rule of Jabin, and were nearer at hand to the scene of the approaching conflict than any of the rest. In addition to this, Barak himself was of the tribe of Naphtali, and the esteem in which he was doubtless held, would naturally bring numbers of them to his standard.

7. And I will draw unto thee. The same word as that employed in the preceding verse, and having a kindred import. God would draw the hosts of Sisera to the river Kishon,' by so ordering the events of his providence as to afford motives to them to concentrate in all their force at that point. They were not to be drawn together by physical, but by moral influence. Their counsels were to be so overruled by a secret divine direction, that they should result in their being brought together at that place, as sheep for the slaughter, and yet their utmost freedom of will left undisturbed. 'When God will destroy his enemies, their resistance is in vain; and their gathering to battle is only rushing into the snare.' Haweis.- ¶ The river Kishon. See on ch. 5. 21.

and I will deliver him into thine hand?

8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.

he would otherwise have done. In like manner, Moses' lack of faith, when ordered to go upon a mission to Pharaoh, led God to divide the honor of that embassy with Aaron, which would otherwise have redounded to Moses alone, Ex. 4. 14. Still it is evident from the apostle's commendation, Heb. 11. 32, that Barak possessed true though weak faith, and that it was from a profound conviction of the spirit of God's dwelling and speaking in Deborah, that he so earnestly desired her presence. Could he but enjoy this, he would feel that he possessed a pledge and earnest of the divine blessing, and this was showing a respect to God's prophets, which implied a genuine faith, and was no doubt highly acceptable as far as it went. But though it would naturally be a source of great satisfaction and encouragement to him, to have the prophetess with him to animate his soldiers, and to be consulted as an oracle upon all occasions, yet it is plain that he ought to have gone directly forward without her, relying on the God of Deborah, who had expressly and uncon8. If thou wilt go with me, &c. By ditionally promised him the victory, making his obedience conditional v. 7. How rare, alas! is simple, when the command was absolute, Ba- child-like confidence in God! How rak showed that his faith was marred difficult is it for men, and the best of by infirmity, and this conviction is men, to break away from undue deconfirmed by Deborah's answer, in pendance on an arm of flesh, even which she intimates to him that he when assured by the most express shall not receive the same honor or declaration of God, that he will updistinction from the enterprise, that hold and deliver them, and be to

|

9 And she said, I will surely the hand of a woman. And go with thee: notwithstanding Deborah arose, and went with the journey that thou takest Barak to Kedesh. shall not be for thine honor; for the LORD shall "sell Sisera into

n ch. 2. 14.

10 ¶ And Barak called · Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh ;

• ch. 5. 18.

them more than armies of strength, was she of success that she calls his or munitions of rocks!

engaging in the war but the under-
taking of a journey.' -¶The Lord
shall sell Sisera into the hand of a
woman. Some understand this of
Deborah herself, but we think the
designed allusion is to Jael. Of her
the words may be understood liter-
ally; applied to Deborah they can
only be explained by a figure of
speech. Besides, if spoken of Debo-
rah, the sentence merely declares
what he knew before. He was no
doubt aware that if she went with
him it would diminish the credit of
his success, yet notwithstanding he
was sensible of this he insisted upon
her accompanying him.
But in re-
gard to the part Jael was to act in the
transaction, he of course knew no-
thing. This was a pure prediction
uttered by Deborah in the spirit of
prophecy, and such he would under-
stand it to be when the event was ac-
complished.

9. I will surely go with thee. An indulgence to human infirmity, such as the divine condescension often afforded to his weak and wavering servants. Were God's thoughts like ours and his ways like ours, he would have been far more apt to discard Barak altogether and say to him, that if he had not faith enough to trust the promise of Him who cannot lie, he would call some one to the service who had, and to whom he would give the glory of an exploit which he had in so cowardly a manner declined. But with characteristic kindness the Most High is pleased to yield somewhat to his perverseness, and Deborah, under the divine prompting, engages to accompany him. While the parties thus seem in effect to have changed sexes, it is obviously meet that some tokens of divine disapprobation should mark Deborah--went with Barak's faint-heartedness, and he is Barak to Kedesh. Consequently Baconsequently told that he is to share rak had previously, in obedience to the glory of the victory with a weak her summons, left Kedesh and rewoman. -¶ The journey that thou | paired to her at her residence betakest shall not be for thine honor. tween Ramah and Beth-el. The Heb. 'thine honor shall not be upon above conversation was undoubtedly the way which thou goest.' That held by the parties in person after is, probably, the way, the conduct, they met. the course which thou art proposing in this matter shall not be such as to redound to thy credit. If, however, it be taken as read in our translation, then the remark of Henry may be very well founded, that 'so confident

10. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali. The original for 'called' being in the Hiphil form, properly signifies caused to call, i. e. assemble by means of emissaries sett among the tribes. Whether this

r

and he went up with ten thou- |* Hobab the father-in-law of sand men at his feet and De- Moses, had severed himself from borah went up with him. the Kenites, and pitched his 11 Now Heber the Kenite, tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which was of the children of which is by Kedesh.

q

p See Ex. 11. 8. 1 Kings 20. 10. q ch. 1.16.

S

way devotees, when addressing the gods, always speak of themselves as being at their feet. When the Ori

entals speak of his Majesty of Britain, they often allude to the millions who are at his feet. The governors, generals, or judges in the East, are said to have the people of such countries, or armies, or districts, at their feet. Nay, it is common for masters, and people of small possessions, to speak of their domestics as being at their feet. It is therefore heard every day, for "I will send my servants," en-kal-adiyila, “those at my feet."" Roberts.

was done, as some suppose, by the
blowing of trumpets, the common
signal for war, or otherwise, is un-
certain. Went up with ten thou- |
sand men at his feet. Heb. ' went
up with his feet ten thousand men.'
Such is the literal rendering of the
original, from which most of the
versions depart, and so lose the
exact shade of meaning which we
conceive the words intended to con-
vey, viz. that the ten thousand ac-
companied him with as much alac-
rity as though all their feet had be-
longed to his body; in other words,
they were entirely at his control, ob-
sequious to his beck and bidding.
The phrase may appear uncouth,
but it is highly significant, and in all
cases we would aim to adhere as
closely as practicable to the very let-
ter of the original. The intelligent
reader would prefer to know pre-
cisely what the sacred penman says,
and then to be left to put such a con-
struction upon it as to his mind the
evidence of the case admits or re-
quires. Comp. ch. 5. 15, and 8. 5.—
The phrase "men at his feet," did
not, I believe, refer to any particular
class of soldiers, but applied to all,
whether they fought in chariots, on
horses, or on foot. This form of
speech is used in eastern books to
show how many obey or serve under
the general. It may be taken from
the action of a slave being prostrate
at the feet of his master, denoting of life.
submission or obedience. In this

11. Now Heber the Kenite, &c. This verse comes in here parenthetically, to prepare the way for what is soon to be said about Jael, a woman of this family. It would otherwise seem singular, that when the writer had before said, ch. 1. 16, that this family had passed into the tribe of Judah, and was dwelling in the wilderness south of Arad, that one of the stock was found abiding so far north as the tribe of Naphtali. He accounts for it by saying that the individual in question had emigrated to a distance from his brethren. The verse should have been included in the usual marks of a parenthesis.¶Pitched his tent unto. That is, gradually shifted his habitation towards. See on Gen. 13. 12. He doubtless followed the nomade mode

12. And they showed Sisera. A

12 And they showed Sisera | which the LORD hath delivered that Barak the son of Abinoam Sisera into thy hand is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

was gone up to mount Tabor. 13 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.

14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in

common idiom for 'it was told Sisera.' See on Gen. 16. 14.

13. Gathered together. The same word in the original with that spoken of Barak, v. 10, and there rendered 'called.' In both cases it means to assemble by proclamation.—¶ Unto the river Kishon. That is, gathered unto the river Kishon. The writer is not giving the boundaries of the several nations that were confederate with Sisera, nor stating that they extended from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river Kishon.

15 And "the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of

t Deut. 9. 3. 2 Sam. 5. 24. Ps. 68. 7. u Ps. 83. 9, 10. See Josh. 10.10.

