

(b). They regarded it as most unexpected. If the Lord should open the windows of heaven, might such a thing be? Nothing seemed more remote from all bounds of possibility than the lifting up of the heavy incubus which now pressed on the hearts and shoulders of the people. The population generally must have been terribly thinned (Jdg. 5:13), and the male population appear to have been degraded to the condition of slaves, while all spirit of heroism seemed to have died out in Israel. It was a sky full of dull leaden clouds, and not a rift could be seen anywhere to relieve the gloom.

(c). They felt it was most opportune. Things were going from bad to worse. It was impossible that the energies of the nation could much longer bear the strain to which they were put. When all commerce had disappeared, and the fields had practically ceased to be tilled; when the whole people were shut up as prisoners within walled towns, or lived in hiding among rocks and caves, with the most precarious means of subsistence, it was inevitable that starvation should soon have come over all the homes of Israel. The sands of the national glass were fast running out, and that once mighty people, before whom all the nations of Canaan fell, were on the verge of becoming extinguished, through the want of the means of subsistence, and the savage cruelties of an iron-hearted tyrant. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now might Israel say, when men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us; the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul; then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler.

(d). They realised it as most complete. The defeat of Sisera was not only a routit was a ruin. The elements of nature were awakened against them in such fury, that it was impossible for them for a moment to stand their ground. It was as if the chaff should try to make headway against the whirlwind. They fell before the sword of Barak and his heroes as sheep decoyed to the slaughter. It became proverbial in the songs of Israel to say, Do to them as to Sisera, as to Jabin at the brook of Kishon; who perished at Endor; they became as dung for the earth. The river of Kishon swept them away. That ancient riverthe river Kishon. The result of this overthrow was not only to weaken perceptibly the power of the oppressor, but absolutely to extinguish it. The sky of Israel was cleared in a single day. Not a cloudnot a speckremained. Israel was free as on the day when they stood on the farther shores of the Red Sea and saw the Egyptians, their oppressors, dead on the strand. The Lords work is a perfect work.

(e). This deliverance was reckoned invaluable. It not only put a stop to the pining away of the nation, and acted as a balm to their patriotic feelings, but it preserved the existence of the only people in all the earth, that were worshippers of the true God, and bore witness to His name among the nations. Had that people been swept away, the whole earth would have presented an unrelieved spectacle of idol worship. Degenerate as Israel had become, there was still a remnant among them who feared the Lord and thought upon His name. For the sake of the few He would not destroy the many. Also, the system of sanctuary service, which had been established among this people, still continued, though greatly neglected and overlapped with many incongruities. It was of vital importance to preserve that system. And of the utmost consequence it was to keep up a channel, by which Gods truth and Gods promises might be handed down to latest generations. Thus the gratitude of these pious singers sprung from a due appreciation of the greatness of the mercy shown by this deliverance.

(4.) It was a voluntary tribute of the hearts love. There was no constraint put on any one to get up such an effusion as this. No command was issued. It rose unbidden from hearts that felt it to be a relief to pour out their feelings in thanksgiving. Every singer seemed to say, Bless the Lord, O, my soul; and all that is within me bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O, my soul, and forget not all His benefits. My mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lipsI will praise Thee with my whole heart. I will remember Thy wonders of old; I will meditate on all Thy works and talk of Thy doings. How excellent is Thy loving kindness, O God! How precious are Thy thoughts to me. How great is the sum of them, etc. And again he says, I will praise Thee among the people; I will sing unto Thee among the nations. For Thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Remember the marvellous works that He hath doneHis wonders and the judgments of His mouth. I love the Lord because He hath heard my voice and my supplication. Blessed be my rock; the God of my salvation be exalted. She loved much; for to whom much is forgiven the same loveth much.

(5.) It was the confession of a deep obligation. The people of that day felt it was as life from the dead to have so great a deliverance wrought for them. Between the murky gloom of the midnight sky, and the brightness of noon day the contrast was not greater, than the changed face of things produced by the destruction of the oppressor, from what the land groaned under before. All that realised it seemed prepared to say: What shall we render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards us? Who remembered us in our low estate, for His mercy endureth for ever; and redeemed us from our enemies, for His mercy endureth for ever! O Lord, I am thy servant; truly I am thy servantthou hast loosed my bonds. I will publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all His wonderful works. We will bless the Lord from this time forth, and for evermore I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and His great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His loving kindnesses.

Remarks.

1. Gratitude is often at a great discount. One says: We write our blessings on the water, but our distresses on the rock. There was a little city and few men within it; and there came a great king against it and besieged it, and built bulwarks against it. Now there was found in it a poor, wise man, who by his wisdom delivered the city,; yet no man remembered that same poor man. As the Dead Sea drinks in the Jordan, and is never the sweeter, and as the ocean receives all the rivers, yet is never the fresher; so men receive the river of Gods daily mercies, and yet remain entirely insensible of them, and ungrateful for them. The heath in the desert needs rain far more than the water-lily. But let the showers come down upon the heaththere is no motion, no sign that the shower is welcomed, or is working. On the other hand, the moment the rain begins to fall on the water-lily, though it is rooted in water, and has its chief element in it, its leaves seem to be clapping their hands, and the whole plant rejoices in the falling of the rain.

2. Necessity of constant thanksgiving. It was a beautiful tradition among the Jews: That when God created the world, He asked the angels what they thought of the work of His hands. One of them replied, that it was so vast and so perfect, that only one thing was wanting to it, namely, that there should be created a clear, mighty, and harmonious voice, which should fill all the quarters of the world incessantly with its sweet sound, day and night, to offer up thanksgiving to its Maker for His incomparable blessings. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Give thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submit yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Psa. 145:2; Psa. 35:28; Psa. 71:8; Psa. 71:15; Psa. 71:24; Psa. 116:2; Psa. 104:33; Psa. 34:1; Psa. 81:6.

3. Manner of showing gratitude. A rich youth in Rome had suffered from a dangerous illness. On recovering his health, his heart was filled with gratitude, and he exclaimed, O thou all-sufficient Creator! could man recompense thee, how willingly would I give thee all my possessions! Hermas, the herdsman, heard this, and said to the rich youth, All good gifts come from above; thither thou canst send nothing. Come, follow me. He took him to a hut where was nothing but misery and wretchedness. The father lay on a bed of sickness, the mother wept, the children were destitute of clothing, and crying for bread. Hermas said, See here an altar for the sacrifice; see here the Lords brethren and representatives. The youth assisted them bountifully; and the poor people called him an angel of God. Hermas smiled and said, Thus turn always thy grateful countenance, first to heaven and then to earth.[Krummacher.]

4. The true spirit of gratitude. Two elements especially enter into this spirit. The one is to have low thoughts of ones self. This was exemplified by Jacob when he said, I am less than the least of all thy mercies. The other is to realise, that as guilty creatures, we deserve wrath not favours. (1Ti. 1:12-16.) A mind that is educated to gratitude, and has become healthfully sensitive to manifestations of the Divine goodness thus expresses itself:

When all thy mercies, O my God,

My rising soul surveys,

Transported with the view Im lost,

In wonder, love and praise.

Looking in through the patched, broken window of an humble cabin one day, a minister saw a poor gray-haired, bent son of toil, at a rude table, with hands raised to God, and his eyes fixed on some crusts of bread with a cup of water, in all humility and contentment exclaiming. This, and Jesus Christ too! This, and Jesus Christ too! [Guthrie.]

COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS.Jdg. 5:1-11

I. No memorials are really lasting, but such as are erected to the glory of God.

1. Monuments in honour of human daring when the purpose is pure and noble, as in the case of the patriot. or in honour of great and noble deeds which benefit human society, or which reveal virtues that belong to the social life of man with man, have their place, and are universally held to be worthily reared. Yet how few even of these go down through the centuries! With regard to the mass of the great ones of the earth, who have earned distinction at the hands of their fellow mortals, it is by an extravagant figure of speech that they are said to be immortalised. The verdict of the really immortal book holds good, all the glory of man is as the flower of grass. Monuments of every kind erected by the hand of man, whether by kings or princes, to immortalise themselves, or by communities for the glory of distinguished citizens, gradually crumble under touch of the hand of time, so that not only are many swept entirely away, but those reared in the past which still survive, are found only in a state of ruins. They do not serve the purpose so much of commemorating glory, as that of intimating that the glory is departed.

2. These monuments were fading memorials of subjects of fading interest. They all belong to the category of mans relations to his fellow man, and therefore must be limited in duration. Man himself is short-lived, and necessarily his aureola must soon fade.

For what is Life? An hour-glass on the run,

A mist retreating from the morning sun,
A busy, bustling, still-repeated dream.
Its length? A minutes pause, a moments thought.
And happiness? A bubble on the stream
That in the act of seizing shrinks to nought.

It is only when man begins to work, or to live for the glory of God, that he becomes really immortal, and that his fame, as well as himself, live for ever. God will not give His glory to another, and He will see to it, that, under His providence, all the glory of man shall sooner, or later be abased.

3. But the ode of Deborah and Barak must live. Its object is not merely to record the stirring events of the battlefield, or to celebrate the heroism of the actors themselves; it is not to speak of stars and medals or fresh titles of distinction conferred on the handful of heroes that poured down from Mount Tabor when the signal was given. But that which imparts a deathless interest to this song, and merits for it a place on the page of the national history to latest generations, is, that here we have another proof of Gods covenant love to His people, a fresh illustration of His faithful shepherd care in watching over their interests, His jealousy in saving them from the hand of the enemy, and His making use of the events of their history anew to illustrate the glory of His own name in all the earth. These considerations raise the subject of this song to an elevation far above that which belongs to the most famous battlefields of ancient history. The names of the mighty captains that led the hosts of Egypt, or Assyria, or Babylon, or Persia to battle, are already for the most part in oblivion, while the far humbler names of Deborah and Barak are engraven for everlasting remembrance in the Book of God, and shall not grow dim while sun and moon endure.

4. This ode also has a connection with the coming Messiah. The deliverance here celebrated was literally a redemption of the church of God from the consequences of her sins. It was one of many deliverances which God wrought out for His church, as preliminaries to the glorious and eternal redemption which the Messiah was to accomplish for that church when He should appear in the fulness of time. It was the kindling of a new light in the firmament of Israels history, the appearance of an additional star in the dark night, to keep alive hope in the heart of the desponding church, a star which would shine on till it brought in Messiahs day.

II. Gods dealings with His Church are worthy of the widest publicity.

A place is given to this song in the only book in the world which God acknowledges to be His, and the circulation of which is destined to cover the earth as the waters cover the seabed. It shall, therefore, become known through this song to the inhabitants of the whole world down to the end of time, what great things God did for His people in this age of great declension and suffering. And this is ever the wish of the Lord of the church, to glorify Himself in the eyes of the world by means of His church, for even unto principalities and powers in heavenly places is made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. What took place in this dark and distant age, though but a fragment of history, becomes of the greatest importance, when looked at as a link in the chain of Gods dealings with His Church. It repeats, in the background, the story of the Divine faithfulness and love, which is elsewhere exhibited so conspicuously in the brighter pages of the churchs history. It shows that His Church is loved by Him in all stages of its history, that His work in it and towards it is honourable and glorious, that He is ever mindful of His covenant, and in due time sends redemption to His people. The history of Gods dealings with His Church hangs together as a whole, and the same principles of truth and righteousness are conspicuous in every part.

III. Sin terribly weakens all that give way to it.

Israel had now for many years been a spectacle to the world of a people that had been forsaken of their God. How completely had the strength gone out of the nation! It was as if a paralysis had seized upon it, and every faculty had become inert; or as if a giant, with brawny arms and muscular limbs, had sunk down to the diminutive form of a sickly dwarf. That which had been a Samson among the nations was now shorn of its locks. All that have to do with sin become terribly weakened, for

1. Gods frown is upon such FROM WITHOUT. The external aspect of His Providence, sooner or later, is against them, for sin must always bring the frown of the Ruler of Providence. That frown may find expression in a thousand ways. For all the creatures are in Gods hand, and He can move them at will to act, consciously or unconsciously, the part of enemies to those who are the objects of His displeasure. When a mans ways displease the Lord, He can make even his bosom friends to be at enmity with him. He can put a lion in his path, and should he flee from the lion, He has a bear ready to meet him, or if he go into the house, and lean his hand on the wall, He commands the serpent to bite him. When David sinned, God raised up enemies round about him like bees, and as numerous and as wasp-like in their nature (Psa. 3:1; Psa. 118:11-12). When Solomon sinned, his powerful kingdom was rent in twain (1Ki. 11:9-13); and adversaries were raised up against him, notwithstanding all his prosperity (1Ki. 11:14; 1Ki. 11:23; 1Ki. 11:26).

Events too are turned against the sinner. Loose as events seem to hang on one another, they are yet all linked together in a chain, and even heathen poets tell us that the highest link of that chain is fastened to Jupiters chairthat the chain may wave and shake this way or that way, but that the hand that holds it is steady, and the eye that guides it is infallible. The brightest prospects of the sinner may end in disappointment; his most skilfully-laid plans may be defeated; and all his prosperity may be turned into adversity, by a single turn of the wheel. God will set His face against that man, and follow him for evil, and not for good. When he flees from the iron weapon, the bow of steel shall strike him through. The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him. Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet. His strength shall be hunger-bitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side. He puts snares in all his mercies, crosses in all his comforts, and, in the expressive language of Scripture, curses his blessings. There is no peace for the wicked. (Psa. 37:1-2; Isa. 45:9.)

2. God takes away the sources of their strength FROM WITHIN. When God fights against a man it is not only in the way of meeting him outwardly face to face, but He also attacks him equally and more formidably from within. He dries up the sinews of his strength; He takes courage out of his heart and nerve out of his arm. He goes close up to the rebel and attacks him at the very seat of his strength. When He fought against Pharaoh and his host, He not only opposed them with the waters of the Red Sea, but He pulled off their chariot-wheels, so that they drove them heavily.

Israel had now become a silly dove without heart. Its strength was emasculated. When they went out to battle against the enemy, not only were all the circumstances and accidents of the occasion turned against them by the overruling of Divine Providence, but their resources within themselves were withdrawntheir spirit of heroism, their skill in devising expedients, and their harmony of action. A spirit of poltroonery seized upon them; their princes became as children, and the men of might did not find their hands. God whispered to conscience, His vice-gerent in the the soul, and they were pursued with terrors, even as the dried leaves are tossed by the wind. When their stalwart foes met them in the field, they fell, as if the rock on which they leaned were taken away from behind them, and they were swept away by the resistless fury of the hostile wave (Deu. 28:64-65).

3. Examples of the weakening effects of sin. When Israel took of the accursed thing they began to flee before their enemies. When Samson sinned, his locks were shorn and his strength went from him. Ahab, though an absolute monarch upon the throne, yet felt himself weak, and the nation brought to the brink of ruin, because of his vile idolatries. Though ably succoured by the energetic Jezebel, he yet felt himself so weak, that he durst not lift a finger, or move his tongue, against the one man that stood forth to vindicate the character of Jehovah. When Gehazi treacherously took the money and raiment of Naaman to the dishonour of Israels God, he became enfeebled for life, for he went out from the prophets presence a leper white as snow. When Saul disobeyed the commandment of the Lord, notwithstanding his goodly appearance and his first successes, he began to show a quaking heart in face of the formidable Philistines. Before Goliath he was dismayed and greatly afraid. After shedding much innocent blood, and wickedly thirsting to take the life of the son of Jesse, though divinely anointed to occupy the throne of Israel, his terrors so increased, as his sins increased, that he abjectly submits to ask guidance in his dilemma from a woman with a familiar spirit, and finally he rushes on to the commission of suicide. When King Herod had barbarously murdered the holy man of God, peace forsook his pillow, and the victim of his violence ever floated before his eyes, as a spectre of which he could not get quit, so that when he heard of Jesus he said, It is not Jesusit is John, risen from the dead! though, being a Sadducee, he believed in no resurrection. When the band of soldiers from the priests and scribes came to take Jesus, at the slightest whisper of His voice they went backward and fell to the ground.

IV. Dark nights are followed by bright mornings in the history of Gods people.

At the beginning of Gods dealings with His people, we are told that God heard their groaning (under Pharaoh), and remembered His covenant. This is the secret of all that is peculiar in the Divine dealings with them. Here we find a differentiating principle. Other nations were left one by one to perish. This nation, after many a dark night, has always a morning of joy to succeed it. They have no thorns without roses; no tears shed without being followed by smiles. Threatenings are indeed fulfilled, but promises are also remembered. When the tempest has blown hard for a while, the sky again clears up, and the sun shines with wonted warmth and splendour. The life of the people of God in this world is thus a perpetual paradox, as set forth in 2Co. 4:8-10; and 2Co. 6:8-10. For

1. There are reasons for joy as well as sorrow. They are a redeemed people, and the price is Christs precious blood. If their sins deserve the severest marks of the Divine displeasure, the great fact is always present before God, that for them an atonement has been made, and these very sins have already been punished for on a substitute. While the evil desert of the sins must be made manifest to their own eye, and in their bitter experience, the fulness of the Divine satisfaction found in the atonement made for them must also be impressed on them in their happy experience. The blood of His own Son is sprinkled upon them; therefore they are sacred and cannot be dealt with as refuse or castaways.

2. He has expressly promised to return to them in love when they repent. Many assurances are given to this effect throughout the whole of the prophecies. (Jer. 3:12-15; Jer. 30:18-20; also, 8, 9; Hos. 14:1-5; Joe. 2:12-20).

3. They are brought into endearing relations to God. God will sometimes show that He regards them with a Fathers affection. He will not be always wroth, lest it should be supposed either that they are less loved than hated, or, that if once they were beloved, they are so now no longer. They are His children; they bear His image, however imperfectly brought out it is; they are His inheritance; they are the brethren of His Son, and joint heirs with that Son of all that belongs to the common Father. He cannot, therefore be always showing His anger towards them. (Psa. 103:9, etc).

4. A continual turning of the back would be more than they could bear. He remembered that they were but flesh, etc., and being full of compassion, He forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not. (Psa. 78:38-39, and Isa. 57:16).

5. All their nights are destined soon to end in day. Whatever clouds belong to their history shall pass over their heads in time. Not one shall darken their sky in the world beyond. It is indeed needful so long as sin remains, that they should drink of the waters of Marah, and that sometimes they should go mourning without the sun; but it is not seemly, that they should never be allowed to taste of the first fruits of the land of promise, while travelling through the wilderness on to the promised rest. It must be seen that they are the beloved of God, destined to sing and to shine for ever, and therefore objects so tenderly dealt with, that a kind voice must now and again break through the dark clouds saying, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. If the days of their mourning shall soon be ended, we may expect that some rifts will occasionally be seen in the clouds, to show that it is not a settled rain of sorrows which now falls upon them, but that soon there will be a breaking up, to be followed by a sunshine that shall last for ever.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

The Song of Deborah and Barak Jdg. 5:1-31

Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,

2

Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel,
when the people willingly offered themselves.

3

Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes;
I, even I, will sing unto the Lord;
I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

4

Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir,
when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom,
the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped,
the clouds also dropped water.

5

The mountains melted from before the Lord,
even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.

6

In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,
in the days of Jael,
the highways were unoccupied,
and the travelers walked through byways.

7

The inhabitants of the villages ceased,
they ceased in Israel,
until that I Deborah arose,
that I arose a mother in Israel.

8

They chose new gods;
then was war in the gates:
was there a shield or spear seen
among forty thousand in Israel?

9

My heart is toward the governors of Israel,
that offered themselves willingly among the people.
Bless ye the Lord.

10

Speak, ye that ride on white asses,
ye that sit in judgment,
and walk by the way.

11

They that are delivered from the noise of archers
in the places of drawing water,
there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord,
even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel:
then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates.

12

Awake, awake, Deborah: awake,
awake, utter a song:
arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive,
thou son of Abinoam.

13

Then he made him that remaineth have dominion
over the nobles among the people:
the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty.

14

Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek;
after thee, Benjamin, among thy people;
out of Machir came down governors.
and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.

15

And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
even Issachar, and also Barak:
he was sent on foot into the valley.
For the divisions of Reuben
there were great thoughts of heart.

16

Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds,
to hear the bleatings of the flocks?
For the divisions of Reuben
there were great searchings of heart.

17

Gilead abode beyond Jordan:
and why did Dan remain in ships?
Asher continued on the seashore,
and abode in his breaches.

18

Zebulun and Naphtali were a people
that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high
places of the field.

19

The kings came and fought;
then fought the kings of Canaan
in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo;
they took no gain of money.

20

They fought from heaven;
the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

21

The river of Kishon swept them away,
that ancient river, the river Kishon.
O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength,

22

Then were the horsehoofs broken
by the means of the prancings,
the prancings of their mighty ones.

23

Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord,
curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof;
because they came not to the help of the Lord,
to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

24

Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be;
blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

25

He asked water, and she gave him milk;
she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

26

She put her hand to the nail,
and her right hand to the workmens hammer;
and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head,
when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

27

At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down:
at her feet he bowed, he fell:
where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

28

The mother of Sisera looked out at a window,
and cried through the lattice,
Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the wheels of his chariots?

29

Her wise ladies answered her,
yea, she returned answer to herself,

30

Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey;
to every man a damsel or two;
to Sisera a prey of divers colors,
a prey of divers colors of needlework,
of divers colors of needlework on both sides,
meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?

31

So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord:
but let them that love him be as the sun when he
goeth forth in his might.
And the land had rest forty years.

1.

When had God avenged Israel? Jdg. 5:2

God had avenged Israel of her adversaries whenever they unjustly attacked His people. He gave them victory over the Amalekites under Joshua in the days immediately after they left Egypt (Exodus 17). He had driven out the Canaanites who were in the land which had been promised to Abraham and his descendants (Joshua 12). Since the great victory over Jabin, king of Hazor, was especially recent and Deborah and Barak were connected with this victory, reference must be made to this event. The American Standard Version translates the first half of the verse differently. This translation makes no reference of Gods avenging Israel, but thanks God because the leaders took the lead in Israel.

2.

When had God marched out of the field of Edom? Jdg. 5:4

The children of Israel had come from the south into the Promised Land. They had asked for the privilege of a passage through Edom, but the king had denied their request (Num. 20:14-21). For this reason, Israel had been forced to march around Edom, but nevertheless her entry was made from that direction and Deborah is making reference to this part of the wilderness wandering. God had led the people by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. As His people marched, it could be said that God marched out of the land of Edom.

3.

What were the dangers in the days of Shamgar? Jdg. 5:5-6; Jdg. 5:11

In the days of Shamgar, the third judge of Israel (Jdg. 3:31), the highways were unoccupied. Travelers were forced to walk through the byways. An alternate translation in the American Standard Version makes reference to the caravans having ceased. The people who traveled went by crooked ways. Such a condition must have been forced upon Israel by the Philistines who oppressed their land in the days of Shamgar. In verse eleven, Deborah and Barak make reference to the noise of the archers. The sounds of war must have been heard throughout the land. In verse eight, she asks if there was a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel. Such a question must have been prompted by the absence of weapons of war. During the days of the Philistine oppression, the Israelites were not allowed to own spears and swords. They had no blacksmiths among them. Whenever they wanted an agricultural tool sharpened, they were forced to go to the Philistines for this service (1Sa. 13:19-21). We are indebted to the song of Deborah and Barak for this additional information about the conditions in Israel in the times of Shamgar, whose career is only briefly mentioned in chapter three.

4.

What was Israels greatest sin? Jdg. 5:8

The people of Israel chose new gods. As a result, there was war in the gates. The first commandment was a prohibition against Israels making any other gods. God said, Thou shalt have no other gods before me (Exo. 20:3). He had strictly forbidden them to leave pagan altars standing in Israel after they conquered the land. They were told to cut down the groves where the pagan Canaanites worshiped. He made every effort to prevent their falling into idolatry. Time and time again, however, it is recorded that Israel served Baalim and Ashtaroth. This sin led to many other sins, and her unfaithfulness to God brought war on the land.

5.

How had Deborah reacted to the political and social conditions in her day? Jdg. 5:9

Deborahs heart went out to the leaders of the people of Israel. She described them as those who offered themselves willingly among the people. She must have encouraged them to stand up for their convictions as she said, Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way (Jdg. 5:10). She looked forward to the time when the people would be free from the fear of war and would be able to rehearse freely how God had delivered His people. When peace prevailed, she said the people would go down to the gates (Jdg. 5:11). They would not be afraid to walk in the streets and to converse freely together.

6.

What was Baraks captivity? Jdg. 5:12

Deborah encouraged Barak to lead his captivity captive. The American Standard Version makes reference to his leading away his captives, Since Jabin was king of the Canaanites in Hazor and Barak was from the tribe of Naphtali, both were in the northern part of Palestine, Undoubtedly, Jabin had attacked these neighboring tribes most severely, Many of the men of Naphtali had probably been taken captive by this Canaanite king. Deborah encouraged Barak to fight valiantly in order to gain the release of his fellow tribes-people who were prisoners of war in the hands of Jabin.

7.

Whom did God raise up? Jdg. 5:13

As always in the history of Gods people, there remains a few who are courageous and willing to jeopardize their lives for the truth. Deborah declared that this righteous remnant provided the leadership. She described a leader of the day as him that remaineth. God gave such a man dominion and leadership among the nobles of the people. In the King James translation, we read, the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty. The American Standard Version describes the Lords coming down for Deborah against the mighty. Deborah, herself, was one of few who had the courage to stand up. She was among those who remained.

8.

What tribes helped Deborah and Barak? Jdg. 5:14-15

In this song, special notice is made of the men of Ephraim, the people of Benjamin, those of Machir, and them of Zebulun. Mention is also made of the tribe of Issachar, and later reference gives praise to the tribe of Naphtali (Jdg. 5:18). Since Deborah was a member of the tribe of Ephraim, and Barak was from Zebulun, one might expect that these two tribes would be involved in this conflict, but it is significant that these other tribes from both sides of the Jordan joined with their two leaders to drive the Canaanites out of their borders. Certainly, here is an instance where a leader had influence over nearly all Israel; and such evidence would make it extremely difficult to view the judges as ruling over small segments of the land and living all at the same time.

9. Did Reuben help Deborah? Jdg. 5:15-16

The men of Reuben evidently did not come out to battle with Deborah. Mention is made only of their great resolves of heart and their searchings of heart. Such references would indicate that the tribe was divided and in its indecision lost the opportunity to join in the victorious cause. They are chided for abiding among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleating of the flocks. Probably they did not help Deborah in her campaign.

10.

What tribes did not help against Jabin? Jdg. 5:17

The song says Gilead abode beyond the Jordan. Such a reference would indicate that the men of Gad did not assist. The tribe of Gad was east of the Jordan and apparently joined Reuben in withholding support. Dan is also mentioned as one who remained in his ships; Dan was located on the western border and had shoreline along the Mediterranean Sea. Evidently these people did not come up from the west coast to join in the battle with Deborah and Barak. Asher, another tribe which was close to the scene of battle, is described as one who continued on the sea shore, and abode in his creeks (Jdg. 5:17). Such divided loyalty on the part of the tribes of Israel was unthinkable to Deborah and Barak. They rebuked these tribes for their refusal to join in the battle.

11.

Where was the battle fought? Jdg. 5:18-19

The battle was fought in the heights of the Carmel range which ran in a southeasterly direction from the Mediterranean seacoast. Two very important heights were mentionedTaanach and Megiddo. These citadels commanded a view of the valley to the north and east. They were in the mountains where Israel could set up a line of defense in an effort to stop the invasion of Jabin from the north, Solomon later had a fortress at Megiddo and Taanach, and both Megiddo and Taanach have been recently excavated,

12.

