Sisera

“ So till the wan and early scent of day
We strove, and silent turned at last away,
Thinking how men in ages yet unborn
Would ask and answer—trust and doubt and pray.
[Pg 16]
JAEL
Jehovah! Jehovah! art Thou not stronger than gods of the heathen?
I slew him, that Sisera, prince of the host Thou dost hate.
But fear of his blood is upon me, about me is breathen
His spirit—by night and by day come voices that wait.
Athirst and affrightened he fled from the star-wrought waters of Kishon. ”

“ Conceive a man fleeing for his life as Sisera fled when he sought the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. To him that space of trampled sand, with the ragged black mouths above it, mean not only food and rest, but dear life itself. ”

“ Go, and you have drawn toward Mount Tabor, and have taken with you ten thousand men, out of the sons of Naphtali, and out of the sons of Zebulun, 7 and I have drawn to you, to the Brook of Kishon, Sisera, head of the host of Jabin, and his chariot, and his multitude, and have given him into your hand." 8 And Barak says to her, "If you go with me, then I have gone; and if you do not go with me, I do not go"; 9 and she says, "I certainly go with you; only, surely your glory is not on the way which you are going, for YHWH sells Sisera into the hand of a woman" ”

“ In this case Barak and his men had little to do but kill and pursue, and Sisera in order to escape, was obliged to abandon his chariot. There is no doubt all this was done by supernatural agency; God sent his angel and confounded them.
Verse 18
Jael went out to meet Sisera - He preferred the woman's tent because of secrecy; for, according to the etiquette of the eastern countries, no person ever intrudes into the apartments of the women. And in every dwelling the women have a separate apartment. ”

“ I smote thro' his temple the nail, to the dust a worm did I bind him.
My heart was a-leap with rage and a-quiver with scorn.
And I danced with a holy delight before and behind him—
I that am called blessed o'er all who're of Judah born.
"Aye, come, I will show thee, O Barak, a woman is more than a warrior,"
I cried as I lifted the door wherein Sisera lay.
[Pg 93] "To me did he fly and I shall be called his destroyer—
I, Jael, who am subtle to find for the Lord a way!"
"Above all the daughters of men be blest—of Gilead or Asshur,"
Sang Deborah, prophetess, under her waving palm. ”

“ Meanwhile Sisera, a coward at heart, more familiar with the parade ground than fit for the stern necessities of war, leaves his chariot and abandons his men to their fate, his own safety all his care. ”

“ So when Sisera left his unmanageable chariot and escaped from the battle on foot, he came to her tent worn out with the fatigue of the fight and flight, and she gave him the hospitality for which he begged; but while he was in the deep sleep of exhaustion, she drove a tent pin into his temple. His death made impossible the rallying of the host against God’s people. Better far that one man should die, than that thousands of both Hebrews and Syrians should fall on the battlefields of prolonged warfare. ”

“ Sinai.
5515 סִינִים (see-neem') : plural of an otherwise unknown name; Sinim, a distant Oriental region: Sinim.
5516 סִיסְרָא (see-ser-aw') : of uncertain derivation; Sisera, the name of a Canaanitish king and of one of the Nethinim: Sisera.
5517 סִיעָא (see-ah') : or Ciyeahai; from an unused root meaning to converse; congregation; Sia or Siaha, one of the Nethinim: Sia, Siaha.
5518 סִיר (seer) : or (feminine) ciyrah; or cirah (Jeremiah 52:18) ; from a primitive root meaning to boil up; a pot; also a thorn (as springing up rapidly) ”

“ We must not sin against God, no, not to oblige those we would show ourselves most observant of. Lastly, We must suppose she kept her tent as quiet as she could, and free from noise, that he might sleep the sooner and the faster. And now was Sisera least safe when he was most secure. How uncertain and precarious is human life! and what assurance can we have of it, when it may so easily be betrayed by those with whom it is trusted, and those may prove its destroyers who we hoped would be its protectors! It is best making God our friend, for he will not deceive us. ”

