_Then sang Deborah and Barak._ LEADERS WHO LEAD This is far better given in the Revised Version: “For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, for that the people offered themselves willingly, bless ye the Lord.” The poetess gives two reasons why her enterprise was successful. I. The first reason... [ Continue Reading ]
_Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive._ MAGNIFICAT 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 t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Curse ye Meroz _. .. _ because they came not to the help of the Lord._ THE DOOM OF MEROZ I. The sin of the men of meroz is described in very remarkable terms, although we have grown so familiar with them as scarce perhaps to notice their strange character: “They came not to the help of the Lord.”... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed above women shall Jael _. .. _ be._ THE BLESSING OF JAEL And whose lips are they which pronounce this blessing? Indeed, it is Deborah the prophetess who sings this song; it is Deborah, by whom God spake, who gives utterance to this strain. It is clear that, revolting as her action appears... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why is his chariot so long in coming?_ why tarry the wheels of his chariots? THE DELAYED CHARIOT The language of this hoping, yet half-despairing and disconsolate mother, has been, I presume, the language of multitudes some time or other in the stern fight of existence and the moral campaign of c... [ Continue Reading ]
_So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord._ THE IMPRECATIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT I have chosen this verse rather than any detailed utterances from the imprecations that are found in the imprecatory Psalms, because I believe it contains the key that will enable us to solve the inner meaning and the... [ Continue Reading ]