The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1892-11-15
A WOMAN'S TREACHERY.
SYNOPSIS of An Able Sermon
by Rev. A. Allen.

times he delivers finished dlscourses,
but when he breaches extempore a.
he did last night his sermons are forci-
BILE and attractive. His text was:
"Blessed above women shall Jael, the
wife of IIeber. the kenite be: blessed shall
she be above all women in the tent"
Judges V: n.
Mr.. Allen began his discourse with
a beautiful word picture of the condi-
ton of the land of Israel and Of the
four actors in the drama given in this
chapter. There were two men and
two women Sisera, merel V tool and
in the end the victim, and Barak, the
Israelite, acted but small parts. The
victory of God WAS not given To men,
but placed in the hand of a woman.
Deborah was the most striking person.
age in the whole history. She
sat in judgement and TO her
the tribes came She bids Barak take
his 10, 900 men and swoop down upon
Sisera, and after the battle it is De
bOrah who bleSses and curses, praises
and blames. She gave one curse and
one blessing. \ curse to Meroz be-
cause that village failed to send help
in time of need and blessing for ,Jael
the wife of Heber the kenite.
The kenites were Bedouin Arabs
and dwelt close by the Israelites.
There is time in each one of our
lives when a crisis comes to us, a
crisis which changes our whole after
lives. Sisera, in confusion had rushed
away from the battle field. He spies
the tent of Jael, and as there was
peace between him and the kenites
he seeks refuge there. Jael welcomes
him. He lays down in peace with as
surance of safety.
Then Jael rises up. ''She put her
hand to the nail and her right hand
to the workmen's hammer; and with
the hammer she smote Sisera, she
smote off his head, when she had
pierced and stricken through his tenn
pies"
Just here the question of our moral
accountability to God arises. Sisera
had asked and had been promised
protection. He was asleep at her feet.
Jael treacherously murders him. Yet
she is blessed by God.
Opponents to the Bible Use this
passage of scripture as an argu-
ment against its inspiration. What
does that blessing involve and how
are we to consider JaePs act? Are We
to Judge this passage as critic to de-
eide if it is inspired or uninspired To
do SO makes us superior to the bible
We are not learners but critics and if
We can so look upon this book then
cease to call il THE bible, the book of
books.
Let us consider how Deborah looked
upon the act. The saw Sisera as the
enemy of God belonging to race sen
fenced to determination race noted
for its idolatry and cruelty.
The blessing was relative one.
BLESSED not above all women
but above all women in the
tent" Blessed above other women of
the desert who had learned but little
of God. Little idea had Jael of God
or his justice.
Deborah was also thinking of the
towards of Israel who had refused to
and in the battle and she contrasts
their conduct with that of this poor
ignorant woman dwelling upon the
borders of civilization.
If we know the will of God and do
it not we forfeit the blessing which
even the heather receive. God is a
God of perfect justice. And 50 in
this chapter, instead of challenge and
menace to our faith we
find an example of his answering
justice. Note the perfect equity of
Deborah, she knew what little Oppor-
tunity this poor woman had to know
God. She had caught one ray of
light shining down from heaven and
had risen to receive it. But she was
still the child of the desert. She acted
upon the instincts of her wild race.
Judged As the act of Jew or Il
christian if would have been unjusti-
fable, judged by Arab law it was just.
There Is lesson in this for us. How
often we judge Others by standard
of which they have no knowledge
We condemn their faults and fail To
credit their good.
The presence of unsupported evil
does not move God Ia reject our work
1t is all imperfect. God blessed the
one who did just what she could. No
matter how great our imperiection,
how deeply stained are our garments
with sin, we may sit down in his pres
enee in the pure, unsullied robes of
his Righteousness.
ha,ar tn, The