How had the stars fought against Sisera? Jdg. 5:20

Deborah knew God had fought for His people, She was like the psalmist who said he would lift up his eyes unto the hills, for he knew his help came from the Lord (Psa. 121:1-2). Deborah would hardly depend upon some astrologer to tell her what the fate of Gods people might be. She knew that if they were faithful to the Lord, He would bless them. In this effort, they had been victorious; and she knew that He who put the stars in place had ordered the battle against the Canaanites.

13.

What was the curse of Meroz? Jdg. 5:23

The people who lived in the community of Meroz were cursed. This is a place in northern Palestine, now identified with Khirbet Marus, which is some seven and one-half miles south of Kedesh in Naphtali. Kedesh was a city of refuge and mention is made of this locality in Jos. 21:32 and again in Jos. 20:7. Since they were in the very area which lost most by Jabins invasion and gained most by Israels victory, they were singled out for a curse delivered by the angel of the Lord because they did not come into the battle.

14.

How did Deborah describe Siseras death? Jdg. 5:27

In one of the most interesting arrangements of Hebrew words and couplets in this poem, she cried out, At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead. This is an excellent example of the parallelism which is found in Hebrew poetry. There is no end rhyme, nor is there meter. There is a repetition of ideas in words that are similar or words that are identical. A thought is repeated for emphasis. Sisera was destroyed by Jael, and Deborah celebrated the event with this repetitive refrain.

15.

Why did Siseras mother think he was late in returning? Jdg. 5:28-30

Siseras mother is described in a very picturesque way in this song. She is viewed as having been waiting at the lattice work of her window. She misses her sons usual victorious return. She listens in vain for the sound of the wheels of his chariots as triumphant entry is made back into the Canaanite city. The ladies in waiting answered by saying they are busy dividing the spoils of war. She agreed to this answer herself, thinking it must be true that they were dividing the captive maidens among themselves, parceling out the cloaks of brightly colored needlework, and enjoying the fruits of victory.

16.

How long did Deborahs influence continue? Jdg. 5:31

It is said that the land had rest for forty years. This was undoubtedly a reference to the fact that under the leadership of Deborah and Barak, Jabin, king of Hazor, was defeated. Following this defeat, peace came to Israel and continued for the time mentioned. Deborahs prayer was for all great crises to turn out as well for Israel. She prayed for those who loved the Lord to shine as the sun.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(1) Then sang Deborah.She was a prophetess, I and the word for prophet, like the Latin vates, involved gifts which were closely allied to those of the poet.

And Barak.Doubtless Deborah was the sole author of the song, as is implied by the singular verb (Jdg. 5:3); but no doubt Barak joined in antiphon when it was sung, just as Moses, at the head of the warriors, and Miriam, at the head of the women, sang the song of Moses, in Exodus 15. As the English version requires some correction, I have appended a translation at the end of the chapter, which must be regarded as a kind of running commentary.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1. Then sang Deborah and Barak. As Moses and Miriam led Israel in singing the triumphal song of Exodus 15, so in this case Barak probably led the men, and Deborah the women, and at the appropriate periods these responded to one another. Compare also 1Sa 18:6-7. No one will pretend that both Deborah and Barak were jointly the authors of this poem. An all but universal opinion ascribes it to Deborah herself, and in support of this opinion we may urge (1.) Various evidences that it was composed by a contemporary of the scenes described. (2.) The thought, again and again suggested in the song itself, that the author was a woman. “A man,” says one writer, “would have portrayed the boldest deeds of arms, the most striking scenes of the struggle, which the woman only designates by a single pencil-stroke, while she dwells with delight upon the flight of the enemy. Only a woman could praise the deed of Jael as Deborah did. To none other than a woman’s mind would the cares and anxieties of the mother be suggested, as the chariot of Sisera long delayed its coming.” (3.) A comparison of Jdg 5:3; Jdg 5:7 clearly shows that Deborah is the professed authoress. Of all the Judges only Deborah prophesied, and she expressed herself in lyric song. And she sang, not as Miriam, who merely led the singing of a song another had composed, but as Moses, the victor, and the creator of the song.

On that day That day when Israel returned from the battle, flushed with enthusiasm over their great national triumph. This song was doubtless composed by the prophetess immediately after the victory, and this most naturally explains the freshness and emotionality apparent in nearly every line.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Chapter 5. Deborah’s Song.

This chapter contains a song of praise by Deborah and Barak over the victories gained over Jabin and his kingdom. An exhortation to praise is offered, and kings stirred to listen to it. Then the majestic appearance of God at Seir and on Sinai is described in awe-inspiring terms. This is followed by a description of the miserable state and condition Israel was in before these victories, until Deborah arose to deliver them, and the call went out to the tribes to respond in accordance with the covenant. Descriptions follow of those who responded and those who failed to respond. The latter are reproved, and even cursed. The battle is then described and blessing offered for Jael who as a foreigner dealt with the enemy general. It finishes with the sad picture of Sisera’s wife waiting hopelessly for her man to return, and a final plea that Yahweh’s enemies will all likewise perish and those who love Him be as the sun in its brilliance. Introduction (Jdg 5:1-3).

Jdg 5:1

‘ Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam, in that day, saying.’

That the song of Deborah was contemporary with the victory itself is recognised by most scholars. The song would appear to have been composed by Deborah herself (Jdg 5:7), but it was a public song of victory in which all partook. It is an interesting example of Hebrew parallelism whereby each line is repeated in a different way.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jdg 5:4-5 Comments – God’s Descent Upon Mount Sinai – Jos 5:4-5 refers to God’s descent upon Mount Sinai, when there was a thunderstorm and an earthquake as Moses and the children of Israel encamped about it. These verses are similar to Psa 68:7-8.

Psa 68:7-8, “O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah: The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.”

Jdg 5:6-7 Comments Flight to Security – Jdg 5:6-7 means that everyone sought security in fortified cities. Life in the unsecured villages came to a halt.

Jdg 5:8  They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

Jdg 5:8 “was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?” – Comments – Neither did the children of Israel have swords and spears in the time of King Saul.

1Sa 13:22, “So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found.”

Jdg 5:10  Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.

Jdg 5:10 Comments – There are Old Testament kings and leaders that sat upon a donkey.

1. Jair, a judge in Israel, had thirty sons that rode on donkeys:

Jdg 10:4, “And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead.”

2. Adbon, a judge in Israel, had forty sons and thirty nephews that rode on donkeys:

Jdg 12:14, “And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years.”

3. King Solomon rode on David’s mule for his inauguration as King. This story is similar to how Jesus rode into Jerusalem:

1Ki 1:33, “The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon:”

1Ki 1:38, “So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon.”

Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (Luk 12:14).

Joh 12:14, “And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Glory and Power of Israel

v. 1. Then sang Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, on that day, the song having been composed by Deborah in celebration of the great victory, saying,

v. 2. Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves, literally, “for the free exhibition of warlike valor in Israel,” namely, when the people with their leaders wholly devoted themselves to God. and hazarded their lives in the strength of this faith, “for the willing war-service of the people, praise Jehovah. ” To God alone all glory and honor shall ever be given.

v. 3. Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes, namely, all those of the heathen nations round about; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel, literally, “I to Jehovah, I will sing, will play to Jehovah, the God of Israel,” her song demanding all the more attention since she is a prophetess filled with the, Spirit of God. After this inspiring introduction the singer reminds the hearers of some of the great deeds of God in the past.

v. 4. Lord, when Thou wentest out of Seir, when Thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, namely, when He prepared for the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, His coming at that time being compared to the rising of a mighty thunderstorm in the East, in the highlands of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. Cf Exo 19:16; Hab 3:10.

v. 5. The mountains melted from before the Lord, flowed away, as it were, by reason of mighty earthquakes, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel, for it was there that the disturbance was concentrated. Psa 97:5. After this rehearsal of God’s wonderful majesty, Deborah pictures the distress of Israel before the victory just gained.

v. 6. In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, who proved himself a hero in a local attack on the Philistines, Jdg 3:31, in the days of Jael, even though this heroic woman was then already living, yet Israel as a whole was in a miserable plight, the highways were unoccupied, the people of Israel had ceased to use them for fear of their enemies, and the travelers walked through byways, made use of hidden paths, often with crooked and zigzag courses, in order to escape the vigilance of their enemies.

v. 7. The inhabitants of the villages ceased, the open, unfortified hamlets were deserted for fear of marauding bands, they ceased in Israel, until that I, Deborah, arose, that I arose a mother in Israel, to nurse and protect the people with motherly care.

v. 8. They, the people of Israel, chose new gods, the cause of their downfall, the reason for their misery; then was war in the gates, as a result of their having forsaken the old, the everlasting God, Deu 32:17. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? There were no warriors left to protect the country against the fury of the enemies.

v. 9. My heart is toward the governors of Israel, she was with them heart and soul, she inspired them with hope and trust in Jehovah, that offered themselves willingly among the people, devoting themselves to the cause of conquering the Lord’s enemies. Bless ye the Lord.

v. 10. Speak, ye that ride on white asses, the nobles of the people should meditate upon the deeds of the Lord, ye that sit in judgment, on splendid rugs or mats such as were used on saddles, and walk by the way, for the simple wayfarers, the poor and lowly among the people, were also included in this admonition.

v. 11. They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of His villages in Israel; then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates. This is a picture of peace times. Instead of the noise and shouting of those contending at the cisterns, anxious to get away before some band of the enemies might come along, they could now take their time and sound forth songs of praise to Jehovah for His deeds of righteousness, also in restoring freedom to the inhabitants of the open hamlets, for the people could now return without fear to the gates of their towns and cities, since the power of the oppressor was broken.

v. 12. Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake, utter a song; there was need of her singing her most inspiring song in imparting enthusiasm to the soldiers whom she had bidden Barak assemble. Arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive; for by fighting and leading the enemy captive he would end the conflict, thou son of Abinoam.

v. 13. Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people; the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty, literally, “Then went down a remnant of the powerful, the people; Jehovah went down for me among the mighty. ” It was indeed only a small remnant of the powerful, a fraction of mighty Israel that went forth to battle with the tyrant, but the Lord was in their midst at the call of Deborah, and therefore they could freely risk the conflict.

v. 14. Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; for to this tribe belonged Joshua, the hero against the Amalekites, Exodus 17. After thee, Benjamin, among thy people; for it was Ehud of this tribe who had rendered Benjamin illustrious. Out of Machir came down governors, men who had proved themselves able leaders of the people, also in this campaign, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer, or, “the staff of him who musters well,” men distinguished for leadership.

v. 15. And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah, although they brought no troops, their presence proved their interest in the campaign; even Issachar, and also Barak; he was sent on foot into the valley, he had only infantry under his command, but he made his furious, overwhelming attack nevertheless. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart; the tribe of Reuben, in its habitations along its brooks in the east country, reflected so long upon the necessity and the possibility of joining the army of Barak until it was too late.

v. 16. Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds to hear the bleatings of the flocks? Because the Reubenites preferred the security of their homes, they are here addressed with bitter irony. For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart; they meditated and considered the matter well enough, but they were unable to arouse themselves to action.

v. 17. Gilead abode beyond Jordan, both the tribes of Reuben and Gad seemed to consider their living east of Jordan sufficient excuse for not joining their brethren; and why did Dan, whose territory was so near, remain in ships? letting his own commercial interests take preference over the needs of his brethren. Asher continued on the seashore, dwelling securely in his harbors, and abode in his breaches, in the small bays on which the harbors were located.

v. 18. Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field. The men of Zebulun willingly offered their souls, their lives, for the liberation of their country, and those of Naphtali on the heights of their mountainous territory. Their praise, therefore, is sung in this hymn. The soldiers of the Lord who freely set forth to battle with the enemies of Christ, with the weapons of the Spirit, are to be commended, but those who remain idle while their brethren are engaged in campaigns which threaten the very existence of the Church, deserve to be severely reprimanded.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Jdg 5:1

Then sang Deborah, etc. The ode which follows was doubtless the composition of Deborah the prophetess, and was sung by her (as the gender of the Hebrew verb indicates), assisted by Barak, who perhaps sang the antistrophe (cf. Exo 15:1, Exo 15:21). It is a song of wonderful beauty and lyric power, somewhat difficult, as all Hebrew poetry is.

Jdg 5:2

Her first feeling was one of patriotic joy that her countrymen had been roused to the venture of war, and of gratitude to God that it was so. “For the bold leading of the leaders of Israel, for the willing following of the people, praise ye the Lord.

Jdg 5:3

Her song was worthy to be listened to by kings and princes. She calls their attention to the tale she had to tell of the great acts of the Lord.

Jdg 5:4, Jdg 5:5

The recent victory recalled the glories of those days when God brought up Israel from Egypt into Canaan. She specifies the march from Seir or Her, and the day when Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

Jdg 5:6

From what misery God had saved the people! In the days of her predecessor Shamgar, when the Philistines overran the country, when Heber the Kenite still dwelt in the south of Judah, all traffic ceased in the land. The caravans were stopped, and travellers slunk into the by-ways.

Jdg 5:7

Instead of The inhabitants of the villages ceased, some render the leaders ceased. Till Deborah arose and stirred up Barak, there was no one to put himself at the head of the people.

Jdg 5:8

The cause of this misery was not far to seek; it was the idolatry of the people which provoked God to anger. Then their enemies were let loose upon them, and they dared make no resistance.

Jdg 5:9

What a contrast with that fainthearted submission was the recent triumphant rising! Exultation and thanksgiving for the devotion of the people break out again, as in Jdg 5:2.

Jdg 5:10

She appeals to the nobles who ride on white (or roan) asses, and sit on rich saddle-cloths (not sit in judgment), and to the people who walk by the way, alike to speak of the great deliverance.

Jdg 5:11

A very difficult verse, and very variously rendered. For archers some give the interpretation dividers, i.e. MEN SHARING THE BOOTY THEY HAVE TAKEN; or, SINGING IN ALTERNATE VERSES. For They that are delivered from, some render far away from. Others again take the preposition from in the not uncommon sense of more than, meaning here louder than. The chief different senses which emerge are

(1) that of the A.V.: “Those that can now draw water from the wells without being molested by the hostile archers shall sing praises to God in the very spots where they were wont to be attacked.”

(2) “Far from the noise and tumult of those that divide the spoil among the water-troughs, there shall they sing,etc.

(3) “With a louder voice than that of the shepherds who sing among the water-troughs (while they are watering their flocks), there shall they rehearse,” etc. Or,

(4) combining (2) and (3), “With a voice louder (and more exultant) than that of those who divide the spoil, there shall they rehearse,” etc. The inhabitants of his villages. Render his leaders, as in Jdg 5:7. Then shall the people go down to the gates of the cities for judgment, or to the bazaars, as in old times, without fear of their enemies.

Jdg 5:12

Awake, etc. She seems to go back in thought to the moment when she received the Divine call to her mission of deliverance, and executed it by the voice of her stirring prophecies. Then she lashed her soul into action, and roused Barak from his lethargy by the promise of spoil and victory.

Jdg 5:13

Then he gave dominion to a mere remnant of Israel over the powerful among the people of Canaan, the Lord gave me dominion over the mighty men of Jabin.

Jdg 5:14

They who spring (whose root is) from Ephraim went against Amalek, following thee, O Benjamin, with thy people; from Manasseh (Machir, son of Manasseh, Gen 50:23) came down governors (literally, lawgivers: cf. verse 9), and out of Zebulun they that handle the baton of the commander, i.e. the military chiefs.

Jdg 5:15

He was sent on foot into the valley. It was a mark of extraordinary valour that he rushed down from Mount Tabor on foot against the 900 iron chariots in the plain (Jdg 4:14). For the divisions, etc. Or, among the water-brooks, i.e. the Reubenites, dwelling amidst their flocks among the water-brooks, were much perplexed with doubts whether they should stay still or join their countrymen.

Jdg 5:17

In ships. The celebrated hat. hour of Joppa (Jon 1:3), now Jaffa, was in the tribe of Dan. His breaches. The creeks and bays where they kept their fishing. boats.

Jdg 5:19

The kings came and fought (cf. Jos 11:1, Jos 11:2, Jos 11:5). They took no gain of money. These words may mean,

(1) they did not stop to plunder, they were intent only upon slaughter; or,

(2) they took no ransom for their enemies’ lives; or,

(3) they got nothing by their fighting, for they were all killed themselves.

Jdg 5:20

According to Josephus, a great storm in the face of the Canaanites led to their utter discomfiture, and also swelled the Kishon to overflow its banks.

Jdg 5:21

Ancient. The word so rendered is only found here. The brook of ancient days, or things, probably means the brook celebrated from of old by the warlike deeds done on its banks.

Jdg 5:22

Their mighty ones. Applied to bulls, Psa 22:12, etc.; and to horses (A.V; his strong ones), Jer 8:16; his strong horses, Jer 47:3.

Jdg 5:23

Meroz, in the time of Jerome Meres, a village otherwise unknown, twelve miles from Samaria. The mighty. Not the same word as that so rendered in Jdg 5:22, but that usually rendered a mighty man, or a man of war.

Jdg 5:24

Blessed above women, etc. With the selfish indifference of the men of Meroz she contrasts the valorous enthusiasm of Jael the Kenite, and blesses her for it as emphatically as she curses the inhabitants of Meroz.

Jdg 5:25

A lordly dish. A dish fit for princes; perhaps one reserved for the most illustrious guests.

Jdg 5:26

With the hammer. These words are not in the Hebrew, and should be omitted. She smote (not smote off), yea, she wounded (Psa 68:21); she pierced through his temples.

Jdg 5:30

Sped, i.e. come across some booty. For the necks of them that take the spoil. Literally, for the necks of spoil. It is a difficult and obscure expression. The spoil may mean the camels, horses, or mules taken from the enemy, and the articles described may mean the housings and trappings for their necks. Or the necks of spoil might mean the necks of the beasts of burden laden with spoil.

Jdg 5:31

A fine application of the whole subject! Each such victory was a foretaste of the final victory over sin and death, and of the glory of the redeemed Church.

HOMILETICS

This splendid ode, so full of poetic fire and vivid dramatic effect, with its startling contrasts, its picturesque descriptions, its glowing eulogiums, its burning patriotism, its striking characters thrown into high relief by the stroke or two of genius, its passion and its pathos, is not deficient in ethos. We will single out two or three ethical lessons from their surroundings.

I. SELF–SACRIFICE FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS. The ninth verse is an awakening call to voluntary sacrifice on the altar of the public good. While men in general are hanging back from exertion and danger in sloth or timidity, unwilling to run any risk, or to make any effort, there are those who, with high-minded zeal for their country’s or their Church’s weal, burst asunder the restraining bonds of selfishness, and, with their life in their hands, offer themselves willingly for the common cause. Deborah’s burst of generous admiration toward those who did so in her time is a stirring call to us to imitate their example. But let us not imagine that such self sacrifice is confined to extraordinary occasions: or can be executed only on the platform of great emergencies. Unselfish efforts for the good of others find room for their exercise in the common round of every-day life. He who works when he is weary, who overcomes his natural shyness or timidity, who lays aside his own schemes or tastes and takes up work which is distasteful to him, who risks losses in money, in consideration, in convenience, in comfort, in ease, in leisure, that he may do something which he believes will be useful to others, is treading in the steps of these “willing governors,” and deserves like them the warm approval of all generous hearts.

II. WORLDLY HINDRANCES. But we may see in the examples of Reuben and Gad what are the hindrances to such self-sacrificing work. There is a counter-call to the call of duty and of love, and that call is too a louder and a more persuasive onethe call of gain and worldly interest. When Deborah’s message came to the Reubenites and Gileadites, and the blast of Barak’s trumpet sounded in their ears, calling them to the help of the Lord against the mighty, the bleatings of their flocks and the lowing of their herds among the rich pastures of Jazer and Gilead seemed to tell them a different tale (see Num 32:1-42.). How could they leave those peaceful pastures, and exchange them for the battle-field? Jabin’s iron chariots were nothing to them. What would become of their flocks and herds while they were far away? As their eyes ran through the sheep-folds, and they reckoned up in thought the wealth which they contained; as they thought of the lambing, and the sheep. shearing, and the sheep-market, and told the increase which they might expect, they seemed tied to those sheep-folds by bonds which could not be broken, and by a spell which could not be loosed. After a few doubts and hesitations they abode among the folds, and left their brothers across the Jordan to fight by themselves. And so it was with Dan and Asher. The movements of Sisera had not interfered with the trade of Joppa, or the fishing-boats of the sea-coast. The ships of Tarshish were coming and going as of old, laden with merchandise from all parts of the world; some touching there on their way to Tyre, others supplying the markets of Palestine with wrought iron, and cassia, and sweet-calamus. Already perhaps the silver and iron, the tin and the lead, brought by the ships of Tarshish from the Cassiterides, found their way to the fairs of Joppa; and the wheat of Minnith, and the oil and honey and pastry (Hebrew, pannag) of Judah, went out through its harbour to Tyre and Sidon (Eze 27:12, Eze 27:17, Eze 27:19). And the men of Dan were all busy by that sea-side. Lading and unlading the ships, carrying the bales of merchandise on their strong backs, giving and receiving orders, piloting the foreign ships into harbour, plying to and fro as they handled the oar, stopping the leaks or mending the sails of ships that had come out of rough watersthere was no end of business to be done, and of money to be made. Why leave these peaceful gains and rush inland to perish by the sword? Surely they might be excused if they remained in ships, and continued on the sea-shore, enriching their country by their industry, while they left it to others to jeopard their lives in the high places of the field. And they did so; and in doing so have left us an instructive warning as to the hindrances which the world continually places in the way of high-minded action and generous self-sacrifice. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world,” if you would be free to serve either God or man, is the precept that settles upon the thoughts as we consider the gaps in the muster-roll of Israel at the battle by the waters of Megiddo.

III. THE ENMITY OF NEUTRALITY. But Jdg 5:23 reads us a yet sterner lesson. There are occasions when not to act for God is to act against God. There are occasions when a man cannot be neutral. When the Lord calls for help against the mighty, he that withholds that help is cursed. By so doing he is helping the enemies of God, and among the enemies of God he will fall. Here was Meroz in the very thick of the fight. Ephraim and Benjamin, Issachar and Manasseh, Zebulun and Naphtali, were pouring out their thousands to defend their altars and their homes. The honour of God, the freedom of God’s people, the cause of truth against heathen error, the kingdom of God against the tyranny of Satan, were trembling in the balance. A few hundreds more or less might turn the scale. All Israel was awake and alive to the noble task before them. There was music in the tramp of the thousands of devoted men marching to the war which might have aroused the dullest soul and kindled the faintest spirit. It did not move the men of Meroz; they hung back in sullen indifference; they skulked behind their walls. No zeal for the glory of God, no sympathy with their brethren, could pierce through their heartless selfishness. As the angel of the Lord looked out from the windows of heaven, he saw their cowardice, he marked their back-drawing, he pronounced them cursed. There are times, our own times are such, when the enemies of the cross of Christ are unusually active against the truth. At such times Satan musters all his forces and would fain overthrow the Church of God. Infidelity stalks through the land. The leaders of sceptical opinion join hand in hand. Science and literature, wit and intellect, the press and the platform, fashion and numbers, are pressed into the service, to cast discredit upon the everlasting gospel of the grace of God. At such a time to be neutral and indifferent is to be a traitor to the Lord Jesus Christ. At such a time he calls to his help against the mighty all who believe in him, who love him, and who hope in his salvation, “Who is on the Lord’s side, who?” is his appeal to his redeemed. Let no believer hold back from giving what help is in his power: the help of word and deed; the help of bold confession and of unflinching countenance; the help of tongue and pen; the help, if need be, of suffering and of martyrdom; the help of a devoted life, and of a holy Christian walk, in all humility, and purity, and faith, knowing whom he has believed, and fully assured that faith will be crowned with victory.

IV. THE END OF THE UNGODLY (verse 31). All the enemies of the Lord will surely perish. The day is not far off which will mark the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; and then they that love him shall be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. The righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, and they who confessed Christ before men will be confessed of him before the angels of God. Such are the fuller prophecies of the New Testament, confirming the obscurer prophecies of the Old, and encouraging us to hold on our faith without wavering, in the certainty of the great reward.

HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR

Jdg 5:2

Self-sacrifice and its Inspirer.

There are two other renderings of this verse, viz; “That in Israel wildly waved the hair in the people’s self-devotion,praise God” (Cassel); and, “For the leading of the leaders in Israel, for the free self-offering of the people, praise Jehovah (Stanley, after LXX.). It is immaterial which of these we prefer; the chief thought is evidently that which appears in all. It is the key-note of this heroic song, as it is the essence of heroism and true religion alwaysself-sacrifice to God.

I. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH GREAT DEEDS ARE WROUGHT. The outburst has its source in Divine patriotism or religious enthusiasm. A consciousness of a representative character and destiny animates the Israelites. Religious devotion binds them into complete communion. Private aims and interests are forgotten.

1. It is this spirit which rescues the war of deliverance from objections to war simply as such. As an act of self-devotion it was a truly devout, and therefore religiously legitimate, war. No hope of personal gain animates the host of Israel. It is patriotism in its noblest form. These soldiers are all volunteers; they obey a Divine voice. How many wars would cease were such feelings consulted! The saints’ contest with evil should be con- ducted from a like principle. We should know what “manner of spirit” we are of.

2. It was this spirit which made so effectual the struggle in which they were engaged. They were desperate, devoted men. No half-measure would be tolerated. Having counted the cost, they were willing to carry it on a outrance. God’s battle with error and wickedness has suffered because of the half-heartedness of those who wage it.

3. It was this spirit which conferred upon the deed its aesthetic beauty and epic grandeur, It is a fine question to determine what that is that gives the essential character to the noble, chivalrous, and religious enthusiasms of men. A careful survey of any considerable number of them will show that not only unselfishness, but self- sacrifice, is their fundamental principle. Selfish aims, or the impulse of self-aggrandisement, vitiates the deed, however externally magnificent; and vice versa, the magnanimous forgetfulness of self, the conscious foregoing of personal ends and aims, will give nobility and piety even to works externally indifferent or apparently ignoble. The sentiment of a deed is its true character. Here it assumes a dignity and glory that command the admiration of the poet and the artist. It is part of the excellence of noble deeds to inspire. There is nothing so inspiring as self-devotion. But this is the vital breath of all true religion. Religious enthusiasm is contagious. The pious hero cannot long remain alone. True worship is the praise of the cross, where the power of darkness sustained its signal, final defeat. “By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” If we are truly religious our lives also will blossom forth in acts that poets might sing and orators extol.

II. THE INSPIRER OF GREAT DEEDS. That they are not a spontaneous outgrowth of our nature is the general confession of those who have wrought them. The object of Israel’s admiration and obedience was Jehovah. It was in the inspiration derived from him the deliverance was wrought. God in Christ, as embodying the highest excellency in sympathetic relation with ourselves, is an even more powerful stimulus to heroism and piety. “For Christ’s sake” is a formula that covers a vast proportion of “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report,” in the world’s history.M.

Jdg 5:6, Jdg 5:7

National ruin and the true deliverer.

