Judges 5:23-31 - Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

CHAPTER 5—Judges 5:23-31

THE MISERABLE END OF THE WICKED

CRITICAL NOTES.— Judges 5:23. Curse ye Meroz, etc.] (See above p. 285.) No fellow creature may presume to pronounce a curse on another, at their own instance, from any cause whatever. This passage cannot be pleaded as an example, for the prophetess expressly declares it was the doing of the Angel-Jehovah. The sin was one of omission; but though it seemed to be nothing more than neutrality, it implied in reality covert sympathy with the enemy, and a real abandonment of connection with the covenant God.

Judges 5:24. Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, etc.] This is put in opposition to the curse on Meroz. Though only allied to Israel, and but a woman, she did most material service for God’s Church in destroying its worst enemy (see on Judges 4:11; Judges 4:17-18). The “women in the tent” refer to those in her circle of life—dwellers in tents, or shepherdesses. Women’s fitting place is “the tent” (Proverbs 7:11; Titus 2:5), as men’s place is the battlefield. The name of her husband is also given, to distinguish her the better. She is praised for making the fullest use of her opportunity.

Judges 5:25. He asked water; she gave him milk, etc.] Put the verb in the singular, “he asks—she gives.” She must have known it was Sisera. For, on his first appearance, she hails him with the address, “Turn in, my lord, turn in; fear not.” Then she covered him with the sleeping rug (Judges 4:18-19). And now when he asks water, she not only gives milk, but the best the house could afford. She brought forth butter in a lordly dish.] She carries him butter. חֶמְאָה—the more solid forms of milk—curdled milk (Gesenius); cream (Lias); good superior milk (Keil), who says the word is here synonymous with הָלָב or sweet, rich milk. סֵפֶל a costly bowl used by nobles—one reserved for distinguished guests. The Chaldee and Sept. render it phial, not a bottle, but a shallow drinking bowl.

Judges 5:26. She puts her (left) hand to the nail, etc.] or “tent pin”—the peg with which the tent was fastened. It was most likely of iron, like a nail driven into the wall (Isaiah 22:23; Isaiah 22:25). And her right hand to the (heavy) workman’s hammer.] The mallet of the hand workers. הָלַם—she smites with the hammer, or hammers Sisera, smites off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. Cassel makes it, she swings it over Sisera, smites his head, crushes through and transpierces his temples. “He who sought to crush Israel with nine hundred chariots was himself crushed with one iron nail.”

Judges 5:27. At (or between) her feet he bows, he falls, he lies down; at (between) her feet he bows, he falls; where he bows, there he falls down dead.] There is an accumulation of words in these two verses to express the deed now done, which marks it with special emphasis. Not that the perpetrator took delight in gratifying a thirst for revenge, but it brings out the thought, that he who had been so long the terror of Israel, now falls dead at a single blow. (Keil.) It is graphically rendered by Cassel—“At her feet he curls himself and falls, at her feet he lies, curls himself again and falls; and as he curls himself again, falls—dead!” Done too by a woman’s hand!

Judges 5:28. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, etc.] This falling of the curtain on the death-scone, and transferring the reader’s thoughts the next moment to the gorgeous palace, to tell what is going on there, tends greatly to heighten the effect of the picture. An event so tragic in itself, viewed alone or from any point, becomes tenfold more terrible in the light of the awful contrast here presented. The abruptness of the transition, the appalling character of the contrast, the giving only of bold snatches of statement in the narrative, and leaving much for the imagination to fill up in its own way, all combine to render this one of the most effective dramatic representations it is possible to conceive. The word translated, “looked” means she bent forward eagerly in looking. Her son was accustomed to return a conqueror, and doubtless she thought he would so return now. But her thoughts seem to have troubled her. She must have heard something of the reports that went, that the mighty God of these Hebrews (of whom all the Canaanites knew but too well in the past), was on this occasion to put forth His power in fighting on their behalf, and if any thing were to occur like what took place in the days of Joshua, she felt there would indeed be reason for alarm. And another thing now disturbed her—the time for returning was fully come, but there was no appearance of her son, nor any tidings from the battlefield. She is in the upper airy room, standing at the window which commands a view of the road to a great distance. She looks keenly and listens, but no object is seen, and the rolling of the chariot-wheels is not heard. No triumphal procession fills up the view, but silence and solitude reign. In spite of her, a sad presentiment steals over the heart that all is not right. It was not accustomed to be thus. She cries through the lattice.] There is more of an anxious heart in that cry than she cares to acknowledge “Why does his chariot delay its coming? Why tarry the wheels?” The “lattice” here is the opening through which the cool air is admitted.

“She cries.”] It denotes feverish impatience, as if she had said, “Is he never coming?—why linger the steps of his chariot team?” How could she fail to be anxious, when he, the pride of his mother’s heart, in whom her every hope was built up, who had brought such renown to her house, the invincible Sisera, before whom the wretched Hebrew people had cowered in abject submission these twenty years, not daring to mutter or to peep, was now so long behind his time in returning from battle, and not a single hint has been received regarding the issue of the great conflict? Can it be possible that a stone has been thrown across his path, or that a spoke has been lost to his wheel?

Judges 5:29. Her wise (used ironically) ladies] or honourable ladies in waiting—not princesses, as some make it; for Sisera was not king. These courtly sycophants are forward to offer their ingenious suggestions to account for the delay. It is caused by victory, not by defeat. What else in all reason could it be? With so vast an army, and Sisera at their head, how could it be otherwise? What other thought could be entertained? To scatter the down-trodden people would be but the work of a moment. It is the taking of an unusual quantity of spoil that accounts for their non-appearance. To search the bodies of the many slain, and to rob the homes of all their treasures must occupy time. The flattered mother allows herself to be persuaded, and her own second thoughts rise up within her to refute her first fears.

Judges 5:30. Have they not been entirely successful? Are they not engaged in dividing the spoil? To every man a damsel, or two damsels.] This allusion, especially as being put in the foreground when describing the expected booty, casts a sad reflection on the character of the speakers, themselves females, and also on the corrupt state of the age when such things were customary. It is similar to the picture given in the Iliad; and generally among those nations that knew not God. To Sisera a booty of dyed (purple) garments-nay robes of double embroidery where gold and silver threads are woven upon the coloured ground.] On such a subject the female mind goes into minute details. “Meet for the necks of the spoil;” not, made originally for the necks of the spoiled, but now they are stripped of all; nor yet, suitable to put on the necks of the spoil, in reference to the rich garments sometimes worn by the captives; but, as in A. V. costly clothing suitable to adorn the necks of the conquerors.

In weaving such tinsel day-dreams as fancy might suggest, they fill up the time, and one hour succeeds another, when suddenly all is changed. A messenger of doom arrives, and brief but terrible is his report. The great battle is lost, Sisera’s mighty army is destroyed; while Sisera himself has met with a tragic death, and that too at the hands of a woman! So the curtain falls! * * *

Judges 5:31. So let all thine enemies perish, etc.] The prophetess winds up with an expressive—Amen to the solemn visitation of God’s Providence, on the heads of those who dare to oppose His holy designs. It is prophetic as well as imprecatory, implying shall as well as let. It is in harmony with such passages as Revelation 19:3; 1 Corinthians 16:22; Luke 16:25-26, and those Psalms which invoke destruction on God’s enemies. Such retribution is the appropriate reward of the incorrigibly wicked, and but for the great propitiation which has been made by Christ bearing the desert of our sins, it would still be the tone adopted by the God of Providence in all His dealings with men. But the language implies also the hopelessness of being able to fight against God and prosper, on the one hand, while on the other, those who have God upon their side shall march on their course after all trials and struggles are over, with the brightness and strength of the morning sun mounting up to mid-Heaven.

JAEL’S ACT

Was the conduct of Jael towards Sisera justifiable?