“ She instructs the people in the law and testimony of the living God, and inspires them with more than a common enthusiasm to go with Barak against the mighty host of Canaan. They go forth, and are victorious, completely routing the enemy. Sisera, the commander-in-chief of the great army of Jabin, is slain by the hand of woman! The mighty arm of the Lord of Hosts is seen in this conflict, for Jehovah has no attribute that will take sides with the oppressor! ”

“ Did Barak kill Sisera? 8. Who did kill Sisera? 9. Why was not Barak allowed to kill Sisera? 10. Whom ought he to have trusted to? 11. Who will always help us if we are not afraid to do as we are told?
THIRD READING.
"They chose new gods; then was war in the gates."—Judges 5:8.
THE Israelites never kept long from sinning and setting up idols; and, by-and-by, God let a set of robbers, called Midianites, come in and burn their crops and houses, drive away their cattle, and steal their children for slaves.
Then the Israelites were sorry, and prayed to God to save them. ”

“ O, my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. She did it by exciting others to do it, and assisting them, which she did with all her heart. Also by her prayers; as Moses conquered Amalek by lifting up his hand, so Deborah vanquished Sisera by lifting up her heart. And when the soul is employed in holy exercises, and heart-work is made of them, through the grace of God the strength of our spiritual enemies will be trodden down and will fall before us.
3. In this great engagement she observes who stood neuter, and did not side with Israel as might have been expected. ”

“ So they collected ten thousand men, and pitched their camp at Mount Tabor, where, at the king's command, Sisera met them, and pitched his camp not far from the enemy; whereupon the Israelites, and Barak himself, were so aftrighted at the multitude of those enemies, that they were resolved to march off, had not Deborah retained them, and commanded them to fight the enemy that very day, for that they should conquer them, and God would be their assistance. ”

“ Tabor. But Sisera marches south to Kishon, and after his defeat flees north through Israelite territory, past Hazor to the neighbourhood of Kadesh. His death, moreover, is differently described (iv. 21, v. 25-27) , and Jael “who with inhospitable guile smote Sisera sleeping” (Milton) is guilty of an act which has possibly originated from a misunderstanding of the poem. In the prose narrative Jabin has nothing to do with the fight, whereas in Josh. xi. he is at the head of an alliance of north Canaanite kings who were defeated by Joshua at the waters of Merom. ”

“ When the remnant of the nobles and the people come down—that remnant of brave and faithful men never wanting to Israel—the Lord comes down with them, their Guide and Strength. Meroz is cursed because the inhabitants do not go forth to the help of Jehovah. And finally there is glorying over Sisera because he is an enemy of Israel's Unseen King. There is trust, there is devotion, but no largeness of spiritual view.
We must, however, remember that a song full of the spirit of battle and the gladness of victory cannot be expected to breathe the ideal of religion. ”

“ The last scene paints the mother of Sisera impatiently awaiting the king. Her attendants confidently picture him dividing the booty—a maiden or two for each man, and richly embroidered cloth for himself. With inimitable strength the poet suddenly drops the curtain—“so perish thine enemies, all of them, Yahweh! But let them that love him be as the sun when it rises in its might.”
The historical background of this great event is unknown. The Israelite confederation consists of central Palestine with the (east-Jordanic) Machir, and the northern tribes with the exception of Dan and Asher. ”

“ The children of Israel, at the end of a hundred and fifty years, find themselves cruelly oppressed by the most powerful of the Kings of the conquered but not extirpated race. God promises deliverance: and Deborah is raised up to organize the resistance against Jabin, "the captain of whose host was Sisera." ”

“ It was notoriety, however, with a difference, as compared with hers--less incense-like and intoxicating, though perhaps more tonic.
The Hebrew prophetess makes it the culmination of Sisera's overthrow that he, a warrior, should have been done to death by a woman; and even for the non-combatant there is something ungrateful to manly pride in owing life to a member of the weaker sex. The debt is too heavy to be repaid; and it is conventionally settled that obligation between the sexes should lie the other way. ”

