Judges 5:1-11 - Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

THE THANKSGIVING SONG OF THE REDEEMED CHURCH.—Judges 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 God’s 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 victory—after 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 deliverance—while 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 (2 Chronicles 20:26; Isaiah 38:9-22; Luke 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 Chapter s 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 Judges 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 Judges 5:3-11 inclusive—the 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 (Judges 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 (Judges 5:6-8), in a few graphic touches, shows how far the nation had sunk from its former pitch of prosperity. And strophe third (Judges 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 Judges 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 Lord’s battle (Judges 5:13-15). In strophe second is set forth the faint-heartedness of those who would risk nothing in fighting such a battle (Judges 5:16-18). And the third strophe (Judges 5:19-21) describes the forces of the enemy, and the mighty powers by which they were overwhelmed. Section third (Judges 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 (Judges 5:23); next the enemy meets with death where he expected protection to life (Judges 5:24-27); and finally, a contrast is drawn between high expectations formed, and bitter experiences reaped (Judges 5:28-30). The expression of a wish that all God’s enemies would so perish (that is, the stubborn and impenitent) concludes the chapter.

Judges 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 woman’s character. Indeed the hymn itself indicates its authorship (see Judges 5:3; Judges 5:7; Judges 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 Numbers 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 (תָּשַׁר). 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 Exodus 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 children’s children for many generations. Thus it would not only be a permanent memorial of God’s 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 Scripture—to 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 Books—one 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 Deborah’s 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 nature—no 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 language—the 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.

Judges 5:2. Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, etc.] The order in the original is more emphatic—“for the avenging of the avenges of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves—Praise 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 God’s Israel had received from them—Praise 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 פְרָֹע פְּרָעוֹת. 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 פְּרָע, which originally refers to the hair of the head, and especially to the long waving hair, as in Ezekiel 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 (Numbers 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 hair—In the people’s self-devotion—Praise 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 feeling—especially that of resentment for great injuries received. It is this condition of the hair that is here indicated by the word פְּרָע, 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 Deuteronomy 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 (Romans 12:1; 2 Chronicles 17:16; Psalms 110:3; 2 Corinthians 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.

Judges 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. Deuteronomy 32:1; Isaiah 1:2; Isaiah 44:23; Micah 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 world—that they may bow their heads, and confess they are nothing before Sion’s King. Farther, that they might learn the sin, danger, and folly of lifting themselves up against Israel’s God. To magnify Israel’s God is indeed the aim of the whole history (comp. Psalms 2). The singer says, she will sing, even she—with 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 cithern—one of the sweetest lyres or harps in use. Such is the force of זִמֵּר—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 is—I 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 Israel”—the 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.

Judges 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 (Deuteronomy 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 was—infinite 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 Jabin’s army—the 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 “thunders”—in Judges 20:21 we read of the “thick darkness where God was.” In Hebrews 12:18 we read of a “tempest” as well as of “blackness and darkness.” In Psalms 68:8-9, we read that the “heavens dropped at the presence of God, and He sent a plentiful rain.” In Psalms 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.

Judges 5:5. The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai, etc.] נָזְליּ 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 Isaiah 64:1-3, which should be translated “might tremble at thy presence”—Even 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!

Judges 5:6. In the days of Shamgar, etc.] These verses (6–8) were probably sung by a responsive choir to those who sang the verses going before (3–5). 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 (Deuteronomy 4:7; Deuteronomy 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 Shamgar—and 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 simply—in the days which Shamgar had to deal with—the 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 time—it might be for some years, but which at length, they were the means of entirely changing into a long course of bright and sunny days—so 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 soon—perhaps within a day or two after the terrible slaughter of Sisera’s army; but it is thrown into a form suitable for being sung in after ages. We believe Shamgar’s ground was somewhere in the South-West of the land; and we know Jael’s 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 country—no 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 murdered—perhaps 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 2 Chronicles 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.

Judges 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 (Deuteronomy 3:5; 1 Samuel 6:18; Ezekiel 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 Judges 7:14; or that seen in the visions of Isaiah as the natural effects of sinful times. (Isaiah 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. (1 Samuel 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.” (2 Samuel 20:19). The phrase, “a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” occurs in Isaiah 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.

Judges 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 serpent’s grammar first taught men to decline God plurally: “Ye shall be as gods” (Trapp)—“new gods”—not worshipped by their fathers. (Deuteronomy 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 לָחֶם 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 1 Samuel 13:22), for if so, the battle of Kishon could not have been fought. The reference is not to Barak’s 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 country’s 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 third—that referred to here (romach), a heavier weapon.

Judges 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 Lord’s 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.

