Juízes 5

Juízes 5

Wiersbe quipped that "Sisera was killed by Jael, who had given him milk; and his army was defeated because of Deborah, whose name means “bee.” Sisera discovered that “the land of milk and honey” could be a dangerous place!" Judges 5:25 "He asked for water and she gave him milk; In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds. A SEEMINGLY GRACIOUS RESPONSE Milk instead of water. He asked for water and she gave him milk; In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds: Lulling him to sleep, she violates the hospitality code, hammering a tent peg through his skull. Remember that this is war and he is a bitter enemy of God's people. Curds - artificially soured milk which was produced by shaking milk in the skin bottle in which it was stored, and fermenting it with the stale milk adhering to the skin from previous use. Judges 5:26 "She reached out her hand for the tent peg, And her right hand for the workmen's hammer. Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head; And she shattered and pierced his temple. 1Sa 17:49, 50, 51; 2Sa 20:22 JAEL MAKES HER POINT She reached out her hand for the tent peg, And her right hand for the workmen's hammer. Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head; And she shattered and pierced his temple: Just imagine this tent scene for a moment. Jael was hardly a coward, and without a doubt risked her life in a brave act to kill Israel’s enemy. If Sisera had awakened, it is not hard to imagine what Jael's fate would have been! Walter Kaiser addresses a question in Judges 5:24-27: A Murderer Praised? - Jael has been charged with six faults - (1) Disobedience to her husband, who had friendly relations with Jabin; (2) Breaking a treaty (Jdg 4:17-note) (3) Deception in entertaining Sisera, giving no hint of her hostile intentions as she assuaged his thirst by giving him a kind of buttermilk or yogurt when all he asked for was water; (4) Lying, saying, “Fear not,” when Sisera had much to fear; (5) Violating the conventions of hospitality by murdering one that she had agreed to accept as a guest; (6) Murder (Jdg 4:21-note) How many of these charges are true? Jael should not have lied, no matter how grave her circumstances. But, as for the other charges, remember that this was a time of war. Some had already shirked their potential for assisting Israel during a desperate time of need, namely the city of Meroz (Jdg 5:23). But here was Jael, related only through marriage to Moses and Israel, who had chosen to dwell in the midst of the people of God. When involuntarily thrust into the vicinity of the war by virtue of the location of her tent, she did not hesitate to act by killing the man who stood against the people of God with whom she had come to identify herself. It is for this that she is so lavishly praised. What is clear is that Jael lied to Sisera and she killed him. Is her lying justifiable? No! To say, as one commentator did, that “deception and lying are authorized in Scripture any time God’s kingdom is under attack” is unsupported by the Bible. This same writer went on to affirm that “since Satan made his initial assault on the woman by means of a lie (Ge 3:1-5), it is fitting that the woman defeat him by means of a lie, … lie for lie.” The conclusions reached over a century ago by Edward L. Curtis are interesting to note: "from a moral standpoint, … at first glance it appears like the condemnation of a base assassination, especially when one reads Jdg 4:18, 19, 20, 21. [Shall we suppose] that in good faith she received Sisera and pledged him protection, but afterwards, while she saw him sleeping, God moved her to break her word and slay him? … The numerous manifestations of God, His frequent communications at that time to His agents, might suggest that Jael received [just such] a divine communication, but to consider her act otherwise morally wrong and to use this as a ground for its justification, is impossible. Right and wrong are as fixed and eternal as God, for they are of God, and for him to make moral wrong right is to deny himself." Jael’s loyalty to Yahweh and his people is her justification. It was part of the old command to exterminate the Canaanite (Dt 7:2, 20:16, 17, 18). Jael came to the assistance of the people of God, and for this she is declared blessed. (See online Hard Sayings of the Bible) Thomas Watson wrote that "Sin is a mere cheat. While it pretends to please us, it beguiles us! Sin does as Jael did. First she brought the milk and butter to Sisera, then she pounded the tent peg through his head! (Jdg 5:26). Sin first courts, and then kills! It is first a fox—and then a lion. Whoever sin betrays—it kills!" Judges 5:27 "Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay; Between her feet he bowed, he fell; Where he bowed, there he fell dead. Ps 52:7; Matthew 7:2; James 2:13 IS THIS TEXT EVIDENCE OF A BIBLICAL DISCREPANCY? Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay; Between her feet he bowed, he fell; Where he bowed, there he fell dead: In Jdg 4:21-22 it seems clear that Jael pegged him while he was lying down asleep. This verse suggests he fell down after being pegged. For discussion of this difference in descriptions see the explanatory comments on Judges 4. F. Duane Lindsey suggests that "The vivid picture of Sisera’s death is not intended to narrate the steps of the physical action, but describes metaphorically and in slow motion, so to speak, the fall of a leader." (See context The Bible Knowledge Commentary) Judges 5:28 "Out of the window she looked and lamented, The mother of Sisera through the lattice, 'Why does his chariot delay in coming? Why do the hoofbeats of his chariots tarry?' The mother of Sisera through the lattice 2Ki 1:2; Song 2:9 Why does his chariot delay Jdg 4:15; Song 8:14; James 5:7 SISERA'S MOTHER LAMENTS AT THE LATTICE Davis - The picture of Sisera’s mother is simply dripping with holy sarcasm. Here she is, peering anxiously through the upstairs window, squinting into the distance, demanding in suppressed fear the reason for Sisera’s delay. Why hadn’t she heard the clatter of his chariot horses yet? Where is her boy? (Judges: Such a Great Salvation) Out of the window she looked and lamented, The mother of Sisera through the lattice, 'Why does his chariot delay in coming? Why do the hoofbeats of his chariots tarry: Sisera's mother begins to worry because of the delay in return of her son from what she was sure would have been total victory. It was total victory, just not for Sisera, Jabin and the Canaanites! Sisera's mother is the tragic counterpart to Deborah, `a mother in Israel' and so would be ably equipped to speak from a mother's perspective, which she does for three verses (Jdg 5:28-30). Wiersbe - What a pathetic picture of hope where there is no hope! How many people today are looking out the window of false assumptions and expecting something to happen that will never happen. Sisera was dead and he would never come home to his mother’s love again. His mother and her attendants kept telling themselves and each other that everything was fine, but it wasn’t." (See context Be Available (Judges): Accepting the Challenge to Confront ) Judges 5:29 "Her wise princesses would answer her, Indeed she repeats her words to herself, SISERA'S MOTHER REASSURED BY PRINCESSES Her wise princesses would answer her, Indeed she repeats her words to herself - The wise women reassure Sisera's mother in the next passage implying it takes time to divide the spoil. Sisera's mother had vain imaginings, a bubble of hope that would soon be burst by news of her son's death. F. Duane Lindsey - The pathos of the fallen general is amplified by an ironic description of Sisera’s mother awaiting the unrealizable return of her son from battle. Her anxiety—Why is his chariot so long in coming?—and the hopeful excuses of his delay made by one of her maidens and herself contrast vividly with the real situation. (See context The Bible Knowledge Commentary) Judges 5:30 'Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil? A maiden, two maidens for every warrior; To Sisera a spoil of dyed work, A spoil of dyed work embroidered, Dyed work of double embroidery on the neck of the spoiler?' NET 'No doubt they are gathering and dividing the plunder– a girl or two for each man to rape! Sisera is grabbing up colorful cloth, he is grabbing up colorful embroidered cloth, two pieces of colorful embroidered cloth, for the neck of the plunderer!' BBE Jre they not getting, are they not parting the goods among them: a young girl or two to every man; and to Sisera robes of coloured needlework, worked in fair colours on this side and on that, for the neck of the queen? CSB "Are they not finding and dividing the spoil-- a girl or two for each warrior, the spoil of colored garments for Sisera, the spoil of an embroidered garment or two for my neck?" ESV 'Have they not found and divided the spoil?-- A womb or two for every man; spoil of dyed materials for Sisera, spoil of dyed materials embroidered, two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?' Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil: Exodus 15:9; Job 20:5 A spoil of dyed work embroidered Genesis 37:3; 2Sa 13:18; Ps 45:14 A MOTHER'S VAIN HOPE Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil A maiden, two maidens for every warrior: Sensing the delay may have ominous implications, Sisera's mother hopefully imagined the reason for her son's delay was the great victory he had won and the abundance of the spoils of war. What does this passage clearly teach that the warriors under Sisera would have done to the Israelite women had he defeated Barak at Kishon? That is a rhetorical question as the answer is obvious! Why then is Jael's destruction of the personification of evil (Sisera) treated with such contempt by so many commentators and Bible dictionaries? We need a healthy restoration of a proper fear of the LORD Who is in His holy Temple and Who is storing up wrath to be meted out in the day of revelation of His righteous judgment (cf Rev 19:1-3+ regarding what our reaction should be when we see God's hand destroying evil). Sisera simply received his dues a bit earlier then most but his demise pales in comparison to the second death which brings the torment of everlasting flames of punishment in gehenna, the lake of fire (Rev 20:11-15+, cf Mt 25:41, 46). Cundall on the Hebrew word translated maiden - “Elsewhere in the Old Testament it means ‘womb’, and in the Moabite Stone it has the meaning ‘girl-slaves.’ The nearest English equivalent is ‘wench,’ and it is clear that these unfortunate captives would be used to gratify the lusts of their captors.” (Borrow - Judges & Ruth: Tyndale Old Testament Commentary) To Sisera a spoil of dyed work, A spoil of dyed work embroidered, Dyed work of double embroidery on the neck of the spoiler? - As we might say in today's language, Sisera's worried but hopeful mother pictures her conquering son decked out in the finest attire, suitable for the cover of the middle east version of "GQ" (Gentlemen's Quarterly)! Judges 5:31 "Thus let all Thine enemies perish, O LORD; But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might." And the land was undisturbed for forty years. Thus let all Thine enemies perish Ps 48:4,5; 58:10,11; 68:1, 2, 3; 83:9-18; 92:9; 97:8; Revelation 6:10; 18:20; Revelation 19:2,3 Those who love Him - Ex 20:6; Dt 6:5; Ps 91:14; 97:10; Ro 8:28; 1Co 8:3; Ep 6:24; Jas 1:12; 2:5; 1Pe 1:8; 1Jn 4:19=21; 5:2,3 The sun - 2Sa 23:4; Ps 19:4,5; 37:6; Pr 4:18; Da 12:3; Hos 6:3; Mt 13:43 Related Passages: Judges 3:11+ Then the land had rest (shaqat) forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. Judges 3:30+ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel (ULTIMATELY UNDER THE HAND OF YAHWEH). And the land was undisturbed (shaqat) for eighty years. Daniel 12:3+ “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. A SONG ENDING WITH A CURSE AND A BLESSING Thus let all Thine enemies perish, O LORD - May all of God’s enemies perish as Sisera had perished (and they will in eternal punishment!). This verse takes the form of a prayerful prophetic curse by the prophetess Deborah. Indeed, one day her prophecy will be fulfilled when all the enemies of Jehovah will be put to shame and will perish under His righteous judgment and His mighty hand. Indeed, the fate of Sisera is a foreshadowing of the judgment that will one day fall on all the Lord's enemies. Deborah's dramatic decree reminds one of the Psalmist's words... Do homage to the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (Ps 2:12) Cursing of enemies in this way had been common since the time of Moses (see Nu 10:35, Ps 68:1-3) It was not motivated by personal vindictiveness but by a recognition that judgment belonged to Yahweh, and that his honour was bound up with the fate of his people. However given Paul's words in Ro 12:17-21+, it is not appropriate for Christians to curse their enemies! In fact, Paul commands us to "Bless (present imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." (Ro 12:14+) But let those who love (ahab) Him be like the rising of the sun in its might: But introduces a dramatic contrast of the curse on those who hate God and the blessing for those who love God. And remember our love for God is preeminently shown not so much by what we say but what we do (cf Jesus - Jn 14:15). Love (ahab) conveys a sense of covenant loyalty as demonstrated by obedience to God's commands and rejection of false gods. The comparison with the rising of the sun in its might pictures those who love the Lord symbolizes glory, power, brightness. Ultimately this pictures every OT and NT saints glorified status in the ages to come when God's enemies are totally vanquished. Paul writes about the future of those who love the Lord promising that "In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2Ti 4:8+) (DO YOU LOVE HIS APPEARING?) Compare Moses' words in Deut 7:9-10+ Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep (NOTE LOVE~ OBEY) His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face Those who love Him refers to the loyal followers of the Lord, in contrast to His enemies. Such shall be the honour, and joy of all who love God in sincerity, they shall shine for ever as the sun in the firmament. Like the sun when it rises in its strength, cf. Samson [see note Judges 16:1] whose name is derived from the Hebrew word shemesh = `sun'. David compared a godly leader to the rising sun and the sun shining after the rain (2Sa 23:3-4). “The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘He who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God, 4 Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through sunshine after rain.’ When leaders obey God, as Deborah and Barak did, there is always the dawning of a new day for their people; and there will be calm and light after the storm. The armies of Israel had been through a storm, but God had given them the victory. And the land was undisturbed (shaqat) for forty years The land was tranquil and free from conflict for forty years, twice the length of time it had experienced disturbance and conflict (Jdg 4:3+) THOUGHT - This reminds me of how amazing is God's grace. Recall that Israel had cried to the LORD for deliverance (Jdg 4:3+) and God (in effect) gave them "exceeding abundantly beyond all that (they) ask or think." (Eph 3:20+). God allowed 20 years of oppression, but gave them (totally a reflection of His grace) 40 years of rest! How good is our God? (Rhetorical!) Has His bestowal of unmerited favor been your experience when He has delivered you from some "Sisera" sin? It can be! He is waiting for you to cry out in brokenness and humility and He will come to your aid (cf "He is able to come to your aid" in Heb 2:18+) Wiersbe - The closing prayer (Jdg 5:31) contrasts the enemies of the Lord—who like Sisera go out in darkness—with the people who love God, who are like the noonday sun. The battle at Megiddo was more than just a conflict between opposing armies. It was a conflict between the forces of darkness and the forces of light. We either love Christ and walk in the light, or we are His enemy and perish in the darkness.The curtain comes down on our drama, but the cast will be making curtain calls as long as people read and study the Bible. For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Ro 15:4+). (See context Be Available -Judges : Accepting the Challenge to Confront) Undisturbed, (rest)(08252) shaqat is a verb which means to cause quietness, to pacify, to allay, to be still, to be quiet, to be undisturbed. Basically the meaning of shaqat is a state of tranquility, as when the land has absence of war (2Chr 20:30). The first use in Joshua is used figuratively to describe that "the land had rest (Lxx = katapauo = to cause something to cease, to cause to be at rest - Heb 4:4, 8, 10) from war." (Josh 11:23, cp similar uses in Josh 14:15, Jdg 3:11, 30; 5:31; 8:28) In Ruth 3:18+ Naomi tells Ruth that Boaz "will not rest (Lxx = hesuchazo = to be at rest)" until he resolves the matter of who is to be the kinsman redeemer. In Isaiah 30:15 we read "For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, "In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength." Sadly the last part of that verse says "But you were not willing!" In Isa 32:17 what brings true security and tranquility reading that that "the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness (Lxx = anapausis = cessation from wearisome activity for the sake of rest) and confidence forever." Thus it is righteousness which brings true tranquility. The tossing sea "cannot be quiet (still, at rest, calm)." (Isa 57:20) Shaqat describes people (Israel) "at rest, that live securely" (Ezek 38:11) which speaks of a sense of safety and security. Shaqat in Joshua-Judges - Jos. 11:23; Jos. 14:15; Jdg. 3:11; Jdg. 3:30; Jdg. 5:31; Jdg. 8:28; Jdg. 18:7; Jdg. 18:27; Judges 5:31 F B Meyer Our Daily Homily Let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. So sang Deborah; and we may take up her strain, making it our prayer for all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. We desire it for his sake. — It cannot be for his glory that his followers should be weak-kneed and decrepit. waning and flickering, backsliding and inconstant. Men will judge Him by them, and will count his light a vanishing luminary if He cannot maintain the glow and fire in those that follow Him. Besides, how great the anguish of his heart must be when those on whom He has expended pains and care deceive and fail Him! We desire it for their sakes. — Think of the beneficent ministry of the sun — awakening bird and blossom; painting the rich colors of natural beauty; ripening fruits; gladdening children and grandsires; carrying everywhere healing with his beams. If he were conscious of the good he imparts, what blessedness would be his! Would he grudge the expenditure of his vitalizing forces, when from millions of upturned lips he heard himself blessed! Such may the bliss of the Christian worker be if, without diminution of light and heat, his life grows to the perfect day. Blessed are they who bless. If it is happy to receive, it is far happier to impart. “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” We desire it for the sake of others. — The world is sunless enough! Many are perishing for a bath of sunshine! Darkness broods chill and deathly. Let no clouds dim your pathway, or, if they do, transmute them to gold. Shine forth, ye righteous, in the kingdom of your Father, satellites of the greater central Sun of Righteousness! F B Meyer JUDGES 5 - DEBORAH'S SONG One of the noblest songs in history, composed by Deborah herself (Judges 5:7). In this magnificent ode we are taught to ascribe all glory in our successes to God. The people made themselves free-will offerings in the day of God's power; and it is only when we do so that the mighty power of God can work through human means. Judges 5:1-5 Its opening notes are praise. -- Whatever merit was attaching to Barak and his army, the glory of victory was with God. Oh, how negligent we are in the high praises of God; and how much easier would prayer and trust be if mingled more constantly with thanksgiving. The kings of surrounding lands were plotting to destroy the chosen people, and they are bidden to hear what God had wrought, lest they meddle with them to their hurt. Judges 5:6-8 The distress of Israel. -- No trade on the highways; no safe travelling; no tillage of the country, because the villagers had fled to the towns; no administration of justice, because war had invaded the gates, where the courts were kept; no arms of defense. And all because they had chosen new gods (Judges 