The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-01-09
In The Religious World

hour Of deliverance. The arrogance
and high-handedness Of the Canaan
ties grew worse and worse. The very
national life Of Israel was threatened.
All the while the alliance of the Jews
grew stronger. This wonderful wo-
man bound to herself. by confidence
in her judgment and patriotism, the
natural leaders Of her people.
At last the hour struck for which
the atriots had prayed and prepared.
Deborah sent the word to brave Ba-
rak, up in Kedesh-Naphtali, to rally
the ten thousand true men OF Naph-
tall and Zebulun to Mt. Tabor, and
shc would by means not divulged,
draw forth Sisera to battle and de-
feat.
Right here Barak proved himself
man Of first grade. for he was will
ling to take second place. He agreed
to the plan proposed. provided only
that Deborah herself would lead the
host into battle. This meant resign
ing the glory of the defeat Of Sisera
into a woman's hand. But Barak was
tt sort of true patriot who puts the
common cause above personal glory.
Barak realized that the host would
follow famous Deborah. whom they
knew as the oracle of God She. to
be utterly fair to him. with frank
words. reminded the leader Of the ten
thousand that he was relinquishing
into the hands of a woman the credit
for a memorable victory. Sisera's de-
feat was sure, and famous would be
that leader before whom he should
fall. Barak was willing to have his
own fame obscured. IF thereby the
enemy of his people might be con-
quered.
COwardly Captain and a Cruel Woman
War. our saddened hearts now real
ize, is not very different today from
what it has always been, except that
1t is somewhat more deadly. The
clash OF man with man. in a struggle
OF death, is essentially the same in
France and Poland today as it was
when the host of Deborah and Barak
swept down from symmetrical Tabor
upon the chariots and horsemen of
Sisera in the great plain of Esdrae-
lon below.
BY some providence which is not
made clear THE Lord discounted
Sisera and all his chariots," and the
Israelites were given a complete and
overwhelming victory. Evidently
from the Song of Deborah, the river
Kishon, a trifiing stream ordinarily.
overfiowed it's banks in a sudden storm
and the chariots were enguMed or so
sorely hindered that they could not
fight.
AS for the famous captain of the
Canaanites. Sisera proved himself
somewhat less than a hero. Instead
of staying by his troops to the end,
and dying like brave general. he
slipped out from the melee and sought
to save his own life by ignominious
flight. History is full of shameful cpl
sodes like this. of great leaders. who.
In crisis. prove pusillanimous, priz-
ing their own safety above honor and
duty. Sisera's message to the youth
or today is to learn to die nobly,
rather than to live cowardly.
Had he died or been captured like
brave soldier Sisera would have es-
capped the tgnominiOus end which was
his. fate like that of a wild animal
In his flight he came to a Bedouin en-
campment. The tents were those of
party of neutral Kenites. The men
were all absent, and the rigid et.-
quette of the time and the people de-
manded that Sisera should pass by the
unprotected households. In his un-
manly terror. he committed the folly
and offense of seeking to hide in the
women's quarters of Heber's tent.
Jael, the wife, quick of wit, resorted
TO guile. She welcomed him, fed him
from the goatskin full of curdled milk
and when he fell swiftly into the sleep
OF utter exhaustion, she slew him.
A foul deed was Jaers. Clever
commentators have tried to explain
away. on the ground of Sisera's vio-
iation OF the desert code. and on the
OASIS of Jael's loyalty to Israel. her
cruel and monstrous act. in driving a
tent peg through the temple Of the
sleeping guest. We know that the
orient does not have our standards of
fair fight; have seen men scratch
ing, biting or kicking each other: and
we also know that cruelty IL COM
moner in the east. Nevertheless, the
deed was fiendish, even II it did serve
the welfare of the chosen people, and
consummate the victory OF Barak.
Making all allowance for the stand
ARDS OF the times. there are some acts
tnat cannot be condoned; exactly as all
the subtle apolog;sts In Europe can
NOT explain away certain undOubted
onenses against civilization in the
present war.
The Battle Song OF Victory.
Like SO much of the Bible, the Song
OF Deborah Is best interpreted in the
nght OF the usages of the east. Once,
down along the Tigris river, l had put
TO confusion petty Turkish oflicial,
and my old raftsman Il called him
Hamlet, because he was such a mel
ancholy Dance lifted up his cracked
voice and in a long and boa stful reci-
tative sang the triumph as IL il had
Deen one OF Alexander's victories That
- the custom in Bible lands today. a
Tor thousands of years past. Every
Arab skirmish produces q crop Of epicS.