The mighty deed of Shamgar did not avail to reduce the interior of Israel to a state of order and security. Whoever Jael (the Helper) may have been, whether Ehud, Shamgar, or some other hero, even he was unable to restore confidence to the dwellers in the country, or to render communication between the towns and villages easy and secure; The description here reminds one of Germany in the tenth century, or Sicily and Greece in our own times. A strong hand and a central government are required in order to inspire confidence and to render the conditions of life uniform and reliable. A country may be great in military strength, and yet, socially and politically, at a standstill because of the absence of due internal administration, of public institutions, and zeal for the public welfare. We have here

I. A VIVID PICTURE OF NATIONAL DECAY.

1. The means of inter-communication were rendered useless. “The highways were deserted.” Main thoroughfares have ever been requisite for the proper inter-communication of the different parts and towns in a country. They are therefore one of the first means employed for opening up internal resources and developing commerce and civilisation. All really great governments have distinguished themselves in road-making; as, for instance, the Incas of Peru, the Chinese, and the Romans. It was the boast of the Roman writer that the circuit of the empire could be made through Europe, Asia, and Africa, without risk to life or property, by a private traveller. The sight of deserted highways suggests the collapse of commerce and social intercourse. It is more striking than the complete absence of roads would be. And highways that continued in disuse would soon got out of repair and be rendered impassable. In the present day a similar state of things prevails over a large part of Palestine and Asia Minor. Travellers make their journeys by night, and avoid the villages and public roads. The wandering Arab brings the desert with him wherever he goes.

2. The country districts depopulated. This would rapidly reduce the country to barrenness, and render the support of the nation more precarious. A mere tithe of the population could then be supported, and the nation would be kept in a state of weakness.

II. THE SECRET OF NATIONAL REGENERATION. Deborah was a mother in Israel. The military hero played his part, but failed of highest success. It was for her, by wise and statesmanlike measures, internal administrations and a strong central government, to bring to the people’s doors the fruits of military success. She fostered a national spirit, encouraged a respect for law, and rendered it as safe to dwell in the country as within the walled city. The continuous policy of Deborah achieved the reconstitution of the land and its freedom from internal lawlessness.M.

Jdg 5:8

The peril of national irreligion.

The conscience of Israel is here addressed. The coincidence of new idolatries with “war in the gates” was strikingly suggestive. It could not be accidental. There was nothing in which Israel had had more continued experience than in the connection of idolatry with national weakness and misery.

I. DECLINE COMMENCES WITH THE FIRST DEPARTURE FROM THE WORSHIP OF JEHOVAH. It was as they trusted in Jehovah and acquainted themselves with him that they were able to drive out their enemies. The weakening of this religious principle undermined the moral character and strengthened the force of sensuous influences. It is only as the soul anchors itself on the Eternal that it is able rightly to regard the outward and temporary affairs of life.

II. THE ADOPTION OF OTHER GODS IS PUNISHED AS A CULMINATING AFFRONT. In this we see not so much the indirect results of idolatrous practice as the immediate chastisement of Jehovah’s own hand. The apostasy is deliberate; punishment must be proportionately stern and extreme. Those who have known his character and will, and yet deliberately despise them, deserve the more condign punishment. We see this principle at work in many a life. There are sins which seem to invite a terrible vengeance. Do we provoke God’s anger? Let us remember that he can be a consuming fire. Deliberate rejection of God is a direct invitation and challenge to his wrath.

III. THE FINAL RESULT OF IDOLATRY IS EFFEMINACY AND ABJECT HELPLESSNESS. This is proved by an appeal to history. The Israelites had an instance of it in their own experience. There may have been weapons in Israel, but the idol worshipper had lost the courage to wield them. Idolatry, as a degraded conception of God, degrades its votaries. It has ever been linked with licentiousness and vice. The conscience is gradually destroyed, and with it all moral strength disappears.M.

Jdg 5:10, Jdg 5:11

Testimony and thanksgivng the duty of the redeemed.

The classes here addressed are representative of the entire nationnobles, judges or elders, and common people. The deliverance affected all, and those specially benefited are called out. The hand of God is to be publicly acknowledged and celebrated in song; and this was seemly and right. So it is the duty of the redeemed of Christ to rehearse his marvellous works and ways with them.

I. THIS OUGHT TO BE DONE SEVERALLY AND IN PARTICULAR. In the case of each there is some peculiarity. It will illustrate afresh God’s manifold mercy. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”

II. IT OUGHT TO BE DONE PUBLICLY AND COLLECTIVELY. The national recognition of God is a most impressive and instructive spectacle. It becomes the more so if spontaneous, and not the result of legislative enactment or meaningless tradition.

III. THE REASONS FOR THIS ARE MANIFOLD.

1. It is due to him. The work of Christ is very great, involving vast effort and suffering. It is full of love and wisdom, adapted to our special need. And in all the work of redemption no credit is to be taken to ourselves; the merit is wholly his. “By the grace of God I am what I am.” To withhold the praise is therefore worse than theft.

2. It is the highest and most blessed exercise of the religious nature. Man was born “to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.” In so doing his nature attains its highest end and complete spiritual development. The harmony of praise and prayer has its reflex influence upon the utterer, and as God in Christ is the most glorious object of adoration, the heart is expanded, uplifted, strengthened, and purified. There is nothing we are so liable to as forgetting God’s mercies, and our dependence upon them; and therefore it is well to rehearse them.

3. It is a benefit to others. The world is full of misconceptions and low thoughts of God, and indifference towards the Divine. By such rehearsals the true character of God is vindicated. Men are taught to trace all blessings to their real Author. Doubters, etc. are counselled and directed towards clear, healthy, and health-giving ideas of God. Thus the gospel of the grace of God is preached most effectively. Others catch the contagion. Are we silent? What is the cause? Ingratitude; or it may be we are strangers to the grace of God. Let us yield ourselves to it now. Perhaps we too shall sing in a higher realm “unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.”M.

Jdg 5:14-23

National defence a common responsibility.

We have here an interesting glimpse of the behaviour of the various tribes in the war of freedom. Not all were summoned to battle; but of these only two answered to the call.

I. WHO ARE SUMMONED TO THE GREAT WAR? All the tribes whose interests were threatened in the first place; but the others might have come from a feeling of brotherhood. Through Christ the solidarity of the race is revealed. We have nearer and further claims, a more and a less imperative call, yet the interest of each is involved in that of the whole. The debt we all owe to Christ binds us henceforth “not to live to ourselves.” c, Am I my brother’s keeper?”

II. WHO RESPOND? Two tribes and a friendly alien. This showed a lack of public spirit, and of a true national conception. The Captain of our salvation calls. Who are willing? “Will ye also go away?” A few, all over. In every Church one or two have to bear the burden and heat of the day. Is this right?

III. THE EXCUSES AND OCCUPATIONS OF THOSE WHO HOLD BACK. Very picturesque is the descriptionnot a little satirical. How sorry the figure cut by those who tarry at home when the battle rages I the excuses of those who were asked to follow Christ!

IV. STRICT ACCOUNT WILL BE TAKEN OF THE CONDUCT OF EACH, AND THE REWARD WILL BE GIVEN ACCORDINGLY. The sharp eye of the prophetess scanned the host she accompanied. To each is apportioned the praise or blame. God sees the heart.M.

Jdg 5:20

The hopelessness of opposition to God.

This verse is variously interpreted as an astrological allusionas descriptive of a thunder-storm, accompanied by wind, hail, and floods, producing confusion (Josephus); or as suggestive of the delay which lost Sisera the opportunity. The explanation of Berthau, referring it to the Divine intervention, appears more reasonable and spiritually sufficient. All through the mind of the prophetess dwells upon God as the Helper and Avenger. But there is room for an intermediate idea. The stars are symbols of an unvarying law and universal destiny. Generalise upon the great contest between right and wrong. The combatants are not only men; the whole universe is involved. Angels join in the fray. God himself is against the sinner. The latter must be vanquished.

I. THE ULTIMATE CHARACTER OF THE CONTEST OF THE WICKED WITH THE RIGHTEOUS. An accidental circumstance may excuse it; a temporary character may be assumed by it. We may not divine the whole scope and drift of the quarrel. Truth may not be wholly on one side or the other. Sometimes a prophetic insight assures us that we are with God, or against him. Ultimately the question is one of right and wrong.

II. THE COMBATANTS INVOLVED. Not human opponents merely; the question too large for this. The laws of the universe; the angels of God; destiny; God himselfvisibly contending in the person of his Son, invisibly in the councils of eternity.

III. THE CERTAINTY OF THE ISSUE.M.

Jdg 5:23

The curse of Meroz.

The site of this city or district not verified. A singularity about the people’s conduct. Others had withheld as well as they; but they had either

(1) special reasons for fidelity, or

(2) aggravating circumstances connected with their inaction.

The consequence was that they inherited the primacy of the curse. Was it that the ban destroyed the very name and memory of the place from the face of the earth? It became a “locus classicus in Talmudic expositions of the ban against persons and things” (Cassel).

I. THERE ARE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH INDIFFERENCE AND INACTION WITH RESPECT TO THE CAUSE OF GOD IN THE WORLD CONSTITUTE A FEARFUL CRIME. The nation they belonged to represented for them the kingdom of God. It was suffering from grievous servitude. When the short, desperate struggle for freedom took place, everything might depend upon the faithfulness of those situated as they were. They hung back, or co-operated with the enemy. This was a sin against the Divine brotherhood and the cause of God. Indifference at any time is wicked; but the habit may some time or other suddenly reveal itself in tremendous heinousness. Special efforts to promote the kingdom of Christ, to prevent the dying out of religious institutions or movements, critical periods in individual lives, ought to call forth our most generous and self-denying aid. It might just be our help that was needed in order to success; our indifference that sealed the fate of a soul turning towards Cod, or a religious movement upon which depended important results.

II. GREATER RESPONSIBILITIES AND PRIVILEGES ENTAIL A GREATER CURSE UPON UNFAITHFULNESS. Terrible vengeance was taken upon the erring city. Of how much greater punishment shall Christian apostasy be thought worthy?(Heb 10:28-30). We sin against greater light. How great is our debt to grace! What issues depend upon our being found faithful! Remember Christ’s warnings (Mat 11:23; Mat 18:6; Mat 23:37).M.

Jdg 5:24

The conduct of Jael.

A moral perplexity to modern times. This arises from the advance, amounting almost to a revolution, in the spiritual sentiment of the world. It is from the higher platform of the New Testament that we see the deed in its true relations and proportions.

I. ITS JUSTIFICATION. There are several grounds, upon any or all of which the deed may be defended.

1. That of a relative and imperfect morality. Morality in that age was not perfectly revealed or realised. With increasing light of revelation and spiritual experience come new moral levels and tests. A thing may be comparatively or relatively right which is not absolutely so. The fact that we condemn the action is not due to our superior natural light, but simply to the teachings of Christianity, the outgrowth and perfecting of the crude morality of the Old Testament.

2. On the principle that the obligation to tell the truth depends upon the existence of a normal and friendly relation between men; the permission to kill carrying with it that of dissimulation (Mozley).

3. Because Jael followed as a mere instrument the impulse of the Absolute. Is it not credible that persons may be moved by a superior reason to do things justifiable from the standpoint of that superior reason, but which, if they fully realised what they were doing, would be utterly unlawful for them to do?

II. ITS BEARINGS UPON INSPIRATION, etc. OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. The inspiration of Scripture cannot be affected by the inspired sanction of such a deed. Inspiration does not necessarily involve a knowledge of the” whole counsel of God.” It has its degrees, and is reliable so far as it goes. A merely human production would have avoided such apparent self-contradictions. That there are moral mysteries and difficulties in the Bible, which are nevertheless seen to have possible solutions beyond the immediate knowledge of man, is a strong presumption in favour of its being Divine.

III. HOW FAR IS JAEL AN EXAMPLE TO BE IMITATED? In no wise. This is an exceptional case, all of whose circumstances must be taken into account She is, like many whom a special destiny seems to isolate from their fellows, almost to be pitied, save for the thought that she acted as the servant of God. The instincts by which we condemn her deed are evidently of God, and must therefore be followed.M.

Jdg 5:31

The sunlike life.

Cf. Pro 4:18. A beautiful simile. Many points of resemblance between the course and nature of the sun and the character and life of the Christian.

I. PROGRESS. Steady. By gradual, regularly increasing advance. The hours and days and years can be measured by it. We can calculate upon it. Continual. Not by fits and starts. Ever forward, even when not seen. Culminating. Noon is splendour and strength; sunset is fulfilment.

II. ILLUMINATION. In the Christian life nothing need be concealed. We are “children of the light, and of the day.” Openness, honesty, actions of simplicity and good report. Knowledge is light, and it is by knowing the Eternal that we live. The spiritual are the light of the world. Christ is so par excellence; but all Christians shine with his brightness, and exhibit his character. We are so to live as that others can take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus, and that they may follow us as we follow him. The figure also suggests that Christians may become clear, and bright, and free from darkness as light itself is. Spiritual illumination is not ever a borrowing from without. We may have light and life in ourselves. The sun is independent of circumstances, and shines on even when half the world is dark. It is also a figure for vindication and triumph. The day shall declare how much! The glory and beauty of the spiritual man shall then be revealed. M.

HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY

Jdg 5:7

A mother in Israel.

The position and character of Deborah and her mission to Israel are suggestive of the Scriptural teaching concerning women and their work.

I. GOD RAISED UP A WOMAN FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF HIS PEOPLE. Deborah appears in the line of deliverers. The others are all fighting men. In the present instance a warrior, Barak, is associated with the prophetess; yet it is not he, but the woman, Deborah, who secured victory, for she tells us that the hamlets were deserted until she arose. The Bible assigns great honour and high privileges to women. In Jewish history they are often prominent and famous for noble services. Women were among the most honoured of the disciples of Christ. In spite of the narrow views regarding the rightful position of women with which St. Paul is credited, that great apostle was ready to recognise the valuable work of women in the Church (Php 4:3). Women have peculiar powers for such work as requires sympathy and the gentleness which is at the root of true greatness (Psa 18:35). And many women who are not called to imitate the heroic career of Deborah may take example from the compassion of Pharaoh’s daughter, the hospitality of Abigail, and the charity of Dorcas.

II. THE WOMAN CHOSEN FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL WAS A MOTHER. The peculiar virtue of celibacy is a late invention which finds no basis in the Bible. There marriage is honourable (Heb 13:4), and to mothers a peculiar honour is given (1Ti 2:15). The joys and cares of maternity deepen the nature of women and develop the noblest and most Divine of all affectionsa mother’s strong, tender, devoted love. A true mother will not have the less affection for others because her first duty is to her own children. She is no perfect mother, even, whose whole affection and care is confined to her family. With her maternal affection is little more than a form of selfishness, the offspring being regarded as an enlargement of the personality of the parent. The true mother is motherly in her nature, and shows her motherliness in all relations of life; so that to her friends, her nation, and the needy, her thought and care partake of the mother’s fond, self-sacrificing devotion. Therefore patriotism is notantagonistic to maternal affection, but offers a field for its noblest efforts.

III. THOUGH A MOTHER IS CHOSEN FOR THE WORK OF DELIVERING ISRAEL, SHE IS NOT CALLED TO SACRIFICE ANY WOMANLY GRACE IN PERFORMING THE TASK. Deborah was no Amazon. Hers was not the fierce fighting of Barak. She was a prophetess. 1, Her mission was to inspire and encourage. This is one of woman’s noblest works. Women are unfaithful when they check their sons or husbands in the performance of dangerous duties.

2. Her mission was also to utter God‘s praises after victory had been secured. Women, more sensitive than men, should be able to arouse songs of thanksgiving, while men may be slower to awake to the full feeling of gratitude. In leading the praises of the Church women have a truly womanly mission.A.

Jdg 5:9

Self-dedication.

Deborah’s heart turns in motherly affection to those rulers of Israel who have willingly offered themselves to the service of their God and their country. It should be the aim of the Christian to emulate such self-devotion in the cause of Christ and of humanity.

I. THE OFFERING WAS TO GOD AND THE COUNTRY.

1. It was to God. Though this fact is not expressly named here, as in the case of Jehoshaphat’s captain, Amasiah (2Ch 17:16), it is plainly implied, inasmuch as the people had been incited by a Divine messenger and were living under a theocracy. God was the King, and the soldier’s fidelity to his king was fidelity to God. Men devote themselves to business, pleasure, art, literature, science. The highest object of devotion is to live to God. This may be pursued through the necessary earthly occupations, elevating and consecrating them by making them part of God’s service.

2. The devotion was also to the country. Patriotism is a Christian duty. But the Christian is called to care for the large human world. We are called upon to live for the good of others, to aim at increasing their happiness and spiritual welfare. This aim is not divergent from that of serving God. We render him service by working for the good of others according to his will, and so as to render him honour.

II. THE OFFERING OF THE GOVERNORS WAS OF THEMSELVES. God is not satisfied with our gifts; he asks for our hearts (Pro 23:26). The true preachers of God’s will will say, “We seek not yours, but you” (2Co 12:14). No gifts will be acceptable to God until we have first given our own selves to him (2Co 8:5). The sacrifice of self-dedication, which was symbolised to the Jew in the whole burnt offering, is a sacrifice still looked for under the Christian dispensation, not as a propitiation for sin, but as a thank offering. This, and no less, constitutes our reasonable service (Rom 12:1). We offer ourselves to God when we render him the homage of our hearts in love, when we sacrifice our wills to his will in submission and obedience, when we make it the object of our life to please and serve and honour him. We cannot compensate for lack of personal devotion by payment, as in some countries the conscript can do in regard to military service. Our gifts will not take the place of our work. We cannot serve God by proxy. The work of the missionary or of any professional agent of the Church must not be regarded as a substitute for the work of the private Christian. God claims the personal service of all of us.

III. THE OFFERING WAS VOLUNTARY. Deborah rejoices in the fact that the governors offered themselves willingly.

1. The only acceptable service of God must be willing service. God leaves us free to accept or reject his service, he uses no violent compulsion to drive us into it. There is no conscription for recruiting the regiments of the kingdom of heaven; all soldiers in that glorious army are volunteers. This is important, because

(1) only voluntary service can come from the heart,God values devotion of the heart more than work of the hands,and

(2) only voluntary service will be vigorous and enthusiastic and inspired with the devotion which insures success.

2. We have every motive to render this willing service. We are free from compulsion, but we are not free from obligation. We are to blame if we do not freely offer ourselves, and if we persist in refusing it will go ill with us at the last.

(1) Duty requires the service. The people were summoned by a Divine messenger. We are summoned by the preaching of the kingdom. They were living under the rule of God; God is our King and Lord. They were bound to defend their country in its need; we are bound by nature and Christianity to help our fellow-men in their distress and sin.

(2) Gratitude makes the service one of love. The Jews had seen mighty Divine deliverances; we have the sacrifice of Christ for us and his love constraining us (2Co 5:15).

In application of these truths it may be noticed that some are waiting to be called into the Church or for service. Such waiting is a mistake. Christ is waiting for us. He has called us; he expects our free self-dedication. Let us not wait to be sought or asked, but freely offer ourselves to his service.A.

Jdg 5:14

Literary occupations.

Whether these men of Zebulun were poets, chroniclers, or only merchants’ clerks, their occupation was distinctly different from that of their brethren, and the peculiar duties attaching to it may serve to illustrate those which belong to a corresponding class of men in our own day.

I. LITERATURE IS A FIELD OF HONOURABLE INDUSTRY. Iris a foolish misnomer which characterises handicraftsmen as the only “working men.” Men can and do work at least as hard with their brains as with their hands; and such work is not the most unworthy of honourable effort. We cannot make a greater mistake than to confine the epithet “manly” to the exercise of brute force, an exercise in which a Hercules would be out-matched by a gorilla. True manliness is the right development of all the noblest powers of a man, among which the intellectual must take a high place.

II. LITERATURE MAY BE MADE A SOURCE OF THE HIGHEST GOOD TO MANKIND. Writing is a means of expressing, preserving, and disseminating ideas. This means has been chosen by God for the promotion of religion, viz; in the Bible. Therefore it is foolish to despise literature as unpractical; it may be the most useful instrument for benefiting mankind. This should be remembered by those who have literary power, and should prevent them from wasting their talents on the selfish enjoyment of intellectual luxury. Literary ability is, like the gift of tongues, a Divine gift bestowed on men for the good of the whole world.

III. IN ORDER THAT LITERATURE MAY EFFECT THE GREATEST GOOD, IT MUST BE ENLISTED IN THE SERVICE OF GOD. They who “handle the pen of the writer” must be among those who “willingly offer themselves” to the service of the Lord. God claims our best for his work. Men who have literary gifts should understand that they are not at liberty to write simply for occupation, for amusement, for money, or for fame, but for the honour of God and the good of men. Such considerations should secure more conscientiousness in writing; the observance of the great literary duties of truthfulness, fairness, purity, and charity; and the pursuit of elevating themes.

IV. THEY WHO ARE CALLED TO LITERARY DUTIES MUST NOT FEEL THEMSELVES EXONERATED FROM MORE GENERAL OBLIGATIONS. The literary man must some times lay down the pen and draw the sword. The danger of sedentary and literary occupations is that they should lead to indolence and an unpractical habit of life. It will not do for any of us to live in the delicious seclusion of dream-land. There are stern tasks and serious burdens which all true men will have to encounter if the terrible realities of the world’s wickedness and misery are to be faced as the claims of God and humanity demand of us. While the trumpet sounds to war it is treason for the men of Zebulun to linger behind in learned leisure; and while God calls his people to do battle for him against the ignorance and sin of the world, there is no excuse for the most gifted, the most fastidious, or the most occupied to shirk their share of the dangers and toils of hard warfare.A.

Jdg 5:16

Indolent indecision.

The men of Reuben who refused to obey the call to arms appear to have indulged at once in questioning criticism and in selfish inactivity, and thus they illustrate the close association of indolence and indecision. Indolence encourages indecision by checking the energy requisite for choice, and indecision encourages indolence by closing all doors of action. The situation of indolent indecision may be considered from the point of view of indolence and from that of indecision.

I. THE SITUATION REGARDED ON THE SIDE OF INDOLENCE.

1. Private business was one excuse for negligence of public duty. People often make their business an excuse for not undertaking the work Christ calls them to (Mat 22:5). But this results either

(1) from idleness, since more energy would make time for Christ s service, or

(2) from selfishness, inasmuch as we have no right to devote our whole time to our private interests.

2. Love of ease led to negligence of public duty. It was less arduous to tend the flocks than to assemble for war.

3. Love of peace may have had the same effect. The Reubenites may have been peculiarly men of peace, while the Ephraimites were men of war. There are times, however, when the peaceful habit is sinful, and when we are only hiding our indolence under the cloak of peace, and when it is our duty to take up the cross, which is involved in facing the confusion and harshness of conflict. It is wrong to refuse to maintain the right and to rebuke falsehood and wickedness out of the love of peace.

4. Pleasure may have inclined to indolence. That was no time for dreaming pastoral idyls when the nation was in jeopardy and a Deborah was sounding the war-trumpet. Music and poetry, and the love of nature and art have their place among the innocent amenities of life; but when aestheticism becomes a religion, and the graces of life take the places of its duties, the harmless pleasures which allure us from stern tasks become positive sins. The wretchedness, the vice, the crime which darken the very atmosphere of Christendom leave none of us free to luxuriate in soft dreams of imaginary bliss, instead of doing our utmost to conquer these hideous monsters.

II. THE SITUATION REGARDED ON THE SIDE OF INDECISION.

1. Indecision is often the effect of directing intellectual energy to negative criticism rather than to practical contrivance. Criticism is most valuable in its place; but when it is carried to the point of fastidiousness it becomes nothing less than a fatal, paralysing influence. Reuben was divided in counsel, uncertain as to the best course to pursue, and therefore did nothing. So there are people who waste their energies in exposing the defects of all plans of action, and yet have not the inventiveness and strength to discover and pursue better plans. But it is better to work in an imperfect method than not to work at all.

2. Indecision can only be conquered by cultivating strength of will and convictions of duty It is the will that decides. When the intellect is cultivated at the expense of the will, moral paralysis is the result. Strength of will can be best attained in its right form by the exercise of what will we already have under convictions of duty. We should remember that our chief mission in the world is not criticism, but work. God calls us to action, and even if we work imperfectly and often fail, he will be better pleased at our well-meant, though perhaps mistaken, efforts to do what we believe to be right than at the inactivity which refuses to do anything from fear of committing the smallest error.A.

Jdg 5:23

The curse of Meroz.

I. THE CURSE WAS FOR INACTIVITY. Meroz had committed no offence, but is solely to blame for failing in action. Innocence of positive guilt is not enough to secure us from condemnation in the judgment of God. We shall be judged by what we have left undone as well as by what we have done. In Christ’s vision of judgment, those who are made to stand on the left of the throne and are then condemned to outer darkness are not offenders against the moral law, but simply persons who have neglected the active duties of charity (Mat 25:45). It is a very common error for people to suppose that they are blameless so long as they keep themselves unspotted from the world, forgetting that the first duty of religion is the energetic exercise of charity (Jas 1:27). Better to have some faults and much useful service than to be faultless and useless. The soldier who returns from war with scarred face and stained garments is nobler than he who fears to enter the battle lest he shall soil his raiment or mar his countenance.

II. THE CURSE WAS FOR INACTIVITY IS REGARD TO PUBLIC DUTY. Meroz was unpatriotic. Possibly the men on whom the curse fell were diligent farmers and kind and careful parents. But they neglected their duty to their country. We must beware of the narrowness of the parochial mind. The congregation which studies its own edification alone, and has no care for the evangelising of the nation and for mission work among the heathen, brings itself under the curse of Meroz. In the faithful payment of taxes, in the conscientious use of the franchise, in the right use of influence in public matters men have a constant call to patriotic duty. But we have all larger duties to men as men, and so long as misery, ignorance, and wickedness prevail none of us can escape condemnation until we have done our part to remove those evils.

III. TEE CURSE WAS FOR INACTIVITY IN A TIME OF WAR.

1. It-was the time of the nation’s greatest need and danger when Meroz was discovered to be indolently unpatriotic. Great emergencies reveal the evil which has existed unobserved in quieter times. If we are not faithful in that which is least we shall be proved unfaithful in that which is greatest. The evil which may be fatal to our nation in times of danger may be lurking among us unseen in these more quiet times. Therefore the shameful failings of those who are held up to the reprobation of history may be no worse than the mean selfishness which pervades the lives of multitudes who meet with no blame, simply because the day of trial has not yet made their character apparent to the world.

2. The danger in which the unfaithfulness of Meroz was revealed brought a call to aggressive action. Meroz was found wanting in a time of war. We are called to resist evil. If we permit others to be oppressed by injustice and cruelty when we might deliver them by any sacrifice and toil of our own, we bring ourselves under the curse of Meroz. Christianity is aggressive. It is the duty of Christians not merely to promote purity, and charity, and truth, etc; but to expose and attack the vices and wrongs of the world.A.

Jdg 5:31

The triumph of the Church.

The triumph of Israel after the overthrow of the Canaanites is an illustration of the ultimate triumph of the Church.

I. THE FACT OF THIS TRIUMPH. We have encouragements to think that the Church will not only be saved, but will be saved with honourwill triumph.

1. This implies the destruction of her enemies. We need not look for that in violence, after the manners of the Crusades or of the Inquisition.

(1) Spiritual foes, such as sin, temptation, death, will cease to exist.

(2) Human foes will cease to be foes by the turning of enmity into submission to Christ.

2. It implies the bestowal of honour on the Church. She shall shine like the sun, no longer despised.

3. It implies the enjoyment of great happiness. Darkness represents sorrow; sunlight represents joy.

4. It implies the gift of power. No influence on earth is so powerful as that of the sun. The people of God will have opportunity for noble service and for the exercise of large faculties.

