Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel. The clouds also dropped water. The mountains quailed at the presence of the Lord, Even yon Sinai at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel. In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, The villages were unoccupied in Israel, they were unoccupied Until that thou Deborah arose, thou arose a mother in Israel. They chose new gods; Then was war in the gates: Shield was not seen, nor spear Among forty thousand in Israel. My heart is toward the governors of Israel, That offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lord. Tell of it, ye that ride on white asses, Ye that sit upon carpets, Ye too that but walk by the way. Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, The righteous acts of His governance in Israel. Then came down to the gates the people of the Lord. Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, utter a song: And lead thy captors captive, thou son of Abinoam. The people of the Lord came down for me against the strong. 10 From Ephraim came down they whose root is in Amalek; After thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples; Out of Machir came down governors, And out of Zebulun they that handle the marshal's staff. As was Issachar, so was Barak. By the watercourses of Reuben were there great searchings of heart. Why satest thou among the sheepfolds? To hear the bleatings of the flocks! By the watercourses of Reuben were there great searchings of heart. Gilead abode on the other side of Jordan; And Dan, why did he remain in ships? And abode by his creeks. Zebulun is a people that jeoparded his life unto the death, And Naphtali upon the high places of the field. The kings came; they fought; Then fought the kings of Canaan, In Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; Gain of money took they none! They fought from heaven. The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river Kishon swept them away, That ancient river, the river Kishon. March on, my soul, with might. Then did the horsehoofs stamp, By the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones. Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; 10. See Note 25, Outline Study. Because they came not to the help of the Lord, The wife of Heber the Kenite, Above women in the tent shall she be blessed. She brought him butter in a lordly dish. And her right hand to the workmen's hammer; She smote through his head, And she pierced and struck through his temples. At her feet he bowed, he fell: Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. Through the window she gazed forth, and cried, Yea, she returned answer to herself, Surely they have found, they have divided the spoil; A damsel, two damsels to every man ; A spoil of divers colours for Sisera, A spoil of divers colours of needlework, Of divers colours two pieces of needlework for the neck of the queen. So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord: But let them that love Him Be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years. Study Outline Study, Note 24. XVII THE STORY OF GIDEON (Judges vi-vii) Introductory Note.-Israel was now exposed to the ravages of a swarm of raiders from the Arabian deserts. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers' for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. 1. The swarms of grasshoppers or locusts which devour growing grain are among the greatest pests of the arid lands of the East. And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them:-"Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land; and I said unto you, I am the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed My voice." And there came an angel2 of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him:-"The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour." And Gideon said unto him:-"Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites." And the Lord looked upon him, and said:-"Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?" 2. Literally "messenger." The idea seems to have been that these beings were the word or purpose of the Lord in bodily form. |