The deed of Jael towards Sisera, and that of Ehud towards Eglon, are so similar in character, that they must be justified on similar grounds. Much, therefore, of what has been said on the narrative in Judges 3:15-30 will apply here (see p. 162–166). The case as regards Jael may be stated thus:—In her conduct towards Sisera, she seems to have been guilty both of treachery, and of murder, while yet her deed and the circumstances attending it are highly commended by Deborah, when speaking under the influence of the Spirit of God. Deborah is manifestly not speaking of herself. In Judges 5:23, it is the voice of “the angel of the Lord,” that is heard making use of Deborah as the medium for pronouncing the curse on Meroz. It was no feeling of Deborah’s own that was expressed. Neither is the blessing, that was now pronounced on Jael, to be regarded as a thing done at her own instance. She was a prophetess, and was acknowledged in this whole transaction by Jehovah, as the medium for conveying the intimations of His will. We cannot, therefore, doubt that the blessing now conferred on Jael was really from God, and signified not only that her act was excusable, but was even meritorious in His sight. Besides, it is admitted on all hands, that the Book of Judges forms part of the inspired canon. Why then except this portion of it? The measure of commendation is most marked—“Blessed above women shall Jael be,” etc. The circumstances are detailed in order, from Judges 5:24-27, as if her conduct described in those verses was matter fitted to hand down her name to the praise of future generations, and the whole account is wound up with the expression of an earnest wish by the prophetess, that all God’s enemies should in like manner perish. There can be no doubt that the prophetess regarded the death of Sisera, the enemy of God, as an act of which God approved. For the expression in Judges 5:31, was practically saying—Amen—to Jael’s act.

This fact, that Jael’s conduct was approved by God, is sufficient to prove that it was not the ruthless act of a bloodthirsty woman. The account must be susceptible of some other interpretation. Sisera was not the personal enemy of Jael, so that the putting him to death could not be an act of personal revenge. As such, it could not have been approved of by God. Nor could it have been an act of pure barbarism, for that could not have been held up to the praise of posterity. It was indeed truly heroic, but, in Scripture, it is always the moral or religious aspect of a thing that renders it praiseworthy. At first sight, indeed, it seems to be the stronghanded act of one who has become ferocious, being stung to madness with a sense of the wrongs inflicted on her people and kindred, by the man who was now wholly in her power. In some such light do most commentators regard it:—

Jamieson says: “The taking of Sisera’s life by the hand of Jael was murder. It was a direct violation of all proper notions of honour and friendship, and for which it is impossible to conceive Jael to have had any other motive, than to gain favour with the victors. It was not divinely appointed nor sanctioned. (How does the speaker know?); and the eulogy must be regarded, not as pronounced on the moral character of the woman and her act, but on the public benefits which God would bring out of it. Yet Jael’s own name is distinctly held up to honour, and her act is circumstantially detailed in the text.”

Fausset holds, that “Jael’s sympathy with the oppressed, her faith in Israel’s God, and her bold execution of her dangerous undertaking, deserve all praise; though, as in Ehud’s case, there was the alloy of treachery and assassination.”

Keil says: “Though Jael acted with enthusiasm for the cause of God, and from religious motives, regarded her connection with the people of Israel as higher and more sacred than either the bond of peace with Jabin, or the dealings of hospitality of her tribe, yet her heroic deed cannot be acquitted of the sins of lying, treachery and assassination.” But how can we suppose that God would make use of means, which implied lying, treachery, and assassination to execute His holy purposes?

Lias denounces “the disgraceful treachery of Jael,” and adds, “we need not suppose that, because Deborah sung, and sung under the influence of inspiration, we must therefore accept her judgment on a point of morals.” Indeed! Is the weight of the Divine Spirit’s testimony weakened by passing through a human medium? Can we suppose a person to speak under the influence of the Spirit of God, and yet be in error on a point of morals?

The Speaker’s Commentary says, “Deborah speaks of this deed by the light of her own age, which did not make manifest the evil of guile and bloodshed; the light in our age does.” Was this deed, then, one of bloodthirstiness?

The Pulpit Commentary calls it an act of patriotic treachery. Oppression rouses the dark passions of the oppressed. It was a case where cruelty was rewarded with treachery. Being for the good of others, the act was less wicked than that which is entirely selfish in its motives.”

Dr. Cassel terms it “a demon-like deed, done in the spirit of a woman’s violence which knows no bounds. It also showed woman’s cunning. Yet her motives were mixed. It would have been treason against the covenant of her house with Israel, had she spared Israel’s sworn enemy. If spared he might have raised fresh troops, and continued to act as Israel’s destroyer. The freedom of the sacred nation, with which she had cast in her lot, was now trembling in the balance, and so she makes her decision.”

Edersheim calls her “a fierce woman with a dark purpose, and refers to the wild and weird character of the Kenites her people, as showing the instincts of a fierce race. To her every other consideration was nothing, so that she might avenge Israel, and destroy their great enemy.” If this were Jael’s real character, we do not see how it is possible for the Spirit of inspiration to have held her up, as one to be blessed by all future generations.

Far otherwise are we disposed to think of Jael and of her act. At the first glance of the case, it does appear surprising, that so many able and judicious writers should, when speaking of this case, have represented Jael as little better than a monster of wickedness, while Sisera is virtually assumed to be an unfortunate and very ill-used man. Even if Jael’s act had been one of bloodthirstiness (which we decidedly believe it was not), are we to determine her character from that one act, done in a moment, under very peculiar circumstances, to have been ferocious and fiendish, while we pass over, and drop only a word of pity for her victim, though he had been guilty of bloodshed and atrocities of all kinds for the long period of twenty years, and that too over the breadth of a whole nation. True, the fact that Sisera should have committed a thousand murders does not justify Jael in committing one. But we protest against an unbroken current of condemnation coming down on the head of Jael for this one act, while not a syllable is said of a just retribution for the frightful villanies committed wholesale, by the wretch whom Jael now crushed.
Many considerations require to be taken into account in order to form a just estimate of Jael’s conduct; some general, and some particular:—

I. General considerations.
1. The character of the times in which Jael lived. They were stern times; when in private life men had to “scorn delights and live laborious days,” and in more public life it was customary to use bloody hands, and to look on with unpitying eyes. It was a time when oppression, cruelty, and murder were rampant in the land, and human life had lost half its value. “The ear was pained, the soul was sick with every day’s report of wrong and outrage, with which earth was filled.” And stern times lead to stern deeds. It was Israel’s “iron age,” and the “iron had entered into the soul.” “Desperate evils lead to desperate remedies.”

These Old Testament times were also days, when as yet the great means of propitiating the Divine anger had not been found, and when, in consequence, a certain aspect of severity characterised all God’s dealings with men. The whole tone of life was more stern.

2. No breach of God’s moral law can, under any circumstances, be permitted Right and wrong have certain fixed boundaries in all ages, which are not removable. It can never be right to deceive, or to utter what is false. It must always be wrong to do murder. Treachery cannot at any time be justified. We dare not “do evil, that good may come.” Neither can we act on the principle, that “no faith is to be kept with heretics.” Nor may any creature of himself usurp the prerogative, of taking vengeance on a man for his sins against his God, however glaring they may seem, unless he is specially commissioned by God to do so. It may be as clear as the sun, that the man is sinning with a high hand against his God, and deserves to be cut off for his sins, but his neighbour has no right, out of zeal for his God, to take the punishment of that man into his own hand. “Vengeance is mine! I will repay saith the Lord.” The question is not, what does the man deserve? but, to whom is he responsible?

3. Look now at—The special character of Sisera’s sin. That Sisera was counted a great sinner before God, and that his tragic death was a retribution sent upon him for his sin, there can be no manner of doubt. But what was the particular phase of his conduct that made his sin so heinous? It was not merely that he was a tyrant and an oppressor. It must always be remembered that the standard by which things are judged, in this stirring history of the times of the Judges, is not what is commonly used between rival nations when they have their victories or their defeats. Everything in the history of this people of Israel, was connected with the honour of Jehovah before all the nations of the earth. They were the people of Jehovah. By them and their history His name was known. To touch them for wanton mischief was to lay unhallowed bands on His sacred property. It was to meddle with His jewels—those whom He was bound to protect, as being employed to set forth the glory of His name in all the earth.