5. It implies the exercise of benevolence. The sun scatters light, warmth, life. He brings new life out of the death of winter, and spreads beauty and glory over the face of the earth. The triumph of the Church will not be like that of old tyrannies, marked by bloodshed and misery, but a source of life and joy and glory to all within its reach. There is healing in the wings of the Sun of righteousness.

II. THE SOURCE OF THIS TRIUMPH.

1. It is accorded by God. Deborah speaks of it in prayer. It was not the courage of the warrior, but the unseen help of God that secured the victory to Israel. We grow fearful as we see the raging might of evil, and compare this with the trembling weakness of our own hearts. But God is with us; he makes the cause of the Church his own. Christ has already conquered, and now he calls us only to meet defeated foes.

2. It is secured through devotion to God. The enemies of God perish. These are not men whom God treats as enemies, but such as set themselves in enmity against him. They who triumph are the lovers of God. The essence of religion is love to God, and this is here the ground of the assurance of victory given by him.

3. It is attained by silent and gradual means. The sun does not burst out suddenly, he makes no noise to announce the coming day. So the triumph of the Church is gradual as the growing dawn, silent as the spreading light. Yet, like the light, it wall be recognised by its visible presence and its bountiful fruits.A.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

CHAP. V.

The song of Deborah and Barak.

Before Christ 1294.

Jdg 5:1. Then sang Deborah, &c. According to the usual custom of those times, a triumphant song or ode was composed by the prophetess Deborah, and sung by her and Barak, the people, most probably, bearing their part with them. Dr. Lowth produces this as an example of the most sublime ode; and as such it has always been admired. Like the other pieces of sacred poetry which we have heretofore reviewed, it is composed in metre, to which, among other learned men, the Reverend Mr. Green has ingeniously reduced it. An attention to this particular will enable us to understand it the better. It consists of three parts; an exordium, a relation of events which preceded as well as accompanied the victory, and a more complete description of the last event, adorned with all the elegancies of poetry, namely, the death of Sisera, and the disappointed expectations of his mother. See Bishop Lowth’s 28th Praelection.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Deborahs Song of Triumph

Jdg 5:1-31

_______________________

The Superscription

Jdg 5:1

1Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,

EXEGETICAL AND DOCTRINAL

The special sign of the prophetic spirit, is the use of lyrical expression. The praise of God, and the proclamation of his mighty deeds, burst from the prophets in the rapture of poetic visions. Their language is glowing and powerful, like a torch in the night. This lofty view of the nature of poetry shows itself everywhere. Poets, says Socrates, speak like men divinely inspired, like those who deliver oracles. Among the Romans, legendary tradition (Liv. i. 7) told of an ancient prophetic nymph, Carmenta (from Carmen). Of no Judge is it expressly said that he was a prophet: this is affirmed of Deborah alone; and she alone among them sang,and that, not merely as Miriam, who with her women formed the responsive choir to Moses song, but as Moses, the victor, himself.

She sang, . She was the creator of the song. Quite parallel is the expression, Exo 15:1 : then sang Moses and the sons of Israel (), not they sang. Moses, divinely inspired, composed the song, and the people sang it. The case was similar with Deborah. The feminine of the verb, with the following connective, , expresses the independent creation and the joint-execution of the Song; for already in the fourth chapter, Barak stands for the most part for the people themselves. Thus, Barak has gone up to Mount Tabor, Jdg 4:12; Siseras army is thrown into confusion before Barak, Jdg 5:15; Barak pursues, Jdg 5:16; etc. Here also, therefore, Barak takes the place which in the Song of Moses the children of Israel occupy. He and his men raise Deborahs hymn as their song of triumph; and thus it becomes a national hymn. Song is the noblest ornament which the nations of antiquity can devise for victory. They preserve its utterances tenaciously, both as evidences of their prowess, and as incentives to action in times of dishonor. In the days of Pausanias (in the second century after Christ), and therefore about 800 years after the event, the Messenians still sang a triumphal song of the time of Aristomenes (Paus. iv. 16). Perhaps the most interesting remnant of German recollections of Arminius, is the Westphalian popular song, still sung in the region of what was once the field of victory (cf. Horkel, in Der Gesch. der Deutschen Vorzeit, i. 257). In the case of Israel, whose victories are the steps in its national work, and the evidences of its religious truth, the interest of such a song is the greater, because there tradition moulded the conscience of the generations, and fidelity to its earliest history formed the conditions of the national calling, greatness, and glory.

The form of the Song, as of the old Hebrew poetry generally, is that of free rhythm. The Song is a poetical stream: everywhere poetical, and yet untrammeled by any artistic division into strophes. Such a division, it is true, is not altogether wanting; but it is never made a rule. Consequently, efforts to force it systematically on the poem, while only traces of it show themselves, are all in vain. There is no want of finish; introduction and conclusion are well defined; but the pauses subordinate themselves to the thoughts, and these unfold themselves free as the waves. The peculiar character of the Song consists in the boldness of its imagery and the force of its unusual language. It appropriates, in a natural manner, all those forms which genuine poetry does not seek but produce; but it appropriates them all with a freedom which endures none as a rule, yet without, like the natural stream, violating harmony. The Song, then, has strophes, but they are not of equal measure; it moves along in parallelisms, but with variations corresponding to the movement of the thought. The most interesting feature to be noticed, is the alliteration, which appears in the highest development and delicacy, as elsewhere only in the old Norse poems, but also with considerable freedom from restraint. It is important to notice this, because it testifies, more than any division into strophes that may exist, to the nature of the popular song and its lyrical use. The divisions which the poem certainly shows, are determined only by its own course of thought. They are: the praise of God, as introduction (Jdg 5:25); the delineation of the emergency (Jdg 5:6-8); the call to praise that the evil no longer exists (Jdg 5:9-11); delineation of the victory and the victors (Jdg 5:12-23); the fate of the enemy (Jdg 5:24-31). The renderings which distinguish the following translation from the older versions extant, will be justified under the several verses in which they occur.1

Footnotes:

[1][The authors version of the Song forms an essential part of his exposition, and we therefore substitute a translation of it, adhering as closely as practicable to his German, for the ordinary English text. For Dr. Cassels rendering of , cf. Textual and Grammatical, note 1, p. 23. In general, it will be seen that he does not anxiously aim at literalness. The black-faced letters are designed to imitate, rather than reproduce, the alliteration which in our authors view forms a marked feature of the poem (see above). It may be useful to some readers to be referred to the following readily accessible English versions of the Song: Robinsons, with an extended commentary, in Bibl. Repository, 1831, p. 568; Review of Hollmann on the Song of Deborah, Chris. Spectator (New Haven), ii. 307; Robbins, The Song of Deborah, Bibliotheca Sacra, 1855, p. 597; Milmans version, in Hist. of the Jews, i. 292; Stanleys, in Jewish Church, i. 370. The whole special literature of the subject is given by Bachmann, i. 298 ff.Tr.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

This Chapter contains the second triumphant song of the church over her enemies. That at the Red Sea by Moses, is the only one prior to this which the Holy Ghost hath been pleased to have recorded on those memorable events. Probably with a view not only to show the suitableness of praise for signal mercies, upon all occasions, but as a pattern for the after ages. Here are blended both praise and prayer. It begins with praise and ends in prayer, and celebrates both the divine goodness, and the instrumentality of human endeavors, crowned with God’s power.

Jdg 5:1

Observe, how soon the song of praise begun. It was on that day. What day so suited as the day of mercy? When the Lord comes near his people in grace, then ought his people to go near him in praise. Reader! have you began your song of deliverance from greater enemies than Sisera and his host? Hath Jesus said to you what he once said to Zaccheus? Luk 19:9 . Oh! how precious are the first visits of God to the soul! If the Lord remembers the day of our espousals, well may you and I. See Jer 2:1 ; Son 3:11 . It should seem that Deborah was both writer and speaker of this holy song. Evidently, therefore, a prophetess, and under divine influence. Oh! thou Holy Spirit, how sweet and extensive are thy teachings! See that blessed Scripture, and behold its fulfillment at Pentecost, and yet more particularly, look after the gracious effects now in the church of Jesus, among his people, and in your own heart. Joe 2:28-29 ; Act 2:16-18 ; Isa 54:13 ; Joh 14:26 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jdg 5:1

Of the three main branches of poetry, the only feminine one is the lyrical, not the objective lyrical poetry, like that of Pindar and Simonides, and the choric odes of the Greek tragedians, but that which is the expression of individual, personal feeling, like Sappho’s. Of this class we have noble examples in the songs of Miriam, of Deborah, of Hannah, and of the Blessed Virgin.

Hare, Guesses at Truth (2nd Series).

Reference. V. 1. H. Henley Henson, The Value of the Bible, p. 53.

Jdg 5:2

What does the character of a citizen involve? That he will deliberate about nothing as if he were detached from the community.

Epictetus.

Reference. V. 2. J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. ii. p. 229.

Jdg 5:9

In 1637 Samuel Rutherford wrote to Lord Boyd, one of the Scotch nobles: ‘If ye, the nobles, refuse to plead the controversy of Zion with the professed enemies of Jesus, ye have done with it. Oh! where is the courage and zeal now of the ancient nobles of this land, who with their swords, and hazard of life, honour, and houses, brought Christ to our hands?’

We want public souls, we want them. I speak it with compassion. When every one is his own end, all things will come to a bad end. Blessed were those days, when every man thought himself rich and fortunate by the good success of the public wealth and glory.

Bishop Hacket.

Compare Sydney Smith’s eulogium upon Grattan:

‘He was so born, so gifted, that poetry, forensic skill, elegant literature, and all the highest attainments of human genius were within his reach; but he thought the noblest occupation of a man was to make other men happy and free; and in that straight line he kept for fifty years, without one side-look, one yielding thought, one motive in his heart which he might not have laid open to the view of God or man.’

References. V. 9-11. J. Bowstead, Practical Sermons, vol. ii. p. 296. V. 11. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii. No. 763.

Deborah

Jdg 5:12-18

Not a few difficulties we have created for ourselves by that mischievous and often fatal habit of importing into the text of Scripture more than it actually and necessarily, or even by implication contains. From the simple fact that Deborah is called a ‘prophetess’ some tremendous but unwarrantable inferences have been drawn. It has been assumed that all her words were God’s words, and that all her acts had a Divine sanction prompting and justifying them. And that even the fierce and ruthless spirit of her song was one that God inspired. I would only offer for your consideration two remarks in connexion with these difficulties.

I. It is adopting a perilous principle to argue that an action must be right because, as we suppose, God commanded it. It is a safer rule of interpretation to infer that if an action, of which we know the details, or so far as we know them, is manifestly wrong opposed to the instinctive sense of right, or goodness, or truth, or holiness, which, if the world were rocking beneath our feet, we still should feel to be inimitable it could not have been an act commanded by Him Whose essential characteristics are equity, goodness, holiness, truth.

II. Deborah’s prophetic gift was, so far as we have materials for estimating it, rather an afflatus of poetic inspiration than anything deeper or more Divine. Nor even if we were sure that Deborah was gifted with predictive powers, would that necessitate, or even justify the conclusion that all her utterances, when not claiming to be spoken under special guidance of the Holy Spirit, were utterances of infallible truth or of inimitable morality. And so her words have no claim to supersede that standard of right and wrong which we believe to be implanted in our conscience by God; and by which even words professing to be Divine must, in the case of each individual responsible man, be ultimately tested and weighed.

III. The prophetess, even in her moment of highest exultation, cannot forget those who, in their country’s critical hour, when freedom, honour, independence everything that constitutes the real life and force of a nation was in jeopardy, and one bold, united effort might achieve deliverance, stood apart in the isolation of rivalry, or selfishness, or in the inglorious love of ease, and ‘came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty’. May I venture to apply the lesson to our own circumstances. No one can be blind to the fact that Christianity is confronted all over the civilized world by a gigantic foe. I know not by what better name to call it than ‘the spirit of unbelief. A moral unbelief in the existence of truth rather than an intellectual unbelief, staggered and perplexed by speculative difficulties. Religion is not, as it has been called, the produce of credulity and poetry. It is the product of the profoundest and truest instincts at least if their universality is any test of their truth of our nature. All that constitutes the true nobility of human nature is proportionate to the influence of this sense in man. Are we doomed never to realize this temper under which alone higher results are possible? Shall we, broken up into miserable sets and parties, stand selfishly and suspiciously by, while Zebulun and Naphtali the more generous spirits of the age are jeoparding their lives unto the death in the high places of the field? Oh! how one longs to gather into one camp, or to mass together in supporting columns on the great battlefield, all those who, however differing on points of lesser detail, are yet united in this the great uniting influence that they love the Lord Jesus Christ in all sincerity!

J. Fraser, University and Other Sermons, p. 137.

References. V. 12. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi. No. 340. V. 12-23. J. Bunting, Sermons, vol. i. p. 167.

Jdg 5:16

‘In the greatest war-song of any age or nation,’ says Mr. R. H. Hutton, ‘the exultation of Deborah over Sisera’s complete defeat, and subsequent assassination by the hand of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite no doubt, personal revenge might seem to blaze high above Deborah’s faith in her nation and her God, as the kindling or exciting spiritual principle which brings the scene in such marvellous vividness before her eyes. But though this feeling may add perhaps some of the fire to the latter part of the poem, it is clear that her faith in the national unity, and God as the source of the national unity, was the great binding thought of the whole. The song dwells, first, with the most intense bitterness on the decay of patriotism in the tribes that did not combine against the common foe…. And the transition by which she passes to her fierce exultation over Sisera’s terrible fate shows distinctly what was the main thought in her mind.’

The Apologia of the Coward

Jdg 5:16

Israel was in bondage, Jabin, King of the Canaanites, ruled the captive nation with a rod of iron. In Israel’s land there was a gifted woman, who nursed the fires of her own patriotism and that of her countrymen, and waited but for the opportunity to strike the blow for liberty. Deborah prophetess and poetess never doubted the time would come when Israel’s God would remember His former lovingkindness and restore His people freedom, forfeited by their sin. And the men of Israel rose at the call, and under the lead of Barak they made a grand and successful attempt to regain their liberty. But amongst those who did not come to the help of the warrior-prophetess was the tribe of Reuben. They had great heart-searchings but it only led to a policy of masterly inactivity.

I. Thousands of men miss the best life has to offer because they can never rise to a great occasion. They never train themselves to make a great decision. They are debating when they ought to be fighting. They are searching their own hearts when they should be smiting the enemy. Life’s prizes are for the brave. God gives no guerdon to the coward. The names enshrined in the muster-roll of His Ironsides, in the chapter of the roll-call the 11th of Hebrews are all men who dared to do. By faith they stopped the mouths of lions. And the man who would ever do anything must make his reckoning with the lions.

II. Like father, like son, never received a more powerful illustration than in the case of the Reubenites. The head of their tribe was a moral weakling, Reuben was a human jelly-fish. The Reubenites are one of the lost tribes, as a tribe, but you will find them dispersed in every place under the sun. He is a very nice man, the modern Reuben, but woe to you if you trust him in a moral crisis. He will offer you sugar plums when it is shot you need. He has no opinions he cannot change and no principles he is not prepared to forswear, if they stand in the way of his getting on.

III. If Deborah and Barak had waited until the heart-searchings of the Reubenites found expression in military action, Israel would never have been delivered. All great movements have been the work of one strong will. There are times when one Deborah, with the light of a great purpose in her eyes, is worth all the men of the tribe of Reuben put together. The practical lesson in the study of this tribe of moral invertebrates is first of all that every man should train his will to act quickly and decisively in great questions. There are those, for example, who all their life keep Christ at the bar of their judgment, and are perpetually asking: ‘Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another?’ They are not Christians. They are not anti-Christians. They are amongst those who are always seeking but never find the truth.

IV. Is not the text an- illustration of the fact that to nations and Church there come times of great moral testings, when they need to throw aside the counsels of a timid opportunism, and dare to do right and follow the flag of duty at whatever cost.

Reference. V. 16. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Judges, p. 206.

Jdg 5:17

All human life, we may say, consists solely of these two activities: (1) Bringing one’s activities into harmony with conscience, or (2) hiding from oneself the indications of conscience, in order to be able to continue to live as before. Tolstoy.

Commenting on Cromwell’s letter from Ely, in which his ardent, heroic spirit breathes, Carlyle asks: ‘Brother, hadst thou never, in any form, such moments in thy history? Thou knowest them not, even by credible rumour? Well, thy earthly path was peaceabler, I suppose. But the Highest was never in thee, the Highest will never come out of thee. Thou shalt at best abide by the stuff; as cherished housedog, guard the stuff perhaps with enormous gold-collars and provender; but the battle, and the hero-death, and victory’s fire-chariot carrying men to the Immortals, shall never be thine. I pity thee: brag not, or I shall have to despise thee.

Jdg 5:18

I like battle-fields; for, terrible as war is, it nevertheless displays the spiritual grandeur of man who dares to defy his most powerful hereditary foe Death.

Heine.

References. V. 18. J. M. Neale, Sermons for Some Feast Days in the Christian Year, p. 113. E. J. Hardy, Faint yet Pursuing, p. 85. V. 20. A. Maclaren, Expositions of the Holy Scripture Judges, p. 209.

Jdg 5:23

When truth is in danger, the conduct of many is to wash their hands in Pilate’s basin of weak neutrality, but they only soil the water and do not cleanse their hands. Of how much nobler a spirit is the favourite text of the old Covenanters; ‘Curse ye Meroz, saith the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty!’

Dr. John Ker, Thoughts for Heart and Life.

It was the companionship of that other virtue of valour in a good cause which made so bright the moderation of Aristides and of Athens, the spirit in which the city of Pallas had arisen to face the invader alone, when in the other states of Hellas ‘there were great searchings of heart,’ when some of the mightiest quailed, and shrank more from danger than from the coward’s curse the curse pronounced by the Hebrew Deborah against the men of Meroz, ‘because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty’.

Ernest Myers in Hellenica, p. 24.

Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord; curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof sang Deborah. Was it that she called to mind any personal wrongs rapine or insult that she or the house of Lapidoth had received from Jabin or Sisera? No; she had dwelt under her palm-tree in the depth of the mountain. But she was a mother in Israel; and with a mother’s heart, and with the vehemency of a mother’s and a patriot’s love, she had shut the light of love from her eyes, and poured the blessings of love from her lips, on the people that had jeoparded their lives unto the death against the oppressors; and the bitterness, awakened and borne aloft by the same love, she precipitated in curses on the selfish and coward recreants who came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. As long as I have the image of Deborah before my eyes, and while I throw myself back into the age, country, circumstances of their Hebrew Boadicea, in the not yet tamed chaos of the spiritual creation; as long as I contemplate the impassioned, high-souled, heroic woman in all the prominence and individuality of will and character I feel as if I were among the first ferments of the great affections the proplastic waves of the microcosmic chaos, swelling up against and yet towards the outspread wings of the Dove that lies brooding on the troubled waters.

Coleridge, Confessions of an Enquiring Spirit.

Fellow-labourers with God

Jdg 5:23

I. Fellow-labourers with God. The Almighty God needs the help of His creatures, of us and of our fellows. God has been pleased to use His own human children to help Him in the work which He desires to be done. We see in the Old Testament and in the New that God absolutely limits His own power by the will of His creatures. It is recorded that when God would overthrow the cities of the plain, the angel said to Lot: ‘Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither’. And of our Lord Himself it is said, speaking of His own country, that He ‘could there do no mighty works, because of their unbelief. Man can refuse if he will to come ‘to the help of the Lord’. And more than that, he can even take an antagonistic line to God. Gamaliel warned his hearers to ‘refrain from these men, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God’. St. Paul, writing to the Philippians, spoke of ‘the enemies of the Cross of Christ’.

II. What is our Position? What is to be our position in this matter? Are there not many who say, ‘It is the last thing in the world I should desire to be, an enemy of the Cross of Christ, I should abhor above all things to be fighting against God; but I am not quite prepared to take vigorous action on His behalf. Cannot I remain neutral?’ In the old laws of the lawgiver, neutrals were ordered to be put to death, and though the penalty is not so severe under the Christian dispensation, yet we cannot but remember those words of our Blessed Master: ‘He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth’. Have we no cause to band ourselves together to come ‘to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty’?

III. How We can come to the Help of the Lord. If you ask, How can I come to God’s help? What can I do? then surely in the very forefront of our marching orders is ‘Pray’. (1) Prayer is in the power of every one of us, and how potent that is we know, not alone from the history of the Church, but from the Scriptures themselves. It was said by St. Augustine in his sermon on St. Stephen’s Day: ‘If Stephen had not thus prayed the Church had not had Paul’. It was the prayer of Stephen for his murderers that gave to the Church the great Apostle of the Gentiles. And when we think of St. Augustine, we are reminded how his holy mother, Monica, prayed long and earnestly for him, prayed for him while there seemed to be no hope of his conversion, while he was living in heathen philosophy and licentiousness; and the prayers of that saintly woman won for the Church the great Augustine. And that same power of prayer is within the possibility of the meanest; the commonest, the poorest, the least educated may yet pray, and pray with a power which shall rule the world. Let us take care that day by day, morning by morning, evening by evening, we lift up our heart to God, praying not only for ourselves, but for all those in need and necessity. (2) It is not only our prayers, and our time and talents, but our substance the Lord will accept from us. All of us are able to do something. Those who are given much can give plenteously; those who have little can still do their diligence gladly to give of that little. And if we are thus taking our part in God’s work, thus doing that which we can to help Him in this mighty work in which He makes us fellow-labourers with Himself, then that word will be spoken to us that Abigail spoke to David: ‘The Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house: because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord’ (1Sa 25:28 ).

Christ and the National Life

Jdg 5:23

Deborah identifies the cause of Israel with the cause of Israel’s God. Identification of patriotism and religion belongs to an early phase of religious development, and is unquestionably associated with the crudest notions of the Diety.

I. These fierce words enshrine a conception of human affairs which is profoundly true, and apparently Christian. That human affairs are the scene of a true conflict between the will of God and of pugnant forces, that every individual must have his place therein for or against the will of God, that no individual is so without illumination on the supreme issue as not to be able, if he will, to ally himself with the Divine cause these are the very assumptions of morality, and they are taken for granted in the Gospel.

II. Can we simply accept the national interest in the conventional and obvious sense of the phrase as competent to interpret for us our religious duty? We shall all agree that Christianity cannot be satisfied by those suggestions. The religion of Christ is not, in the old sense of the phrase, a national religion. God still speaks to us as in the old prophetic age, most authoritatively and intelligibly within ourselves. This interior guidance, as it is ministered in the solitude of the individual spirit, so it is incompetent for the purposes of general direction.

III. What then ought to be the effect on our political conduct of our accepting the prophetic notion of human affairs as the arena of a conflict? Three consequences seem to follow directly from such a doctrine:

( a ) We shall inevitably take a larger view of public duty.

( b ) We will have a high estimate of personal responsibility.

( c ) There will be an intimate relation maintained between politics and religion.

H. Hensley Henson, Christ and the Nation, p. 73.

References. V. 23. H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, (2nd Series), p. 264. W. Baird, The Hallowing of Our Common Life, p. 70. C. Hook, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vi. p. 42. Phillips Brooks, The Candle of the Lord, p. 287. Bishop Wilmington Ingram, Mission of the Spirit, p. 83.

Jdg 5:24

The types of female excellence exhibited in the early period of Jewish history are in general of a low order, and certainly far inferior to those of Roman history or Greek poetry; and the warmest eulogy of a woman in the Old Testament is probably that which was bestowed upon her who, with circumstances of the most aggravated treachery, had murdered the sleeping fugitive who had taken refuge under her roof.

Lecky, History of European Morals, II. p. 337.

In one of Richard Cameron’s most violent sermons, during the ‘killing’ days of the seventeenth century in Scotland, he employs this verse to justify the assassination of tyrants and oppressors:

‘I know not if this generation will be honoured to cast off these rulers, but those that the Lord makes instruments to bring back Christ, and to recover our liberties, civil and ecclesiastic, shall be such as shall disarm this king and set inferiors under him, and against whom our Lord is denouncing war. Let them take heed unto themselves, for though they should take us to scaffolds, or kill us in the fields, the Lord will yet raise up a party who will be avenged upon them. And are there none to execute justice and judgment upon these wicked men who are both treacherous and tyrannical? The Lord is calling men of all ranks and stations to execute judgment upon them. And if it be done we cannot but justify the deed, and such are to be commended for it as Jael was. “Blessed above women shall Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, be.”‘ Even in the Reformation age, the killing of tyrants was held to be a worthy task. Thus Melanchthon, in one of his letters, wishes that some good man would kill the “English Nero,” Henry VIII. A saying of similar import is quoted by Loesche in his Analecta Lutherana et Melanthoniana, p. 159.

References. V. 24. T. Arnold, The Interpretation of Scripture. Ibid. Sermons, vol. vi. p. 57. Bishop Woodford, Occasional Sermons, p. 161. H. P. Liddon, Contemporary Pulpit, vol vi. p. 65.

Jdg 5:26

A full meal is like Sisera’s banquet, at the end of which there is a nail struck into the head.

Jeremy Taylor.

I did long achingly, then and for four-and-twenty hours afterwards, for something to fetch me out of my present existence, and lead me upwards and onwards. This longing, and all of a similar kind, it was necessary to knock on the head; which I did, figuratively, after the manner of Jael to Sisera, driving a nail through their temples. Unlike Sisera, they did not die: they were but transiently stunned, and at intervals would turn on the nail with a rebellious wrench: then did the temples bleed, and the brain thrill to its core.

Charlotte Bronte in Villette.

Jdg 5:27

We see the mournful contrast between life and death, which all poetry has lingered over. Greatness, as struck down at one blow, in the midst of its honours and the tribute paid to it, produces a passing emotion of sympathy even in the mind of the Jewish prophetess, while her main thoughts follow her country’s rescue: and the mighty foe is laid low in that grand solemnity of verse, and in that sad picture of death, in which a high compassion speaks: ‘At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down; at her feet he bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell down dead’.

Mozley.

Jdg 5:30

The sentiment even of the woman’s delight in the dresses won in the spoils transpires through the warlike rejoicing: the pieces of embroidery are counted over in imagination as they are torn away from the mother and the harem of Sisera for the women of Israel.

Stanley.

Jdg 5:31

The exultation with which the poet dwells on the treachery of the act, on the helpless prostration of the great captain’s corpse before a mere woman’s knees; the terrible minuteness with which she gloats over the raised expectations of the mother of the murdered soldier; the picture of the ‘wise ladies’ in attendance suggesting triumphant reasons for the delay, and of the anxious eagerness with which she even suggested these reasons to herself no doubt indicate fierce personal as well as fierce patriotic triumph. But the whole tenor of this grand poem and the conclusion, ‘So let all thy enemies perish, O Lord; but let them that love Thee be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might,’ at all events prove that the personal hatred was so closely bound up with the representative feelings of the writer as a judge of Israel, and with her trust in the Lord of Hosts, that the latter lent a kind of halo to the unscrupulous ferocity of the former.

R. H. Hutton.

Compare Cromwell’s description of the battle of Marston Moor. ‘Truly England and the Church of God hath had a great favour from the Lord, in this great Victory given unto us, such as the like never was since this War began. It had all the evidences of an absolute Victory obtained by the Lord’s blessing upon the godly party principally. We never charged but we routed the enemy…. The particulars I cannot relate now; but I believe, of twenty thousand the Prince hath not four thousand left. Give glory, all the glory, to God.’

