November 12

Judges v. - 1. Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,

2. Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.

4. Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.

5. The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.

6. In the days of Shamgar the son of Anach, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through by-ways.

7. The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

19. The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taumach by the waters of Megiddo: they took no gain of money.

20. They fought from heaven: the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

21. The River of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the River Kishon. O my soul! thou hast trodden down strength.

22. Then were the horse-hooks broken by the means of the prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones.

23. Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because

they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

24. Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kente be; blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

25. He asked water, and she gave him milk: she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

26. 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 temples.

27. At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down; at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

28. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?

29. Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself.

30. Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey? to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colors, a prey of divers colors of needle-work, of divers colors of needle-work on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?

31. So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord! but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

After the death of Joshua, the want of a strong central government; and of a recognized leader soon made itself to it. The tribes which had moved together as one camp, and had fought as one compact army, now assumed a local independence which tended to draw them apart. Some of them affiliated with the native population, and even adopted their gods. To the north, the Canaanites, yet unsubdued, kept up a border warfare; and a famous general, Sisera, made himself such a terror, that villages were abandoned, and the highways deserted. He threatened to overrun the whole country. In this state of things, a woman of poetic and prophetic gifts rallied her countrymen to make a stand. The two armies met in the great Plain of Jezreel, or Esdrachion. This plain stretches across Central Palestine, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. On the north it is bounded by the hills of Galilee, on

the south by Carmel; and toward the east it is divided into forks by Little Hermon and the mountains of Gilboa. On the northern fork stands Mount Tabor, where Barak gathered his troops. As these swept down upon the enemy, a terrific storm scattered the hosts of Sisera; and multitudes were drowned in the River Kishon, which, under a sudden rain, rises rapidly to a great flood. Sisera, fleeing, took refuge in the tent of Jael, who drove a tent-pin through his head as he lay asleep. The grandeur of the tempest—the heavens in array against the enemy—is followed by a touching and most womanly picture of the mother of Sisera awaiting his triumphant return. The curse upon those Israelitish cities that refused to help their brethren is a perpetual warning to the sluggish and time-serving in the Church.

APPROPRIATE HYMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 56, 85, 101.

O Lord God! our fathers trusted in thee, and were not ashamed; and in thy love we would confide for ever and ever. In health and in sickness, in hope and in sorrow, in enjoyment and in suffering, we would look up to the hills, whence cometh our help; and we pray that we may have the perfect peace of those whose minds are stayed upon the Lord.

We thank thee for the mercies of another night, and for the goodness thou hast provided with the opening day. The sun has spread its light over the world; the earth is bringing forth renewed

supplies of good. We bless thee, O Lord! for all thy gifts, and pray thee be merciful to us in our renewed wants, and visit us with thy salvation. Continue to us, we entreat thee, the gifts of thy providence; and pour upon us the blessings of thy grace. Go forth with us, O Lord! to the engagements, the trials, the duties, and the pleasures which await us to-day. Oh! keep us from evil and sin. Bless all who are dear to us by any tie; all who are in any want, trouble, or sorrow. Deliver thy Church in her conflicts, and hasten the final triumph of thy kingdom, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.