Isai. 52. 12.
going before one in battle, when
thus explained, is equivalent to
making sure a successful result. So
2 Sam. 5. 24, And let it be when
thou hearest the sound of a going in
the tops of the mulberry trees, that
then thou shalt bestir thyself; for
then shall the Lord go out before thee,
to smite the host of the Philistines.'
Nothing so encourages a good man
in the way of duty or of danger, as
the conviction that the Lord goes
before him, and that he is acting
under his direction. TBarak went
down from the mount. Instead of
making it his chief object to main-
tain the post which he had chosen,
with all its advantages, on the top of
the mount, where he was completely
unassailable by the enemy's iron
chariots, he heroically sallies down
to the level plain with his far infe-
rior force, in order that by giving
Sisera every advantage, the glory of
the victory to be achieved over him
might be so much the greater.

14. Hath delivered Sisera into thy hand. Will as certainly deliver as if it were already done. By Sisera here is meant his army, for as to Sisera himself, he was not delivered into the hand of Barak, but of Jael, as Deborah had before announced, v. 9.-TIs not the Lord gone out before thee? As God had expressly said, v. 7, that he would draw Sisera's army with his chariots and his multitudes together to the river Kishon, and then deliver them into Ba- 15. The Lord discomfited Sisera. rak's hand, so Deborah in these Or, as the Heb. implies, confounded, words simply intimates that God threw them into disorder, drove them had thus far been as good as his pro- | tumultuously together, causing chamise, that he had gone out before riots to break and overthrow chariots, Barak in the sense of putting everything in readiness for his achieving the promised victory. The Lord's

and horses and men to be mingled in their fall in wild confusion. It was not so much the bold and unex

the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet. 16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles:

and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

17 Howbeit, Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite:

may suppose that he had therefore despised and defied the armies of the living God, because they were all on foot, and had neither chariot nor horse, as he had; justly therefore is he made ashamed of his confidence, and forced to quit it, and thinks himself then most safe and easy when he has got clear of his chariot. Thus they are disappointed who rest on the creature.' Henry.

16. Fell upon the edge of the sword. Rather, fell by the edge of the sword,

There was not a man left. Heb.

lo nisher ad ahod, there was not left unto one. Josephus says that Sisera's army on this occasion consisted of three hundred thousand footmen, ten ten thousand horsemen, and three thousand chariots. Of these only nine hundred may have been iron chariots, as stated by the sacred historian.

pected charge of Barak that produced this effect, as a supernatural panic, a terror from God, that seized their spirits, threw them into irretrievable confusion, and made them an easy prey to the sword. It is said ch. 5. 20, that' the stars from heaven fought against Sisera,' and Josephus gives the following very probable account of the terrific scene. 'When they were come to a close fight, there came down from heaven a great storm, with a vast quantity of rain and hail, and the wind blew the rain in the face of the Canaanites, and so darkened their eyes, their arrows and slings were of no advantage to them; nor would the coldness of the air permit the soldiers to make use of their swords, while this storm did not so much incommode the Israelites, because it came on their backs. They also took such courage upon the apprehension that God was as- 17. To the tent of Jael, the wife of sisting them, that they fell upon the Heber the Kenite. That is, probably, very midst of their enemies, and slew to Jael's apartment of the tent, the a great number of them, so that some harem, the women's quarters. 'We of them fell by the Israelites, some must consider these Kenites as Arabs, fell by their own horses, which were and estimate their proceedings accordput into disorder, and not a few were ingly. Sisera's claim on Jael, in the killed by their own chariots.' Ant. | absence of Heber, was perfectly proB. V., ch. 5. -T Sisera lighted | per. down-and fled away on his feet. To guard more effectually against being discovered. Had he fled in his chariot he would have been liable to be recognized and taken or slain. His chariots had been his pride and his confidence; and we

When a stranger comes to an Arab camp, where he has no acquaintance, he proceeds to the first tent, and if the proprietor is absent, his wife and daughters are not only authorised, but required, to perform the duties of hospitality to him. As a character for liberal hospitality is