Jdg 5:31

Speaking in 1657 of his own Protectorate, Cromwell declared: ‘I profess, I think I may say: Since the beginning of that change though I should be loath to speak anything vainly but since the beginning of that change to this day, I do not think there hath been a freer procedure of the Laws, not even in those years called, and not unworthily, the “Halcyon Days of Peace” from the Twentieth of Elizabeth to King James’ and King Charles’ time. I do not think but the Laws have proceeded with as much freedom and justice since I came to the Government, as they did in those years so named “Halcyon”.’

Jewish Zeal, a Pattern to Christians

Jdg 5:31

A certain fire of zeal, showing itself, not by force and blood, but as really and certainly as if it did cutting through natural feelings, neglecting self, preferring God’s glory to all things, firmly resisting sin, protesting against sinners, and steadily contemplating their punishment, is a duty belonging to all creatures of God, a duty of Christians, in the midst of all that excellent overflowing charity which is the highest Gospel grace, and the fulfilling of the second table of the Law.

J. H. Newman.

References. V. 31. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Judges, p. 217. V. 31. J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iv. p. 173. V. M. Dods, Israel’s Iron Age, p. 173.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

Deborah and Her Song

Jdg 4 , Jdg 5

THE fourth and fifth chapters bring into view quite a host of secondary characters, such as Jabin and his chief captain, Sisera; Deborah and Barak; Heber, and Jael his wife; and in the great song of triumph and judgment names come and go with flashes of colour full of history and criticism. Sometimes we are told of a song that the words are nothing the tune is everything. That may be a happy circumstance as regards some songs, but that criticism has no place in reference to the Song of Deborah; it is all words, all thoughts, all spiritual music. This song has in it something more than tune. If we do not know the words we shall never understand the music. Poor is the singing in which you cannot hear every word; it is then but a performance, it is but a vocal trick; we must hear every word, every syllable, every sentiment, and judge whether the music is worthy of the great intellectual conception. It is so with the Song of Deborah. We shall find in it words as well as tune. Jabin, king of Canaan, had held Israel in oppression twenty years. Jabin had resources which astounded people who lived in the hill country. Among the mountains chariots were no use; the bow and arrow were everything, but the chariot could not be driven over a craggy steep or unfathomable abyss. Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he made the plain of Esdraelon tremble as they rolled along. People who peeped down out of the crags, and saw the nine hundred chariots rolling in the plain of Jezreel, thought Jabin a mighty king, and obeyed his behest with meekest submission. Do not blame Jabin for oppressing the children of Israel twenty years. Jabin did not begin the oppression. Do not let us ruin ourselves by looking at second causes, and pouring out our denunciations upon the king of Hazor in Canaan. He, like many other poor kings, had nothing to do with it except instrumentally. There is but one King. It pleases us to call men kings and rulers, but there is only one sovereignty; the Lord reigneth, and there is room for none other; his throne fills the universe, and his kingdom ruleth over all. Jabin was an unconscious minister of God. Many men occupy that relation to Heaven who are not aware of it. The Lord has many servants at his threshold: he maketh the wrath of man to praise him; he finds music in strange places, and brings all kinds of instruments into the band that plays the music of his purpose. No doubt, Jabin thought himself a great man over Israel lord and ruler and oppressor. Probably he counted Israel among his riches; in adding up his little store he put Israel down at a plain price, and said, “Israel is mine, and is worth so much in the coming and going of things.” He did not know what he was talking about The reason why Jabin had anything to do with Israel was that Israel had done “evil in the sight of the Lord” ( Jdg 4:1 ). It is putting the case too lightly to say that Israel “did evil in the sight of the Lord.” That might have been a first offence, and twenty years’ penal servitude under a king without a harp, was a heavy sentence for a first violation. But we have missed the explanatory word. How often we do this in reading the Scriptures! How prone we are to leave out the key-word, and thus create confusion for ourselves! The text literally reads, “And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord.” How great the emphasis which ought to be laid upon the word “again”! It may not mean a second time or a third time; it may be the thousandth time for aught the word “again” says to the contrary. Israel did evil upon evil, as if building a black temple with black stones, and purposing to consecrate it to the service of the devil. Twenty years’ servitude was a small penalty. God did not plead against Israel with his great power when he sentenced Israel to this period of oppression and sorrow. How readily we look at the oppression and forget the sin! This is characteristic of human nature. We pity the sorrow; we would even count the tears of human distress, and make a great number of them, and turn that number into a plea for Heaven’s mercy. We are wrong. We have started the argument from the wrong end; the point of view is false; the perspective is out of line: the whole vision suffers from wrong drawing and colouring. We have nothing to do with the oppression. We must look at causes. We must say, How did this come to pass? and in answering that inquiry we shall vindicate Eternal Providence, and justify the ways of God to men. We are moved more by the oppression than by the sin. That is a test of our own spiritual quality. Men are more frequently annoyed than they are wronged. Many men suffer more from an assault made upon their self-conceit than an assault made upon the proofs of eternal righteousness. Hence men resent what are termed personalities, whilst they look benignantly, if not approvingly, upon sin in the abstract violated law that hurts the vanity of no man. All this is indicative of character. Here we see what Sin really is. It binds the sinner to his outrages against God; it endeavours to modify its own force and gravity, and it seeks to turn attention to outside matters, accidents, passing phases, and temporary troubles. Were we of God’s mind and of Christ’s heart we should dwell upon the evil, the evil twice done and twice repeated, and continued until it has become a custom a custom so established that the repetition of it brings with it no new sensation. But we will look at accidents and circumstances, rather than probe into real causes, profound and true origins.

A new period dawned in Israel. Deborah the wife of Lapidoth was judge. Great questions are settled by events. There was no inquiry as to whether it was meet that a woman should be a judge. Israel needed a mother, and Deborah was a mother in Israel. If we make questions of these subjects, we shall entertain one another with wordy controversies: but when the true Deborah comes, she comes of right, and sits a queen, without a word. There is a fitness of things a subtle and unchangeable harmony and when its conditions are satisfied, the satisfaction is attested by a great content of soul. As Deborah sat under her palm-tree in Mount Ephraim, no man said: Why are we judged by a woman? The answer was in her eyes: she looked divine; the vindication was in her judgment: when she spake, the spirit of wisdom seemed to approve every tone of her voice. There is a spirit in man: he knows when the right judge is upon the bench; the poorest listener can tell when he is in the presence of Justice; the unsophisticated heart knows when attempts are being made to quibble and wriggle and misrepresent, and to substitute the jingle of words for the music of righteousness. The people came up to the famous old palm-tree, and told their tale to Deborah day by day, until the motherly heart began to ache, and her trouble was very great. She saw, as motherly eyes only can see, how the wrinkles were deepening, how the faces were not so plump as they used to be, how strong men were bending under invisible burdens. She said: By the help of Heaven we will see more clearly into this. A hundred miles away in the north there lived a man, Barak by name “Barak,” which is, by interpretation, “the lightning” and on Barak Deborah fixed her heart as on the hope of Israel. She sent for him; but he said No. She said in effect, You must come. But he said in reply, You do not know the case as a soldier knows it; Jabin has nine hundred chariots of iron, and the plain of Jezreel seems to have been made into a way on purpose for them to roll in; if it were Jabin only, I might attempt the task, but think of nine hundred chariots of iron! Deborah said, You must come, for the time has arrived; Heaven’s hour of deliverance has struck; and I look to you to espouse the cause of Israel. Barak said, No, I cannot, except on one condition. Deborah said, Name your terms; what are they? Then replied Barak, My terms are that you go along with me. Instantly she said, I am ready to go. And Deborah, a mother in Israel, became the soldier of Israel, and Barak was her humble servant. The news soon spread. Sisera was on the alert. This was the very thing he had been longing for. When a man has nine hundred chariots of iron he wants something for them to do. Kings who have standing armies are bound to create occasions of war; hence the injustice, the turpitude, the hellishness of battle. Sisera was the chief captain, and the nine hundred chariots of iron were under his direction, and he said, Now Esdraelon shall tremble under this weight of iron, and Israel shall be crushed as a fly upon a wheel. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh” at them, and laugh again at their chariots, though they be iron in quality and nine hundred in number. The chariots of the Lord are twenty thousand, yea, thousand of thousands. The battle is the Lord’s, not ours. But the Lord will not loose his chariots upon Jabin and his nine hundred curricles. There is a river on the field of battle, Kishon by name, quite a little silver threadlet in summer, but soon swollen by tributaries from the hills; and a river once getting charge of a plain makes swift work in its progress. The rains had fallen, all the hills seemed to pour out their treasures of water, the stream expanded, the water burst and flowed over the plain, and the nine hundred could not move. They were overcome by water! Kishon was more than all Jabin’s iron host. Then came awful doings men slaying one another. As for Sisera, the captain of all the iron chariots, he fled ran away like a hound that had seen a tiger, and pantingly he came to a woman’s tent, and said to Jael, the wife of Heber the Canaanite, Can you give me shelter? What are nine hundred chariots when the Lord is against them? What are all the chariots of the earth as against the sea? They could be sunk in the Atlantic, and the great ocean not know that they had descended to its depths. Jael said, Come in. And Sisera went in to come out no more. “The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is my son’s chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?” At that moment Sisera was lying in the tent of Jael with an iron nail through his head. Sisera had chariots of iron Jael had but one nail, but the hammer must have been God’s. There is no defence of Jael’s conduct. Viewed in the light of our morality, it was base in and out bad, corrupt, horrible. As she walks softly, the softlier, the deadlier, and takes the nail and the hammer, she is the picture of incarnate depravity. This we say, unless there be some law which takes up all our laws and moves them into greater meanings through infinite orbits. There are greater laws that take up all our local movements and relations, and set them in new attitudes and invest them with new values; but of these laws we know nothing, and it is right that we should speak frankly about the ancient morality as represented in the action of Jael, and that Christian teachers should condemn it within the limits which are known to them. A woman began the war and a woman ended it, judging by the literal history. The inspiration of deliverance was a divine inspiration. Wherever there is a movement towards freedom, that movement began in heaven. Wherever any oppressed man, conscious of his sin and penitent for it, lifts himself up in an attitude of independence and looks his oppressor in the face with a calm determination to be free, there is a distinctively divine act. God is the God of liberty. He permits slavery or uses it, and may sanctify the use to higher issues and advantages; but beneath the oppression, below all the trouble, there is that spirit which is akin to his own, which asserts itself and says: I cannot always live under this cloud, or carry this weary load; I will be free. When such a word is spoken reverently, solemnly, honestly, it is neither more nor less than the living voice of the living God.

Now Deborah sings. She seems almost to excel Moses in song. There is hardly such a piece of composition in all known literature. It has everything in it. This is a manifold song. Some persons have points of power, individual faculties of notable strength; but this woman seems to have all human faculties, and all human faculties in their largest proportions. She praises the people for their willing offering of themselves ( Jdg 5:2 ). She recognised the spontaneous action of the people; they wanted to be free. She also regards kings as occupying a subordinate position: “Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes” ( Jdg 5:3 ). They had to receive the news, not to create the event; they had to hear of it next day, not to plan it the day before. Who can tell the ways of Providence? God setteth up the poor amongst princes, he plungeth the princes down into meanest places; the first shall be last, and the last shall be first God shall have the record and the register written, and rewritten and redistributed, so there shall be no vanity in Israel, no conceit in the hosts of Christ. There is, too, a tone of judgment in the song. Deborah could not forget who had forsaken her on the day of trial. She said: Reuben was not there “For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.” Reuben abode among the sheepfolds, and listened to the bleating of the flocks, and let the woman go out alone to fight the chariots of Jabin. “For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.” Gilead was not with me; he “abode beyond Jordan”: Dan was not with me; he “remained in ships”: Asher got behind the creeks and the crags, and peeped out, and then withdrew: “Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.” So Deborah makes mention of severe troubles even in the roll of her triumphal song. She did not confuse things. She was not so lost in enthusiasm and transport, as to forget whether Reuben was present, and Gilead and Dan; nor did she neglect Zebulun and Naphtali. This woman’s song is reason set to music, judgment in rapture yea, say in rhapsody, but judgment still, awarding to the good that which is good, to the evil that which they deserve, and thus setting forth in song a picture of the ultimate and final judgment. Meroz was cursed even in song. Why? Meroz was in the heart of the country; Meroz might have struck the first blow, and Meroz did nothing: “Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” The Lord might have been torn to pieces for aught that Meroz did. The winding up of all things shall be a great song, a triumphant burst of music; but moral distinctions will not be forgotten in those jubilant strains. Then it will be known who did his duty, who remained at home, who was content with criticism, and who hazarded his life that his Christ might be made more widely known.

Selected Note

The song of triumph which was composed in consequence of the great victory over Sisera, is said to have been “sung by Deborah and Barak.” It is usually regarded as the composition of Deborah, and was probably indited by her to be sung on the return of Barak and his warriors from the pursuit.

Deborah, the prophetess, was wife of Lapidoth. She dwelt, probably, in a tent, under a well-known palm-tree, between Ramah and Bethel, where she judged Israel ( Jdg 4:4-5 ). This probably means that she was the organ of communication between God and his people, and probably on account of the influence and authority of her character, was accounted in some sort as the head of the nation, to whom questions of doubt and difficulty were referred for decision. In her triumphal song she says:

Prayer

Almighty God, we would rest in thee. Thou hast welcomed us to thy rest, and made us, in promise, sharers of thy feast. The Lord will bless his people with peace, yea, with peace that passeth understanding. Thou dost cause men to possess their souls in peace and confidence when they look unto the Lord and set their expectation eagerly upon him. We have said unto our souls, Look unto the hills whence cometh your help: your help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. Thus the heaven and the earth have become images to us of thy greatness, wisdom, goodness, and continual superintendence; and thus through heaven and earth we have found the living God who made them both. All things tell of thy power, and all things sing of thy love. Why should man be silent? His should be the loudest, sweetest voice of all. Let the people praise thee, O God; yea, let all the people praise thee; let the time of silence now past more than suffice, and let the time of singing, and rejoicing, and testifying, come in upon us like a new year. Truly thy mercies deserve our songs. We will sing of mercy, and of judgment: for is not thy judgment a mercy? and is not thy mercy a judgment? art thou not continually looking upon us through the cloud, and blessing us every day with sunlight? We would join the innumerable company of angels in praising God. We would think of the great host in heavenly places joining the hymn of adoration and thankfulness; we would unite in the great and solemn praise, and be as glad as earth will permit its children to be amid its night and winter and cold. We praise thee for a day that is all thine own: the four-and-twenty hours are four-and-twenty jewels; we bless thee for a house that is all thine own, built upon a sure foundation, rearing itself towards heaven, excluding all profanity, offering hospitality to all necessity; and we bless thee for a book that is all thine own, written as it were with thine own finger, having in it gospels from heaven infinite as the love of God and grand as his glory: may we have the seeing eye, the understanding heart, that, beholding the writing we may comprehend the meaning, and then proceed to live it over again in useful and happy life. We desire that our religious aspirations may grow in number, in intensity, in loftiness; may our whole character be lifted up by their energy, so that our citizenship may be no longer upon earth, but already in heaven. Thy care of us, who can doubt? The very hairs of our head are all numbered. If for a moment we distrust thee, it is that we may pray some nobler prayer, because of contrition and the heart-break of penitent sorrow; if we have turned from the Lord, we will come back again, renewed, stronger than ever in faith, tenderer than ever in love. Oh heal our backslidings, and love us freely. Thou knowest our life, for thou didst make it. We do not know what it is. We suffer it, and are afraid of it; for a moment we enjoy it, as we might enjoy an angel’s presence, but all our joy is troubled by a distant and speechless fear, and we say, This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven; and our pulse is as the beat of God’s eternity within us. Help us through our life to know somewhat of thine; enable us to know through our hearts somewhat of God’s love: then shall our life be profitable, and shall help itself to higher uses because to higher devotion. We pray for one another. The Lord’s blessing be upon us every one. Thou hast a portion of meat for each in thy house; thou wilt not send any empty away; if our hunger is great, thy resources are greater still. Blessed are they that hunger: behold, our very necessity is turned into a blessing; our capacity to receive is the measure of our capacity to enjoy. O that we might praise the Lord every day that we might know that all our time may become sabbatic, restful a period of peace, an anticipation of everlasting tranquillity! Help us to live out the few more days that remain: they come and go so quickly we can hardly number them; between the sunrise and the sunset there is so brief a time, hardly an opportunity to breathe. May we know the measure of our days, and knowing that, may we redeem the time, buying up every opportunity eagerly, and using it as a trust from heaven. Guide all who need special guidance. Show men where the lock is they cannot find, and when they have found it and cannot open it, put the key into their hands. Send light upon those whose way is wrapped in darkness. Speak a word in season to him that is weary; show the weeper that his tears are but for a time and may be the precursors of joy. Help those who are called to carry the burdens of others, who think about them until they are weary until their wonder becomes a distress, and their solicitude an intolerable pain. We pray for those in trouble on the sea. We pray for those in trouble because of bodily weakness. We pray that in houses where Sorrow has long been the one guest he may this day flee away. As for our sin, we bring it to the cross: the blood of Jesus Christ is the answer of God to the sin of man. Help us to believe in Jesus, to trust in the Son of God, to give up all hope in ourselves, and to find all satisfaction in Christ. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XXVII

DEBORAH AND BARAK, DEBORAH’S SONG

Judges 4-5

The oppression that we are to consider in this section came from Jabin, another king of Hazor. You have learned in the book of Joshua that a king of the same name and over the same city was defeated and slain and the city taken. Some people are troubled about his reappearance at a later date. I have explained to you that Jabin is the name of a dynasty like Pharaoh of Egypt, and that when Israel did not occupy conquered territory, in the lapse of time the inhabitants would take possession; so that accounts for this king, Jabin, and in the same place, Hazor.

The oppression in this case lasted twenty years and his power came from his having 900 chariots of iron, which Israel dreaded to meet on any open plain. They had a general, Sisera, who seems to have had complete management of all of the martial affairs of his kingdom.

Our lesson introduces us to another one of those crises when no man rose up to meet it and where God put power in the heart of a woman. I am always glad when men fail that some good woman comes to the front. And instead of criticizing her, I lift my hat to her, and we ought to take shame to ourselves that no man could be found to stand in the breach and meet the exigencies of the occasion. Of what tribe was Deborah? Locate the tribe of each one of the judges. She was a prophetess, an inspired woman and it is easy enough to tell where her habitat was at the time this story commences. The record states that she dwelt under the palm tree between Ramah and Bethel. She was in the territory of Ephraim, but don’t be too sure that she belonged to the tribe of Ephraim. It may have been that the oppression under Jabin drove her, as it did others, from the tribe where she belonged and that she came down to a safe place in the territory of Ephraim and there judged Israel.

There is no question but that many of the people of the tribes being in the dark, having no prophet during the entire horrible oppression, would come to this woman upon whom God’s inspiration rested, to know what to do. The pitiable condition of the nation I shall let her describe later in her magnificent song. Anyhow, there was one woman whose heart was not cowed, that believed in God.

She believed that if her people would come together and ask God for help that they would receive it, and she sent orders to Barak and commanded him to take 10,000 men out of the two tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun, and take possession of Mount Tabor. Mount Tabor was not a big mountain, but as it was in a level plain it was a very conspicuous mountain and it commanded the plain where this battle was to be fought. She sent word to him through the inspiration of God resting upon her. He hesitated. He was not inspired and he wanted somebody along who was inspired and he said, “If you will go with me I will go.” She had not intended to accompany the army, but if he would not go without her she would go. So she went. A number of the tribes did furnish contingent troops; so she gathered a considerable army. In the battle which followed, Sisera’s army was completely defeated, his chariots of iron availed him nothing, and he himself turned aside from the crowd and fled in order to escape death.

The record states that Heber, the Kenite, the brother-in-law of Moses) had separated from the rest of the Kenites who had gone away down in the south; that particular one had withdrawn from the rest of Hobab’s children and had taken his station on the northern plains, Kedesh, not Kadesh-barnea. It is a fact that this Heber had had an agreement with the oppressor by which he did not bother them and they did not bother him. Bear in mind what Moses said to his brother-in-law. He said, “Come thou and go with us, for we are going to a place which God has promised to give us and we will do thee good.” How often I have heard a country Baptist preacher preach from this text: “We are going to the place that God has promised us.” Well, anyhow, they went and God did bless them.

Now, this particular one of these descendants separated from the others and went up into this northern section of the country. When this fleeing king turned eastward, he went to the house of this Kenite, Heber, and the man was not at home but the woman was, Jael, and she invited him to come in and gave him refreshment and covered him up, and while he slept she took a tent pin and a hammer and drove the pin through his head and pinned him to the ground. So that was the last of the great Sisera.

We will discuss the morality of that when we come to the song. I am just giving you an historical outline. But what about the morality of the act of Jael in driving a tent-pin through the head of a man that she invited into her tent and who accepted her hospitality, and she slew him while he slept? In one of Sir Walter Scott’s novels, The Talisman, Saladin, the Sultan of the Mohammedans, says to King Richard of England, “If my worst enemy were received in my tent under the law of Arabian hospitality he would be as safe from any harm as if he were in his own castle.” That is their ethical theory of hospitality. If you take salt with him, then you are safe as long as you are in his tent. Now, Jael invited this man in the misfortune that was on him, if we may call it that, and slew him while he trusted her hospitality. So what about the morality of that act? But the victory was complete and the oppression ceased.

Now we come to Jdg 5 , which is the interesting part of this section. I suppose one hundred times in my life I have read over this triumphal song of Deborah and compared it with the triumphal song of Miriam and the triumphal song of Mary and other great songs that are mentioned in the Bible as coming from the lips of women. And many times in my life I have compared the act of Jael with that incident in the apocryphal Old Testament, where Judith slew Holofernes under similar circumstances and became the deliverer of the nation. During the war, in Kechi, Louisiana, the ladies of that city, who were very patriotic, gave a number of tableaux in order to raise money for the soldiers. I happened to be there, wounded but able to be carried in a hack, and I attended, and one of the most striking scenes was Judith and Holofernes, Judith cutting off the head of Holofernes while he was asleep. A young lady friend of mine entered into controversy with me as to the morality of her action, and I put this controversy on to you with reference to the action of Jael.

Now we look at this song. Nearly all of the Old Testament poetry is lyric poetry, yet it is intensely lively. The first part commences with praise to God for avenging Israel, and it is filled with doctrines that you can use now as well as she did then. The second line gives the doctrine, “Praise ye the Lord for avenging Israel, When the people willingly offered themselves.” The Lord will deliver his people every time if the people will offer themselves.

An one of Aesop’s fables we find this story: “A countryman’s wagon stuck in the mud and he kneeled down and prayed to Hercules to help (Hercules being the god of strength) and Hercules replied, ‘When I see you put your own shoulder to the wheel yourself, I will help you.’ ” The thought is the same. Jehovah will avenge his people when the people offer themselves. We have no right to call on God to get us out of our troubles and just sit still and do nothing ourselves. The thought is expressed by a proverb that I will ask you to tell who said: “Trust in the Lord but tie your camel.” Don’t just turn your beast out and trust in the Lord to have him hanging around in the morning. Who said, “Trust in the Lord but keep your powder dry”? The thought is the same. The Lord avenges Israel whenever Israel offers himself.

A great meeting was held in Waco conducted by a Yankee evangelist of some note and the first sermon that he preached was on what Martha said to Mary: “The master is come and calleth for thee.” And he commenced with his peculiar Yankee nasal twang by saying, “The Lord had come to help that family but that Mary sot thar, not goin’ to do narthin’.” He made a great sermon out of it. He said, “I have come to help you in the meetin’; now are you goin’ to set thar and do narthin’?” In all of these things that I am telling you is a great thought. If you ever hold a meeting, it will be a good thing to take that text, “Praise ye the Lord when the people willingly offer themselves.” Brother Truett has preached some wonderful sermons on consecration, and he shows that the grace of Jehovah grew out of the fact that the people offered themselves willingly.

The American Revised Version changes the thought. Now, the change of thought is this, that you may shout praise to God when leaders will rise up and people offer themselves willingly. It is a fact, though, that no leaders rose up until this woman stirred them up, and she was very glad that somebody, when she gave out the word, did rise up. That only shows that what is necessary to success is a leader, some man of God, somebody that has the courage of his convictions, somebody that will blow the trumpet and unfurl the flag, and the people will rally around a true leader. To illustrate: When we were retreating before the oncoming of General Banks coming up Red River, and knowing that another army was coming from Little Rock, Arkansas, and the two armies converging where all the war supplies were, at Shreveport, Louisiana, when we were falling back before Banks’ army without cavalry, and the Federal cavalry enclosing us and shooting into the column, I stepped out and said, “One blast of Tom Green’s horn is worth 1,000 men.” He was our great cavalry general in the West, but was absent at the time; a few days later he joined us and at Mansfield, Louisiana, captured their train and while our infantry went into Arkansas to defeat Steele, he kept Banks retreating herded around their gunboats in Red River. Every man felt that what we needed was a competent man, a leader on that rear guard.

In the next paragraph of her song Deborah develops this thought, a thought that she commands even kings and princes to hear, that is, that the same Jehovah that went out of Seir, that shook the mountaintop of Sinai, that delivered the people in the days of Moses was just as ready to come to the aid of his people as he was then. Every now and then they would figure what God had done for them in their behalf. The victors knew about it, but the next generation didn’t know about it, and they would think that God would not intervene now as he had in the past. I tell you he will always intervene in behalf of his people if the people will trust him, and if the leader blows the trumpet and unfurls the flag, the deliverance will be just as signal now as it ever was in the heroic days of the Israelites. This is poetry of a very high order, lyric: “Thou wentest forth out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, yea, the clouds also dropped water. The mountains melted from before the Lord. Even you Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.” When you get over into the Psalms you will find that they almost quote that language referring to the same experience. It served to keep the minds of the nation about the tremendous power of Jehovah; over and over again you will find that cited in the Psalms and a number of times in the New Testament.

Now, in the next paragraph you come to the condition of the people, and you also come to the fact that Shamgar, the hero, and Jael, the heroine, were contemporaries. There was DO note of time when we discussed Shamgar; it was the same commander but a different country; it was in Judah. In the days of Jael the highways were unoccupied and the deliverer walked through byways. Now, the country was in a terrible state when even the rich were silent, when those who are troubled take to the brush, slip around in the bypaths. How shameful that God’s people, knowing Jehovah as they should have known him, were afraid even to walk in the big road! This is the first point that indicates the condition of the people. Now we come to the second indication of their condition: “The rulers ceased in Israel.” No hero, no captain, no man to take the lead. And for twenty years this state of affairs was going on until Deborah arose: “Until that I arose a mother in Israel.”

Now, the third condition is, “they chose new gods.” That accounts for their condition, they turned away from Jehovah and worshiped these gods, then they had no leader, then the highways were unoccupied. The fourth item of their condition is, “There was war in the gates.” Then we come to the next condition: “Was there a shield or spear seen among the 40,000 in Israel?” That is susceptible of two interpretations. That may mean either that out of 40,000 men there were no arms to be found, or it may mean that out of 40,000 men not one was willing to take a shield in his hand or a spear. My idea is that the first one is right. I think it shows the condition of the disarmed people; that among 40,000 men there would not be one spear. You come to something like that in another period where even the means of husbandry were taken away.

