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 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. there was not left unto one. Josephus 'says that Sisera's army on this occasion consisted of three hundred thousand footmen, 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 solo nisher ad ahod, 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 assisting them, that they fell upon the very midst of their enemies, and slew a great number of them, so that some of them fell by the Israelites, some fell by their own horses, which were put into disorder, and not a few were killed by their own chariots.' Ant. B. V., ch. 5.-¶ Sisera lighted 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 17. To the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. That is, probably, to Jael's apartment of the tent, the harem, the women's quarters. 'We must consider these Kenites as Arabs, and estimate their proceedings accordingly. Sisera's claim on Jael, in the absence of Heber, was perfectly proper. 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 for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; pears to have felt quite certain that the pursuers would not dare search the harem, and indeed it is almost certain that they would not have done so; for the Hebrews had too long and too recently been themselves a nomade people, not to have known that a more heinous and inexpiable insult could not be offered to the neutral Kenite Emir, than to disturb the sanctity of his harem, or even to enter, unpermitted, the outer part of his tent. We very much doubt whether they would have ventured, even if they had been certain that Sisera was there, to have entered to an actual distinction of an Arab, no one can with honor repel from the tent a stranger who claims hospitality, nor, in ordinary circumstances, does any one desire to do so; on the contrary, there is rather a disposition to contend who shall enjoy the privilege of granting him entertainment. In the present instance Sisera's application to the tent of the Sheikh, whose privilege it more especially was to entertain strangers, was in the common course of things. As belonging to a friendly people, Sisera's claim for protection was as valid as a common claim for hospitality, and could not be refused. Having | kill him, or take him thence, whe once promised protection to a person, and admitted him to his tent, the Arab is bound, not only to conceal his guest, but to defend him, even with his life, from his pursuers; and if his tent should be forced and his guest slain there, it is his duty to become the avenger of his blood. On these sentiments of honor Sisera seems to have relied; particularly after Jael had supplied him with refreshments, which, in the highest sense, are regarded as a seal to the covenant of peace and safety and in fact, after all this an Arab would be bound to protect with his own life even his bitterest enemy, to whom he may inadvertently have granted his protection. It is probable that Jael introduced Sisera for safety into the inner or woman's part of the tent. This she might do without impropriety, although it would be the most grievous insult for any man to intrude there without permission. Sisera ap under Heber's protection. This is an The fear not. And when he had tent, she covered him with a moved by a divine impulse to execute the deed she did. At first, indeed, on inviting him into the tent, she may have intended no more than the or contentions around them, to preserve a strict neutrality and maintain peace, as far as possible, both with the Israelites and the Canaanites; and as their quiet, harmless way of life ex-dinary hospitalities which the Orienempted them from suspicion, Jabin tals have ever been accustomed to appears to have offered them no mo- show to strangers and travellers, nor lestation. It was doubtless on these is it certain that she was even a ware grounds that Sisera thought of taking who he was, till after he had entered refuge among them, not considering, the tent. When she had ascertained says Henry, that though they them- this, the most natural conclusion cerselves did not suffer by Jabin's pow-tainly is, reasoning from the nature er, yet they heartily sympathized of woman, that she would have sufwith God's Israel that did. fered him to lie still till Barak, who was on the pursuit, had come up, or would in some way have communicated information of his hiding-place 18. Turn in, my lord, turn in to me. Perhaps no more appropriate comment can be furnished on these words, than the following extract from Po-to the Israeiltes. To fall upon him cocke, giving an account of the man- herself, unaided and alone, would ner in which he was treated in an appear to have been an exploit surArab tent on his journey to Jerusa-passing female fortitude, and would lem: My conductor led me two or have been a conduct so decidedly three miles to his tent, and there he and pointedly opposed to all the prinsat with his wife and others round a ciples of honor by which Orientals fire. The Arabs are not so scrupulous are governed, that we know not how as the Turks about their women; to account for it, unless she had been and though they have their harem, prompted by a suggestion from or women's part of the tent, yet such above, and this inference would as they are acquainted with come seem to be confirmed, both by the into it. I was kept in the harem for fact that it had been expressly pregreater security; the wife being al-dicted that Sisera should be deliverways with me, no person even dar-ed into the hand of a woman, and by ing to come into the same apartment the eulogium of Deborah, ch. 5. 