Barak, however, was not always weak. As soon as he had recovered himself from the surprise of the unexpected call to lead the little army of ten thousand against the myriads of Sisera, he consented on condition that the courageous Deborah go with him. By this timidity he lost not a little of the honor that he might have won, and his sharp and penetrating leader plainly told him that the victory should not be wholly to his credit, for God should deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman; and so there were really two women in this struggle for liberty, and Barak was sandwiched in between them. With Deborah in front, and Jael in the rear, and Barak in the midst, even poor, weak Barak became one of the heroes of faith who shine in the constellation of eternal stars, upon which the Holy Spirit has turned the telescope of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. How the inspiring faith of Deborah must have nerved Barak for heroic action. Her message to him is all alive with the very spirit and innermost essence of the faith that counts the things that are not as though they were. “Up,” she cries, as she rouses him by a trumpet call from his timorous inactivity; “for this is the day,” she adds, as she shakes him out of his procrastination, “in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand.” She goes on to say, as she reckons upon the victory as already won, “Is not the Lord gone out before thee?” She concludes, as she commits the whole matter into Jehovah’s hands, and bids him simply follow on and take the victory that is already given. Is it possible for faith to speak in plainer terms, or language to express with stronger emphasis the imperative mood or the present tense of that victorious faith, for which nothing is impossible? Again, we have here the lesson of mutual service. This victory was not all won by any single individual, but God linked together as He loves always to do, many co-operating instruments and agents in the accomplishment of His will. There was Deborah representing the spirit of faith and of prophecy. There was Barak representing obedience and executive energy. There were the people that willingly offered themselves; the volunteers of faith. There were the yet nobler hosts of Zebulun, and Naphtali, that jeoparded their lives unto the death, the martyrs who are the crowning glory of every great enterprise. And there was Jael, the poor heathen woman away out on the frontiers of Israel, who gave the finishing touch, and struck the last blow through the temples of the proud Sisera, while high above all were the forces of nature, and the unseen armies of God’s providence; for the stars in their courses fought against Sisera, and the flood of the Kishon rolled down in mountain torrents and swept the astonished foe away.