Look at the conditions: First, the highways were unoccupied; second, no leaders; third, they chose new gods; fourth, there was war in the gates; fifth, no means of making war, they were disarmed. Out of 40,000 there was not a spear. Now we come to an expression that indicates this woman’s gratitude. She says, “My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people; Bless ye the Lord.” I know what that means. In 1887 I was made chairman of the Prohibition Committee and I saw the necessity of leaders. I issued an appeal that was published in every paper of any prominence in the state, an appeal for young men, an appeal for men who would look at the dreadful situation wrought in the homes and country by the saloon business, and who would put themselves at the head of the people in their section and take a stand. I don’t suppose I ever wrote a more fiery article, and I mailed with my own hands hundreds of copies to men that I picked out, and U. S. senators, Congressmen, Texas legislators and hundreds of others responded, and my heart was filled with joy and gratitude to God that they responded to my appeal.

Now she says, “My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people; Bless ye the Lord.” She then anticipates the response of the people, and we will see who the people were that did respond. Her heart is affected with the news that such people did come. The dignitaries rode not on horses but on white asses, the most comfortable animal of travel that there is in the world. The Lord Jesus Christ rode such an animal. She says, “Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment and walk by the way. They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water. They shall rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord. . . . Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates.” Before, there was war in the gates. The gate was a place for a man to get into the city and whoever saw him would invite him to his house. Job refers to that, and the same is in Genesis in the account of Sodom and Gomorrah. For a gate or portal of a city to be unfrequented was considered a terrible condition of the people. Now, the richest, most prominent will come together and discuss the marvelous achievements of Jehovah.

Now, here she stirs up herself and Barak; “Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, utter a song: Arise, Barak, and lead away thy captives, thou son of Abinoam.” That sounds just like the blast of a trumpet where she rouses herself, where she rouses the leader Barak. Now we come (Jdg 5:13 ) to the result of the appeal: “Then came a remnant of the nobles and the people.” The remnant, who were they? I want to know how general was the response when the inspired prophetess called them to fall into line of battle. “Out of Ephraim, came down they whose root is in Amaiek; After thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples; Out of Machir came down governors, And out of Zebulun they that handled the marshal’s staff. The princes of Issachar were with Deborah,” and also Barak. Now, there are four tribes specified under her appeal: Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Issachar, and “Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet.”

Now you come to a trouble well known in Texas. It is a fine sarcasm: “By the watercourses of Reuben there were great resolves of heart. Why sattest thou among the sheepfolds, To hear the pipings for the flocks?” “By the watercourses of Reuben there were great resolves of heart,” but that is all. I read that in an association once that had occupied years in making resolutions. They resolved in their hearts and then “did narthin’.” They resolved but they never did turn. What is the use of finding out the wrong if they do not turn to the right way? They looked into themselves; they passed resolutions; they put themselves in line; then they listened to the bleatings of the flock. Not a man went from the tribe of Reuben.

Let us see the men above Reuben. “Gilead abode beyond the Jordan.” Let us see that half-tribe of Manasseh. This war was on the western side of the Jordan. So Gilead sent no response. Let us take Dan. Dan was quartered on the Mediterranean Sea and he was very busy with his commerce. He had his goods of export to send out and his goods import to receive. Dan was busy in ships. No Danites came. Let us try Asher. They were going to sit still and “do narthin’.” Asher crept up to the forks of the creek and went into the brush. Well, now what about Zebulun? “Zebulun was a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death, and Naphtali upon the high places of the field.” Those tribes responded. Well, if one lone woman can rouse up that many tribes it certainly is a great thing.

Now she tells what the enemy did: “The kings came and fought; then fought the kings of Canaan. The stars from their courses fought against Sisera.” A few tribes, but all heaven was on the side of the righteous. As the sun and the moon conspired to help Joshua in the battle of Beth-horon, so here the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. Now, whenever you get that thought into men’s minds, the thought that Patrick Henry has fired every schoolboy’s heart with, “Besides, sir, we shall not be fighting alone; there is a God of battles and He will fight for us,” they will respond.

Whenever you can get a man to feel that the power of heaven will come down, he will say one is a majority if God is with him. Well, that is what heaven did. Let us see what earth did. “The river of Kishon swept them away. . . . O my soul, march on with strength.” That Kishon River at times was as dry as a powder house, but Deborah selected the battlefield right where she did for the reason that the water spout, if it came, would beat all the chariots in the world. I have seen on the plains of Texas a dry basin of a river and a wall of water sweep down, twenty-five feet high and a mile wide, in thirty minutes. Here nature on the earth and nature in the stars was helping God’s people. It is real poetry. “Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones.” What would a chariot do against Kishon when Kishon came down? It was like the sea, and swept over the enemy until they perished in the water.

Now we come to the theme of many sermons, “Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord.” Heretofore we considered the tribes but here is a particular city that failed to come to the help of God. The stars came, the earth came, and a woman went forth and led in the battle, but this city, this city upon which, by the voice of the angel of Jehovah himself, a curse came, didn’t take hold. The sin of omission under certain circumstances is as fearful as the sin of commission. I have not preached less than twenty sermons myself on that.

QUESTIONS

1. Explain the reappearance of Jabin. How long his oppression? Who his general?

2. Who the deliverer? Of what tribe? Where did she dwell? Why there? Who led the army with her?

3. Give an account of the battle that followed and of Siaera’s death.

4. With what should one compare Deborah’s song for study?

5. Quote the text with which this song opens, and illustrate its application.

6. What does she invoke kings and princes to hear?

7. What were the conditions of the people as portrayed in this song?

8. What expression indicates the gratitude of Deborah? and illustrate.

9. Contrast the former condition with this.

10. Quote her appeal and give the tribes that responded; also the ones that did not and why.

11. Describe the effort of the enemy and the battle in general.

12. What city is cursed and why? Quote the text here.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Jdg 5:1 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,

Ver. 1. Then sang Deborah and Barak. ] Like as before had done Moses and Miriam in Exo 15:1-21 , which chapter and this are by one called monumental chapters. Deborah was a poetess as well as a prophetess, learned, eloquent, industrious, far beyond Sappho or Procatia, who was called Musa Lyrica, and five various times got the better of Pindarus in versifying. a

On that day. ] While the deliverance was fresh and their hearts well affected. So did Jehoshaphat and his army at Berachah. 2Ch 20:26 So did Hezekiah newly recovered. Isa 38:9 ; Isa 38:22 So did Zacharias so soon as his mouth was opened. Luk 1:64 If this be not done speedily, benefits will soon wax stale, and putrify as fish. No part of the thank offering might be kept unspent till the third day. God loveth a cheerful giver. “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion.” Psa 65:1

a Suidas.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Then sang. No singing till after victory. Compare Exo 15:1. Only weeping before. Compare Jdg 2:4 with Exo 2:23, Exo 2:24. See note on Exo 15:1 for the ten songs.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 5

And then sang Deborah and Barak the song of Abinoam on that day, saying [or Barak the son of Abinoam] ( Jdg 5:1 )

So this is the song of Deborah and Barak,

[Hallelujah,] Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel. LORD, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. The mountains melted from before the LORD, Mount Sinai the LORD God of Israel. In the days of Shamgar ( Jdg 5:2-6 )

Now here’s the next mention of Shamgar and it jumps all the way from Mount Sinai to Shamgar. It’s interesting that not more is written of him in the text.

the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travelers walked by the byways ( Jdg 5:6 ).

Now it is speaking really of the fear in which the people lived in these days. They were oppressed by their enemies so bad that they wouldn’t take the main roads when they wanted to go someplace. They’d always go by the back roads because their enemies were possessing the land. If they would take the main roads that they’d be ripped off by their enemies. So, in getting from one place to another, so much fear that they would always by way of the back roads to get to-from one place to another.

The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, I arose a mother in Israel. And they chose new gods; then was war in the gates: there was a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? ( Jdg 5:7-8 )

Actually there-was there a shield or spear? Actually, they were just disarmed, they had nothing.

My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people, Bless ye the LORD. They that are delivered from the noise of the archers [they that are delivered from the noise of the archers] in the places of drawing water ( Jdg 5:9 , Jdg 5:11 ),

Actually they were so oppressed by their enemies that their enemies would go to the springs and to the places where there were water and they would just sit in the bushes with their bows and arrows. People would come, they would just take target practice at the people. I mean, they really were living a very tough life. They had forsaken God. God had forsaken them.

And there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of the villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates. Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: rise, Barak, and lead the captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. And he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles [and so forth] ( Jdg 5:11-13 )

And so it’s the song of victory and how God delivered and the question: Why didn’t other tribes come to help?

But Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto to death in the high places of the field. The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan and Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the prancings, and the prancings of the mighty ones ( Jdg 5:18-22 ).

And so, God fought with them. A rain, a flood that took away their chariots and destroyed them there in the valley of Megiddo or they got bogged, or the chariots became bogged in the mud. And then the curse of Meroz.

Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty ( Jdg 5:23 ).

The curse of Meroz was the curse of not doing anything, trying to take a neutral position, standing back and not offering to help in the work of God. It is tragic that many people today are guilty of the same thing; not involvement, standing back. God is wanting to do a work in this world today. God has chosen to use people to do His work. And when a call comes out from God it is our responsibility to respond to that call of God. And if we don’t respond to the call of God to help the Lord to do His work, you say, “God doesn’t need my help.” That is so true. But He’s chosen to use your help and if God chooses to use your help then you better help. And if you do not help when God has chosen you to use your help, then you rest under the curse. God will do his thing. God will do his work.

Even as Mordecai assured Esther, “If you fail, then their deliverance will arise from another quarter but you’re gonna be cut off, you’re gonna be slain, you’re gonna lose out.” God will deliver his people, that’s got to be. God is gonna do His work but God uses men to do His work. God calls men to do His work. If you fail to respond to the call of God, if you fail to help God to do His work, God will do His work but you as Meroz will be cursed.

Curse ye bitterly, for they came not to the help of the LORD in the battle against the mighty ( Jdg 5:23 ).

And so, then she pronounces the blessing upon Jael, the wife of Heber.

She shall be above all the women in the tent. He asked for water, she gave him milk: she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. At her feet he bowed, he fell, he laid down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead. The mother of Sisera looked out the window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? And her wise ladies answered her, O, she returned answering to herself. Have they not sped? Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, divers colours of needlework on both sides, that are fit for the necks of them that shall take the spoil? So all thine enemies shall perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest for forty years ( Jdg 5:24-31 ).

So, Deborah, an interesting person. Quite a song that she wrote. The purpose of these songs was to put the people into remembrance again of God’s delivering power. They’d often write the victories of God in songs and then they would sing these songs. And in the singing of the songs you remember a song many times long after you’ve forgotten incidents, the song is still there in your mind and you’re singing. And many times you sing just because you like the tune. You’re not even paying any attention to the words but then suddenly the words begin to sink in. And so that was the purpose of putting the works of God to song in those days and it was often done.

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Here we have preserved for us the great song of Deborah, composed and sung in celebration of the victory. It is full of fire and passion and is a remarkable index to the character of the woman herself. It may be divided into two main parts. First, verses one to eleven is a great chant of confidence, telling the story of the deepest secret of the victories. Everything is attributed to the direct government and activity of God. In it she recognized that the leaders were raised and the people followed as the result of His inspiring. Therefore the song uttered His praise. His doings were celebrated from Seir until the day when Israel lacked warriors. She sang the praise of God because He had governed the governors and the people.

The second part of the song celebrates the victory. In the course of it she poured scorn upon those who failed to respond to the call and to come “to the help of Jehovah against the mighty” and spoke in terms of approval of those who did respond. The song gathers strength as it proceeds and celebrates the victory, and in the midst of the great outburst it curses the neutrals and blesses the woman who struck the blow of death to the tyrant Sisera.

Finally the song rejoiced over the death of the tyrant in language that thrills with Eastern imagery and color. Everything ends with the cry, “So let all Thine enemies perish, O Jehovah”; and the prayer, “But let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.” After this deliverance the land had rest again for forty years.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

the Song of a Mother in Israel

Jdg 5:1-11

One of the noblest odes in literature! It celebrates a mighty victory through the enthusiastic consecration of the people, who laid themselves as freewill offerings on the altar of their countrys deliverance, Jdg 5:2; Jdg 5:9. There is a greater cause that summons us today, for we fight not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this world, Eph 6:12.

The singer recites the mighty deeds of the Exodus, Jdg 5:4-5. She feels that the present hour is not less full of God. Let us dare to believe that today is as sublime as any day of the past, and live as though it were. She describes the desolations caused by the foe: the divested caravans, the deserted roads, the defenseless, weaponless people, Jdg 5:6-8. She tells how men mustered in the city gates to take their part in the great effort to which she called them, Jdg 5:9-11. Ye daughters of Deborah, who know God, wake again and sing till your hearts grow hot again; and ye brethren of Barak, arm yourselves for battle against the lies, fashions and sins that curse both the Church and the world!

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Jdg 5:1-2

I. A person who thinks that a Divine lesson-book should present to us exclusively or chiefly high maxims of morality, or perfect models of character and behaviour, finds the Book of Judges a great stumbling-block. There the tribes of Israel are exhibited, not as specimens of excellence, but as disorganised and barbarous; in strife with each other, and with the nations round about. The very champions who rose up in their defence seem to indulge their vices in a more gigantic way than their fellow-men.

We must remember this: God calls these men out that they may act as His servants, as deliverers of their country, as benefactors to mankind. So far as they yield themselves to that calling, God speaks in them and shines through them; men see His image and are raised by it to know what they are meant to be. So soon as these men begin to act and speak for themselves, to use the strength or the wisdom which God has given them on their own behalf, to set themselves up as heroes or tyrants separate from their brethren, that moment they become witnesses for God by their rebellion as they had been by their obedience; making evident the truth of their assertion that He governs the world, since if these His servants governed it without Him, they would soon make a desert of it.

II. In this fifth chapter we have this very puzzle brought before us. Deborah is an inspired woman, yet she praises the murderess Jael. The Bible does not itself applaud this act; it tells us frankly that Deborah the prophetess applauded it. At that instant all other thoughts were absorbed in joy for the rescue which she ascribed to its true source. We must not allow our reverence for Deborah to interfere with our reverence for God. We must not insist that she is right when she contradicts law-givers, prophets, apostles, and the Son of God. Since the Son of God has been manifested, the works of the devil have been manifested also; it is a monstrous contempt of God’s teaching to say that we cannot know them; an awful denial of it to say that in certain instances we may identify them with His works who has come to destroy them.

F. D. Maurice, The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament, p. 320.

Reference: Jdg 5:2.-J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. ii., p. 229.

Jdg 5:7-8

I. Perhaps the general idea of a village in the Bible was of a cluster of unwalled huts or houses, without a synagogue; but we may be sure that in most such places, although the priest and the building were not there, there was divine service, the knowledge of God, and the calling upon His name. A religious atmosphere invests the villages of the Bible; human life everywhere is compelled to look up, saved from looking down, from regarding life as a hopeless, grinding fate; the life of the villager is charmed from injustice, oppression, and fraud, by Divine principles taking shape in laws and enactments. God revealed Himself first to villages and villagers. The patriarchs were villagers; the great thoughts of the men who from time to time roused the nation, were born in villages, and the first notes of the Incarnation sounded over the plain in villagers’ ears.

II. Almost all the most beautiful imagery of the Hebrew Scriptures clusters round the scenery of village life; the land was full of pictures, on which faith was invited to meditate.

III. The villages of the Bible illustrate this lesson, that national wealth is not in the Divine conception the chief end and purpose of any nation. In the denunciations pronounced on Egypt and Tyre and Babylon, we learn how great, in God’s judgment, is the difference between a wealthy and a happy land.

E. Paxton Hood, Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iii., p. 31.

References: Jdg 5:11.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii., No. 763. Jdg 5:12.-Ibid., vol. vi., No. 340. Jdg 5:16.-Parker, vol. vi., p. 164; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 133. Jdg 5:20.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 352; E. J. Hardy, Faint yet Pursuing, p. 85.

Jdg 5:23

I. Many persons would say that this curse was merely a splenetic utterance of an angry woman against a town. And yet that curse was carried out completely. If then in wrath God doomed a city to punishment, yet even in that doom there is mercy, for in the curse pronounced by Deborah there was a warning to the inhabitants of the city to return from their faithlessness.

II. What, then, was the reason of the curse pronounced on Meroz? Of what was Meroz guilty? (1) The omission of a plain and positive duty. They did not join with the enemy, but they refused to help the people of God. (2) A sin of lukewarmness and carelessness. (3) Meroz let slip an opportunity; neglected a crisis in her history.

III. From the conduct of the people of Meroz we may take three great warnings: (1) Against sins of omission. (2) Against the sin of lukewarmness. (3) Against the letting slip of opportunities.

C. Hook, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 42.

Notice, first of all, that the sin for which Meroz is cursed is pure inaction. There are in all our cities a great multitude of useless men and of men perfectly contented with their uselessness. Consider some of the various points which uselessness assumes.

I. The first source of the uselessness of good men is moral cowardice. The vice is wonderfully common. The fear is concentrated on no individual, but is there not a sense of hostile or contemptuous surroundings that lies like a chilling hand upon what ought to be the most exuberant and spontaneous utterance of life? Men do not escape from their cowardice by having it proved to them that it is a foolish thing to be afraid. Nothing but the knowledge of God’s love, taking such possession of a man that his one wish and thought in life is to glorify and serve God, can liberate him from, because it makes him totally forget, the fear of man.

II. The second cause of uselessness is false humility. Humility is good when it stimulates, it is bad when it paralyses, the active powers of a man. If conscious weakness causes a man to believe that it makes no difference whether he works or not, then his humility is his curse. Remember: (1) that man judges by the size of things, God judges by their fitness; (2) that small as you think you are, you are the average size of moral and intellectual humanity; (3) that such a humility as yours comes, if you get at its root, from an over-thought about yourself, an over-sense of your own personality, and so is closely akin to pride.

III. The third cause of uselessness is indolence. There is only one permanent escape from indolence and self-indulgence; the grateful and obedient dedication to God through Christ, which makes all good work, all self-sacrifice, a privilege and joy instead of a hardship, since it is done for Him.

Phillips Brooks, The Candle of the Lord, p. 287.

I. The sin of Meroz was that it was found wanting on a great occasion, as it could not have been found wanting had it been sound at heart. (1) It failed first of all in the duty of patriotism. (2) It failed in duty towards its religion. For the cause of Israel against Jabin was not merely the cause of the country; it was the cause of the Church.

II. Meroz is never unrepresented in history. “Curse ye Meroz.” The words still live. May they not be heard within the soul when a man has consciously declined that which conscience has recognised as a plain duty? A deliberate rejection of duty cannot but destroy, or at least impair most seriously, the clearness of our mental vision.

H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, 2nd series, p. 264.

References: Jdg 5:23.-W. Baird, The Hallowing of our Common Life, p. 70; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. viii., p. 289; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 335.

Jdg 5:24

The main interest of this narrative lies with a woman. Deborah is one of the most striking figures in Jewish history. She was the leader and guide of her countrymen in the effort which restored to them peace and freedom, civil and religious. She was the judge who awarded praise or blame to those who had been false or true to the cause of God and of Israel. At the close of her song she utters an emphatic and extraordinary blessing upon Jael.

I. Jael’s action on the one hand, and Deborah’s inspired judgment on the other, raise questions to which no reflecting mind can be insensible. (1) We cannot get over the difficulty by saying that Deborah’s utterance about Jael is not inspired; that it is only a page of dark human passion occurring in a generally inspired poem. If Deborah’s blessing of Jael is uninspired, it is hard to claim inspiration reasonably for any part of her song; and if Deborah’s song is not inspired, it is difficult to say what other portions of the Book of Judges are. (2) In weighing Deborah’s language, we have to consider, first of all, that Sisera’s life was, in Deborah’s judgment, rightly forfeited. She speaks of him as the Lord’s enemy. And what Deborah knew about him, Jael knew also. Neither of them had any doubt that his life was justly forfeited. The question could only arise as to Jael’s method of taking it. (3) Let us notice that Deborah’s language about Jael is relative language. It is relative to the conduct of other persons than Jael, and it is relative to Jael’s own circumstances as a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel. Jael was blessed among “women in the tent,” women, that is, who led such a life as that of the wandering Arabs beyond the confines of Israel. Deborah contrasts the poor heathen woman of the desert with the recreant sailors of Asher and Dan, and the herdsmen of Reuben, and the townsmen of Meroz. She projects Jael’s fervid loyalty into luminous prominence, where it stands out in telling rebuke to the indifference of those who had far greater advantages.

II. Notice three points in conclusion. (1) The equitableness of Deborah’s judgment of Jael. (2) Note that this history would be sorely misapplied, if we were to gather from it that a good motive justifies any action that is known to be bad. Jael is only eulogised because she lived in an age and circumstances which exonerated what was imperfect or wrong in her act. (3) Note the presence of unsuspected imperfections in all human endeavour even when God graciously accepts it.

H. P. Liddon, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 65 (see also Penny Pulpit, No. 1159).

References: Jdg 5:24.-T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 57; J. B. Mozley, Ruling Ideas in Early Ages, pp. 126, 153; Bishop Woodford, Occasional Sermons, p. 161; J. Percival, Some Helps for School Life, p. 124.

Jdg 5:31

What the Old Testament especially teaches us is this, that zeal is as essentially a duty of all God’s rational creatures as prayer and praise, faith and submission; and surely, if so, especially of sinners whom He has redeemed. That zeal consists in a strict attention to His commands, an intense thirst for the advancement of His glory, a carelessness of obloquy or reproach or persecution, a forgetfulness of friend and relative, nay, hatred (so to say) of all that is naturally dear to us, when He says, “Follow me.” A certain fire of zeal, showing itself not by force and blood, but as really and certainly as if it did, is a duty of Christians in the midst of all that excellent overflowing charity which is the highest Gospel grace, and the fulfilling of the second table of the Law.

I. Of course it is absolutely sinful to have any private enemies. When David speaks of hating God’s enemies, it was under circumstances when keeping friends with them would have been a desertion of the truth. We hate sinners by putting them out of our sight as if they were not, by annihilating them in our affections. But in no case are we to allow ourselves resentment or malice.

II. It is quite compatible with the most earnest zeal to offer kind offices to God’s enemies when in distress. God “maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

III. The Christian keeps aloof from sinners in order to do them good. He does so in the truest and most enlarged charity.

A true friend is he who speaks out, and when a man sins, shows him that he is displeased at the sin. The Psalmist speaks in this spirit when after praying God to persecute the ungodly with His tempest, he adds “fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Thy name, O Lord.”

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iii., p. 173.

Reference: Jdg 5:31.-J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 411.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 5

The Song of Deborah and Barak

1. The praise of Jehovah (Jdg 5:1-5)

2. The condition of the people and their deliverance (Jdg 5:6-11)

3. The celebration of the victory and the victors (Jdg 5:12-22)

4. The fate of the enemy (Jdg 5:23-31)

This is one of the prophetic songs of the Bible. It is full of the fire of passion and enthusiasm, reflecting the character of the woman through whom the deliverance had been wrought. It has been classed with the barbaric outbursts of the battle-hymns and odes of triumph of heathen nations, likened to some wild chant of a victor, whose blood-thirst has been quenched in the cruel overthrow of his enemies. Such estimates of this song, so often made by the critics of the Bible, are incorrect. Deborah speaks as a prophetess. She begins with ascribing praise to Jehovah; she ends with Jehovah. This prophetic outburst is marked by limitations. She has no glimpse of the final victory which is mentioned in other songs of triumph, and especially in the Psalms. There are phrases which the Holy Spirit utters through Deborah, which He used in other prophetic songs. The following passages of Scripture may be compared with Deborahs words and will be helpful in the closer study of this chapter. Exo 15:1-9; Deu 32:1-3; Deu 32:16-17; Psalm 67:1-4, 8, 11, 34- 35; Psa 83:9-10; Hab 3:1-4; Psa 18:7; Psa 77:11-12; Luk 1:28; Luk 1:71-74.

While all this is true and we do not forget that Deborah was the chosen instrument, raised up to effect the great deliverance, we also must recognize the strong human element which is so prominent. One must beware of giving to the deeds done, especially to the deed of Jael in its detail, divine sanction and endorsement. It was an act of courage and of faith; she was moved by faith and that faith led her to kill Sisera, the enemy of Israel.

The act of Jael, who smote a nail into the temples of the sleeping Sisera, does not claim our approbation; still, when we estimate the character of the act, the extenuating circumstances are entitled to attention–the times in which she lived, her ardent and enthusiastic devotion to the cause of Israel, the general and glowing hatred of the tyrannical oppressor of the people, etc. If such considerations are allowed to plead in favor of a Charlotte Corday, much more appropriately do they vindicate the act of a Jael. The same remark applies to the act of Ehud, which, according to our moral principles, was an assassination worthy of reprobation alone. (J.H. Kurtz, Sacred History)

Meroz is especially mentioned (verse 23). Deborah speaks with authority then, and has her message from the Angel of the Lord. He said: Curse ye, Meroz, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty. Meroz might have helped, but they lived there in luxuries. Meroz means built of cedars; they dwelt in palaces of cedars and lived in ease, unconcerned about the condition of their brethren. And the angel of the Lord said that they did not call up to the help of the Lord. The indifference they manifested in not helping their brethren is thus charged as not helping the Lord against the mighty. As in the New Testament so here the Lord identifies Himself with His suffering people. God deliver His people today from the indifference of Meroz, which is high treason against the Lord and His cause!

Verses 24-31 are a vivid description of what took place. The mother of Sisera is seen awaiting the return of her victorious son. She expects nothing but good and her wise ladies are with her. It is a remarkable irony. Thus all the enemies of Jehovah will perish, while for those who love Him there is glory and rest in store. Deborah could only express a longing that the enemies might perish, and those that love Him be as the sun in might and splendour. It was her prayer. We know more through the full light of prophecy how the enemies of God will perish and the glory shall be for those who love Him.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

Sang Deborah: This verse briefly recites the subject of this inspired song, which consists of eight stanzas: The first opens with a devout thanksgiving. The second describes the magnificent scenes at Mount Sinai, etc. The third states the apostasy and consequent punishment of the Israelites. The fourth contrasts their present happy state. The fifth censures the recreant tribes of Reuben, Gad, etc. The sixth records the defeat of the confederate kings of Canaan. The seventh contains a panegyric on Jael. And the eight describes the fond anticipations and disappointment of the mother of Sisera. Exo 15:1, Exo 15:21, Num 21:17, 1Sa 2:1, 2Ch 20:21, 2Ch 20:27, Job 38:7, Psa 18:1, *title Isa 12:1-6, Isa 25:1, Isa 26:1, Luk 1:46, Luk 1:67, Luk 1:68, Rev 15:3, Rev 15:4, Rev 19:1-3

Reciprocal: Jdg 4:6 – Barak Jdg 11:34 – his daughter 2Sa 22:1 – words Psa 28:7 – with Psa 32:7 – songs Psa 68:11 – company Isa 5:1 – Now Isa 38:9 – writing Jer 7:5 – if ye thoroughly Luk 19:37 – the whole

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jdg 5:1. Then sang Deborah The composer of this song, one of whose special gifts, as a prophetess, it was to sing Gods praises, 1Ch 25:1-3. And Barak Who was now probably become a judge, in consequence of this great deliverance which God had wrought by him. On that day In which they had completed their victory, by the destruction of Jabins kingdom. Whether they two only sang this song, or the elders of the people, called together into one assembly, sang it with them, is not certain. The text, however, only speaks of its being sung by them two; and Dr. Kennicott has expressed his opinion strongly, that they sang it in alternate verses, answering each other, and that the not observing this has rendered many parts of it obscure, and of difficult interpretation, and destroyed the force and beauty of the whole. It is certain, says he, though very little attended to, that it is said to have been sung by Deborah and by Barak. It is also certain, there are in it parts which Deborah could not sing; as well as parts which Barak could not sing. And therefore it seems necessary, in order to form a better judgment of this song, that some probable distribution should be made of it; while those words which seem most likely to have been sung by either party, should be assigned to their proper name; either to that of Deborah the prophetess, or that of Barak the captain-general. For example: Deborah could not call upon Deborah, exhorting herself to awake, &c., as in Jdg 5:12. Neither could Barak exhort himself to arise, &c., in the same verse. Again: Barak could not sing, Till I Deborah arose, a mother in Israel, in Jdg 5:7. Nor could Deborah sing about a damsel or two for every soldier, in Jdg 5:30 : though indeed, as to this last article, the words are probably misunderstood. The doctor, therefore, to do more justice, as he judges, to this celebrated song, which, he says, is deservedly admired, furnishes us with a new translation of it, assigning therein to Deborah and Barak the parts which he supposes each to have sung, and representing them, through the whole, as answering each other. See Kennicotts Remarks on Select Passages of the Old Testament, p. 94. We must leave the reader to judge for himself what weight there is in what the doctor advances, and shall only observe as to this hymn in general, that, like the songs of Moses, (Exodus 15.; and Deuteronomy 32,) it is distinguished in the Hebrew, as being poetry, and in our present translation would appear to more advantage if printed in hemistics. See on Deu 32:1. It must be evident to every reader, that it is expressed in another kind of style than that of the historical part of this book; and in language so majestic, in such a variety of elegant figures, and such natural expressions of those affections which the occasion requires, that none of the ancient Greek or Latin poets have equalled the noble flow of these divine strains.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jdg 5:4. When thou wentest out of Seir. God came from Teman, in Seir; he covered the heavens with his glory, and the earth was full of his praise. Hab 3:3. In like manner he now arose to save Israel.

