Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1894-02-01


Sisera looked out at a window
Spiked to the ground of Jaels tent
Law the dead commander-in-chief of the
Canaanitish host Gen. Sisera, not far
from the river Kishon, which was only
dry bed of pebbles when in 1889. in
Palestine, we crossed it, but the gullies
and ravines which ran into it indicated
the possibility of great freshets like
the one at the time of the text Gen
sisera had gone out with nine hum
dred iron ehariots. but he was de-
feated, and his chariot wheels inter
locked with the wheels of other
chariots, he could not retreat fast
enough, so he leaped to the ground and
ran till, exhausted, he went into Jael 5
tent for safety. She had Just been
ehurning and when he asked for
water She gave him buttermilk, which
in the east is considered most refresh
ing drink. Very tired and supposing
he was safe. he went to sleep upon the
floor, but Jael who had resolved upon
his death, took a tent pin, long and
round and sharp. in one hand, and a
hammer in her other hand, and putting
the sharp end of the tent pin to the
forehead of Sisera, with her other
hand she lifted the hammer and
brought it down on the head of the pin
with stout stro e, when Sisera strug-
pled TO rise, and she struck him again
and he struggled to rise, and the tn ri
time she struck him. and the com
mander-i n-chief of the Canaanitish host
lay dead.
Meanwhile in the distance Sisera' S
mother sits amid surroundings of
wealth and pomp and scenes palatial,
waiting for his return. Every mother
expects her son to be victorious, and
this mother looked out at the window
expecting to see him drive up in his
chariot, followed by wagons loaded
with embroideries, and also by regi-
ments of men vanquished and enslaved.
see her now sitting at the window,
in high expectation. She watches the
furthest turn of the road. She looks
for the flying dust of the swift hoofs.
The first flash of the bit of the horses
bride she will catch.
The ladies of her court stand round
and she tells them of what they shall
have when her son comes up-chains of
gold and carcanets of beauty and
dresses of such wondrous fabric and
splendor, as the Bible only hints at but
leaves us to imagine. HE ought to be
here by this time says his mother.
that battle is surely over | hope
that freshet of the river Kishon has
not impeded him. l hope those strange
appearances we saw last night in the
sky were not ominous, when the stars
seemed to fight in their courses No!
MOI he is so brave in battle know he
has won the day. He will soon be
here" But alas for the disappointed
mother; she will not see the glittering
head-gear of the horses at full gallop
bringing her son home from victorious
battle. As solitary messenger arriv-
ing in hot haste rides up to the window
at which the mother of Sisera sits, he
cries. "Your armies are defeated and
your son is dead. there is a scene of
horror and anguish from which we
turn away.
Now You see the full meaning of my
short text: THE mother of Sisera
looked out at a window" Well. my
friends, we are all out in the battle of
life; it is raging now. and the most of
US have a mother watching and wait
ing for news of our victory or defeat.
II she is not sitting at the window of
earth she is sitting at a window of
heaven, and she is going to hear all
about il.
BY all the rules of war Sisera ought
10 have been triumphant He had nine
hundred iron chariots and a host of
many thousands vaster than the armies
of Israel. But God was on the other
side; and the angry freshets of Kishon
and the hail, the lightning and the un-
manageable warehouses and the cap
sized chariots and the panic in the sky
discomfited Sisera- Josephus, in his
history, describes the scene in the fol-
lowing words: when they were come
70 a close fight there came down from
heaven a great storm with vast guam
tty of hail, and the wind blew the
rain in the face of the Canaanites. and
So darkened their eyes their arrows
and sings were of no advantage to
them, nor would the GOODNESS of the
air permit the soldiers to make use of
their swords; while this storm did not
So much incommode the Israelites. be-
cause it came on their backs. They
also took such courage upon the appre-
hension that God was assisting them
that they fell upon the very midst of
their enemies and slew a great number
Of them; so that some of them fell by
the lsraelites, some fell by their own
horses. which were put into disorder,
and not few were killed by their own
ehariots.''
Hence. my hearers, the bad news
brought to the mother of Sisera, look
ing out of the window. And our
mother, whether sitting at a window
OF earth or a window of heaven, will
hear the news of our victory or defeat
Not according to our talents or educa-
uonal equipment or our opportunities,
z i