Bible Commentaries

Deborah and Her Song

Judges 4:1). It is putting the case too lightly to say that Israel "did evil in the sight of the Lord." That might have been a first offence, and twenty years" penal servitude under a king without a harp, was a heavy sentence for a first violation. But we have missed the explanatory word. How often we do this in reading the Scriptures! How prone we are to leave out the key-word, and thus create confusion for ourselves! The text literally reads, "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord." How great the emphasis which ought to be laid upon the word "again"! It may not mean a second time or a third time; it may be the thousandth time for aught the word "again" says to the contrary. Israel did evil upon evil, as if building a black temple with black stones, and purposing to consecrate it to the service of the devil. Twenty years" servitude was a small penalty. God did not plead against Israel with his great power when he sentenced Israel to this period of oppression and sorrow. How readily we look at the oppression and forget the sin! This is characteristic of human nature. We pity the sorrow; we would even count the tears of human distress, and make a great number of them, and turn that number into a plea for Heaven's mercy. We are wrong. We have started the argument from the wrong end; the point of view is false; the perspective is out of line: the whole vision suffers from wrong drawing and colouring. We have nothing to do with the oppression. We must look at causes. We must say,—How did this come to pass? and in answering that inquiry we shall vindicate Eternal Providence, and justify the ways of God to men. We are moved more by the oppression than by the sin. That is a test of our own spiritual quality. Men are more frequently annoyed than they are wronged. Many men suffer more from an assault made upon their self-conceit than an assault made upon the proofs of eternal righteousness. Hence men resent what are termed personalities, whilst they look benignantly, if not approvingly, upon sin in the abstract—violated law that hurts the vanity of no man. All this is indicative of character. Here we see what Sin really is. It binds the sinner to his outrages against God; it endeavours to modify its own force and gravity, and it seeks to turn attention to outside matters, accidents, passing phases, and temporary troubles. Were we of God's mind and of Christ's heart we should dwell upon the evil, the evil twice done and twice repeated, and continued until it has become a custom—a custom so established that the repetition of it brings with it no new sensation. But we will look at accidents and circumstances, rather than probe into real causes, profound and true origins.

A new period dawned in Israel. Deborah the wife of Lapidoth was judge. Great questions are settled by events. There was no inquiry as to whether it was meet that a woman should be a judge. Israel needed a mother, and Deborah was a mother in Israel. If we make questions of these subjects, we shall entertain one another with wordy controversies: but when the true Deborah comes, she comes of right, and sits a queen, without a word. There is a fitness of things—a subtle and unchangeable harmony—and when its conditions are satisfied, the satisfaction is attested by a great content of soul. As Deborah sat under her palm-tree in Mount Ephraim, no man said: Why are we judged by a woman? The answer was in her eyes: she looked divine; the vindication was in her judgment: when she spake, the spirit of wisdom seemed to approve every tone of her voice. There is a spirit in man: he knows when the right judge is upon the bench; the poorest listener can tell when he is in the presence of Justice; the unsophisticated heart knows when attempts are being made to quibble and wriggle and misrepresent, and to substitute the jingle of words for the music of righteousness. The people came up to the famous old palm-tree, and told their tale to Deborah day by day, until the motherly heart began to ache, and her trouble was very great. She saw, as motherly eyes only can see, how the wrinkles were deepening, how the faces were not so plump as they used to be, how strong men were bending under invisible burdens. She said: By the help of Heaven we will see more clearly into this. A hundred miles away in the north there lived a Judges 5:2). She recognised the spontaneous action of the people; they wanted to be free. She also regards kings as occupying a subordinate position:—"Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes" ( Judges 5:3). They had to receive the news, not to create the event; they had to hear of it next day, not to plan it the day before. Who can tell the ways of Providence? God setteth up the poor amongst princes, he plungeth the princes down into meanest places; the first shall be last, and the last shall be first God shall have the record and the register written, and rewritten and redistributed, so there shall be no vanity in Israel, no conceit in the hosts of Christ. There Judges 4:4-5). This probably means that she was the organ of communication between God and his people, and probably on account of the influence and authority of her character, was accounted in some sort as the head of the nation, to whom questions of doubt and difficulty were referred for decision. In her triumphal song she says:—

Prayer

Almighty God, we would rest in thee. Thou hast welcomed us to thy rest, and made us, in promise, sharers of thy feast. The Lord will bless his people with peace, yea, with peace that passeth understanding. Thou dost cause men to possess their souls in peace and confidence when they look unto the Lord and set their expectation eagerly upon him. We have said unto our souls, Look unto the hills whence cometh your help: your help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. Thus the heaven and the earth have become images to us of thy greatness, Judges 5:7.

We need the womanly element in the Church.—The mother is the soul of the family.—We cannot live upon hard law and severe discipline; there must always be a tender element in our education, for we are weak, and need the ministry of compassion and love.—We speak much about the fathers of the Church, and the fathers of the nation, and are apt to forget that the "mothers in Israel" have often been more heroic than the fathers, and that their very gentleness has become their strength in time of danger.—Whilst discouraging some aspects of what are termed sisterhoods, and whilst deprecating what is known as the worship of the Virgin Mother, we should seek for the truth which underlies all this womanly ministry.—Many could serve the Church by miracles of love, patience, compassion, and encouragement, whose voice could never be heard on public questions.—Every woman can at least be "a mother in Israel" within the limits of her own family.—She is not called upon to be a theologian, a scholar, a pedant, a source of alarm to the ignorant and the incompetent, but she is called upon to be compassionate, sympathetic, and encouraging.—It is a mistake to suppose that the Church is either a drill-ground or a school alone.—It is a house, a home, a nursery; it is a place of healing, education, and comfort; many a strong man would be the better if to all his strength he added a touch of tenderness.—Beautiful is the service of mothers in the Church of Christ.—They can speak with an influence all their own, absolutely indisputable, even by the most learned and eloquent men.—They know how to whisper to sorrow, how to touch weakness without burdening it, how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.—All womanly influence in the Church and in the family should be abundantly and gratefully encouraged.

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"There were great searchings of heart."— Judges 5:16.

These searchings are always wanted.—We gain in solidity by such scrutiny.—It is impossible to live long and satisfactorily upon mere appearances, or upon vain hopes that all will turn out right at the last.—There is a great lack of heart-work in the Church and in the individual.—We are to search into causes of absence from the field of danger, of abatement of zeal and enthusiasm, and of every form of unbelief.—The great court of inquiry is the heart rather than the intellect.—We can never get at foundations and realities until we have pierced the region of motive, the region of secret and unconfessed purpose.—We should judge others less than we judge ourselves.—Let every man put to himself the penetrating question, What have I done, or what have I left undone; and why is the case so, either on the one side or the other?—Let there be no fault-finding with other people; let there be no self-sparing.—Force the question to its uttermost extent, and be severer with yourself than with other men.—All this may mean bitterness, pain, disappointment, and shame, but in the long run it will mean healing, inspiration, strength, and renewed encouragement. "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins."—If we say we have no sin, we are liars.—Our sins are transgressions of the heart, and until the heart itself is cleansed the hands never can be pure.—Let every man examine himself.—Let every man hold the candle of the Lord over the secrets of his heart.