5:8). We do well to remember our low estate, to see the hole of the pit from whence we have been taken; to set our former low estate clearly forth, that the deliverance of God may be the more manifest. Judges 5:9-18 The muster. -- The governors first made themselves freewill gifts, and the story of their devotion, and of the righteous acts of God, would long be rehearsed with thankfulness beside the village wells, no longer held by the foe. Oh, when will men speak of the glorious majesty of our God with the enthusiasm that they now expend on the words or acts of some favorite leader! The songstress (Judges 5:12) summons Barak and herself to yet higher ascriptions of praise. He must be on fire who would make others glow. Reuben came not, because of conflicting opinions; Dan and Asher stayed by their ships and creeks; Meroz, though so near the field of battle, remained neutral, and was cursed. The cooperation of God and man is clearly revealed throughout the Bible. We are His fellow-workers, "fellow-helpers with the truth:' It is well worth our notice that some of the strongest denunciations in the Bible are against those that do nothing. It is a sin not to do, not to come against might to the help of the Lord. "Curse ye Meroz." O my soul, dost thou rightly fulfil all the opportunities of thy life? The virgins that slept without oil: the man that hid the talent: the nations that did it not to the least of the king's brethren; these are held up by Christ to the most terrible denunciations that His gentle lips could frame. Judges 5:24-27 Sisera's death described in highly poetic phrase. Judges 5:28-30 The anxiety of the harem to hear the news of the fight. What a contrast between their disappointment and the realized hopes of the Church when Jesus returns from the last great fight! The closing words beautifully harmonize with Matthew 13:43. The deliverance was decisive. "The land had rest forty years." (F. B. Meyer. CHOICE NOTES ON JOSHUA THROUGH 2 KINGS) JAEL AND SISERA Charles Simeon THE subject of assassination, one would suppose, should not admit of much diversity of sentiment: but there are those even in the Christian world, who think that in extreme cases, where the death of a tyrant would put an end to grievous oppressions and desolating wars, the dagger of an assassin might be employed. I am not aware that any would attempt to vindicate this sentiment by an appeal to Scripture: they would justify it rather on reasonings from expediency: but it is certain that, though in most cases where such actions are recorded they are mentioned with abhorrence, there are some instances wherein they are mentioned with approbation and applause. Such was the case of Ehud, who stabbed Eglon king of Moab: and such was the case before us, where Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, destroyed Sisera, whom she had received under her protection, and to whom she had administered every friendly aid. The account which is given us of this transaction must be considered in a two-fold view; I. As an historic fact— The fact itself is set forth in the foregoing chapter— [Jabin, king of Canaan, had mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years. At last they cried unto God; who directed Deborah, a prophetess, to take immediate measures for their deliverance. She commissioned Barak to raise ten thousand men; and promised, in God’s name, that Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, should be drawn to him and delivered into his hands. The event corresponded with the prediction: Sisera was defeated; and he fled away on foot, and sought refuge in the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, with whom he was at peace. Jael received him most kindly, supplied him with necessary refreshment, covered him with a mantle, and gave him every reason to expect safety under her protection. But, when he was asleep, she took a hammer, and drove a long nail through his temples and through his head: and then went out to the door of her tent, and brought in Barak to see his enemy dead upon the floor.] And what are we to think of this fact?— [Supposing it to be unauthorized by any commission from heaven, we cannot hesitate to pronounce it one of the vilest crimes that ever was perpetrated. Some have endeavoured to extenuate it, by saying, that she did not promise not to betray him. But this is a mere subterfuge: whether she promised or not, in words, her whole conduct was equivalent to the strongest promise: and she was guilty of the basest treachery that we can find, on record in the annals of the world. She murdered a man who was at peace with her, and whom she had undertaken to protect. Thus strongly have we spoken on the occasion, in order that our subsequent views may not be misinterpreted. Here a question naturally arises; If the action was so base, how comes it to be so highly commended? how comes a prophetess to pronounce such an eulogy upon her, as to call her “the most blessed of women,” for doing that which was in itself such a flagrant act of injustice and cruelty? I answer, (as we before answered in the case of Ehud,) that God is not bound by the laws which he has given to us; and that he may dispense with those obligations which men owe to each other, in order to advance his own purposes in the way he sees fit. He may, as we before observed, order Abraham to slay his son: and therefore he might equally order Jael to slay Sisera; and might make known his mind with equal certainty to her as to him. And, that he did give her this commission, we can have no doubt: for, on account of Barak’s unbelief, Deborah told him that he should lose part of the honour which he might have acquired; and that “God would sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Moreover, this whole chapter is a tribute of praise to God on account of the transaction, wherein Jael in particular is celebrated as having performed a most acceptable service to the Lord. Our proud hearts are apt to rise up in rebellion against God on this occasion; and to ask, how such an order could consist with his perfections? But let us be careful how we presume “to reprove God.” (Job 40:2) We forget that he is the Creator of all, and “may do what he will with his own;” (Mt 20:15) and that “he giveth not account of any of his matters.” (Job 33:13) Let us remember too, that we are no more than mere worms, which, as creatures, have no claim to existence for one moment; and, as sinners, deserve to be in hell: and that, consequently, it is not possible for God to do us any injustice. If, however, we still be disposed to quarrel with this dispensation, the answer of St. Paul to such objectors must be resorted to; “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?” Consider the objections to which that reply was made; and it will be found abundantly sufficient for every other objection that can be raised (Ro 9:16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24) — — —] Let us next consider this account, II. As an emblematic record— The words which close this divine hymn, clearly shew that we are to consider the history in this view. (Compare Jdg 5:31 with Ps 83:2, 3, 4, 9, 10) The transaction was an emblematic representation, 1. Of the judgments that await God’s enemies— [Sisera’s army was, humanly speaking, invincible, especially by such an handful of men as Barak could muster, and even the greater part of them unarmed, except with such weapons as they might hastily collect. (Jdg 4:13 with Jdg 5:8) Indeed his mother and friends had not the least doubt of a successful issue to the conflict. But when his time was come, he and his army were wholly destroyed: and the very steps which he took for the destruction of God’s people, God himself overruled to effect his overthrow. (Jdg 4:6, 7) Thus it shall be with all the oppressors and persecutors of God’s Church and people: how potent soever they may be, and however secure they may think themselves, “their judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” (2Pe 2:3-note) They exult in the thought of what they will effect: but God “laugheth them to scorn, for he seeth that their day is coming.” (Compare Ps 2:3, 4-note with Ps 37:12, 13-note) The very plans which they concert for the destruction of the Church, God will often overrule for their own destruction (Mic. 4:11, 12): or, if no particular judgment come upon them in this world, the time is quickly coming, when they would be glad to have “the rocks and mountains fall upon them, to cover them from the wrath ”of an avenging God. They think themselves strong now: but “will they be strong in the day that HE shall deal with them, and will they thunder with a voice like his?” O that they were wise and would consider this, ere they “be suddenly destroyed and without a remedy!”] 2. Of the triumphs that are prepared for the Lord’s people— [The Church at large, or individuals in it, may be reduced, like Israel of old, to great distress; but they shall surely triumph at last. However weak you may be in yourselves, you have no cause to fear; for God is on your side; and will suffer neither sin nor Satan to have dominion over you. (Ro 6:14-note and Ro 16:20-note) You need not direction or assistance from man; you need not say to any human being, “If thou wilt go with me, I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go:” (Jdg. 4:8) for God is with you; and “through him you shall be more than conquerors.” (Ro 8:37-note) His voice to every one of you is, like that of Deborah to Barak, “Up, for this is the day that the Lord hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee?” (Jdg. 4:14) The very “stars in their courses shall fight for you,” (Jdg. 4:20) rather than that you shall be subdued. This is the testimony of all the prophets; nor shall any one that trusts in it be disappointed of his hope. See how the sun bursts through the clouds that obscured it in the early morn, and shines forth in its might: so shall you rise above all your enemies, and shine forth in everlasting glory. (Jdg 4:31)] The subject addresses itself particularly, 1. To those who are in affliction— [What was the remedy to which Israel had recourse, when their affliction pressed sore upon them? It was prayer: “they cried unto the Lord.” And is not the same remedy open to us? is it not also as effectual as ever? Is the Lord’s hand shortened that it cannot save, or his ear heavy