Of this the nations were fully apprised, from the days of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage onward. They were all duly informed by the wonderful history which God gave to that people, that His name and their name were inseparably bound up together, that what was done to them was done to Him, and that any act of dishonour, oppression, or cruelty shown to them, He, as the head feels for the suffering members, felt as done to Himself. That this people had many sins, and that for these sins, they deserved chastisement was indeed most true. But that did not alter the obligation of the nations to look on them as a sacred people to Jehovah, while He Himself so regarded them. If the jewels had got rusted, and required to pass through a process of refining, that was a matter for their owner himself to decide. But for others to oppress, and grind them to the dust, while they were regarded by Jehovah as His own people, and while they had the honour of His name to maintain on the earth, was to provoke Him to anger and awaken His jealousy for His Holy name.

Hence Sisera’s sin consisted in the fact, that he, though fully warned as to the character of the God of Israel, and of the relation in which this people stood to their God, did yet, to serve wicked passions or wicked purposes of his own, dare to act as an enemy to Israel and therefore to their God, under whose protection they lay; he dared to touch God’s property, God’s jewels, God’s children; he dared to give the worst of treatment to a people so sacred in the eyes of their God, to treat them with cruelty, oppression, and spoliation, and that for the long period of twenty years—and all this he did out of enmity to the God of Israel, and in bitter hatred to His name.

4. Another general consideration was that this was the day of final decision. The time of Israel’s chastisement was over. They had been brought to repentance and renewed trust in their God; and, according to His promise, God arose for their deliverance. In the Person of the Angel-Jehovah, He takes His place at the head of Israel and their army. A summons is given to all to take their sides. Israel’s God and His people are on the one side; Sisera and his large army are on the other. All who opposed Israel this day also opposed the God of Israel, and were counted by Him as His enemies.

Through all Israel it was known that this was a day for taking sides. From one end of the land to the other the call was heard, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” There was an express command for ten thousand men to follow Barak out of Naphtali and Zebulun, yet many more went of their own accord, for all volunteers were accepted. Nay, many who did not volunteer were reproved and put in the list of dishonour for their neutrality or indifference. But Sisera and his army stood in direct opposition. To sympathise with Sisera, therefore, or in any way to help him this day, by allowing him to escape, or otherwise, was to succour the enemy of the God of Israel when he was taking vengeance on him for his sins. It was, indeed, to take the side of God’s enemy against God, when He was vindicating the glory of His great name. Hence the conduct of the people of Meroz was most daring. They allowed God’s enemy to escape, while He was in the act of vindicating His character against His enemies.

II. These general remarks will prepare us for now looking at the special considerations and motives by which Jael was guided in acting the part which she did on this important occasion:—

1. She deeply felt the responsibility of her circumstances. She could appreciate the fact, that the battle was not merely between two human captains, but was really between the Angel-Jehovah and His enemies. She knew that God had now returned to His people, and that, through Deborah, He had given directions about the whole of this battle. She had heard of the terrific thunderstorm, and the mighty movement of the elements of nature against Sisera’s host, the very “stars in their courses fighting against Sisera;” and now here was the very man put in her way, against whom all this artillery of the Divine anger had been directed—could she, dared she, let him go in peace? It was no longer the day of forbearance; it was the day of the Lord’s reckoning with His enemies, when He was “laying judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet,” when every loyal subject of His government, as well as every element in nature, was expected to act as an instrument in His hand to do the part assigned him to do in accomplishing the Lord’s purpose.

Jael felt that she was now solemnly called on to make her decision, whether for the Lord, or for His enemy. This was, at the moment, the supreme consideration which overshadowed all other thoughts, and she felt that whatsoever sacrifices might have to be made, all other things must give way before it. In reply to the question thus imperiously put before her—Be for the Lord, or for His enemy—she goes wholly in for the name, and the people of her God, at the expense of violating the ordinary rules of hospitality, of having abuse poured on her name for the commission of a tragic deed, and of running the terrible risk of awakening the wrath of so powerful a king as Jabin, with whom too her house was at peace. But where the honour of her God was concerned, all other considerations were of no account. For this is she so highly commended. She did not seek this position; it was a most trying one; but it was forced upon her; the alternative was put sharply before her, without the possibility of her avoiding it. The circumstances had to her the force of a call of duty, and she nobly rose with the occasion. But this was only one element in the case. We believe that—

2. She felt she was commissioned by God to put Sisera to death. It is not so expressly said in the narrative; but many things must have taken place which are not expressly mentioned in the account given. It is the principle on which Scripture narrative is told, to give it in a very abridged form, with many details left out. The circumstance, therefore, of its not being mentioned in the narrative, is no proof that Jael was not commissioned of God to do as she did. On the other hand, had she not been so commissioned, her act must have been one of murder; and had it been so, it could never have been held up to the admiration of posterity, as this deed undoubtedly has been. Jael’s act also corresponds with the now well known fact, that the Lord would “deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Now when he had been thrown in her way, it may have seemed to her as if this was the finger of God’s Providence pointing out her duty. That alone, however, could not have been regarded as a commission, it was but a confirmation going along with other things. Sisera’s day was now come. It was the Lord’s reckoning day with him for his oppression of His people. And all the arrangements made are of the Lord. The sword of Barak is turned against him, and all the instruments that might be of use in his destruction, all along the course which he took, are turned against him. The hailstorm, the lightnings, the winds, the waters of the district, especially the swelling of the brook Kishon, and now the house of a friendly tribe. Jael then felt she was obeying a Divine command in acting as she did. She must have been instigated by some “instinctu Dei arcano.” to put Sisera to death.

3. She knew that Sisera was now devoted by Israel’s God to destruction, at the hands of Israel. Sisera’s destruction was synonymous with Israel’s deliverance. It was really God’s answer to their prayers. But it was also God’s reckoning with His own enemy. The oppression and cruelty which this proud heathen had exercised towards Israel, though made use of by God for the chastisement of His people, was really meant in a very different sense by the oppressor. His only purpose was to bring down to a state of degrading servitude, or to entire destruction, a people whom he hated both in themselves and in their God. And this was done in the face of all the warnings which Jehovah had given to the nations, not to touch this people. At first God reserved His judgments. He made use of Sisera, first as a scourge to chasten His people; but now the time was come to deal with him as an enemy. The day of retribution for his great sin had come, and he must now know what it is to have the God of Israel for his enemy. Hence the announcement made to Barak was, “I will draw unto thee Sisera and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thine hand.”

This was virtually saying, that his life was now forfeited to Israel by God’s own arrangement. It was not like the case of a man taking his chances of the battle in the open field. Sisera was now brought forth by God, that he might die for his crimes against Israel and their God. It was in some respects like the position of Cain, when he felt that everyone around him was at liberty to slay him. It is clear, that it could not have been wrong in Barak to put Sisera to death. But Barak only represented the nation, and what was said to him was virtually said to the whole of the oppressed people. What, therefore, was not wrong for Barak to do, could not be wrong for any Israelite to do. Sisera was now fighting against the whole nation, and their God. How could it be wrong in the nation, or any one in the nation, to fight against him? It was acting in self defence to do so, when his purpose was to reduce every Israelite to a state of bondage or death. Had Jael now spared him, how much future oppression and cruelty might have resulted to Israel from the act!

But though every Israelite had some justification, in taking action against Sisera on this occasion, on the ground of self-defence, the chief consideration which justified Jael’s deed, was that Sisera was doomed to destruction for the public dishonour he had poured on Jehovah’s name, by the treatment he had given to His people. This was a deeper criminality than that of common murder. It was a defiance of the God of Israel, a profanation of the great name—Jehovah, and treating with insult and cruelty wholesale the people who represented Him on the earth. Murder is taking the life of a fellow worm, but Sisera’s conduct was an attempt to rob the great “I am” of His holy name! For this, sentence was virtually passed on Sisera by the Ruler of Providence, and he was delivered into the hands of Israel to receive a fit retribution for his sins.