Jdg 5:7. The villages ceased. In this time of sore oppression, the people fled to walled towns for safety and defence.

Jdg 5:8. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand? The enemies and oppressors had stripped the land of armour; this accounts for Shamgars killing six hundred men with an ox-goad: Jdg 3:31.

Jdg 5:14. The pen of the writer. Zebuluns lot being contiguous to Phnicia, they seem to have been assisted by that people in the acquisition of letters.

Jdg 5:20. The stars in their courses fought. That is, heaven or angels fought against Sisera. A storm of hail and thunder, says Josephus, beat against the eyes of the men and horses, and aided Barak in throwing them into the utmost confusion. History records many such storms. A shower of snow set in the faces of the duke of Lancasters men in the battle of Towton field, near Tadcaster, in 1461, when more men fell in the course of an hour than in any other battle in England. It was the same, as Eusebius states, when the emperor Theodosius fought against Eugenius and Maximus, the tyrants. At Agincourt, when fifteen thousand English defeated sixty thousand French, a shower of rain wetted the bow-strings of the enemy, while the English had taken the precaution to cover their strings. These were all decisive battles for the throne.

Jdg 5:23. Curse ye Meroz, or Merom, as in Jos 11:5. The waters of Merom form the upper lake of the Jordan. It lay in the bosom of those Canaanites, and the people were afraid to act. Barak fought near this place.

Jdg 5:31. The land had rest forty years; from the death of Ehud, which of course includes the twenty years oppression of Jabin.

REFLECTIONS.

This divine song opens with an exordium of praise to God. It was composed by Deborah, in ecstasy of soul, and its intrinsic excellencies demonstrate the endowment she had received of the Lord. It celebrates the preseding victory obtained over the Canaanites, rolling in chariots of iron, by a handful of men, almost destitute of arms. It invites kings and princes to see the wonders of the Lord, which from the beginning he had wrought for his people. It traces the calamities Israel had sustained before Shamgar was raised up to slaughter the Philistines, and before Jael slew Sisera; for Deborah would applaud the virtues of another in preference to her own. Honest people travelled in by-paths to avoid the robbers and invaders who infested the public road. The villages were forsaken, and the shepherds and labouring poor driven to seek refuge in the walled towns.

After these calamities which befel the Israelites had excited repentance, Barak was roused to action by Deborah; he was directed by a woman in all the plans and operations of the war. He drew his enemy across the brook, and posted himself at the foot of mount Tabor, where the chariots were entangled. Here, impelled by the Lord, he fell upon Sisera, as on a beast drawn into a pit, the stars or tempests of heaven aiding the vengeance of his arm. The prancing of the horses began the carnage, ere the sword of Barak could penetrate the affrighted host. Sisera was the first to fly, leaving his chariots, his allies, his honours all behind. How well do our affairs succeed when we stand in the divine counsel; and how easy is the transition from adversity to prosperity when God undertakes our cause.

Barak stayed not his hand: he pursued the enemy, yea all the kings of Canaan to Megiddo, where all the power of that people was for ever lost. Ephraim, catching the patriotic spirit, fell upon Amalek, purified the interior of idolaters, and enabled Barak to lead his captivity captive. Thus Christ has triumphed over the world, the grave, and all the powers of hell: and he now calls on us in the same spirit to awake and lead captive those habits and sins to which we have been so long enslaved.

For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. Some were for their country, some were for Jabin, and others sought a criminal repose. Why abodest thou by the sheepfold to hear the bleatings of the lambs. An apostrophe equally severe may here be addressed to those christians who, wholly occupied with cattle and care, forget the way to the house of God. The Lord pours down a blessing on his people, he spreads a table for his guests, and glorifies his word in the conversion of sinners; yet they spend the sabbath on the dunghill, and have no soul worthy of his glory or his grace. The men of the world however do not always gain the world: there are more blanks than prizes in the lottery of life. This appears from the severe satire passed on the mercenary kings, in alliance with JabinThey took no gain. No, not so much as their own bodies: these they left in the river Kishon. How often do our martyrs to business, to pleasure, to dissipation, share the same mortification. Witness those blasted hopes, those ruined fortunes, those emaciated constitutions, which so frequently occur. Had they served the Lord as they served the world, he would not have abandoned them to misery and reproaches.

The inhabitants of Meroz are pronounced accursed, yea bitterly accursed by the angel; for they stood on their towers, and saw their brethren bleed in the glorious struggle to emancipate their country, and basely forbore to fly to their aid, and to share a victory already obtained. This was a gross breach of Israels national covenant, the foulest act of an infidel cowardice; and if a man incurred a curse by removing his neighbours landmark, how much more by a deed which risked the lives and hopes of Israel. Let the lukewarm professors of religion who decline every cross, and shrink from every duty which exposes the flesh, be here instructed. God, the angry God, will not suffer them to go without a full reward.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Judges 5. The Song of Deliverance.The Song of Deborahso called because of the words I, Deborah, arose (Jdg 5:7)is a splendid battle-ode, evidently contemporaneous with the events which it celebrates. It breathes the patriotic fervour and religious enthusiasm which inspired the loftiest minds in Israel, and proves that a great faith was already working wonders in the tribes which till lately had been desert nomads. It is a work of genius, and therefore a work of that highest art which is not studied and artificial, but spontaneous and inevitable (Moore, 135). R. H. Hutton calls it the greatest war-song of any age or nation. Unfortunately the text has suffered a good deal, and in some passages we can do no more than guess the sense.

Jdg 5:1 f. Yahweh is praised for two reasons: because the leaders of the people were leaders, taking their proper place at the post of honour and danger; and because the battle was fought not by conscripts but by volunteers (cf. Psa 11:03).

Jdg 5:3. Read I, to Yahweh I will sing, where it is possible, though not necessary, that I, as in many of the Psalms, means collective Israel. I will sing praise means, I will make melody with voice and instruments.

Jdg 5:4 f. Yahwehs special place of abode was still Seir, in the field of Edom, from which He is conceived as coming forth in a thunderstorm. As He passes, the earth trembles and the heavens are in commotion (so the LXX). The second half of Jdg 5:5 disturbs the flow of ideas, and is probably a marginal gloss which has found its way into the text

Jdg 5:6. If Shamgar was one of the Judges (Jdg 3:31), it is very strange that he should be named here as if he had recently been a leading oppressor of Israel, perhaps the immediate forerunner of Sisera. Moore treats the words in the days of Jael as a gloss. The Heb. of Jdg 5:7 b is ambiguous, meaning either till I, Deborah, arose, or till thou, Deborah, didst arise. The LXX has till Deborah arose.

Jdg 5:8 a yields no certain sense

Jdg 5:8 b means that the Israelites had to fight with such poor weapons as they could find.

Jdg 5:10 f. Very obscure.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

THE SONG OF DEBORAH AND BARAK

(vv.1-31)

To celebrate God’s great victory over Canaan, Deborah and Barak sang a remarkable song. Since Deborah’s name is mentioned first, it seems likely that she composed the song (v. 7). It begins with leaders in Israel taking their proper place to provide leadership as ordered by God. But what rightly accomplishes this is the willing response of the people in offering themselves to engage in warfare for the Lord’s sake. Kings and princes are summoned to hear the praises of the Lord for this great victory (v. 3).

Then the Lord is addressed in verse 4. He is seen as going out from Seir, marching from the field of Edom. Edom (the same name as Adam with only the vowels changed, for the flesh loves to disguise itself) pictures the strength of the flesh. The Lord leaves all that behind, for fleshly energy means nothing to Him. He marches in majestic splendor, causing the earth to tremble and the heavens to pour torrents of water. The gentle rains speak of the blessing of the Word of God that brings forth fruit. But when rain is increased to a downpour, this pictures the Word of God bringing judgment. Just as bright sunshine can be a blessing and yet excessively hot sun a curse, so sufficient water is good, but excessive water an unwelcome affliction. God can easily use for judgment that which He first intended for man’s good.

“The mountains quaked before the Lord” (v.5–NASB). Mountains symbolize authorities, and this includes Mount Sinai, which expresses the authority of law over Israel. The awesome majesty of God was evident when the law was given. “Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly” (Exo 19:18). Who will not fear before a God of such magnificent power and splendor?

Verse 6 goes back to speak of the sad condition into which Israel had fallen before their victory over Sisera. “In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted, and the travelers walked along the byways.” This was because of Philistine and Canaanite oppression (Ch. 3:31 and tie. 4). Israelites were afraid to come into the open, walking on highways, because endangered by the hostility of their enemies, so that they sought the obscurity of the byways. This is a reminder of Psa 84:5, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee,…they in whose heart are the highways” (JND trans.). The highways lead straight on to a certain destination, so that having the highways in the heart speaks of having the attitude of going unhinderedly onward towards the goal in glory of being with the Lord (Php 3:14), and therefore not inclined to turn into the byways, the devious, winding paths that may draw less attention, but are not the straight paths of faith.Let us have firm decision in making Christ in glory our one real Object, not turning to one side or the other.

Also, “village life ceased.” This too became endangered, for in the villages there was no protection.In times of peace and prosperity, village life can be very pleasant.Everyoneknows everyone else, and life goes on without great trouble. But the Philistines and Canaanites would threaten any attempt to continue village life. Similarly, Satan attacks small assemblies of God’s people today by mocking them for continuing to maintain a small testimony, and tempting some to give this up.

Sad conditions in Israel continued until” I, Deborah, arose a mother in Israel’ (v. 7). How beautiful to read this! She does not say, “a leader in Israel,” but “a mother.” It was because of her mother’s heart that she was moved as she was, out of care for the people as though they had been her children.

Israel had foolishly chosen new gods (v.8) and this was followed by losing their defense: “not a shield or spear was found among forty thousand in Israel.” Thus Satan, in injecting his idolatrous religion into Israel, had divested Israel of any protection against the Philistines and Canaanites. These tactics are used by evil nations today. They urge other nations to disarm, telling them this is the way to have peace, but when they do disarm, they find themselves exposed to the oppression of the enemy. But the Lord tells believers to “Put on the whole armor of God’ (Eph 6:11), for the enemy is both deceitful and treacherous.

Yet, in spite of the lack of weapons, Deborah says her heart was with the rulers of Israel who offered themselves willingly to engage in battle with Sisera (v. 9). Their good influence spread also to the people.

But there were some who did not act on the call of God. Instead, they were riding on white donkeys, sitting in the place of judges, walking far from the noise of the archers (vv. 10-11). They chose not to be involved, yet were judges. Many today do the same. They can stand back and criticize the way things are done, considering their judgment to be very wise, yet take no part in fighting against the enemy.They are bidden to speak.What can they say for themselves?

However, in the end they would have reason to recount the righteous acts of the Lord, among the watering places. They would be refreshed and benefited by the Lord’s blessing, though not part of the army.Instead of merely judging then, they would be subdued by the evidence of God’s working, and would speak of this. For God’s actions had liberated the villages in Israel,and the people would no longer fear to enter the gates.

“Awake, awake, Deborah! awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak” (v. 12). Most translations do not translate the following words precisely as in the Hebrew language. The NIV renders it, “Take captive your captives, O son of Abinoam,” but JND’s margin says that this is literally, “Take captive your captivity.” Eph 4:8 speaks similarly of Christ, “He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.” As Israel was in a state of captivity, Barak led captive this very state of captivity, thus releasing all who were in bondage. The Lord too, by His perfect sacrifice on Calvary, has led captive the state of captivity in which people were held, so that the people (believers) are set free.This is confirmed in Heb 2:14-15 : “In as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Christ has not taken these people (believers) captive, but has released them from captivity.

The nobles and the mighty (v. 13) were those who oppressed Israel, and the Lord came down against them. Ephraim, Benjamin and Zebulon are mentioned favorably (v. 14) and also Issachar, taking their stand with Deborah and Barak (v. 15), and willingly going with them into battle. But Reuben was evidently troubled by internal disunity and did not arrive at any decided conclusion. There were divisions and great resolves of heart, but these were apparently like New Years resolutions that completely fail. How many there are who have apparent real concern, yet never take a decided stand for the Lord! Reuben sat among the sheep-folds to hear the bleatings of the flocks. Are we like them in any way? Instead of doing the work the Lord puts before us, do we just sit down to hear the bleatings (the complaints) of the sheep? They had great searchings of heart; but it seems to have borne no fruit in decided action (v. 16).

Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan (v. 17).This was the land they had chosen, and they were content not to involve themselves in helping the rest of Israel in their conflict. We too may find it easy to excuse ourselves from being involved in the conflict of the saints of God just because we are geographically at a little distance from them.

“And why did Dan remain on ships? “The ships speak of trade and commerce, so that the inference is that business was more important to Dan than conflict for the Lord. “Asher continued by the seashore, staying “by his inlets.” It seems Asher, like Dan, did not want his life disturbed, for he had inlets by which he was profited. “By the seashore” infers too that he was gaining from the Gentiles (of whom the sea speaks), and association with the world will always hinder true service for the Lord.

In commendable contrast to this, Zebulon was willing to risk its life for the Lord’s sake(v. 18), and Naphtali also chose the field of battle. There are always dangers in conflict, but when it is for the Lord, should we fear such dangers?Let us rather “put on the whole armor of God.”

In this song of Deborah and Barak the battle is briefly described in graphic language in verses 19 to 22. When the kings of Canaan fought, they found that the heavens fought against them (v. 30), and the stars. This is significant of spiritual authority higher than an earthly level, and which Canaan was not prepared to meet. It was earthbound men who challenged the authority of the Lord Jesus in His acting for God on earth. They asked Him, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?’ (Mt 31:23). He asked them a most penetrating question in return, “The baptism of John — where was it from? From heaven or from men?” (v. 25). This defeated them, and they admitted themselves unable to answer. Thus too, heaven’s authority defeated Sisera and his hosts. Without this, Barak and his men could not have gained the victory.

The river Kishon is also mentioned as having part in this victory (v. 21). God had said He would influence Sisera to come to Kishon(tie. 4:7), and it may be that many of his army were literally swept away by the torrent, possibly because trapped by Israel’s army.

A bitter curse is pronounced against Meroz for not coming to the help of the Lord (v. 23). There must have been a special reason for this curse, for the curse is not pronounced against others who failed to come, Reuben, Gilead, Dan and Asher (vv. 16-17).

In contrast, Jael is said to be “most blessed among women” (v. 24). When Sisera asked for water, she gave him milk, a picture of giving the simple, elementary truth of God even to an enemy (v. 25). But Sisera pictures one who does not respond to the truth, and grace refused results in judgment.The tent peg speaks of the truth of God also as that which sustains the pilgrim character of a believer, for it keeps the tent in place. Jael did not hesitate to use this for the execution of Sisera in his sleep(v. 26). She illustrates the faith that is willing to use the truth, whether in grace or in judging for God.

Deborah also thinks of how the women of Canaan would be affected at this time. The mother of Sisera looked through the window in anxious wonder as to why he took so long to come home (v.28), for Sisera and his armies were accustomed to winning their battles with no difficulty.Her wise friends, and she herself, thought the answer was that Sisera and his men were engaged in taking time to gather and divide the spoil taken from Israel, girls and garments, etc. What a shock it would be to these women to find that both Sisera and his armies were not only defeated, but destroyed!

“Thus let all your enemies perish, O Lord!” In this present day of grace we do not pray that people will perish, but we do pray that principles of evil that attack us may be fully defeated.In fact, we are to put to death such things as “fornication, uncleanness, passionate desire and covetousness which is idolatry’ (Col 3:5). But in contrast, those who love the Lord shall be like the sun coming out in its full strength (v. 31). This anticipates the millennium, when “the Sun of righteousness” will arise with healing in His wings (Mal 4:2).Christ is the Sun, but believing Israelites will then be like Him, just as we (believers of this dispensation) will be like Him in heaven (1Jn 3:2). Following this victory that land was at peace for 40 years (v. 31).

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

2. Deborah’s song of victory ch. 5

One writer called this song "the finest masterpiece of Hebrew poetry" that "deserves a place among the best songs of victory ever written." [Note: Robert H. Pfeiffer, Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 326.] It is the equivalent of a victory celebration when the troops come home (cf. Exodus 15; Psalms 68).

"Observe that each of the three major sections centers around a basic contrast: in Jdg 5:2-11 c, the explosive God and humiliated people; in Jdg 5:11 d-23, daring warriors and cautious brothers; in Jdg 5:24-30, gutsy woman and poor mommy." [Note: Davis, p. 82.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Introduction 5:1

The writer credited Deborah with composing this song (cf. Jdg 5:7), even though he wrote that both Deborah and Barak sang it (Jdg 5:1). [Note: For information helpful in understanding Hebrew poetry, see Cundall and Morris, pp. 91-93; and G. Buchanan Gray, The Forms of Hebrew Poetry.]

"It is important to notice that Deborah sang this song of praise on the same day God gave His people victory. . . . We ought to learn, as we observe these people, the priority of praise in believers’ lives." [Note: Inrig, p. 72.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

DEBORAHS SONG: A DIVINE VISION

Jdg 5:1-31

THE song of Deborah and Barak is twofold, the first portion, ending with the eleventh verse, a chant of rising hope and pious encouragement during the time of preparation and revival, the other a song of battle and victory throbbing with eager patriotism and the hot breath of martial excitement. In the former part God is celebrated as the Helper of Israel from of old and from afar; He is the spring of the movement in which the singer rejoices, and in His praise the strophes culminate. But human nature asserts itself after the great and decisive triumph in the vivid touches of the latter canto. In it more is told of the doings of men, and there is picturesque fiery exultation over the fallen. One might almost think that Deborah, herself childless, glories over the mother of Sisera in the utter desolation which falls on her when she hears the tidings of her sons defeat and death. Yet this mood ceases abruptly, and the song returns to Jehovah, Whose friends are lifted up to joy and strength by His availing help.

The main interest of the twofold song lies in its religious colour, for here the pious ardour of the Israel of the judges comes to finest expression. As a whole it is more patriotic than moral, more warlike than religious, and thus unquestionably reflects the temper of the time. What ideas do we find in it of the relation of Israel to God and of God to Israel, what conceptions of the Divine character? Jehovah is invoked and praised as the God of the Hebrews alone. He seems to have no interest in the Canaanites, nor compassion towards them. Yet the grandeur of the Divine forth going is declared in bold and striking imagery, and the high resolves of men are clearly traced to the Spirit of the Almighty. Duty to God is linked with duty to country, and it is at least suggested that Israel without Jehovah is nothing and has no right to a place among the peoples. The nation exists for the glory of its Heavenly King, to make known His power and His righteous acts. A strain like this in a war song belonging to the time of Israels semi-barbarism bears no uncertain promise. From the well spring out of which it flows clear and sparkling there will come other songs, with tenderer music and holier longing, -songs of spiritual hope and generous desire for Messianic peace.

1. The first religious note is struck in what may be called the opening Hallelujah, although the ejaculation, “Bless the Lord,” is not, in Hebrew, that which afterwards became the great refrain of sacred song.

“For that leaders led in Israel,

For that the people offered themselves willingly:

Bless ye Jehovah.”

Here is more than belief in Providence. It is faith in the spiritual presence and power of God swaying the souls of men. Has Deborah seen at last, after long efforts to rouse the careless people, one and another responding to her appeals and seeking her tent among the hills? Has she witnessed the vows of the chiefs of Issachar and Zebulun that they would not be wanting in the day of battle? Not to herself but to the God of Israel is the new temper ascribed. Jehovah, Who touched her own heart, has now touched many another. For years she had been aware of holier influences than came to her from the people among whom she lived. In secret, in the silence of the heart, she had found herself mastered by thoughts that none around her shared. She has well accounted for them. Jehovah has spoken to her, Jehovah caring still for His people, waiting to redeem them from bondage. And now, when her prophetic cry finds echo in other souls, when men who were asleep rise up and declare their purpose, especially when from this side and that companies of brave youths and resolute elders come to her-from the slopes of Carmel, from the hills of Gilead-the fire of hope in their eyes, how otherwise explain the unspringing of energy and devotion than as the work of the Spirit that has moved her own soul? To Jehovah is all the praise.

Common enough in our day is a profession of belief in God as the source of every good desire and right effort, as inspiring the charity of the generous, the affection of the loving, the fidelity of the true. But if our faith is deep and real it brings us much nearer than we usually feel ourselves to be to Him Who is the Life indeed. The existence and energy of God are assured to those who have this insight. Every kindness done by man to man is a testimony against which denial of the Divine life has no power. Though the intellect searching far afield makes out only as it were some few and indistinct footprints of a Mighty Being Who has passed by, seen at intervals on the plains of history, then lost in the morasses or on the rocky ground, there ought to be found in every human life daily evidence of Divine grace and wisdom. The good, the true, the noble constantly appeal to men, find men; and through these God finds them. When a magnanimous word is spoken, God is heard. When a deed is done in love, in purity, in courage or pity, God is seen. When out of languor and corruption and self-indulgence men arise and set their faces to the steep of duty, God is revealed. He in Whom we trust for the redemption of the world never leaves Himself without a witness, whether faith perceives or unbelief denies. The human story unfolds a Divine urgency by which the progress, the evolution of all that is good proceed from age to age. Man has never been left to nature alone nor to himself alone. The supernatural has always mingled with his life. He has resisted often, he has rebelled; yet conscience has not ceased, God has not withdrawn. This living energy of Jehovah, not only as belonging to the past but discovered in the new zeal of Israel, Deborah saw, and in virtue of the revelation she was far before her time. For the fresh life of the people, for the willing self-devotion of so many to the great cause, she lifted her voice in praise to Israels Eternal Friend.

2. The next passage may be called a prologue in the heavens. Partly historical, it is chiefly a vision of Jehovahs age-long work for His people. In words that flash and roll the song describes the glorious advent of the Most High, nature astir with His presence, the mountains shaking under His tread.

The seat of the Divine Majesty appears to the prophetess to be in Seir. She looks across the hills of the south and passes beyond the desert to that place of mystery where God spoke in thunder and proclaimed Himself in the Law. The imagery points to the phenomena of earthquake and a fearful lightning storm accompanied with heavy rain. These, the most striking natural symbols of the supernatural, form the materials of the strophe. Perhaps even as the song is chanted the thunders of Sinai are echoed in a great storm that shakes the sky and rolls among the hills. The outward signs represent the new impressions of Divine power and authority which are startling and rousing the tribes. They have heard no voices, seen no tokens of God for many a year. He Who led their fathers out of bondage, He Who marched with them through the desert, has been forgotten; but He returns, He is with them again. The office of the prophetess is to celebrate Gods presence and excite in the dull souls of men some feeling of His majesty. Sinai once trembled and was dismayed before God. The great peak beside which Tabor is but a mound flowed down in volcanic glow and rush. It is He Whose coming Deborah hears in the beating storm, He Whose victorious feet shake the hills of Ephraim. Have the people forsaken their King? Let them seek Him, trust Him now. Under the shadow of His wings there is refuge; before His arrows and the fierce floods He pours from heaven who can stand?

It has been well said that for the Israel of ancient times all natural phenomena-a storm, a hurricane, or a flood-had more than ordinary import. “Forbidden to recognise and, as it were, grasp the God of heaven in any material form, or to adore even in the heavens themselves any constant symbols of His being and His power, yet yearning more in spirit for manifestations of His invisible existence, Israels mind was ever on the stretch for any hint in nature of the unseen Celestial Being, for any glimpse of His mysterious ways, and its courage rose to a far higher pitch when Divine encouragement and impulse seemed to come from the material world.” From the images of Baal and the Ashtaroth Israel had turned; but where was their Heavenly King? The answer came with marvellous power when Deborah in the midst of the roiling thunder could say, “Lord, when Thou wentest forth out of Seir, when Thou marchest out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped. The mountains flowed down at the presence of Jehovah.” If the people bethought themselves of the clear demonstration of Divine majesty made to their fathers, they would realise God once more as the Ruler in heaven and earth. Then would courage revive, and in the faith of the Almighty they would go forth to victory.

Now was there in this faith an element of reason, a correspondence with fact? Is it fancy and nothing else, the poetic flight of an ardent soul eager to rouse a nation? Have we here an arbitrary connection made between striking natural events and a Divine Person throned in the heavens Whose existence the prophetess assumes, Whose supposed claim to obedience haunts her mind? In such a question our age utters its scepticism.

An age it is of science, of positive science. Toiling for centuries at the task of understanding the phenomenal, research has at length assumed the right to tell us what we must believe concerning the world-what we are to believe, observe, for it is a new creed and nothing else that confronts us here. “The government of the world,” says one, “must not be considered as determined by an extramundane intelligence, but by one immanent in the cosmical forces and their relations.” Another says: “The world or matter with its properties which we term forces must have existed from eternity and must last forever-in one word, the world cannot have been created. The ever-changing action of the natural forces is the fundamental cause of all that arises and perishes.” Or again, not most recent in time but entirely modern in temper, we have the following: “Science has gradually taken all the positions of the childish belief of the peoples; it has snatched thunder and lightning from the hands of the gods. The stupendous powers of the Titans of the olden time have been grasped by the fingers of man. That which appeared inexplicable, miraculous, and the work of a supernatural power has by the touch of science proved to be the effect of hitherto unknown natural forces. Everything that happens does so in a natural way, i.e., in a mode determined only by accidental or necessary coalition of existing materials and their immanent natural forces.” Here is dogma forced on faith with fine energy; and what more is to be said when judgment is given-“I have searched the heavens, but have nowhere found the traces of a God”?

