Bible -- Commentaries; Bible -- Feminist criticism; Women in the Bible
The song of Deborah and Barak, in their triumph over Sisera, has been
sung in cathedrals and oratorios and celebrated in all time for its
beauty and pathos. The great generals did not forget in the hour of
victory to place the crown of honor on the brow of Jael for
what they considered a great deed of heroism. Jael imagined herself in
the line of her duty and specially called by the Lord to do this
service for his people.
Nations make their ideal gods like unto themselves. At this period He
was the God of battles. Though He had made all the tribes, we hope, to
the best of His ability; yet He hated all, the sacred fabulist tells
us, but the tribe of Israel, and even they were objects of His
vengeance half the time. Instead of Midianites and Philistines, in our
day we have saints and sinners, orthodox and heterodox, persecuting
each other, although you cannot distinguish them in the ordinary walks
of life. They are governed by the same principles in the exchanges and
the marts of trade.
E. C. S.
Judges v.
Then sang Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, on that day, saying,
2 Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people
willingly offered themselves.
3 Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I will sing unto
the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
4 Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the
field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds
also dropped water.
5 The mountains melted from before the Lord even that Sinai from
before the Lord God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the
highways were unoccupied and the travellers walked through byways.
7 The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until
that I, Deborah, arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.
The woman who most attracts our attention in the Book of judges is
Deborah, priestess, prophetess, poetess and judge. What woman is there
in modern or in ancient history who equals in loftiness of position, in
public esteem and honorable distinction this gifted and heroic Jewish
creation? The writer who compiled the story of her gifts and deeds must
have had women before him who inspired him with such a wonderful
personality. How could Christianity teach and preach that women should
be silent in the church when already among the Jews equal honor was
shown to women? The truth is that Christianity has in many instances
circumscribed woman's sphere of action, and has been guilty of great
injustice toward the whole sex.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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