4. We believe then that Jael’s principal motive in this deed, was to vindicate the honour of Jehovah’s name, and serve the interests of His Church in the world, by setting His people free from the yoke of the oppressor. Her act was done not to wreak any private vengeance of her own, but strictly in obedience to a Divine commission given to her, so that she was not at liberty to harbour Sisera, or to do otherwise than she did, for it was the day of the Lord’s vindication of his own glory in the sight of the heathen. The very existence of God’s cause on the earth seemed to require the death of this man, for had he lived and carried out his schemes successfully, the issue would have been the annihilation of that cause. Preferring the God of Israel to all other gods, she felt that by obeying the commission given to her, she was striking a blow for the redemption of His great and Holy name.

One question still remains—Did Jael mean to deceive Sisera? Why did she go out to meet him, and receive him in so friendly a manner into her tent? She must have known it was Sisera, and that he was a fugitive from the battlefield. For she must have watched with intense interest how the day went, and had the earliest information that could be supplied. She must have known it was Sisera, from having seen him on former occasions, and now he would very likely have given the information himself. Why did she bid him welcome to her tent, and even encourage him not to fear? Nay, why did she act so decidedly in showing him the rites of hospitality, and give him the best which her house could afford; and so offer the strongest assurance, which the member of a nomad tribe could give, that he was safe while under her roof? The chief difficulty is, that all these circumstances are detailed along with the tragic act, and on the whole put together, the blessing seems to be pronounced. Was all this really sanctioned by the Spirit of God, that now rested on Deborah? How can we possibly justify Jael in saying what she did not mean, or speaking falsely to gain the confidence of a man, when she meant to take his life.

If the narrative had been given in full, doubtless the difficulties would have been greatly relieved, if not entirely removed. As it is, some explanations may be given.

(1.) It is not said that she agreed to tell the lie that Sisera put into her mouth, in Judges 4:20. She made no reply to his request.

(2.) She acted according to the custom of her race in receiving him into her tent. It was a fixed custom with the Arab races to show hospitality to strangers, especially when in very needy circumstances. “No one can repel with honour from the tent a stranger who claims hospitality, nor usually does anyone desire so to do.” [Pict. Bible in loco.] But she seems to have impressed on his mind that he was secure while under her roof. How does this consist with her intention to put him to death? The only explanation is to suppose that—

(3.) No intention to put him to death was yet formed in her mind. This is not only possible but probable. How many surprises come upon her all at once! How proudly Sisera went forth in the morning! What a huge bannered host gathered around him! What a small army lay on Mount Tabor in opposition! How hopeless for them to cope with such a formidable host as those now collected by the waters of Megiddo! Yet but a few hours pass, and that mighty force of men ranged in battle array, the image of incalculable strength, melts away like the baseless pictures of a dream. A hundred elements as in a moment, come down upon them from all quarters, and a frightful and rapid destruction takes place. The army is utterly ruined, and the general is now a solitary fugitive, flying across the hills for his life. Now he appears full of terror, without a solitary attendant, hungry, weary, and athirst, glad to enter the most humble dwelling for refuge. What a series of striking surprises must Jael have experienced; first to have heard so much of the terrible disaster, and then to have seen the renowned captain of the great army himself at her very threshold in such fearful plight? Is it at all likely, that she should, in a moment, with those mighty rocking changes going on around her, have formed any plot at all in her mind? Had she any time to weigh in her mind what was the best course to pursue in such unparalleled and altogether unexpected circumstances? Is it not far more probable that she would take the usual course adopted towards strangers first, and invite Sisera into her tent, giving him the usual rites of hospitality, and afterwards reflect more at leisure as to what was her duty to do. Having got a little time to reflect, all the circumstances, as we have described them, would rise quickly to her view, pointing to the death of Sisera—the enemy of the Lord and his people, “by the hand of a woman,” as an event arranged by God Himself to take place in connection with the issue of the battle. At the same moment, by some Divine impulse, a commission may have been given her by God to execute the Divine sentence. This thought, that she was now under Divine command, would supersede all other considerations and lead her with calm purpose to inflict the fatal blow.

There seems, in fact, to have been no premeditation to bring about this death; and it is only in this way that we acquit Jael of treachery in her conduct. But, however we explain it, we believe that she herself felt at the time, there were overpowering reasons urging her to act as she did.

MAIN HOMILETICS.—Judges 5:23-31

CONTRASTS IN THE DAY OF THE LORD

I. Special days of the Lord are needed.

“Days of the Lord”—a phrase so often used by the prophets—are different from common days. They are days when God makes some striking manifestations of His true character, in correction of the erroneous and defective views into which men are ever falling, from the remarkable forbearance which he usually exercises towards them in his Providential rule. By some strong act or acts, God rises up and declares what is due to His own Holy name. Though on ordinary, as well as special occasions, He hates sin with a great hatred, He is by nature so “slow to wrath,” that even when men sin against Him many times, and that, too, with a high hand, there are for a long while no signs that He is angry, or likely to inflict threatened punishment. He acts as one asleep; though all the time the motive is one of the richest mercy. He has no delight in the destruction, or the misery of His creatures. “He wills not that any should perish.” His inclination is to give pardons to the penitent, rather than retribution to the incorrigible. Hence He waits long, without measuring out their due deserts to the wicked.
But men misinterpret the Divine silence, and wax bolder in sin. They begin to imagine that God is such an one as themselves, and is practically indifferent to their sins. They begin to regard His threatenings as a dead letter, or that, if they are still to be looked at, His mercies are so great, that they will not allow Him to proceed very far with the work of judgment. Thus they go on adding sin to sin, until the fear of God becomes dissipated before their eyes. There is a letting down of what is due to the name of God. Men get settled down in the idea, that God does not practically feel towards sin, as in His written word He declares He does; and, in their interpretation of the threatened penalty, they either greatly minimise its meaning, or cast it aside altogether.

Days of the Lord are thus needed for the vindication of the Divine character. His Providence must sometimes visibly go as far as His word. It must be seen that He makes no abatement of His claims, because of His long silence, while His character must be cleared from the gross misconceptions which men have formed of it, from the long toleration extended to them in the past.

In the present case, a Day of the Lord was needed—

1. To bring men back to just views of what is due to God. (a.) For the Israelites, the long oppression of the Canaanites under Jabin, was a day of the Lord. Then God exhibited practically in His Providence, what He had long told His people so emphatically in His word, that He is a Jealous God, and is much displeased with the sin of their having any other God. He then showed that He could cast them off, notwithstanding His covenant; that He could go over to the side of the enemy, and fight against them, until they were not only defeated, but humiliated and crushed. Yet His faithfulness did not fail, for on their coming back to Him in penitence, He remembered His holy covenant. The end however was gained. They felt at last, and acknowledged it fully, that it was a terrible evil to depart from the living God, that He alone was to be feared and held in reverence, that all the gods of the nations were but dumb idols, while the God of Israel’s favour was to them all in all. Their ideas of the sacred character of their God, of His majesty, holiness, loving-kindness, truth and justice, became raised to the old standard of highest reverence; and they owned, that His claims on the love and obedience of the whole heart, were His simple due.

(b.) The oppressors also had to pass through a very rigid discipline, in getting a rectification of their views of Israel’s God. Long had they railed at His name, mocked His weakness, sneered at His laws and observances, and persecuted at will His people. But now what God so great in power as the Ruler of Israel, who is served by the very thunder and lightnings of heaven, by the sweeping whirlwind, and the rushing mighty waters! In the swift, overwhelming, and irremediable overthrow of the mightiest army which Canaan could produce, and that too through means of a mere handful of patriots, aided by the elements of nature, a grand demonstration was made of the fact, that Jehovah was the only true God, and that He was infinitely superior to all other gods which the nations worshipped. Then men learned to say, “Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth, by whom the actions of men are weighed.” “Let the God of Israel but arise, and His enemies shall be scattered; as smoke is driven, so are they driven; as wax melted before the fire, so do they perish. He cutteth off the spirit of princes; He is terrible to the kings of the earth.”