We hear the boast that no song of Hebrew seer can withstand this modern wisdom, that the superstition of Bible faith shall vanish like starlight, before the rising sun. To science every opinion shall submit. But wait. It is dogmatism. against belief after all, authority against authority, and the one in a lower region than the other, with vastly inferior sanctions. Natural science declares the present result of its observation of the universe, investigation brief, superficial, and limited to one small corner of the whole. Yet these deliverances are to be set above the science which deals with existence on the highest plane, the spiritual, solving deepest problems of life and conscience, finding perpetual support in the experience of men. The claim is somewhat large; it lacks the proof of service; it lacks verification. Science boasts greatly, as is natural to its adolescence. But at what point can it dare to say, Here is final truth, here is certainty? We do not repel our debt to the discoverer when we maintain that natural science is only watching the surface of a stream for a few miles along its course, while the springs far away among the eternal hills and the outflow into the infinite ocean are never viewed. Are we taunted with believing? Those who taunt us must supply for their part something more than inference ere we trust all to their wisdom. The “Force” that is so much invoked, what is it so far as the definitions of science go? Effects we see; Force never. All statements as to the nature of force are pure dogma. It is declared that there are necessary and eternal laws of matter. What makes them necessary, and who can prove their everlastingness? Using such words men pass infinitely beyond material research-they infer-they assert. In the region of natural science we can affirm nothing to be eternal, and even necessity is a word that has no warrant. It is only in the soul, in the region of moral ideas, we come on that which endures, which is necessary, which has constant reality. And it is here that our belief in God as universal Creator, the Source of power and life, the One Agent, the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, finds root and strength.

The battle between materialism and religious faith is not a battle in which facts are arrayed on one side and inferences and dreams on the other. The array is of facts against facts, as we have said, and with an immense difference of value. Is it an established sequence that when the electricity in the clouds is not in equipoise with that of the earth, under certain conditions there is a thunderstorm? It is surely a sequence of higher moment that when the sense of righteousness seizes the minds of men they rise against iniquity and there is a revolution. There natural forces operate, here spiritual. But on which side is the indication of eternity? Which of these sequences can better claim to give a key to the order of the universe? Surely if the evolution of the ages, so far, has culminated in man with his capability of knowing and serving the true, the just, the good, these facts of his mind and life are the highest of which we can take cognisance, and in them, if anywhere, we must find the key to all knowledge, the reason of all phenomena. Evolutionary science itself must agree to this. In the movements of nature we find no advance to fixity and finality. Nature labours, men labour with or against nature; but the flux of things is perpetual; there is no escape from change. In the efforts of the spiritual life it is not so. When we strive for equalness, for verity, for purity, we have glimpses then of the changeless order which we must needs call Divine. Here is the indication of eternity; and as we investigate, as we experience, we come to certitude, we reach larger vision, larger faith. That which endures rises clear above that which appears and passes.

Returning to Deborahs song and her vision of the coming of God in the impetuous storm, we see the practical value of Theism. One great idea, comprehensive and majestic, leads thought beyond symbol and change to the All-righteous Lord. To attribute phenomena to “Nature” is a sterile mode of thought; nothing is done for life. To attribute phenomena to a variety of superhuman persons limits and weakens the religious idea sought after; still one is lost in the changeable. Theism delivers the soul from both evils and sets it on a free upward path, stern yet alluring. By this path the Hebrew prophet rose to the high and fruitful conceptions which draw men together in responsibility and worship. The eternal governs all, rules every change; and that eternal is the holy will of God. The omnipotence nature obeys is the omnipotence of right. Israel returning to God will find Him coming to the help of His people in the awful or kindly movements of the natural world. Our view in one sense extends beyond that of the Hebrew seer. We find the purpose disclosed in natural phenomena to be somewhat different. Not the protection of a favoured race, but the discipline of humanity is what we perceive. Ours is an expansion of the Hebrew faith, revealing the same Divine goodness engaged in a redeeming work of wider scope and longer duration.

The point is still in doubt among us whether the good, the true, the right, are invincible. Those who go forth in the service of God are often borne down by the graceless multitude. From age to age the problem of Gods supremacy seems to remain in suspense, and men are not afraid, in the name of foulest iniquity, to try issues with the best. Be it so. The Divine work is slow. Even the best need discipline that they may have strength, and God is in no haste to carry His argument against atheism. There is abundance of time. Those bent on evil or misled by falsehood, those who are on the wrong side though they consider themselves soldiers of a good cause may gain on many a field, yet their gain will turn out in the long run to be loss, and they who lose and fall are really the victors. There is defeat that is better than success. Other ages than belong to this worlds history are yet to dawn, and the discovery will come to every intelligence that he alone triumphs whose life is spent for righteousness and love, in fidelity to God and man.

3. Let it be allowed that we find the latter canto of Deborahs song expressive of faith rather than of clear morality, pointing to a spiritual future rather than exhibiting actual knowledge of the Divine character. We hear of the righteous acts of the Lord, and the note is welcome, yet most likely the thought is of retributive justice and punishment that overtakes the enemies of Israel. When the remnant of the nobles and the people come down-that remnant of brave and faithful men never wanting to Israel-the Lord comes down with them, their Guide and Strength. Meroz is cursed because the inhabitants do not go forth to the help of Jehovah. And finally there is glorying over Sisera because he is an enemy of Israels Unseen King. There is trust, there is devotion, but no largeness of spiritual view.

We must, however, remember that a song full of the spirit of battle and the gladness of victory cannot be expected to breathe the ideal of religion. The mind of the singer is too excited by the circumstances of the time, the bustle, the triumph, to dwell on higher themes. When fighting has to be done it is the main business of the hour, cannot be aught else to those who are engaged. A woman especially, strung to an unusual pitch of nervous endurance, would be absorbed in the events and her own new and strange position; and she would pass rapidly from the tension of anxiety to a keen passionate exultation in which everything was lost except the sense of deliverance and of personal vindication. When that is past which was an issue of life or death, freedom or destruction, joy rises in a sudden spring, joy in the prowess of men, the fulness of Divine succour; neither the prophetess nor the fighters are indifferent to justice and mercy, though they do not name them here. Deborah, a woman of intense patriotism and piety, dared greatly for God and her country; of a base thing she was incapable. The men who fought by the waters of Megiddo and slew their enemies ruthlessly in the heat of battle knew in the time of peace the duties of humanity and no doubt showed kindness, when the war was over, to the widows and orphans of the slain. To know and serve Jehovah was a guarantee of moral culture in a rude age; and the Israelites when they returned to Him must have contrasted very favourably in respect of conduct with the devotees of Baal and Astarte.

For a parallel case we may turn to Oliver Cromwell. In his letter after the storming of Bristol, a bloody piece of work in which the mettle of the Parliamentary force was put keenly to proof, Cromwell ascribes the victory to God in these terms:-“They that have been employed in this service know that faith and prayer obtained this city for you. God hath put the sword in the Parliaments hands for the terror of evil doers and the praise of them that do well.” Of victory after victory which left many a home desolate he speaks as mercies to be acknowledged with all thankfulness. “God exceedingly abounds in His goodness to us, and will not be weary until righteousness and peace meet, and until He hath brought forth a glorious work for the happiness of this poor kingdom.” Read his dispatches and you find that though the man had a generous heart and was a sworn servant of Christ the merciful, yet he breathes no compassion for the royal troops. These are the enemy against whom a pious man is bound to fight; the slaughter of them is a terrible necessity.

Just now it is the fashion to depreciate as much as possible the moral value of the old Hebrew faith. We are assured in a tone of authority that Israels Jehovah was only another Chemosh, or, say, a respectable Baal, a being without moral worth, -in fact, a mere name of might worshipped by Israelites as their protector. The history of the people settles this uncritical theory. If the religion of Israel did not sustain a higher morality, if the faith of Jehovah was purely secular, how came Israel to emerge as a nation from the long conflict with Moabites, Canaanaites, Midianites, and Philistines? The Hebrews were not superior in point of numbers, unity, or military skill to the nations whose interest it was to subdue or expel them. Some vantage ground the Israelites must have had. What was it? Justice between man and man, domestic honour, care for human life, a measure of unselfishness, -these at least, as well as the entire purity of their religious rites, were their inheritance; through these the blessing of the Eternal rested upon them. There could never be a return to Him in penitence and hope without a return to the duties and the faith of the sacred covenant. We know therefore that while Deborah sings her song of battle and exults over fallen Sisera there is latent in her mind and the minds of her people a warmth of moral purpose justifying their new liberty. This nation is again a militant church. The hearts of men enlarge that God may dwell in them. Israels triumph, shall it not be for the good of those who are overcome? Shall not the people of Jehovah, going forth as the sun in his might, shed a kindly radiance over the lands around? So fine a conception of duty is scarcely to be found in Deborahs song, but, realised or not in Old Testament times, it was the revelation of God through Israel to the world.

DEBORAHS SONG: A CHANT OF PATRIOTISM

Jdg 5:1-31

WE have already considered the song of Deborah as a declaration of Gods working more broad and spiritual than might be looked for in that age. We now regard it as exhibiting different relations of men to the Divine purpose. There is a religious spirit in the whole movement here described. It begins in a revival of faith and obedience, prospers despite the coldness and opposition of many, grows in force and enthusiasm as it proceeds, and finally is crowned with success. The church is militant in a literal sense; yet, fighting with carnal weapons, it is really contending for the glory of the Unseen King. There is a close parallel between the enterprise of Deborah and Barak and that which opens before the church of the present time. No forced accommodation is needed to gather from the song lessons of different kinds for our guidance and warning in the campaign of Christianity.

Here are Deborah herself, a mother in Israel, and the leaders who take their places at the head of the armies of God. Here also are the people willingly offering themselves, imperilling their lives for religion and freedom. The history of the past and the vision of Jehovah as sole Ruler of nature and providence encourage the faithful, who rise out of lethargy and leave the byways of life to take the field in battle array. The levies of Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Issachar, and Naphtali represent those who are decisively Christian, ready to hazard all for the gospels sake. But Reuben sits among the sheepfolds and listens to the pipings for the flocks, Dan remains in ships, Asher at the haven of the sea; and these may stand for the self-cultivating, self-serving professors of religion. Jabin and Sisera again are established opponents of the right cause; they are brave in their own defence; their positions look most formidable, their battalions shake the ground. But the stars from heaven, the floods of Kishon, are only a small part of the forces of the King of heaven; and the soul of Israel marches on in strength till the enemy is routed. Meroz practically helps the foe. Those who dwell within its walls are doubtful of the issue and will not risk their lives; the curse of sullen apostasy falls upon them. Jael is a vivid type of the unscrupulous helpers of a good cause, those who, employing the weapons and methods of the world, would fain be servants of that kingdom in which nothing base, nothing earthly can have place. And there are the children of the hour, the fine ladies of Harosheth whose pleasure and pride are bound up with oppression, who look through the lattices and listen in vain for the returning chariots laden with spoil.

1. The leaders and head men of the tribes under Deborah and Barak, Deborah foremost in the great enterprise, her soul on fire with zeal for Israel and for God.

Deborah and Barak show throughout that spirit of cordial agreement, that frank support of each other which at all times are so much to be desired in religious leaders. There is no jealousy, no striving for preeminence. Barak is a brave man, but he will not stir without the prophetess; he is quite content to give her the place of honour while he does the martial work. Deborah again would commit the task to Baraks hands in complete reliance on his wisdom and valour; yet she is ready to appear along with him, and in her song, while she claims the prophetic office, it is to Barak she renders the honours of victory-“Lead thy thraldom in thrall, thou son of Abinoam.”

Rarely, it must be confessed, is there entire harmony among the leaders of affairs. Jealousy is too often with them from the first. Suspicion lurks under the council table, private ambitions and unworthy fears make confusion when each should trust and encourage another. The fine enthusiasm of a great cause does not overcome as it ought the selfishness of human nature. Moreover, varieties in disposition as between the cautious and the impetuous, the more and the less of sagacity or of faith, a failure in sincerity here, in justice there, are separating influences constantly at work. But when the pressing importance of the duties entrusted to men by God governs every will, these elements of division cease; leaders who differ in temperament are loyal to each other then, each jealous of the others honour as servants of truth. In the Reformation, for example, prosperity was largely due to the fact that two such men as Luther and Melanchthon, very different yet thoroughly united, stood side by side in the thick of the conflict, Luthers impetuosity moderated by the calmer spirit of the other, Melanchthons craving for peace kept from dangerous concession by the boldness of his friend. Their mutual love and fidelity showed the nobleness of both, showed also what the Protestant Gospel was. Their differences melted away in enthusiasm for the Word of God, which one thought of as a celestial ambrosia, the other as a sword, a war, a destruction springing upon the children of Ephraim like a lioness in the forest. The Divine work was the life of each; each in his own way sought with splendid earnestness to forward the truth of Christ.

Church leaders are responsible for not a little which they themselves condemn. Differences do not quickly arise among disciples when the teachers are modest, honourable, and brotherly. Paul cries, “Is Christ divided? Were ye baptised into the name of Paul? What is Apollos? What is Paul? Ministers by whom ye believed.” When our leaders speak and feel in like manner there will be peace, not uniformity but something better. Gods husbandry, Gods building will prosper.

But it is declared to be jealousy for religion that divides-jealousy for the pure doctrine of Christ-jealousy for the true church. We try to believe it. But then why are not all in that spirit of holy jealousy found side by side as comrades, eagerly yet in cordial brotherhood discussing points of difference, determined that they will search together and help each other until they find principles in which they can all rest? The leaders of different Christian bodies do not appear like Deborah and Barak engaged in a common enterprise, but as chiefs of rival or even opposing armies. The reason is that in this church and the other there has been a foreclosing of questions, and the elected leaders are almost all men who are pledged to the tribal decrees. In the decisions of councils and synods, and not less in the deliverances of learned doctors apologising each for his own sect and marking out the path his party must travel, there has been ever since the days of the apostles a hardening and limiting of opinion. Thought has been prematurely crystallised and each church prides itself on its own special deposit. The true church leader should understand that a course which may have been inevitable in the past is not the virtue of today and that those are simply adhering to an antiquated position who affirm one church to be the sole possessor of truth, the only centre of authority. It may seem strange to advise the churches to reconsider many of the ideas built into creed and constitution and to reject all leaders who are such by credit of sitting immovable in the seats of the rabbis, but the progress of Christianity in power and assurance waits upon a new brotherliness which will bring about a new catholicity. Under guides of the right kind the churches will have qualities and distinctions as heretofore, each will be a rendezvous for spirits of a certain order, but frankly confessing each others right and honour they will press on abreast to scale and possess the uplands of truth.

To be sure something is said of tolerance. But that is a purely political idea. Let it not be so much as named in the assembly of Gods people. Does Barak tolerate Deborah? Does Moses tolerate Aaron? Does St. Peter tolerate St. Paul? The disciples of Christ tolerate each other, do they? What marvellous largeness of soul! One or two, it appears, have been made sole keepers of the ark, but are prepared to tolerate the embarrassing help of well meaning auxiliaries. Neither charity of that sort nor flabbiness of belief is asked. Let each be strongly persuaded in his own mind of that which he has learned from Christ. But where Christ has not foreclosed inquiry, and where sincere and thoughtful believers differ, there is no place for what is called tolerance; the demand is for brotherly fellowship in thought and labour.

Deborah was a mother in Israel, a nursing mother of the people in their spiritual childhood, with a mothers warm heart for the oppressed and weary flock. The nation needed a new birth, and that, by the grace of God, Deborah gave it in the sore travail of her soul. For many a year she suffered, prayed, and entreated. Israel had chosen new gods and in serving them was dying to righteousness, dying to Jehovah. Deborah had to pour her own life into the half dead, and compared to this effort the battle with the Canaanites was but a secondary matter. So is it always. The Divine task is that of the mother-like souls that labour for the quickening of faith and holy service. Great victories of Christian valour, patience, and love are never won without that renewal of humanity; and everything is due to those who have guided the ignorant into knowledge, the careless to thought, and the weak to strength through years of patient toil. They are not all prophets, not all known to the tribes: of many such the record waits, hidden with their God, until the day of revealing and rejoicing.

Yet Barak also, the Lightning Chief, has honourable part. When the men are collected, men newborn into life, he can lead them. They are Ironsides under him. He rushes down from Tabor and they at his feet with a vigour nothing can resist. If we have Deborah we shall also have Barak, his army and his victory. The promise is not for women only but for all in the private ways and obscure settlements of life who labour at the making of men. Every Christian has the responsibility and joy of helping to prepare a way for the coming of Jehovah in some great outburst of faith and righteousness.

2. We contrast next the people who offered themselves willingly, who “jeoparded their lives unto the death upon the high places of the field,” and those who for one reason or another held aloof.

With united leaders there is a measure of unity among the tribes. Barak and Deborah summon all who are ready to strike for liberty, and there is a great muster. Yet there might be double the number. Those who refuse to take arms have many pretexts, but the real cause is want of heart. The oppression of Jabin does not much affect some Israelites, and so far as it does they would rather go on paying tribute than risk their lives, rather bear the ills they have than hazard anything in joining Barak. These holding back, the work has to be done by a comparatively small number, a remnant of the nobles and the people.

But a remnant is always found; there are men and women who do not bow the knee to the Baal of worldly fashion, who do not content their souls amid the fleshpots of low servitude. They have to venture and sacrifice much in a long and varying war, and oftentimes their flesh and heart may almost fail. But a great reward is theirs. While others are spiritless and hopeless, they know the zest of life, its real power and joy. They know what believing means, how strong it makes the soul. Their all is in the spiritual kingdom which cannot be moved. God is the portion of their souls, their gladness and glory. Those who stand by and look on while the conflict rages may share to a certain extent in the liberty that is won, for the gains of Christian warfare are not limited, they are for all mankind. There is a wider and better ordered life for all when this evil custom and that have been overcome, when one Jabin after another ceases to oppress. Yet what is it after all to touch the border of Christian liberty? To the fighters belongs the inheritance itself, an ever-extending conquest, a land of olives and vineyards and streams of living water.

Different tribes are named that sent contingents to the army of Barak. They are typical of different churches, different orders of society that are forward in the campaign of faith. The Hebrews who came most readily at the battle call appear to have belonged to districts where the Canaanite oppression was heavy, the country that lay between Harosheth, the headquarters of Sisera, and Hazor the city of Jabin. So in the Christian struggle of the ages the strenuous part falls to those who suffer from the tyranny of the temporal and see clearly the hopelessness of life without religion. The gospel of Christ is peculiarly precious to men and women whose lot is hard, whose earthly future is clouded. Sacrifices for Gods cause are made as a rule by these. In His great purpose, in His deep knowledge of the facts of life, our Lord joined Himself to the poor and left with them a special blessing. It is not that men who dwell in comfort are independent of the gospel, but they are tempted to think themselves so. In proportion as they are fenced in amongst possessions and social claims they are apt, though devout, to miss that very call which is the message of the gospel to them. Well meaning but absorbed, they can rarely bestir themselves to hear and do until some personal calamity or public disaster awakens them to the truth of things. The steady support of Christian ordinances and work in our day is largely the honour of people who have their full share in the struggle for earthly necessaries or a humble standing in the ranks of the independent. The paradox is real and striking; it claims the attention of those who vainly dream that a comfortable society would certainly become Christian, as effect follows cause. While the religion of Christ makes for justice and temporal well being, blessing even the unbeliever, while it leads the way to a high standard of social order, these things remain of no value in themselves to men unspiritual: it holds true that man can never live by bread alone, but by the words which proceed out of the mouth of God. And there are forces at work among us on behalf of the Divine counsel that shall not fail to maintain the struggle necessary to the discipline and growth of souls.

The real army of faith is largely drawn from the ranks of the toilers and the heavy laden. Yet not entirely. We reckon many and fine exceptions. There are rich who are less worldly than those who have little. Many whose lot lies far from the shadow of tyranny in green and pleasant valleys are first to hear and quickest to answer every call from the Captain of the Lords host. Their possessions are nothing to them. In the spiritual battle all is spent, knowledge, influence, wealth, life. And if you look for the highest examples of Christianity, a faith pure, keen, and lovely, a generosity that most clearly reveals the Master, a passion for truth consuming all lower regards, you will find them where culture has done its best for the mind and the bounty of providence has kindled a gracious humility and an abounding gentleness of heart. The tawdry vanities of their fellows in rank and wealth seem what they are to these, the gaudy toys of children who have not yet seen the glory and the goal of life. And how can men and women hear the clarion of the Christian war ringing over the valleys of degradation and fear, see the Divine contest surging through the land, and not perceive that here and here only is life? Men play at statecraft and grow cold as they intrigue; they play at financing and become ciphers in a monstrous sum; they toil at pleasure till Satan himself might pity them, for at least he has a purpose to serve. All the while there is offered to them the vigour, the buoyancy, the glow of an ambition and a service in which no spirit tires and no heart withers. Passing strange it is that so few noble, so few mighty, so few wise hear the keen cry from the cross as one of life and power.

Among the tribes that held aloof from the great conflict several are specially named. Messengers have gone to the land of Reuben beyond Jordan, and carried the fiery cross through Bashan. Dan has been summoned and Asher from the haven of the sea. But these have not responded. Reuben indeed has searchings of heart. Some of the people remember the old promise made at Shittim in the plain of Moab, that they would help their brethren who crossed into Canaan, never refusing assistance till the land was fully possessed. Moses had solemnly charged them with that duty, and they had bound themselves in covenant: “As the Lord hath said unto thy servants, so will we do.” Could anything have been more seriously, more decisively undertaken? Yet, when this hour of need came, though the duty lay upon the conscience nothing was done. Along the watercourses of Gilead and Bashan there were flocks to tend, to protect from the Amalekites and Midianites of the desert, who would be sure to make a raid in the absence of the fighting men. To Asher and Dan the reference is perhaps somewhat ironical. The “ships” for trade, the “haven of the sea,” were never much to these tribes, and their maritime ambition made an unworthy excuse. They had perhaps a little fishing, some small trade on the coast, and petty as the gain was it filled their hearts. Asher “abode by his creeks.” It is not to a religious festival that Deborah and Barak have called the tribes. It is to serious and dangerous duty. Yet the call of duty should come with more power than any invitation even to spiritual enjoyment. The great religious gathering has its use, its charm. We know the attraction of the crowded convocation in which Christian hope and enthusiasm are rekindled by stirring words and striking instances, faith rising high as it views the wide mission of gospel truth and hears from eloquent lips the story of a modern day of Pentecost. To many, because their own spiritual life burns dull, the daily and weekly routine of things becomes empty, vain, unsatisfying. In the common round even of valued religious exercise the heat and promise of Christianity seem to be lacking. In the convention they appear to be realised as nowhere else, and the persuasion that God may be felt there in a special manner is laying hold of Christian people. They are right in their eager desire to be borne along with the flood of redeeming grace, but we have need to ask what the life of faith is, how it is best nourished. To have a personal share in Gods controversy with evil, to have a place however obscure in the actual struggle of truth with falsehood, -this alone gives confidence in the result and power in believing. Those who are in contact with spiritual reality because they have their own testimony to bear, their own watch to keep at some outpost, find stimulus in the urgency of duty and exultation in the consciousness of service. Men often seek in public gatherings what they can only find in the private ways of effort and endurance; they seek the joy of harvest when they should be at the labour of sowing; they would fain be cheered by the song of victory when they should be roused by the trumpet of battle. And the result is that where spiritual work waits to be done there are but few to do it. Examine the state of any Christian church, reckon up those who are deeply interested in its efficiency, who make sacrifices of time and means, and set against these the half-hearted, who ignobly accept the religious provision made for them and perhaps complain that it is not so good as they would like, that progress is not so rapid as they think it might be, -the one class far outnumbers the other. As in Israel twice or three times as many might have responded to Baraks call, so in every church the resolute, the energetic, and devoted are few compared with those who are capable of energy and devotion. It is sometimes maintained that the worship of goodness and the Christian ideal command the minds of men more today than ever they did, and proof seems ready to hand. But, after all, is it not religious taste rather than reverence that grows? Self-culture leads many to a certain admiration of Christ and a form of discipleship. Christian worship is enjoyed and Christian philanthropy also, but when the spiritual freedom of mankind calls for some effort of the soul and life, we see what religion means-a wave of the hand instead of enthusiasm, a guinea subscription instead of thoughtful service. Is it a Christian or a selfish culture which is content with fragmentary concessions and complacent patronage where the claims of social “inferiors” are concerned? That there is a wide diffusion of religious feeling is clear enough; but in many respects it is mere dilettantism.

Notice the history of the tribes that lag behind in the day of the Lords summons. What do we hear of Reuben after this? “Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.” Along with Gad Reuben possessed a splendid country, but these two faded away into a sort of barbarism, scarcely maintaining their separateness from the wild races of the desert. Asher in like manner suffered from the contact with Phoenicia and lost touch with the more faithful tribes. So it is always. Those who shirk religious duty lose the strength and dignity of religion. Though greatly favoured in place and gifts they fall into that spiritual impotence which means defeat and extinction.

“Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” It is a stern judgment upon those whose active assistance was, humanly speaking, necessary in the day of battle. The men only held back, held back in doubt, supposing that it was vain for Hebrews to fling themselves against the iron chariots of Sisera. Were they not prudent, looking at the matter all round? Why should a curse so heavy be pronounced on men who only sought to save their lives? The reply is that secular history curses such men, those of Sparta for example to whom Athens sent in vain when the battle of Marathon was impending; and further that Christ his declared the truth which is for all time, “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it.” Erasmus was a wise man; yet he made the great blunder. He saw clearly the errors of Romanism and the miserable bondage in which it kept the souls of men, and if he had joined the reformers his judgment and learning would have become part of the worlds progressive life. But he held back doubting, criticising, a friend to the Reformation but not an apostle of it. Admire as we may the wit, the reasoner, the philosopher, there must always be severe judgment of one who, professing to love truth, declared that he had no inclination to die for it. There are many who, without the intellect of Erasmus, would fain be thought catholic in his company. Large is the family of Meroz, and little thought have they of any ban lying upon them. Is it a fanciful danger, a mere error of opinion without any peril in it, to which we point here? People think so; young men especially think so and drift on until the day of service is past and they find themselves under the contempt of man and the judgment of Christ. “Lord, when saw we Thee a stranger or in prison and did not minister unto Thee?” “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”

3. Jael, a type of the unscrupulous helpers of a good cause.

Long has the error prevailed that religion can be helped by using the worlds weapons, by acting in the temper and spirit of the world. Of that mischievous falsehood have been born all the pride and vainglory, the rivalries and persecutions that darken the past of Christendom, surviving in strange and pitiful forms to the present day. If we shudder at the treachery in the deed of Jael, what shall we say of that which through many a year sent victims to inquisition dungeons and to the stake in the name of Christ? And what shall we say now of that moral assassination which in one tent and another is thought no sin against humanity, but a service of God? Among us are too many who suffer wounds keen and festering that have been given in the house of their friends, yea, in the name of the one Lord and Master. The battle of truth is a frank and honourable fight, served at no point by what is false or proud or low. To an enemy a Christian should be chivalrous, and surely no less to a brother. Granting that a man is in error, he needs a physician, not an executioner; he needs an example, not a dagger. How much farther do we get by the methods of opprobrium and cruelty, the innuendo and the whisper of suspicion? Besides, it is not the Siseras today who are dealt with after this manner. It is the “schismatic” within the camp on whom some Jael falls with a hammer and a nail. If a church cannot stand by itself, approved to the consciences of men, it certainly will not be helped by a return to the temper of barbarism and the craft of the world. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the casting down of strongholds.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary