Bible Commentaries

NO NEUTRALITY

‘They came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.’

Judges 5:23

We have once more acknowledged in our service to-day our belief in ‘God the Father Almighty,’ and yet here we are met with a curse upon those who ‘came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.’

I. Fellow-labourers with God.—The Almighty God needs the help of His creatures, of us and of our fellows. God has been pleased to use His own human children to help Him in the work which He desires to be done. We see in the Old Testament and in the New that God absolutely limits His own power by the will of His creatures. It is recorded that when God would overthrow the cities of the plain, the angel said to Lot: ‘Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither.’ And of our Lord Himself it is said, speaking of His own country, that He ‘could there do no mighty works, because of their unbelief.’ Man can refuse if he will to come ‘to the help of the Lord.’ And more than that, he can even take an antagonistic line to God. Gamalial warned his hearers to ‘refrain from these men, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.’ St. Paul, writing to the Philippians, spoke of ‘the enemies of the Cross of Christ.’

II. What is our position?—What is to be our position in this matter? Are there not many who say, ‘It is the last thing in the world I should desire to be, an enemy of the Cross of Christ, I should abhor above all things to be fighting against God; but I am not quite prepared to take vigorous action on His behalf. Cannot I remain neutral?’ In the old laws of the lawgiver, neutrals were ordered to be put to death, and though the penalty is not so severe under the Christian dispensation, yet we cannot but remember those words of our Blessed Master: ‘He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth.’ Have we no cause to band ourselves together to come ‘to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty?’

III. How we can come to the help of the Lord.—If you ask, How can I come to God’s help? What can I do? then surely in the very forefront of our marching orders is ‘Pray.’ Prayer is in the power of every one of us, and how potent that is we know, not alone from the history of the Church, but from the Scriptures themselves. Many souls are around about this church, with all their needs, with all their woe, aye, with all their sin. Will you not come ‘to the help of the Lord’ by praying for them? Whatever we have, God will accept it from us if we offer it to Him for ‘the help of the Lord.’ It is not only our prayers, and our time and talents, but our substance the Lord will accept from us. All of us are able to do something. And if we are thus taking our part in God’s work, thus doing that which we can to help Him in this mighty work in which He makes us fellow-labourers with Himself, then that word will be spoken to us that Abigail spoke to David: ‘The Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house: because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord’ (1 Samuel 25:28).

Canon Rhodes Bristow.

Illustrations

(1) ‘Notice the closing words. So shall God’s enemies perish, while those that love Him shall be as the sun which goeth forth in his strength (St. Matthew 13:43). Always in life and history there are these two words, Depart, ye cursed; Come, ye blessed. Always we must be classed among those who fight against the Lamb, or who love Him; who help His enemies by doing nothing, as Meroz did, or who hazard themselves as free will offerings.’

(2) ‘Is not this a time when we need volunteers as well as regular soldiers, not only in the ministry of the Church, but in our lay work? Sometimes we see a piteous sight in the streets of our cities—a soldier handcuffed between his own comrades, escorting him with fixed bayonets, a deserter from the ranks, a man against whom we cry “Shame!” We have been enrolled, each one, priests and people, in Christ’s own army, at yonder font. So, then, we are deserters from the ranks of the Great Captain of our Salvation, unless we come “to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.”’

(3) ‘It was said by St. Augustine in his sermon on St. Stephen’s Day: “If Stephen had not thus prayed the Church had not had Paul.” It was the prayer of Stephen for his murderers that gave to the Church the great Apostles of the Gentiles. And when we think of St. Augustine, we are reminded how his holy mother, Monica, prayed long and earnestly for him, prayed for him while there seemed to be no hope of his conversion, while he was living in heathen philosophy and licentiousness; and the prayers of that saintly woman won for the Church the great Augustine. And that same power of prayer is within the possibility of the meanest; the commonest, the poorest, the least educated may yet pray, and pray with a power which shall rule the world.’

THE BLESSING ON JAEL

‘Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.’

Judges 5:24

The main interest of this narrative lies with a woman. Deborah is one of the most striking figures in Jewish history. She was the leader and guide of her countrymen in the effort which restored to them peace and freedom, civil and religious. She was the judge who awarded praise or blame to those who had been false or true to the cause of God and of Israel. At the close of her song she utters an emphatic and extraordinary blessing on Jael.

I. Jael’s action on the one hand, and Deborah’s inspired judgment on the other, raise questions to which no reflecting mind can be insensible.—(1) We cannot get over the difficulty by saying that Deborah’s utterance about Jael is not inspired; that it is only a page of dark human passion occurring in a generally inspired poem. If Deborah’s blessing of Jael is uninspired, it is hard to claim inspiration reasonably for any part of her song; and if Deborah’s song is not inspired, it is difficult to say what other portions of the Book of Judges are. (2) In weighing Deborah’s language, we have to consider, first of all, that Sisera’s life was, in Deborah’s judgment, rightly forfeited. She speaks of him as the Lord’s enemy. And what Deborah knew about him, Jael knew also. Neither of them had any doubt that his life was justly forfeited. The question could only arise as to Jael’s method of taking it. (3) Let us notice that Deborah’s language about Jael is relative language. It is relative to the conduct of other persons than Jael, and it is relative to Jael’s own circumstances as a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel. Jael was blessed among ‘women in the tent,’ women, that is, who lead such a life as that of the wandering Arabs beyond the confines of Israel. Deborah contrasts the poor heathen woman of the desert with the recreant sailors of Asher and Dan, and the herdsmen of Reuben, and the townsmen of Meroz. She projects Jael’s fervid loyalty into luminous prominence, where it stands out in telling rebuke to the indifference of those who had far greater advantages.

II. Notice three points in conclusion.—(1) The equitableness of Deborah’s judgment of Jael. (2) Note that this history would be sorely misapplied, if we were to gather from it that a good motive justifies any action that is known to be bad. Jael is only eulogised because she lived in an age and circumstances which exonerated what was imperfect or wrong in her act. (3) Note the presence of unsuspected imperfections in all human endeavour, even when God graciously accepts it.

—Canon Liddon.

Illustrations

(1) ‘There is no need to extenuate Jael’s deed. It was the product of a barbarous time, whose spirit is wholly foreign to the Christian spirit. But even in that rude age, Jael’s deed must have brought upon her the reprobation of her people. For the one sin, which is above all sins, in the eye of the children of the desert, is a breach of the laws of hospitality. Once a man has “eaten salt” in an Arab tent, his life is safe. (Compare Saladin’s remark in The Talisman: “Had he murdered my father, and afterwards partaken of my food and my bowl, not a hair of his head could have been injured by me.”)’

(2) ‘Jael appears friendly to Sisera, she is in reality loyal to Israel, and because Sisera is Israel’s enemy, he is her enemy as well. She being a woman, could not, of course, meet him in open fighting, but when he is fast asleep she kills him; and when Barak comes along on the trail of Sisera, Jael calls him in and shows him the body. Although one can hardly understand how a woman could nerve herself to such a deed, her loyalty to God’s people, and the fulfilment of Deborah’s prophecy that Sisera should be slain by a woman, must not be overlooked.’