(c.) For all spectators of that generation, how greatly was the standard of the fear of God raised! The shock of this mighty act was felt, not only through all Israel, but among all the surrounding nations. The God of Jacob whom they had begun so generally to despise, now rose up before all as the one great reality, amid a countless number of empty nothings. The whole earth kept silence before Him. There was no God that could deliver after this manner. With what a weight of sanction was the name Jehovah surrounded henceforth for all the men of that age! The shadow of the events of this day extended over forty years. Psalms 9:20; Psalms 83:18; Psalms 94:15; Psalms 78:65-66; Psalms 73:20.

2. Such a day was needed to grant the promised deliverance to His people. The standing promise of Jehovah to Israel was, that He would be their God, and on this footing would secure them in possession of the land. For their sins, He acted for a time, as if he had forgotton this promise, and allowed the enemy to overrun the country, and practically to dispossess Israel of their own territory. But now they were penitent and earnest suppliants at His footstool, and it was in the spirit of the covenant, that He should return to them, when they returned to Him (Leviticus 26:40-45; Deuteronomy 30:15). Hence a special time was needed to make a public display of the Divine favour for this people, to prove that they had not been cast off, but that their God was faithful as ever to act the part of their Divine Protector, and deliver them out of the hands of their enemies. “Though he visit transgression with the rod, yet He will not suffer His faithfulness to fail.”

II. Contrasts of character and destiny in the day of the Lord.
1. Those guilty of indecision on the day of decision. The day of the Lord’s decision was virtually a day when all things were taken according to the strict rule of justice. The acts or decisions made this day determined their character, and as they now showed themselves, so would they receive treatment in the future. The first case set before us in the paragraph is that of Meroz, who were specially noted this day as holding their hand, when they were called on in the most solemn manner to join in the discomfiture of the enemies of the Lord. They draw back undecided in the day of decision; and by that step they had their character fixed for the future. Though so strongly urged to decide, they yet showed no disposition to do anything; which proved in the most decisive manner, that they were not on the Lord’s side in heart (see pp. 284, 285).

The destiny of such is to have the curse of the Lord resting on them—or to be “cursed with a curse”—i.e. emphatically cursed. As the effect of this curse, the city has long since ceased to be. Its very site is unknown. Its name has become unknown in history; and the only vestige of it which remains to tell that once it was, is this curse of the angel of the Lord, announcing that it should no longer continue to exist in God’s world. Such is the fate of those who, however urgently dealt with by argument, yet doggedly refuse to devote themselves to His service. These people virtually turned their backs on the call which the God of Israel now made to them. And the higher the cause is which is to be served, the blacker is the treason which abandons it. Like the cursed fig tree, Meroz began at once to dwindle away.

2. Those who are zealous for God at all risks. This we believe was the spirit which Jael now exhibited. The principal motive, which influenced her to do the deed, was the Divine commission given her, and the end which she sought to gain was the glory of the Lord, in the breaking of the fetters upon His people, and the establishment of the reign of righteousness in the land. For this motive and end, kept steadily amid, doubtless, a conflict of many other motives, is she marked out for pre-eminent honour. It was at a moment of great peril that she decided, and this increased the virtue of her meritorious act. In any case, we dare not curse those whom the Lord has blessed.

The destiny of those who are ready to risk everything for God is, to have a special Divine blessing resting on them. As Jael highly honoured God by her conduct, so she is now highly honoured of Him. For the stand she made this day, her name has been preserved for everlasting honour, in the one really immortal Book of Time. Among all nations shall it become known, and wherever it is known, it will be with blessings heaped upon it. “Them that honour me will I honour.” For the sake of one noble act, how many names have found a niche of honour in the Book of God! The good king Melchizedeck, who shows himself for one short hour, and then retires to the darkness; the unselfish Onesiphorus, who did the office of a faithful friend to Christ’s servant in prison; the God-fearing Obadiah, who acted similarly by the Lord’s prophets, in the perilous times of the wicked Jezebel; or, to take one case somewhat similar to that of Jael, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, who, by one stern act, in a time of public sin, turned away the wrath of God from the people, so that they were not all slain (Genesis 14:18-20: 2 Timothy 1:16-18 1 Kings 18:13; Numbers 25:7-8).

3. Defiant enemies of the Lord, and their sympathisers. Such were Sisera and his mighty host, together with Sisera’s household, who awaited his return. They all had a common sympathy in the humiliation of Israel, and in showing contempt for Israel’s God. In Psalms 83 there is mention made of God’s enemies combining together against His name, and His people alike—to cut off the latter, so that the very name of this people might cease (Judges 5:4), and in doing this, they really wished to show their hatred against Israel’s God. (Judges 5:2-5; Judges 5:12). Among these enemies, or rather as a parallel case to theirs, are mentioned Sisera and Jabin at the brook Kishon (Judges 5:9-10). The kingdom over which Jabin ruled had already felt the power of Jehovah’s arm in the past, when Hazor and its king were utterly destroyed in the days of Joshua (Joshua 11:10-11). Besides this crushing blow inflicted on themselves, there was the long series of similar blows inflicted on all the other nations of the Canaanites, North and South, so that the true character of the God of Israel could not be misunderstood by them. Yet they dared to attack the people of God, among whom God had set His name, and wickedly treated them as slaves and the very refuse of the earth. Their custom probably was, and long had been, to blaspheme the name of Israel’s God and strive to root it out of the earth. And now, on this special day, when it was given forth by public proclamation, that Israel’s God was risen up out of His place to deliver His people, and that He was about to put Himself at their head to fight their battle, Sisera shows himself a defiant enemy to the last, by mustering a huge host to join issue with Israel’s mighty king.

All such are necessarily doomed to destruction. They have decided to treat God as their enemy, and after due warning given, and forbearance exercised, the only possible issue of such a conflict is, to bring down the Divine wrath upon them. God sets His face against them, for a moment, and they are ruined. For who can stand before His anger? “He looketh on the earth and it trembleth; He toucheth the hills and they smoke. All that were now gathered against the Lord and His anointed, were driven like chaff before the whirlwind.” “The enemies of the Lord became as the fat of lambs; they were consumed; into smoke did they consume away.” (Psalms 7:11-17; Psalms 11:6). Sisera fled from the sword of Barak, and the nail in the hand of Jael did strike him through. (Job 20:24).

COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS.—Judges 5:23-31

I. Crucial Testing-days are hastening on for all.

(1.) In this world there are certain times, when God in His Providence applies to every man’s character a crucial test; when he is searched as with lighted candles, and the hidden state of his heart is made manifest. The very channels along which his thoughts flow, are seen and known by himself, if not by others, and he stands discovered before his own eye, as to the secret motives by which his conduct is regulated. All props are taken away, and he is left to stand solely on the foundation which he has really chosen. Then it is known whether he has really determined to be for God at all hazards, and whether he has cast in his lot with the Saviour, at the expense of having to renounce all other friends and refuges. Such a time occurs when he is visited with some dangerous illness, which brings him to the borders of the eternal world, and he feels how helpless fellow-creatures are, in view of possible death. It is also a testing season, when he meets with some severe reverse of fortune, when his worldly prospects are dashed, if not altogether blighted, and when his bright sunny hopes all fade like a dissolving view. Also, when for the first time he makes a public profession of religion, and begins to wear Christ’s Name. Also, when he is called on to choose his appropriate companionships—religious or irreligious. And once more, the time when he feels he must decide what habits he will form, those which imply self-denial and the fear of God, or those which include self-indulgence and love of the world, but without Christ and with the loss of a good conscience.

(2.) In the great future. We are informed that “after death is the judgment”—that when dead the beggar “was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom,”—and that “the rich man in hell lifted up his eyes being in torment.” We are also told, that the penitent thief was at death to “go with the Saviour into paradise,” while of Judas we are told, that when he committed suicide “he went to his own place.” Thus, it would appear, that at the moment of quitting this world, the soul has its sentence passed upon it, according to its character for good or evil. Also at the end of time, we are assured that “all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body,” etc. Then “the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”

II. The prosperity of the wicked is short.

It seemed a great triumph for the King of Hazor to grind to the dust that once mighty people, who under Joshua, caused all the nations of Canaan to tremble, and all but annihilated the Hazor of that day. Now he could wreak his vengeance upon them at will, for many years, and doubtless looked forward to their final extinction under the iron rule of Sisera. “But He that sitteth in the heavens did laugh, the Lord had them in derision.” How soon is “the candle of the wicked put out.” “He was great in power, and did spread himself like a green bay tree.” The day of the Lord comes round. “And he has passed away, and lo, he is not; yea he is sought for, but he cannot be found.” “How are they brought into desolation as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.” Yet these men but yesterday were “compassed about with pride as a chain, their eyes did stand out with fatness, and they did set their mouth against the heavens.”

When they think themselves secure from evil then suddenly destruction comes. They do not “watch” nor “number their days.” Witness Belshazzar, Herod, and “the fool” in Christ’s parable. How quickly did Abel’s blood cry for vengeance! and that of Naboth in Jezreel the moment that Ahab went to take possession! Jeroboam was stricken while he spoke (1 Kings 13:4). “The pleasures of sin are but for a season.”

It is a remarkable fact that in the history of Rome, beginning with the period after the Augustan era, over 500 years, as many as 74 emperors came to the throne, of whom only 19 died a natural death and 55 were murdered—having an average reign of 6½ years only for each!
“The prosperity of fools destroys them.” It is because some men are so prosperous, that their life is more brief than otherwise it would be. Prosperity exposes to envy and hatred; and to this cause more than to any other did the wearers of the Imperial Purple at Rome hold their short tenure of office. Sometimes the same man will touch the greatest height of prosperity, and the lowest depth of misery, within the space of a few hours. Henry the Fourth of France, when in the zenith of his power, was struck by a blow from a traitorous hand, and despatched in his coach; while his bloody corpse was forsaken even by his servants, and lay exposed an unseemly spectacle to all. There seemed indeed, but a moment between the adorations, and the oblivion, of that great prince, “all flesh is grass.”

Prosperity also often leads to habits of self-indulgence, which speedily terminate in death. Thus Alexander the Great, could conquer the world, but could not subdue his own evil passions, and quickly they conquered him. We knew a man who was accustomed to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow for many years. Suddenly, through the death of a friend, he came into the possession of a large fortune. He gave up his habits of industry, got into the hands of evil companions, who led him rapidly on the down hill path, and, though in the prime of life, within two years, he was laid in his grave.

III. His supreme folly.

How inexpressibly foolish is it for a man, who has the power of casting his thoughts into the future, and foreseeing the consequences of his acts, to spend a short career of some twenty years like Sisera, in acting the part of a proud tyrant over a helpless people, at the risk of incurring the wrath of that terrible God, who he knew, if it pleased Him, could at any moment rise from His place and consign him to irremediable destruction! “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!” How can it fare with him that striketh against a rock, but that his bones should be broken, and his purpose utterly fail? “Who hath hardened himself against God and hath prospered?” What infatuation is it for men, when they get a brief moment of power, to rush against the “thick bosses of the Almighty’s buckler!” With one ray of that supernatural glory with which He was surrounded, could the ascended Jesus, now at the helm of universal government, and having infinite power at His command, have consumed the proud horseman that was on his way to Damascus to persecute those whom the Saviour loved. Yet the worm dares to rear itself against an Omnipotent arm! In tones of pity it is whispered to Him that it is hard to strike against the solid rocks!

In the grey mist of an early summer morning, a troop of horse are seen stealing over a stretch of Scottish moorland, among the moss-hags and wild heath, when suddenly they came on the object of their search. John Brown, of Priesthill, had just finished earnest and fervent prayers with, and for, his family circle, showing more than usual of the wrestling spirit, and had gone to a little distance from his home to begin work for the day. He was taken back to his house, and in the presence of those most dear to him, was told by the bloody Graham of Claverhouse to go to his prayers, for instantly he must die. The most in-offensive of men, most loyal to his God, most just and true in his dealings with his fellow men, with nothing to lay to his charge, but the one circumstance that he dared to worship God according to his own conscience, is told by a representative of law and order, that, for this great offence, he must die, and at a moment’s notice! The command was given to fire—but not a hand was moved to do the work. The callous-hearted leader then himself walked up to his victim, and shot him through the head! The cruelly-used widow put to him the stinging question—“How will you answer in the future for this day’s work?” to which he replied—“To men I can easily answer, and as for God, I shall take Him in my own hand!” We mention this incident, because the names of Sisera and of Claverhouse are fit to be associated together on the same page; and to show the supreme infatuation of both in running such a monstrous career of wickedness, and raising fearful clouds of wrath against them in the future, with scarcely even a shadow of recompense in the present.

IV. His present misery. We cannot think that Sisera could have been a happy man, even at the head of his magnificent army, with myriads of warriors ready to obey his word of command. There was always the consciousness that he was engaged in the work of bloodshed, or trampling down the rights of others—that he was carrying bitter grief or absolute desolation into the homes of a nation, and that he was running up a fearful reckoning with the God of the Hebrews, if He should ever rise up and call him to account. It is impossible to have any pure happiness within a man’s inner nature, while there is a giving way to the darker and viler passions of the heart. Hence it is said, “there is no peace to the wicked.” Even at the best, there are snares in all their mercies; curses, also, and crosses attend all their comforts; and the curse of God follows them in every avenue of wickedness. They carry about with them their prison wherever they go, so that they are always in chains. And when any sudden flash crosses their path, or when any threatening sound makes itself heard in their ears, they feel as if the messenger were on their track, that is sent to summon them to appear at the bar of the Judge. It is but a troubled happiness which the wicked man has at the best: he draws it from impure springs, and he is liable to be robbed of it, at any moment, by forces over which he has no control.

V. His preparation for future misery.

(1.) He lives in the neglect of the great end of life. He has no aim in life but that of living for his own pleasure or profit. There is no ever-present conviction with him, that he has to spend his time chiefly for God, and that he is responsible for doing the many duties which God has set before him in His word.

(2.) He is every day provoking God to anger. By direct and positive acts of sin, or by many omissions in the discharge of duty. By forgetfulness of God, casting off His fear, and in many ways by listening to the world, instead of diligently hearkening to the voice of His word. By banishing God from his thoughts, as far as may be, and giving his affections to a thousand other objects rather than to the greatest, kindest, and best of Beings.

(3.) By delaying to take up the great question of the soul’s reconciliation with God. Every hour’s delay of this great matter is a slight put on the infinite sacrifice which God has made on men’s behalf. It is making light of the offer of boundless love. It is this, which under the name of unbelief, or not believing, is said to form the main ground of men’s condemnation in the gospel record.

(4.) Because he is always adding to his account before God, without in any way reducing it. Though, as time passes, he begins to forget the old sins, not one of them is really disposed of, while he hesitates to accept of God’s terms of reconciliation. When a man is hard pressed for money, and is on the verge of bankruptcy, he gets his bill renewed, but he well knows, that this is not a real payment; and, if it should be renewed again and again, there is still no payment made but only more interest added to the capital, making the debt larger and larger. Thus is it always till the Saviour is really embraced, and the debt is finally and really paid, on condition that the sinner gives himself entirely into His hands.