that it cannot hear? He has given the direction, “Call upon me in the time of trouble, and I will hear thee, and thou shalt glorify me:” “nor will he ever suffer any to seek his face in vain” — — — ] 2. To those who have been delivered from it— [Delay not to render thanks to your Almighty Deliverer. Whatever means he may have used, remember that HE is the first great Cause, “the Author and Giver of every good and perfect gift.” Stir up yourselves then to glorify him, like Deborah of old; “Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake; utter a song.” Call to mind also the various circumstances both of your affliction and deliverance; that nothing maybe omitted which may enhance the mercy in your eyes, or give glory to your heavenly Benefactor. This is a matter of great importance: if you rest in general acknowledgments, you will feel but weak emotions of gratitude: but if you search out occasions of praise, you will soon be filled with wonder and amazement at the mercies vouchsafed unto you.] (Simeon, C. 1832-63. Horae Homileticae Vol. 3: Judges to 2 Kings). “Magnificat” C H Spurgeon (Ed note: This sermon is more application than exposition) Many of the saints of God are as mournful as if they were captives in Babylon, for their life is spent in tears and sighing. They will not chant the joyous psalm of praise, and if there be any that require of them a song, they reply, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” But, my brethren, we are not captives in Babylon; we do not sit down to weep by Babel’s streams; “the Lord hath broken our captivity, he hath brought us up out of the house of our bondage. We are freemen; we are not slaves; we are not sold into the hand of cruel taskmasters, but we that have believed do enter into rest:” (see note Hebrews 4:3). Moses could not give rest to Israel; he could bring them to Jordan, but across the stream he could not conduct them; Joshua alone could lead them into the lot of their inheritance, and our Joshua, our Jesus, has led us into the land of promise. He hath brought us into a land which the Lord our God thinketh on; a land of hills and valleys; a land that floweth with milk and honey; and though the Canaanites still be in the land, and plague us full sore, yet is it all our own, and he hath said unto us, All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours, and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s 1 Cor. 3:21-23 We are not, I say, captives, sold under sin; we are a people who sit every man under his own vine and his own fig–tree, none making us afraid. We dwell in “a strong city, salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks:” Isa. 26:1 We have come unto Zion, the city of our solemnities, and the mourning of Babylon is not suitable to the palace of the great King, which is beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth. Let us serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with singing Ps 100:2 (Spurgeon's Note) Many of God’s people live as if their God were dead. Their conduct would be quite consistent if the promises were not yea and amen; if God were a faithless God. If Christ were not a perfect Redeemer; if the Word of God might after all turn out to be untrue; if he had not power to keep his people, and if he had not love enough with which to hold them even to the end, then might they give way to mourning and to despair; then might they cover their heads with ashes, and wrap their loins about with sackcloth. But while God is Jehovah, just and true; while his promises stand as fast as the eternal mountains; while the heart of Jesus is true to his spouse; while the arm of God is unpalsied, and his eye undimmed; while his covenant and his oath are unbroken and unchanged; It is not comely, it is not seemly for the upright to go mourning all their days. Ye children of God, refrain yourselves from weeping, and make a joyful noise unto the Rock of your salvation; let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and show ourselves glad in him with psalms. “Your harps, ye trembling saints, Down from the willows take; Loud to the praise of love divine, Bid every string awake.” First, I shall urge upon you a stirring up of all your powers to sacred song. “Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake, utter a song.” In the second place, I shall persuade you to practise a sacred leading of your captivity captive. “Arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.” I. First, then, a stirring up of all our powers to praise god, according to the words of the holy woman in the text, “Awake, awake, ”—repeated yet again “Awake, awake.” 1. What is there that we need to awaken if we would praise God? I reply, we ought to arouse all the bodily powers. Our flesh is sluggish; we have been busy with the world, our limbs have grown fatigued, but there is power in divine joy to arouse even the body itself, to make the heavy eyelids light, to reanimate the drowsy eye, and quicken the weary brain. We should call upon our bodies to awake, especially our tongue, “the glory of our frame.” Let it put itself in tune like David’s harp of old. A toilworn body often makes a mournful heart. The flesh has such a connection with the spirit, that it often boweth down the soul. Come, then, my flesh, I charge thee, awake. Blood, leap in my veins? Heart, let thy pulsings be as the joy–strokes of Miriam’s timbrel! Oh, all my bodily frame, stir up thyself now, and begin to magnify and bless the Lord, who made thee, and who has kept thee in health, and preserved thee from going down into the grave. Surely we should call on all our mental powers to awake. Wake up my memory and find matter for the song. Tell what God has done for me in days gone by. Fly back ye thoughts to my childhood; sing of cradle mercies. Review my youth and its early favours. Sing of longsuffering grace, which followed my wandering, and bore with my rebellions. Revive before my eyes that gladsome hour when first I knew the Lord, and tell o’er again the matchless story of the “Streams of mercy never ceasing, ” which have flowed to me since then, and which “Call for songs of loudest praise.” Awake up my judgment and give measure to the music. Come forth my understanding, and weigh his lovingkindness in scales, and his goodness in the balances. See if thou canst count the small dust of his mercies. See if thou canst understand the riches unsearchable which he hath given to thee in that unspeakable gift of Christ Jesus my Lord. Reckon up his eternal mercies to thee—the treasures of that covenant which he made on thy behalf, ere thou wast born. Sing, my understanding, sing aloud of that matchless wisdom which contrived—of that divine love which planned, and of that eternal grace which carried out the scheme of thy redemption. Awake, my imagination, and dance to the holy melody. Gather pictures from all worlds. Bid sun and moon stay in their courses, and join in thy new song. Constrain the stars to yield the music of the spheres; put a tongue into every mountain, and a voice into every wilderness; translate the lowing of the cattle and the scream of the eagle; hear thou the praise of God in the rippling of the rills, the dashing of the cataracts, and the roaring of the sea, until all his works in all places of his dominion bless the Lord. But especially let us cry to all the graces of our spirit—”awake.” Wake up, my love, for thou must strike the key–note and lead the strain. Awake and sing unto thy beloved a song touching thy well–beloved. Give unto him choice canticles, for he is the fairest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely. Come forth then with thy richest music, and praise the name which is as ointment poured forth. Wake up, my hope, and join hands with thy sister—love; and sing of blessings yet to come. Sing of my dying hour, when he shall be with me on my couch. Sing of the rising morning, when my body shall leap from its tomb into her Saviour’s arms! Sing of the expected advent, for which thou lookest with delight! And, O my soul, sing of that heaven which he has gone before to prepare for thee, “that where he is, there may his people be.” Awake my love—awake my hope—and thou my faith, awake also! Love has the sweetest voice, hope can thrill forth the higher notes of the saved scale; but thou, O faith—with thy deep resounding base melody—thou must complete the song. Sing of the promise sure and certain. Rehearse the glories of the covenant ordered in all things, and sure. Rejoice in the sure mercies of David! Sing of the goodness which shall be known to thee in all thy trials yet to come. Sing of that blood which has sealed and ratified every word of God. Glory in that eternal faithfulness which cannot lie, and of that truth which cannot fail. And thou, my patience, utter thy gentle but most gladsome hymn. Sing to–day of how he helped thee to endure in sorrows’ bitterest hour. Sing of the weary way along which he has borne thy feet, and brought thee at last to lie down in green pastures, beside the still waters. Oh, all my graces, heaven–begotten as ye are, praise him who did beget you. Ye children of his grace, sing unto your Father’s name, and magnify him who keeps you alive. Let all that in me is be stirred up to magnify and bless his holy name. Then let us wake up the energy of all those powers—the energy of the body, the energy of the mind, the energy of the spirit. You know what it is to do a thing coldly, weakly. As well might we not praise at all. You know also what it is to praise God passionately—to throw energy into all the song, and so to exult in his name. So do ye, each one of you, this day; and if Michal, Saul’s daughter, should look out of the window and see David dancing before the ark with all his might, and should chide you as though your praise were unseemly, say unto her, “It was before the Lord, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, therefore will I play before the Lord:” 2 Samuel 6:21. Tell the enemy that the God of election must be praised, that the God of redemption must be extolled, —that if the very heathen leaped for joy before their gods, surely they who bow before Jehovah must adore him with rapture and with ecstacy. Go forth, go forth with joy then, with all your energies thoroughly awakened for his praise. 