Part 181 (1/2)

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DEBORAH AND JAEL

PERSONS OF THE STORY.

_Deborah, the Prophetess.

Jael, wife of Heber, the Kenite.

Jabin, King of Canaan.

Sisera, captain of Jabin's host.

Heber, the Kenite.

Barak, leader of the Israelites_.

PLACE OF THE STORY.

”The Palm Tree of Deborah.”

The River Kishon.

The Tent of Heber, the Kenite.

DEBORAH AND JAEL.

THE STORY OF TWO WOMEN WHO HELPED TO OVERCOME AND KILL A MIGHTY WARRIOR.

And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord gave them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera. And the children of Israel cried to the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

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Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the hill country of Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, ”Hath not the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel: commanded, saying, 'Go to Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? And I will bring to thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his host; and I will deliver him into thine hand.'”

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

And she said, ”I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor; for the Lord will give Sisera into the hand of a woman.”

And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men with him: and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, and had pitched his tent by an oak near Kedesh. And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor. And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him. And Deborah said unto Barak, ”Up; for this {53} is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee?”

So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men with him.

And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera leaped down from his chariot and fled away on foot. But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host: and all the host of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; there was not a man left.

Howbeit Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, ”Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not.”

And he turned in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

And he said to her, ”Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.”

And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

And he said to her, ”Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, 'Is there any man here?' that thou shalt say, 'No.'”

Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent-pin, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and smote the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep, and weary; so he died. And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, ”Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest.” And he came to her; {54} and, behold, Sisera lay dead and the tent-pin was in his temple.

So G.o.d subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day,--

A SONG OF TRIUMPH.