(5.) Because he is wasting on trifles the time which should be given to the saving of his soul. It is as if a man were to cut down, into chips, a strong oaken plank which is thrown to him to enable him to get across a yawning gulf, when there is no other means of escape. Is it wise for a man to busy himself in painting the door, when the house is on fire? or to spend much time at the toilet, when he is not sure whether his head shall stand on his shoulders another day? Is it fit that he should spend all his care in deciding what kind of dress he should wear, and to neglect a deadly cancer that has already begun to eat into his vitals?

(6.) Because he puts worldly enjoyment in the place of the enjoyment of God. Of worldlings it is said, “they take the timbril and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ; they spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.” But there is “no fear of God before their eyes,” and no love of God in their hearts. “They do not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.” “The world is in their hearts.” God will not dwell in hearts where the world is on the throne. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” By allowing a usurper to reign over them, the wicked thus banish God from their presence, and when they cross the boundary line between the present and the future world, that condition becomes fixed, and so they remain for ever under the misery of being banished from God, the fountain of all life and joy.

Thus he carries with him the seeds of future misery wherever he goes, in his ungodly habits and preferences, superadded to his acts of transgression, or his omissions of the performance of duty. His only future must be to be deprived of all the smiles of his God, and to lie under His frown. This is misery.

VI. The wicked’s fearful end. “I saw the wicked buried,” says the wise moralist—and he might have added

(1.) I thought of his fair beginning—the good start he made in life; a bright morning, full of promise; a buoyant heart and mind full of joyful anticipations.

(2.) Next of his brilliant opening career. How he made several decided successes, as he entered into public life; how the world came around him with its smiles; how the tide of good fortune flowed to him; how he was flattered on every side, and marks of distinction were freely conferred.

(3.) Then I thought of the insidious influence of so many smiles and flatteries; of the danger of carrying so full a cup of temporal good things; of the many snares that Satan planted in his path; and of the persistent temptations with which on all sides he was surrounded.

(4.) I thought how, a little farther on in his career, he had already become the slave of “divers lusts and passions which war against the soul;” how he had turned a deaf ear to the warning voice of wisdom; how he had forsaken the uphill path which conducts to life and to God, and had chosen to turn aside into the by-paths and flowery meadows of sin, while fortune yet showered her favours upon him with lavish hand. And finally

(5.) I thought how rapidly he had descended from a lofty height into the valley of years, to fall among the thorns and quagmires that lie at the close of a worldling’s life. I thought of his desertion by the world, his abandonment by God, his being “held by the cords of his sins,” his being the prey of an accusing conscience, and at last entering the dark Jordan, without any provision made to save himself from foundering in the sullen waters.

1. At the best his career ends in vanity.

In some form or other, he substitutes the world for God, which in the nature, of the case, must terminate in vanity.

“’Tis no hyperbole, O man, if thou be told

You delve for dross, with mattocks made of gold.
Affections are too costly to bestow
Upon the fair-faced nothings here below.
The eagle scorns to fall down from on high
(The proverb saith) to pounce upon a silly fly;
And can a Christian leave the face of God
T’embrace the earth and dote upon a clod?”

“The Romans painted Honour in the temple of Apollo, as representing the form of a man, with a rose in his right hand, a lily in his left, above him a marigold, and under him, wormwood, with the inscription (Levate) ‘consider.’ The rose meant that man flourishes as a flower, and soon withers; the lily denoted the favour of man, which is easily lost. The marigold showed the fickleness of prosperity. The wormwood indicated that all delights of the world are sweet in execution, but bitter in retribution. Consider what a lesson of vanity is here?”

“What a deal of pains doth the spider take in weaving her web to catch flies! She runneth much, and often up and down, hither and thither; she wastes her own body to make a curious cabinet, and when she hath finished it, in the twinkling of an eye, the sweep of the besom brings it to the ground, destroying herself and it together, with one stroke. Thus it is with worldly men. They carp and care, toil and moil in this world, which they must soon leave for ever. They waste time and strength to add heap to heap, when quickly all perishes, and they, too, often along with it.”—Swinnock.

2. Often it ends in anguish.

(1.) It comes unexpectedly. “As a thief in the night—while they are saying, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh.” While the mind is weaving webs of schemes, while many agencies are set to work, and a great object in view is on the point of attainment; while a great acquisition is about to be made, and a higher platform is almost gained—at this particular moment, when least expected, the last messenger brings His summons, “Thou fool! this night thy soul is required of thee.” “At midnight a cry was made, Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him.”

A bright morning broke for Sisera over the hills of Israel. Expectation rose high as he surveyed all the plain covered with masses of troops—sword and spear, helmet and buckler, the image of colossal strength. The subject nation would become more prostrate than ever; never would victory be more easily won. There was only one issue possible, when such a huge host were to be met by only a handful of undisciplined volunteers under a man who was no general. Golden dreams of new accessions to former glory filled the brain of the great commander, as he marshalled his troops along the banks of the Kishon, while the sun rose high in the heavens. three or four hours elapse, and that magnificent spectacle of living power becomes one vast Aceldama, while the vaunting general himself is reduced to the plight of running as a fugitive before the pursuing foe, and escaping death on the battlefield only to meet it more ignominiously, at the hands of a woman!
The unexpected character of this end reminds us of the capricious cruelty of the insignificant puppet, who ruled over the millions of ancient Persia (Xerxes), who sometimes crowned his footmen in the morning, and beheaded them in the evening of the same day. Also, the Greek Emperor, Andromachus, who crowned his admiral in the morning, and took off his head in the afternoon! “How are they brought unto desolation as in a moment? They are utterly consumed with terrors.”

(2.) It comes irresistibly. God is Almighty to punish the incorrigible, as well as to pardon the penitent. “The sinner has not a friend on the bench on the day when he is summoned to the highest tribunal. Not a single attribute will be his friend. Mercy itself will sit and vote with its fellow-attributes for his condemnation.” When his time is come, “the wicked is driven away in his wickedness.” “He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found; yea he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.” No more power has he to keep back his spirit in the day when God requireth it of him, than has the dry leaf power to defend itself against the rushing tempest. When death comes his soul is forced from him by power of law. “His soul is required of him.” “As a disobedient debtor he is delivered to pitiless exactors; or as a ship which is dragged by some fierce wind from its mooring, and driven furiously to perish on the rocks.”—Theophylact.

“In that dread moment, how the frantic soul
Raves round the walls of her clay tenement,
Runs to each avenue, and shrieks for help,
But shrieks in vain! how wistfully she looks
On all she’s leaving, now no longer hers!
O might she stay to wash away her stains,
And fit her for her passage! But the foe,
Like a staunch murd’rer steady to his purpose,
Pursues her close through every lane of life,
Nor misses once the track, but presses on;
Till forc’d at last to the tremendous verge,
At once she sinks to everlasting ruin!”

“Terrors take hold on him as waters; a tempest stealeth him away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth; and as a storm hurleth him out of his place. For God shall cast upon him and not spare. Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.” On this occasion, Sisera was “chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.”

(3.) It makes a mockery of hopes. “Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations: they call their lands after their own names.” “But the expectation of the wicked shall perish. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them. Their breath goeth forth and they return to the earth; in that very day their thoughts perish.” What a mockery did the act of Jael make of all the hopes cherished by the proud leader of the myriads that deployed on the plain of Jezreel! As dreams of the night they vanished away. Like the illusions of the mirage with its visions of silver streams and laden fruit trees, which disappear the moment the enchantment is broken, so is it with the miserable worldling, whom Satan has duped with the hopes of the honours and joys of earth in days to come. Every hope perishes. Bitter “disappointment remains their only comforter.” “Dust is the serpent’s meat,” and the same fare have all the serpent’s seed.

How can it be otherwise? To the wicked man who clings to his wickedness,

“No ray of hope

Dispels the involving gloom; a Deity,
With all the thunder of dread vengeance ’round him
Is ever present to his tortured thoughts.”