2. But you say unto me, “why and wherefore should we this day awake and sing unto our God?” There be many reasons; and if your hearts be right, one may well satisfy. Come, ye children of God, and bless his dear name; for doth not all nature around you sing? If you were silent, you would be an exception to the universe. Doth not the thunder praise him as it rolls like drums in the march of the God of armies? Doth not the ocean praise him as it claps its thousand hands? Doth not the sea roar, and the fulness thereof? Do not the mountains praise him when the shaggy woods upon their summits wave in adoration? Do not the lightnings write his name in letters of fire upon the midnight darkness? Doth not this world, in its unceasing revolutions, perpetually roll forth his praise? Hath not the whole earth a voice, and shall we be silent? Shall man, for whom the world was made, and suns and stars were created, —shall he be dumb? No, let him lead the strain. Let him be the world’s high priest, and while the world shall be as the sacrifice, let him add his heart thereto, and thus supply the fire of love which shall make that sacrifice smoke towards heaven. But, believer, shall not thy God be praised? I ask thee. Shall not thy God be praised? When men behold a hero, they fall at his feet and honour him. Garibaldi emancipates a nation, and lo, they bow before him and do him homage. And thou Jesus, the Redeemer of the multitudes of thine elect, shalt thou have no song? Shalt thou have no triumphal entry into our hearts? Shall thy name have no glory? Shall the world love its own, and shall not the Church honour its own Redeemer? Our God must be praised. He shall be. If no other heart should ever praise him, surely mine must. If creation should forget him, his redeemed must remember him. Tell us to be silent? Oh, we cannot. Bid us restrain our holy mirth? Indeed you bid us do an impossibility. He is God, and he must be extolled; he is our God, our gracious, our tender, our faithful God, and he must have the best of our songs. Thou sayest, believer, why should I praise him? Let me ask thee a question too. Is it not heaven’s employment to praise him? And what can make earth more like heaven, than to bring down from heaven the employment of glory, and to be occupied with it here? Come, believer, when thou prayest, thou art but a man, but when thou praisest, thou art as an angel. When thou asketh favour, thou art but a beggar, but when thou standest up to extol, thou becomest next of kin to cherubim and seraphim. Happy, happy day, when the glorious choristers shall find their numbers swelled by the addition of multitudes from earth? Happy day when you and I shall join the eternal chorus. Let us begin the music here. Let us strike some of the first notes at least; and if we cannot sound the full thunders of the eternal hallelujah, let us join as best we may. Let us make the wilderness and the solitary place rejoice, and bid the desert blossom as the rose. Besides, Christian, dost thou not know that it is a good thing for thee to praise thy God? Mourning weakens thee, doubts destroy thy strength; thy groping among the ashes makes thee of the earth, earthy. Arise, for praise is pleasant and profitable to thee. “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” “Delight thyself in the Lord and he will give thee the desire of thine heart.” Thou growest in grace when thou growest in holy joy; thou art more heavenly, more spiritual, more Godlike, as thou gettest more full of joy and peace in believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. I know some Christians are afraid of gladness, but I read, “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” If murmuring were a duty, some saints would never sin, and if mourning were commanded by God they would certainly be saved by works, for they are always sorrowing, and so they would keep his law. Instead thereof the Lord hath said it, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice;” and he has added, to make it still more strong, “Rejoice evermore.” But I ask you one other question, believer. Thou sayest, “Why should I awake, this morning to sing unto my God?” I reply to thee, “Hast thou not a cause?” Hath he not done great things for thee, and art thou not glad thereof? Hath he not taken thee out of the horrible pit, and out of the miry clay; hath he not set thy feet upon a rock and established thy goings, and is there no new song in thy mouth? What, art thou bought with blood, and yet hast thou a silent tongue? Loved of thy God before the world began and yet not sing his praise! What, art thou his child, an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ, and yet no notes of gratitude? What I has he fed thee this day? Did he deliver thee yesterday out of many troubles? Has he been with thee these thirty, these forty, these fifty years in the wilderness, and yet hast thou no mercy for which to praise him? O shame on thy ungrateful heart, and thy forgetful spirit; come pluck up courage, think of thy mercies and not of thy miseries, forget thy pains awhile and think of thy many deliverances. Put thy feet on the neck of thy doubts and thy fears, and God the Holy Ghost, being thy Comforter, begin from this good hour to utter a song. 3. “But, ” smith one, “when shall I do this? When shall I praise my God?” I answer, praise ye the Lord all his people, at all times, and give thanks at every remembrance of him. Extol him even when your souls are drowsy and your spirits are inclined to sleep. When we are awake there is little cause to say to us four times, “Awake, awake, awake, awake, utter a song;” but when we feel most drowsy with sorrow and our eyelids are heavy, when afflictions sore are pressing us down to the very dust, then is the time to sing psalms unto our God and praise him in the very fire. But this takes much grace, and I trust brethren you know that there is much grace to be had. Seek it of your divine Lord, and be not content without it; be not easily cast down by troubles, nor soon made silent because of your woes; think of the martyrs of old, who sang sweetly at the stake; think of Ann Askew, of all the pains she bore for Christ, and then of her courageous praise of God in her last moments. Often she had been tortured, tortured most terribly; she lay in prison expecting death, and when there she wrote a verse in old English words and rhyme, “I am not she that lyst My anker to let fall, For every dryslynge myst; My shippe’s substancyal.” Meaning thereby, that she would not stop her course and cast her anchor for every drizzling mist; she had a ship that could bear a storm, one that could break all the waves that beat against it, and joyously cut through the foam. So shall it be with you. Give not God fine weather songs, give him black tempest praises; give him not merely summer music, as some birds will do and then fly away; give him winter tunes. Sing in the night like the nightingales, praise him in the fires, sing his high praises even in the shadow of death, and let the tomb resound with the shouts of your sure confidence. So may you give to God what God may well claim at your hands. When shall you praise him? Why, praise him when you are full of doubts, even when temptations assail you, when poverty hovers round you, and when sickness bows you down. They are cheap songs which we give to God when we are rich; it is easy enough to kiss the hand of a giving God, but to bless him when he takes away—this is to bless him indeed. To cry like Job, “though he slay me yet will I trust in him, ” or to sing like Habakkuk, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat: the flocks shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Oh Christian, thou askest me when thou shalt rejoice, I say today, “Awake, awake, O Deborah, awake, awake, utter a song.” 4. Yet once more, you reply to me, “But HOW can I praise my God?” I will be teacher of music to thee, and may the Comforter be with me. Wilt thou think this morning how great are thy mercies. Thou art not blind, nor deaf, nor dumb; thou art not a lunatic; thou art not decrepit; thou art not vexed with piercing pains; thou art not full of agony caused by disease; thou art not going down to the grave; thou art not in torments, not in hell. Thou art still in the land of the living, the land of love, the land of grace, the land of hope. ‘Even if this were all, there were enough reason for thee to praise thy God. Thou art not this day what thou once wert, a blasphemer, a persecutor and injurious; the song of the drunkard is not on thy lips, the lascivious desire is not in thy heart. And is not this a theme for praise. Remember but a little while ago, with very many of you, all these sins were your delight and your joy. Oh! must not you praise him, ye chief of sinners, whose natures have been changed, whose hearts have been renewed. Ye sons of Korah, lead the sacred song! Bethink you of your iniquities, which have all been put away, and your transgressions covered, and none of them laid to your charge; think of the privileges you this day enjoy; elect, redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, adopted, and preserved in Christ Jesus. Why man, if a stone or rock could but for a moment have such privileges as these, the very adamant must melt and the dumb rock give forth hosannas. And will you be still when your mercies are so great! Let them not lie— ”Forgotten in unthankfulness, and without praises die.” Bethink thee yet again how little are thy trials after all. Thou hast not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. Thou art poor, it is true, but then thou art not sick; or thou art sick, but still thou art not left to wallow in sin; and all afflictions are but little when once sin is put away. Compare thy trials with those of many who live in thine own neighbourhood. Put thy sufferings side by side with the sufferings of some whom thou hast seen on their dying bed; compare thy lot with that of the martyrs who have entered into their rest; and oh I say, thou wilt be compelled to exclaim with Paul, “These light afflictions which are but for a moment are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Come, now, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, be of good cheer, and rejoice in the Lord your God, if it were for no other reason than that of the brave–hearted Luther. When he had been most slandered—when the Pope had launched out a new bull, and when the kings of the earth had threatened him fiercely—Luther would gather together his friends, and say, “Come let us sing a psalm and spite the devil.” He would ever sing the most psalms when the world roared the most. Let us today join in that favourite psalm of the great German, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried in the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.”