Judges 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. Psalms 145:5; Psalms 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. (Judges 10:4; Judges 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. (Matthew 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.

Judges 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. (Genesis 26:18-21; Exodus 2:17-19; Jeremiah 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.—Judges 5:1-11

A HIGH STARTING POINT AND A GREAT DOWNFALL

1. God’s 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 God’s dealings with the children of the promises. This effusion of the person chosen for the time to represent Israel’s feelings under the treatment they received at the hands of God’s 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 God’s people must sometimes do, is the flame allowed to kindle upon them. “Though sorrowful they are yet always rejoicing—though persecuted they are not forsaken—though 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 history—after 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 God’s doings for her, and His dealings with her, at a critical stage of her history. God’s 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 God’s 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 God’s mighty acts. What an instructive revelation is made of man’s character as it is exhibited in the times of Deborah—the 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 God’s authority! What desecration of His holy covenant!

On the other hand, what a revelation is given of God’s 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 God’s 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. Man’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 man’s power to appreciate it—of His justice, which is “like the great mountains”—of His faithfulness, which “reacheth unto the clouds”—and 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 earth—to ally Himself so closely with them—to 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 say—the 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! God’s 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. Judges 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 God’s 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 Psalms 68:7-9; also Habakkuk 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 beginning—how 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 behalf—how 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 glories—the 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 God’s 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 God”—and are therefore “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ”—that all which the promises of God contain is theirs—theirs by good legal right—that 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 home—that 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-point—is 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 God’s highest possession—His 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. Judges 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 language—“they forsook the Lord”—is the constant refrain in the melancholy dirge of Israel’s 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 times—the 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 moment’s 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 man’s 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 enemy’s grasp was on the nation’s 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 spiritless—a 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 (1 Samuel 13:7; Daniel 5:6; Acts 24:25). What a striking commentary does this pass of Israel’s 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. Judges 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 Israel”—The singer is most explicit in stating the object in view. “I will sing unto the Lord—I 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 (Psalms 105:1-2; Psalms 106:1-2; Psalms 107:1-3; Psalms 111:1-2; Psalms 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 God’s redeemed ones. The merest glance at God’s 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 love’s 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 heart’s 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 Redeemer’s 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 music’s 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 country’s 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 (Genesis 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 people’s sins. It was the chosen theatre for the display of the Divine perfections on the earth. It was occupied by God’s church—the people with whom He was in covenant relationship as His own people. It was therefore “God’s own land.” (Psalms 85:1; Psalms 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.” (Psalms 64:9; Psalms 111:2; Psalms 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 understanding—sottish children—my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Comp. Psalms 73:20-21; Psalms 94:7-10; Psalms 32:8-9; Psalms 78:34-35, also 11, 42; and Isaiah 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 God’s 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 Barak—and 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 His—the 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 God’s wisdom planning and directing, and God’s 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 (Judges 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 rout—it 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 river—the 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 cloud—not a speck—remained. 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 Lord’s 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 God’s truth and God’s 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 heart’s 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 lips—I 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 done—His 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 servant—thou 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 God’s 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 heath—there 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.” Psalms 145:2; Psalms 35:28; Psalms 71:8; Psalms 71:15; Psalms 71:24; Psalms 116:2; Psalms 104:33; Psalms 34:1; Psalms 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 Lord’s 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 one’s 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. (1 Timothy 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 I’m 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.—Judges 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 man’s 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.
It’s length? A minute’s pause, a moment’s 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 God’s 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 Israel’s 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 Messiah’s day.

II. God’s 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 God’s 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 church’s 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 God’s 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. God’s 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 God’s 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 man’s 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 (Psalms 3:1; Psalms 118:11-12). When Solomon sinned, his powerful kingdom was rent in twain (1 Kings 11:9-13); and adversaries were raised up against him, notwithstanding all his prosperity (1 Kings 11:14; 1 Kings 11:23; 1 Kings 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 Jupiter’s chair—that 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.” (Psalms 37:1-2; Isaiah 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 withdrawn—their 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 (Deuteronomy 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 Israel’s God, he became enfeebled for life, for he went out from the prophet’s 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 Jesus—it 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 God’s people.

At the beginning of God’s 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 2 Corinthians 4:8-10; and 2 Corinthians 6:8-10. For

1. There are reasons for joy as well as sorrow. They are a redeemed people, and the price is Christ’s 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. (Jeremiah 3:12-15; Jeremiah 30:18-20; also, 8, 9; Hosea 14:1-5; Joel 2:12-20).

3. They are brought into endearing relations to God. God will sometimes show that He regards them with a Father’s 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. (Psalms 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.” (Psalms 78:38-39, and Isaiah 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.