Notwithstanding all the diligence and cost, all the art and industry, which the wicked put out in order to perpetuate their names, their hope is, like the spider’s web, which at one stroke of the besom is brushed away, and in a moment it comes to nothing. “A great king, feeling that he was about to be approached by a greater monarch than himself—the king of Terrors—gave orders that when he died he should be put into a royal position, sitting in the attitude of a ruling monarch. In a mausoleum specially erected for the purpose, and in a tomb within this, he was placed upon a throne. The Gospel narratives were laid upon his knees; by his side was his celebrated sword; on his head was an imperial crown; and a royal mantle covered his lifeless shoulders. So it remained for 180 years! At length the tomb was opened. The skeleton form was found dissolved and dismembered; the ornaments were there, but the frame had sunk into fragments, and the bones had fallen asunder. There remained, indeed, the ghastly skull wearing its crown still—the only sign of royalty about this vain pageant of death in its most hideous form.”

(4.) There is no mixture of comfort with misery in their death. When death comes to the wicked the day of mercy closes, and with it all that mitigated the bitter cup of life is taken away. God ceases to smile, and all creature sources of happiness become as wells dried up. In God’s frown the whole universe joins, for all are His servants. Sometimes, on this side of time, the dark shadow of the eclipse steals over a man; and, as in the case before us, we see him entering the turbid waters without a single reliable friend to lean on, and without a ray of hope to lighten the gloom. The day of forbearance lasted long; it is now over, and there is no longer mercy mingled with justice. He who would contend with the Almighty at all risks, must now accept the results of his own decision. “The wicked man must now eat of the fruit of his own way, and be filled with his own devices.”

Those who abuse the day of mercy often die without a single friend to whisper peace at their pillow, or to supply a single consolation in the hour of need. There is no Christian friend to point them to the Saviour, to offer up prayer to Him who is able to save from death and all its consequences—to show marks of sympathy, to close the eyes in death, and take charge of the poor body when the spirit has fled. And yet this is but a trifling element in the case, compared with that which is implied in doing the office of a mediator, when the spirit quits its clay tenement to answer in the presence of the Judge for the deeds done in the body. It will then be every thing for a man to have provided a “Day’s-man” to answer to God for him, and to produce reconciliation between an offended God and His offending creature. It is the highest wisdom now to make this provision without the least delay. “The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself.”

(5.) It comes with marks of dishonour and degradation. That the most renowned warrior of his age should die at all when he had so many legions to defend him—that he should not be able to fight a stroke on the battlefield—that he should die as a fugitive, all alone without any of his chosen friends near him, in the dwelling of a supposed friend but a real enemy, above all, that he should die a tragic death at the hands of a woman!—all this indicated a marked degree of dishonour and degradation in his death. “Save me from the horrors of a jail,” were almost the dying words of one of the most gifted men of genius. A profligate nobleman in England, who long stood on a lofty pinnacle in the world of fashion, and was master of an income of the value of £50, 000 per annum, became at length reduced to the deepest distress by his vice and extravagance, and breathed his last moments in a miserable inn, forsaken and forgotten by his former companions. In a similar manner died one of the greatest statesmen whom England ever produced—in a small country inn, without a single attendant or comforter, though at one time whole nations were entranced by his eloquence. Now, in this humble dwelling, with none to care for him, or sympathise with his sorrows, he dies of a broken heart! Another bright genius, who long gained the most flattering distinctions in society, writes in old age, “I am absolutely undone and broken hearted. Misfortunes crowd on me, and I die haunted by fears of a prison. Forsaken by my gay associates, dispirited and world-weary, I close my eyes in gloom and sorrow.”

“Life ebbs, life ebbs, and leaves me dry,
As the hot desert, empty as the wind,
And hungry as the sea.”

How many leave the world thus “fallen, fallen from their high estate,” who have lived without God, and without Christ while they did live! “Shame shall be the promotion of fools.” At the last “some shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt,” and even during the present life there are not wanting illustrations.

(6.) It comes as an absolute ruin. It is the hour when every thing that a man has becomes lost, finally and absolutely lost—his property, his friends and relatives, his fame, his character, his works in this life, and all his prospects for the life to come! He stands between two worlds, a ruined and helpless man, no friend near, and an angry God for his enemy—all brought upon him by himself It is of all sights the most wretched. Warning was given that the “judgment though long deferred lingered not, and the damnation slumbered not.” And now he is in the hands of irresistible forces, which inflict upon him a terrible humiliation and utter ruin. God sets his face against him in vindication of His holy law, which he has so deeply transgressed; and now rebukes him in the fearful but just language of Proverbs 1:24-30.

His end is ruin. Every thread of life’s schemes is broken; warp and woof together are all torn to shreds. Not a vestige of life’s doings remains to serve as a memorial of the past—nothing save what may serve as material for an accusing conscience. Now the “rains have descended, the floods have come, the winds have blown and beaten against such a man’s house; it has fallen and great is the fall of it!” There was no foundation of rock. He tries to lean on the house which he has built on the sand, but it does not stand; he holds it fast, but it does not endure. It is like a man standing upon ice, or on slippery, shelving rocks. It is now discovered, that during life the wicked man had been carrying omens of sad import in his breast; that, though he stood well before men, he was like a book that is well bound externally, but when opened was found to be full of tragedies.

What a frustration of plans and purposes do we see in the example before us! How many webs were being spun in the loom of fancy, at the time when the awful catastrophe took place! How many vain hopes were buried in that unknown grave! The greatest warrior lies down as the beasts that perish; and there is no blessed resurrection. The name is forgotten, or lives to rot above ground as a warning to others. His destiny otherwise is to be forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 8:10; Psalms 37:10; Psalms 37:36; Psalms 37:38; Psalms 49:19; Proverbs 24:20.)

Melancholy as are these examples of spiritual shipwreck, they will, we believe, form but a small minority in the whole population of the globe at the end of time. If the number of the saved did not greatly exceed the number that shall perish, where would be the victory of “the Son of God in coming to destroy the works of the Devil?” Also, now that a highway has been opened, clear of all obstruction for sinful man to come back to God, where would be the broad evidence that “God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth?” Meantime the Saviour Himself warns every man to strive earnestly for his own salvation, rather than enquire curiously about the number of the saved. (Luke 13:23-24).

N. B.—The Church in every age has its songs.

The bow of hope that is set over its future is the bow of an everlasting covenant, and gives assurance against devastation in the future. The well whence its contents are drawn is deeper than can ever dry up. The army that is engaged to defend it night and day is incomparably mightier than the united force of all that are in league against it. When faith is strong, its bright days always exceed in number those that are dark; in the hardest struggle it is never more than brought to its knees, and in the end it never fails to come off “a conqueror, and more.”

Much of its vocation, therefore, even in this world is to sing; and its songs are lyrics rather than elegies. Its days are never so dark as to be altogether without stars, and therefore not without songs. In the times of Genesis, the Church was scarcely yet old enough to have a history, but the Book does not close until we have a prophetic song on the brightness of her future career (Genesis 49). Then says Wordsworth, “We have a song of victory in Exodus (chap. 15); we have a song of victory in Numbers (chaps. 23 and 24); we have a song of victory in Deuteronomy (chap. 32); we have this song of victory in Judges; we have a song of victory in the First Book of Samuel (chap. 2); we have a song of victory in the Second Book of Samuel (chap. 22); we have also the song of Zacharias, that of the Virgin, that of Simeon, in the gospel narrative; and all these songs are preludes to the new song, ‘the song of Moses and of the Lamb,’ which the saints of the Church glorified from all nations, will sing at the crystal sea, when all the enemies of the Church shall have been subdued, and their victory assured for ever” (Revelation 14:15). He might have added that from the days of David more than one-half of all the sacred writings of the Church of God is in the language of song—David and others in the Psalms, and Isaiah and others in the writings of the Prophets. If the subject is not that of victory, it is for the most part that of victory in the days to come, as not less certain than if it had been already accomplished.