24, unless introduced by her.' vited Sisera to take refuge in her own tent, or in her division of her husband's tent, into which no stranger might presume to enter, and where he naturally supposed himself to be in perfect safety. There is undoubtedly an apparent treachery in the conduct of Jael on this occasion, but the probability is that she was Jael in Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent,' on which see note. If this were the case, she is sufficiently vindicated by the fact, for God has a right to dispose of the lives of his creatures as he pleases, as we see in the case of Eglon, in the preceding chapter; and probably the cup of 19 And he said unto her, Give | doth come and inquire of thee, me, I pray thee, a little water and say, Is there any man here? to drink; for I am thirsty. And that thou shalt say, No. she opened a bottle of milk, 21 Then Jael Heber's wife and gave him drink, and covered took a nail of the tent, and him. took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: 20 Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man I ch. 5. 25. Sisera's iniquity was full, and his 19. Opened a bottle of milk and gave him drink. As if this were a more palatable draught than water. By thus doing more for him than he requested, she evinced a kinder care for his comfort, and increased his confidence and security. Josephus says it was 'sour milk,' which is not unlikely, as that is considered in the East a very grateful and cooling drink. See on ch. 5. 25. y ch. 5. 26. of Christian simplicity and sincerity, nor is it any thing in its favor that it here has the sanction of a wicked, heathen warrior, doomed to destruction. The practice of prevarication thus inculcated upon servants, may be expected to react upon those who employ them; for if they are taught to lie for others, they will be very apt to do it for themselves. 21. Took a nail of the tent. One of those long sharp pins or spikes which were driven into the ground, and to which cords were attached to stretch the cloth of the tent, and keep it firmly secured. They were probably made of iron; Josephus calls this an 'iron nail.' Shaw, describing the tents of the Bedouin Arabs, says, 'these tents are kept firm and steady, by bracing or stretching down their wooden pins, well pointed, which they drive into the ground with a mallet; one of these pins answering to the nail, as the mallet does to the hammer, which Jael used in fastening to the ground the temples of Sisera.' 20. Thou shalt say, No. It does not appear, however, that Jael prom-eaves with cords tied down to hooked ised to deny his being there. Our regard for others may prompt us to many acts of kindness for them, but there is a point beyond which we must not go. A fearer of God will not listen to a request that would involve the commission of sin, especially the sin of falsehood. The custom adopted in some families of instructing servants to say, 'Not at home,' when a master or mistress does no wish to receive company, is directly at variance with the dictates -T Took a hammer in her hand. Heb. 7 napan na bwn vattâsem eth-hammakebeth beyâdâh, put an hammer in her hand. As tents were often moved, she had probably acquired an expertness in the use of the implements necessary for fasten for he was fast asleep, and wea- 23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan So he died. ry. 22 And behold, as Barak pur-before the children of Israel. sued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples. 24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. ing and unfastening them.- -TAnd fastened it into the ground. Heb. ' and it went down, penetrated, to the ground.' The verb is neuter, and should be referred to the pin rather than to Jael. 23. Subdued-Jabin the king of Canaan. There is in the original an apparent paranomasia, or play upon words, of which the English reader entirely loses sight. The Heb. word for 'subdue,' and that for 'Canaan,' are from the same root; as if it were said, 'he humbled the son of humiliation;' he made good the destiny of subjugation implied in the very name 'Canaan.' z Ps. 18. 47. eye to the judicial sentence under which these devoted nations lay, that this formidable enemy in the space of two verses is three times called 'king of Canaan ;' for as such he was to be destroyed, and so thoroughly was he destroyed, that the title 'king of Canaan,' occurs not again in the subsequent narrative. CHAPTER V. The subject matter of the present chapter is the triumphal song, sung by Deborah and Barak, on occasion of the signal victory above recorded of the forces of Israel over the armies of Jabin and Sisera. The 24. Prospered and prevailed. Heb. spirit of prophecy is nearly allied to op 1373 vattelek halōk ve- the spirit of poetry, and when the kâshah, going, went, and was hard. efforts of genius are heightened by On the use of the verb 'to go, or to the promptings of inspiration, we may walk,' for the gradual increase or reasonably look for results that shall progression of any thing see on Gen. distance all human competition. Nor 3. 8. From this event was to be in the present instance shall we look dated the complete deliverance of in vain. Considered merely as a Israel from the yoke of Jabin. Hav- specimen of lyric composition, this ing suffered so severely by their ode of Deborah may challenge comguilty and foolish forbearance to-parison with the finest effusions of wards their enemies, they now re- the classic muse of any age or counsolve to tolerate them no longer, but to make an effectual riddance of them, as a people to whom no mercy was to be shown without equally offending God and endangering their own interests. It was probably with an try. Though occasionally obscure in the original, and in the English translation, in some instances, scarcely intelligible, yet it evidently breathes the highest spirit of poetry. Its strains are lofty and impassioned, its |