“ Verses 29-30Verses 29-30
The princesses in attendance upon Sisera's mother sought to console her with the remark, that Sisera would have to gather together rich booty, and that his return was delayed in consequence. In the expression “the wisest of her princesses” (see Ges. §119, 2) , the irony is very obvious, as the reality put all their wise conjectures to shame. תּעננּה, third pers. plur. fem. for תּענינה. The second hemistich of Jdg 5:29 contains a clause inserted as a parenthesis. אף־היא is adversative: “but she;” ”

“ Many said: "Why should we go up and help your people? Suppose Sisera wins, he will come and punish us. We will stay here where we are safe." Even the Reubenites, whose first resolves had been so brave, changed their minds, and "stayed in their sheepfolds, listening to the pipings of the flocks."
The battle by the Kishon River.—After many weeks of tramping, however, Deborah was able to get a few of the tribes really organized. Ephraim, Benjamin, Naphtali, Zebulun, Issachar, and some smaller clans all promised to send troops and did send them. ”

“ According to the prose version (iv. 17-22) , Jael slew Sisera while he was asleep with a tent-pin, which she drove into his temple. [The text of Judges v. 24-27 does not seem to warrant the view that he was slain “in the act of drinking,” nor does it seem to conflict with Judges iv. 11.- -Tr.]
This exploit was commemorated in a song, the composition of which is attributed to Deborah and Barak: “For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, for that the people offered themselves willingly, bless ye the Lord. Hear, O ye kings, give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord ”

“ God's judgments are a great deep. The instrument of this execution was a nail of the tent, that is, one of the great pins with which the tent, or the stakes of it, were fastened. They often removing their tents, she had been used to drive these nails, and therefore knew how to do it the more dexterously on this great occasion. He that thought to destroy Israel with his many iron chariots is himself destroyed with one iron nail. Thus do the weak things of the world confound the mighty. See here Jael's glory and Sisera's shame. ”

“ The Sibyl speaks of the true God, to love whom brings blessing. The ungodly triumph for a while, as Assyria, Media, Phrygia, Greece, and Egypt had triumphed. Jerusalem will fall, and the Temple perish in flames, but retribution will follow, the earth will be desolated by the divine wrath, the race of men and cities and rivers will be reduced to smoky dust, unless moral amendment comes betimes. Then the Sibyl’s note changes into a prophecy of Messianic judgment and bliss. ”

“ Chisera, we have had peace now at Sagharawite so many summers that scarcely a man of us besides myself has seen battle; also we are a little outnumbered. Have you thought, Chisera, what will come to Sagharawite if we go out under an untried leader?
The Chisera
What will come will be as the gods determine. What reason have you to think they will favor you more than Simwa?
Padahoon
It is my experience, Chisera, that the gods are inclined to the better man. ”

“ But a bold woman, summoning her fainting strength, bracing her trembling knee, stepped a little up the hillside to fling high her hand as a sign—Rebecca Frankl, celebrated now through Israel as the elect of the sibyl Estrella; and at that signal the congregation, gazing keenly into heaven, lifted up their voice in meek song, singing the sibyl's “Hymn to the Messiah”:
“The oceans trudge and tire their soul, desiring Thee; and night-winds homeless roam with dole, reproaching Thee; the clouds aspire, and find no goal, and gush for Thee, reproaching Thee.” ”

“ Thebes was built by a colony of Ethiopians from Sirè, the city of Seir, or the Dog Star. Diodorus Siculus says, that the Greeks, by putting O before Siris, had made the word unintelligible to the Egyptians: Siris, then, was Osiris; but he was not the Sun, no more than he was Abraham, nor was he a real personage. He. was Syrius, or the dog-star, designed under the figure of a dog, because of the warning he gave to Atbara, where the first observations were made at his heliacal rising, or his disengaging himself from the rays of the fun, sso as to be visible to the naked eye. ”

“ In heathen antiquity, the Sibyl was an inspired prophetess whose mysterious oracles concerned the destinies of cities and nations. These oracles enjoyed high esteem among the cultivated Greeks, and, in the second century B. C. E., some Alexandrian Jews made use of them to recommend Judaism to the heathen world. In the Jewish Sibylline books the religion oi Israel is presented as a hope and a threat; a menace to those who refuse to follow the better life, a promise of salvation to those who repent. ”