—Psalm xlvi. I say, then, sing to make Satan angry. He has vexed the saints; let us vex him. Praise ye the Lord to put the world to the blush. Never let it be said that the world can make its votaries more happy than Christ can make his followers. Oh, let your songs be so continual, and so sweet, that the wicked may be compelled to say, “That man’s life is happier than mine; I long to exchange with him. There is a something in his religion which my sin and my wicked pleasures can never afford me.” O praise the Lord ye saints, that sinners’ mouths may be set a watering after the things of God. Specially praise him in your trials, if you would make the world wonder—strike sinners dumb, and make them long to know and taste the joys of which you are a partaker. “Alas!” said one, “but I cannot sing; I have nothing to sing of, nothing without for which I could praise God.” It is remarked by old commentators that the windows of Solomon’s temple were narrow on the outside, but that they were broad within, and that they were so cut, that though they seemed to be but small openings, yet the light was well diffused. (See Hebrew of 1 Kings 6:4.) So is it with the windows of a believer’s joy. They may look very narrow without, but they are very wide within; there is more joy to be gotten from that which is within us than from that which is without us. God’s grace within, God’s love, the witness of his Spirit in our hearts, are better themes of joy than all the corn and wine, and oil, with which God sometimes increases his saints. So if thou hast no outward mercies, sing of inward mercies. If the water fail without, go to that fons perennis , that perpetual fountain which is within thine own soul. “A good man shall be satisfied from himself.” Proverbs 14:14 When thou seest no cheering providence without, yet look at grace within. “Awake, awake, Deborah! awake, awake, utter a song.” II. I now turn to the second part of my subject, upon which very briefly. I know not whether you feel as I do, but in preaching upon this theme, I mourn a scantiness of words, and a slowness of language. If I could let my heart talk without my lips, methinks with God’s Spirit I could move you indeed with joy. But these lips find that the language of the heart is above them. The tongue discovereth that it cannot reach the fulness of joy that is within. Let it beam from my face, if it cannot be spoken from my mouth. And now the second part of the subject. “arise, barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.” You understand the exact picture here. Barak had routed Sisera, Jabin’s captain, and all his hosts. She now exhorts Barak to celebrate his triumph. “Mount, mount thy car, O Barak, and ride through the midst of the people. Let the corpse of Sisera, with Jael’s nail driven through its temples, be dragged behind thy chariot. Let the thousand captives of the Canaanites walk all of them with their arms bound behind them. Drive before thee the ten thousand flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle which thou hast taken as a spoil. Let their chariots of iron, and all their horses be led captive in grand procession. Bring up all the treasures and the jewels of which thou hast stripped the slain; their armour, their shields, their spears, bound up as glorious trophies. Arise, Barak, lead captive those who led thee captive, and celebrate thy glorious victory.” Beloved, this is a picture which is often used in Scripture. Christ is said to have led captivity captive, when he ascended on high. He led principalities and powers captive at his chariot–wheels. But here is a picture for us—not concerning Christ, but concerning ourselves. We are exhorted to–day to lead captivity captive. Come up, come up, ye grim hosts of sins, once my terror and dismay. Long was I your slave, O ye Egyptian tyrants; long did this back smart beneath your lash when conscience was awakened, and long did these members of my body yield themselves as willing servants to obey your dictates. Come up ye sins, come up for ye are prisoners now; ye are bound in fetters of iron, nay, more than this, ye are utterly slain, consumed, destroyed; you have been covered with Jesus’ blood; ye have been blotted out by his mercy ye have been cast by his power into the depths of the sea, yet would I bid your ghosts come up, slain though ye be, and walk in grim procession behind my chariot. Arise, celebrate your triumph, oh ye people of God. Your sins are many, but they are all forgiven. Your iniquities are great, but they are all put away. Arise and lead captive those who led you captive—your blasphemies, your forgetfulness of God, your drunkenness, your lust, all the vast legion that once oppressed you. They are all clean destroyed. Come and look upon them, sing their death psalm, and chant the life psalm of your grateful joy; lead your sins captive this very day. Bring hither in bondage another host who once seemed too many for us, but whom by God’s grace we have totally overcome. Arise my trials; ye have been very great and very numerous; ye came against me as a great host, and ye were tall and strong like the sons of Anak. Oh! my soul, thou hast trodden down strength; by the help of our God have we leaped over a wall; by his power have we broken through the troops of our troubles, our difficulties, and our fears. Come now, look back, and think of all the trials you have ever encountered. Death in your family; losses in your business; afflictions in your body; despair in your soul; and yet here you are, more than conquerors over them all. Come, bid them all walk now in procession. To the God of our deliverances—who has delivered us out of deep waters—who has brought us out of the burning, fiery furnace, so that not the smell of fire has passed upon us—to him be all the glory, while we lead our captivity captive. Arise and let us lead captive all our temptations. You, my brethren, have been foully tempted to the vilest sins. Satan has shot a thousand darts at you, and hurled his javelin multitudes of times; bring out the darts and snap them before his eyes, for he has never been able to reach your heart. Come, break the bow and cut the spear in sunder; burn the chariot in the fire. “Thy right hand, O Lord, thy right hand O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy; thou hast broken, thou hast put to confusion them that hated us; thou hast scattered the tempters, and driven them far away “Come, ye children of God, kept and preserved where so many have fallen, lead now this day your temptations captive. I think that you as a church, and I as your minister, can indeed lead captivity captive this day. There has been no single church of God existing in England for these fifty years which has had to pass through more trial than we have done. We can say, “Men did ride over our heads.” We went through fire and through water, and what has been the result of it all? God hath brought us out into a wealthy place and set our feet in a large room, and all the devices of the enemy have been of none effect. Scarce a day rolls over my head in which the most villainous abuse, the most fearful slander is not uttered against me both privately and by the public press; every engine is employed to put down God’s minister—every lie that man can invent is hurled at me. But hitherto the Lord hath helped me. I have never answered any man, nor spoken a word in my own defence. from the first day even until now. And the effect has been this: God’s people have believed nothing against me; they who feared the Lord have said often as a new falsehood has been uttered, “This is not true concerning that man; he will not answer for himself, but God will answer for him.” They have not checked our usefulness as a church; they have not thinned our congregations; that which was to be but a spasm—an enthusiasm which it was hoped would only last an hour—God has daily increased; not because of me, but because of that gospel which I preach; not because there was anything in me, but because I came out as the exponent of plain, straight–forward, honest Calvinism, and because I seek to speak the Word simply, not according to the critical dictates of man, but so that the poor may comprehend what I have to say. The Lord has helped us as a church; everything has contributed to help us; the great and terrible catastrophe invented by Satan to overturn us, was only blessed of God to swell the stream; and now I would not stay a liar’s mouth if I could, nor would I stop a slanderer if it were in my power, except it were that he might not sin, for all these things tend to our profit, and all these attacks do but widen the stream of usefulness. Many a sinner has been converted to God in this hall who was first brought here, because of some strange anecdote, some lying tale which had been told of God’s servant, the minister. I say it boasting in the Lord my God, this morning, though I become a fool in glorying, I do lead in God’s name my captivity captive. Arise! arise! ye members of this church, ye who have followed the son of Barak, and have gone up as the thousands at his feet; arise and triumph for God is with us, and his cause shall prosper; his own right arm is made bare in the eyes of all the people, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. As it is in this single church, and in our own individual sphere, so shall it be in the church at large. God’s ministers are all attacked; God’s truth is everywhere assailed. A terrible battle awaits us; but oh! Church of God, remember thy former victories. Awake, ministers of Christ, and lead your captivity captive. Sing how the idols of Greece tottered before you. Say, “Where is Diana? Where now the gods that made glad Ephesus of old?” And thou, O Rome, was not thine arm broken before the majesty of the Church’s might? Where now is Jupiter; where Saturn, where Venus? They have ceased to be. And thou Juggernaut—them Bramah—ye Gods of China and Hindostan—ye too must fall, for this day the sons of Jehovah arise and lead their captivity captive. “Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He breaketh the bow, he cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariots in the fire. Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen; I will be exalted in the earth.” Church of God, come forth with songs, come forth with shouting to your last battle. Behold the battle of Armageddon draweth nigh. Blow ye the silver trumpets for the fight, ye soldiers of the cross. Come on, come on, ye leagured hosts of hell. Strong in the strength of God most High, we shall dash back your ranks as the rock breaketh the waves of the sea. We shall stand against you and triumph, and tread you down as ashes under the soles of our feet. “Arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.” Would to God that the joy of heart which we feel this morning may tempt some soul to seek the like. It is to be found in Christ at the foot of his dear cross . Believe on him, sinners and thou art saved. Judges 5:16 RECREANT REUBEN By Alexander Maclaren ‘Why satest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the pipings for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.’ — Judges 5:16 (Ed Note: A recreant is one unfaithful to duty or allegiance) I. THE fight. The warfare is ever repeated, though in new forms. In the highest form it is Christ versus the World, And that conflict must be fought out in our own souls first. Our religion should lead not only to accept and rely on what Christ does for us, but to do and dare for Christ. He has given Himself for us, and has thereby won the right to recruit us as His soldiers. We have to fight against ourselves to establish His reign over ourselves. And then we have to give our personal service in the great battle for right and truth, for establishing the kingdom of heaven on earth. There come national crises when every man must take up arms, but in Christ’s kingdom that is a permanent obligation. There the nation is the army. Each subject is not only His servant but His soldier. The metaphor is well worn, but it carries everlasting truth, and to take it seriously to heart would revolutionise our lives. II. The reason for standing aloof. Reuben ‘abode in the sheepfolds to hear the pipings to the flocks.’ For Dan his ships, for Asher his havens held them apart. Reuben and the other trans-Jordanic tribes held loosely by the national unity. They had fallen in love with an easy life of pastoral wealth, they did not care to venture anything for the national good. It is still too true that like reasons are largely operative in producing like results. It is seldom from the wealthy and leisurely classes that the bold fighters for great social reformations are recruited. Times of commercial prosperity are usually times of stagnation in regard to these. Reuben lies lazily listening to the ‘drowsy tinklings’ that ‘lull’ not only ‘the distant folds’ but himself to inglorious slumber, while Zebulon and Naphtali are ‘venturing their lives on the high places of the field.’ The love of ease enervates many a one who should be doing valiantly for the ‘Captain of his salvation.’ The men of Reuben cared more for their sheep than for their nation. They were not minded to hazard these by listening to Deborah’s call. And what their flocks were to that pastoral tribe, their business is to shoals of professing Christians. The love of the world depletes the ranks of Christ’s army, and they are comparatively few who stick by the colours and are ‘ready, aye ready’ for service, as the brave motto of one English regiment has it. The lives of multitudes of so-called Christians are divided between strained energy in their business or trade or profession and self-regarding repose. No doubt competition is fierce, and, no doubt, a Christian man is bound, ‘whatsoever his hand finds to do, to do it with his might,’ and, no doubt, rest is as much a duty as work. But must not loyalty to Jesus have become tepid, if a servant of His has so little interest in the purposes for which He gave His life that he can hear no call to take active part in promoting them, nor find rest in the work by which he becomes a fellow-worker with his Lord? III. The recreant’s brave resolves which came to nothing. The indignant question of our text is, as it were, framed between two clauses which contrast Reuben’s indolent holding aloof with his valorous resolves. ‘By the watercourses of Reuben there were great resolves of heart.’… ‘At the watercourses of Reuben there were great searchings of heart’ Resolves came first, but they were not immediately acted on, and as the Reubenites sate among the sheepfolds and felt the charm of their peaceful lives, the ‘native hue of resolution was sicklied o’er,’ and doubts of the wisdom of their gallant determination crept in, and their valour oozed out. And so for all their fine resolves, they had no share in the fight nor in the triumph. So let us lay the warning of that example to heart, and if we are stirred by noble impulses to take our place in the ranks of the fighters for God, let us act on these at once. Emotions evaporate very soon if they are not used to drive the wheels of conduct. The Psalmist was wise who ‘delayed not, but made haste and delayed not to keep God’s commandments.’ Many a man has over and over again resolved to serve God in some specific fashion, and to enlist in the ‘effective force’ of Christ’s army, and has died without ever having done it. IV. The question in the hour of victory. ‘Why?’ Deborah asks it with vehement contempt. That victory is certain. Are you to have part in it? The question will be asked on the judgment day by Christ, and by our own consciences. ‘And he was speechless.’ To be neutral is to be on the side of the enemy, against whom the ‘stars fight,’ and whom Kishon sweeps away. ‘Who is on the Lord’s side?’— Who? ALL THINGS ARE YOURS by Alexander Maclaren ‘They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. — Judges 5:20. ‘For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.’ — Job 5:23. THESE TWO poetical fragments present the same truth on opposite sides. The first of them comes from Deborah’s triumphant chant. The singer identifies God with the cause of Israel, and declares that heaven itself fought against those who fought against God’s people. There may be an allusion to the tempest which Jewish tradition tells us burst over the ranks of the enemy, or there may he some trace of ancient astrological notions, or the words may simply be an elevated way of saying that Heaven fought for Israel. The silent stars, as they swept on their paths through the sky, advanced like an avenging host embattled against the foes of Israel and of God. All things fight against the man who fights against God. The other text gives the other side of the same truth. One of Job’s friends is rubbing salt into his wounds by insisting on the commonplace, which needs a great many explanations and limitations before it can be accepted as true, that sin is the cause of sorrow, and that righteousness brings happiness; and in the course of trying to establish this heartless thesis to a heavy heart he breaks into a strain of the loftiest poetry in describing the blessedness of the righteous. All things, animate and inanimate, are upon his side. The ground, which Genesis tells us is ‘cursed for his sake,’ becomes his ally, and the very creatures whom man’s sin set at enmity against him are at peace with him. All things are the friends and servants of him who is the friend and servant of God. I. So, putting these two texts together, we have first the great conviction to which religion clings, that God being on our side all things are for us, and not against us. Now, that is the standing faith of the Old Testament, which no doubt was more easily held in those days, because, if we accept its teaching, we shall recognise that Israel lived under a system in so far supernatural as that moral goodness and material prosperity were a great deal more closely and indissolubly connected than they are to-day. So, many a psalmist and many a prophet breaks out into apostrophes, warranted by the whole history of Israel, and declaring how blessed are the men who, apart from all other defences and sources of prosperity, have God for their help and Him for their hope. But we are not to dismiss this conviction as belonging only to a system where the supernatural comes in, as it does in the Old Testament history, and as antiquated under a dispensation such as that in which we live. For the New Testament is not a whir behind the Old in insisting upon this truth. ‘All things work together for good to them that love God.’ ‘All things are yours, and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.’ ‘Who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good?’ The New Testament is committed to the same conviction as that to which the faith of Old Testament saints clung as the sheet anchor of their lives. That conviction cannot be struck out of the creed of any man, who believes in the God to whom the Old and the New Testament alike bear witness. For it rests upon this plain principle, that all this great universe is not a chaos, but a cosmos, that all these forces and creatures are not a rabble, but an ordered host. What is the meaning of that great Name by which, from of old, God in His relations to the whole universe has been described — the ‘Lord of Hosts’? Who are the ‘hosts’ of which He is ‘the Lord,’ and to whom, as the centurion said, He says to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goeth; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he cometh; and to another, ‘Do this!’ and he doeth it? Who are ‘the hosts’? Not only these beings who are dimly revealed to us as rational and intelligent, who ‘excel in strength,’ because they ‘hearken to the voice of His word,’ but in the ranks of that great army are also embattled all the forces of the universe, and all things living or dead. ‘All are Thy servants; they continue this day’ — angels, stars, creatures of earth — ‘according to Thine ordinances.’ And if it be true that the All is an ordered whole, which is obedient to the touch and to the will of that divine Commander, then all His servants must be on the same side, and cannot turn their arms against each other. As an old hymn says with another reference —‘All the servants of our King In heaven and earth are one,’and none of them can injure, wound, or slay a fellow-servant. If all are travelling in the same direction there can be no collision. If all are enlisted under the same standard they can never turn their weapons against each other. If God sways all things, then all things which God sways must be on the side of the men that are on the side of God. ‘Thou shalt make a league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. ’ II. Note the difficulties arising from experience, in the way of holding fast by this conviction of faith. The grim facts of the world, seen from their lowest level, seem to shatter it to atoms. Talk about ‘the stars in their courses fighting’ for or against anybody! In one aspect it is superstition, in another aspect it a dream and an illusion. The prose truth is that they shine down silent, pitiless, cold, indifferent, on battlefields or on peaceful homes; and the moonlight is as pure when it falls upon broken hearts as when it falls upon glad ones. Nature is ‘utterly indifferent to the moral or the religious character of its victims. It goes on its way unswerving and pitiless; and whether the man who stands in its path is good or bad matters not. If he gets into a typhoon he will be wrecked; if he tumbles over Niagara he will be drowned. And what becomes of all the talk about an embattled universe on the side of goodness, in the face of the plain facts of life — of nature’s indifference, nature’s cruelty which has led some men to believe in two sovereign powers, one beneficent and one malicious, and has led others to say, ‘God is a superfluous hypothesis, and to believe in Him brings more enigmas than it solves,’ and has led still others to say, ‘Why, if there is a God, does it look as if either He was not all-powerful, or was not all-merciful?’ Nature has but ambiguous evidence to give in support of this conviction. Then, if we turn to what we call Providence and its mysteries, the very book of Job, from which my second text is taken, is one of the earliest attempts to grapple with the difficulty and to untie the knot; and I suppose everybody will admit that, whatever may be the solution which is suggested by that enigmatical book, the solution is by no means a complete one, though it is as complete as the state of religious knowledge at the time at which the book was written made possible to be attained. The seventy-third psalm shows that even in that old time when, as I have said, supernatural sanctions were introduced into the ordinary dealings of life, the difficulties that cropped up were great enough to bring a devout heart to a stand, and to make the Psalmist say, ‘My feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped.’ Providence, with all its depths and mysteries, often to our aching hearts seems in our own lives to contradict the conviction, and when we look out over the sadness of humanity, still more does it seem impossible for us to hold fast by the faith ‘that all which we behold is full of blessings.’ I doubt not that there are many of ourselves whose lives, shadowed, darkened, hemmed in, perplexed, or made solitary for ever, seem to them to be hard to reconcile with this cheerful faith upon which I am trying to insist. Brethren, cling to it even in the darkness. Be sure of this, that amongst all our mercies there are none more truly merciful than those which come to us shrouded in dark garments, and in questionable shapes. Let nothing rob us of the confidence that ‘all things work together for good.’ III. I come, lastly, to consider the higher form in which this conviction is true for ever. I have said that the facts of life seem often to us, and are felt often by some of us, to shatter it to atoms; to riddle it through and through with shot. But, if we bring the Pattern-life to bear upon the illumination of all life, and if we learn the lessons of the Cradle and the Cross, and rise to the view of human life which emerges from the example of Jesus Christ, then we get back the old conviction, transfigured indeed, but firmer than ever. We have to alter the point of view. Everything always depends on the point of view. We have to alter one or two definitions. Definitions come first in geometry and in everything else. Get them right, and you will get your theorems and problems right. So, looking at life in the light of Christ, we have to give new contents to the two words ‘good’ and ‘evil,’ and a new meaning to the two words ‘for’ and ‘against.’ And when we do that, then the difficulties straighten themselves out, and there are not any more knots, but all is plain; and the old faith of the Old Testament, which reposed very largely upon abnormal and extraordinary conditions of life, comes back in a still nobler form, as possible to be held by us amidst the commonplace of our daily existence. For everything is my friend, is for me and not against me, that helps me nearer to God. To live for Him, to live with Him, to be conscious ever of communion with Himself, to feel the touch of His hand on my hand, and the pressure of His breast against mine, at all moments of my life, is my true and the highest good. And if it is true that the ‘river of the water of life’ which ‘flows from the Throne of God’ is the only draught that can ever satisfy the immortal thirst of a soul, then whatever drives me away from the cisterns and to the fountain, is on my side. Better to dwell in a ‘dry and thirsty land, where no water is,’ if it makes me long for the water that rises at the gate of the true Bethlehem — the house of bread — than to dwell in a land flowing with milk and honey, and well watered in every part! If the cup that I would fain lift to my lips has poison in it, or if its sweetness is making me lose my relish for the pure and tasteless river that flows from the Throne of God, there can be no truer friend than that calamity, as men call it, which strikes the cup from my hands, and shivers the glass before I have raised it to my lips. Everything is my friend that helps me towards God. Everything is my friend that leads me to submission and obedience. The joy of life, and the perfection of human nature, is an absolutely submitted will, identified with the divine, both in regard to doing and to enduring. And whatever tends to make my will flexible, so that it corresponds to all the sinuosities, so to speak, of the divine will, and fits into all its bends and turns, is a blessing to me. Raw hides, stiff with dirt and blood, are put into a bath of bitter infusion of oak-bark. What for? For the same end as, when they are taken out, they are scraped with sharp steels, — that they may become flexible. When that is done the useless hide is worth something. ‘Our wills are ours, we know not how; Our wills are ours, to make them Thine.’ And whatever helps me to that is my friend. Everything is a friend to the man that loves God, in a far sweeter and deeper sense than it can ever be to any other. Like a sudden burst of sunshine upon a gloomy landscape, the light of union with God and friendship with Him flooding my daily life flashes it all up into brightness. The dark ribbon of the river that went creeping through the black copses, when the sun glints upon it, gleams up into links of silver, and the trees by its bank blaze out into green and gold. Brethren! ‘Who follows pleasure follows pain’; who follows God finds pleasure following him. There can be no surer way to set the world against me than to try to make it for me, and to make it my all. They tell us that if you want to count those stars that ‘like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid’ make up the Pleiades, the surest way to see the greatest number of them is to look a little on one side of them. Look away from the joys and friendships of creatural things right up to God, and you will see these sparkling and dancing in the skies, as you never see them when you gaze at them only. Make them second and they are good and on your side. Make them first, and they will turn to be your enemies and fight against you. This conviction will be established still more irrefragably and wonderfully in that future. Nothing lasts but goodness. ‘He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.’ To oppose it is like stretching a piece of pack-thread across the rails before the express comes; or putting up some thin wooden partition on the beach on one of the Western Hebrides, exposed to the whole roll of the Atlantic, which will be battered into ruin by the first winter’s storm. Such is the end of all those who set themselves against God. But there comes a future in which, as dim hints tell us, these texts of ours shall receive a fulfilment beyond that realised in the present condition of things. ‘Then comes the statelier Eden back to man,’ and in a renewed and redeemed earth ‘they shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain’; and the ancient story will be repeated in higher form. The servants shall be like the Lord who, when He had conquered temptation, ‘was with the wild beasts’ that forgot their enmity, and ‘angels ministered unto Him.’ That scene in the desert may serve as a prophecy of the future when, under conditions of which we know nothing, all God’s servants shall, even more markedly and manifestly than here, help each other; and every man that loves God will find a friend in every creature. If we take Him for our Commander, and enlist ourselves in that embattled host, then all weathers will be good; ‘stormy winds, fulfilling His word,’ will blow us to our port; ‘the wilderness will rejoice and blossom as the rose’; and the whole universe will be radiant with the light of His presence, and ringing with the music of His voice. But if we elect to join the other army — for there is another army, and men have wills that enable them to lift themselves up against God, the Ruler of all things — then the old story, from which my first text is taken, will fulfil itself again in regard to us — ‘the stars in their courses will fight against’ us; and Sisera, lying stiff and stark, with Jael’s tent-peg through his temples, and the swollen corpses being swirled down to the stormy sea by ‘that ancient river, the river Kishon,’ will be a grim parable of the end of the men that set themselves against God, and so have the universe against them. ‘Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.’