Such was the general prostration and terror that, as had already been the case in the days of Shamgar, thehighways were unoccupied, and the travellers stole from place to place by crooked, tortuous by-paths (Judg. v. 6). Village life ceased in Israel, and the peasantry, abandoning the cultivation of the ground, retired for refuge to the walled towns. But even here they were not secure. There was war in the gates, the place usually devoted to the administration of justice, and even in the places of drawing water the noise of the archers could be heard twanging their terrible bows (Judg. v. 8, 11). No resistance could be offered, for according to a common policy (1 Sam. xiii. 19–22) there had been a general disarmament of the people, and not a spear or shield was to be seen among forty thousand in Israel (Judg. v. 8). The spirit of the nation was completely crushed, and the second Jabin and Sisera his captain carried on unchecked for upwards of 20 years those measures, whereby they reduced the Israelites to a condition of degrading servitude (Judg. iv. 3).
At length, however, a Deliverer appeared. Under a solitary palm-tree in the mountain-range of Ephraim between Ramah and Bethel, lived a prophetess named Deborah, who was or had been the wife of Lapidoth. In the failure of all other leaders she was now regarded by the oppressed people with the utmost reverence, and they went up to her for judgment (Judg. iv. 5). Like Joan of Arc in after times, her whole soul was fired with indignation at the sufferings endured by her people, and at length from Kadesh-naphtali, a City of Refuge, not far from Jabin’s capital (Josh. xx. 7; xxi. 32), and therefore peculiarly animated with hostility to the oppressor, she summoned Barak[184] (lightning) the son of Abinoam. On the strength of a Divine commission, she then enjoined him to gather 10,000 men from his own and the neighbouring tribe of Zebulun to thegreen summit of Tabor[185], and promised to draw to the river Kishon in the plain of Esdraelon the great captain of Jabin’s army with his chariots and his host, and there deliver them into his hand. Barak declined to undertake the arduous enterprise, unless the Prophetess promised to accompany him. To this she assented, but distinctly warned him that the expedition would not be for his honour; as he was thus willing to lean upon a woman’s aid, so into the hands of a woman would the Lord deliver the leader of his enemy’s forces.
Leaving her seat of judgment, Deborah then accompanied Barak to Kedesh, and he employed himself in rousing his own tribe of Naphtali and that of Zebulun to join in the insurrection. Having at length gathered 10,000 men around his standard he marched, still attended by the Prophetess, to the high places of Tabor. There he was joined by portions of other tribes, whom the influence of Deborah had roused to take part in the great struggle, consisting of the princes of Issachar, a body of Ephraimites, and detachments from Benjamin and north-eastern Manasseh (Judg. v. 14, 15). Other tribes, however, came not thus zealously to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Of the two maritime tribes, Dan on the south clung to his ships in the port of Joppa, and Asher forgat the perils of his fellows in the creeks and harbours of his Phœnician allies (Judg. v. 17). The name of Judah is not even mentioned among the patriot forces. Amongst the tribes across the Jordan great was the debate as to the course to be pursued. Reuben preferred to abide secure among his sheepfolds[186], and to listen to the bleating of his flocks, and Gad to linger beyond Jordan in his grassy uplands (Judg. v. 17). But amidst the wavering of many hearts, Zebulun and Naphtali remained firm, and prepared to jeopardize their lives unto the death on the high places of Tabor (Judg. v. 18).
Meanwhile certain of the Kenites[187], who had separated from the rest of their tribe in the hill country of Judah (Judg. i. 16), and now dwelt under the oaks of Zaanaim[188] near Kedesh, informed Sisera of the sudden movement of Barak towards Tabor (Judg. iv. 11, 12). Thereupon, without delay he gathered all his forces, and encamped on the level plain of Esdraelon, between the friendly towns of Taanach and Megiddo[189], where he was also joined by other Canaanite chiefs anxious to quell the sudden insurrection (Judg. v. 3, 19).
At length the heroic Deborah gave the encouraging command to Barak, Up, for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand. Probably long before it was light[190] the camp of Barak’s little army was struck, and the patriot tribes rapidly descending the winding mountain-path fell upon the hosts of Sisera and threw them into wild confusion. As they fled in utter dismay along the plain, not only the troops of Barak, but the stars in their courses (Judg. v. 20), the elements of heaven, began to fight againstthe Canaanites. A furious storm of rain and hail[191] gathered from the east, and bursting right in their faces, rendered useless the bows of their archers[192], and swelled into a mighty torrent the rivulets, springs, and spongy marshes near Megiddo. Before long the ancient torrent of the Kishon (twisted or winding) rose in its bed, and the plain became an impassable morass[193]. The chariots of Sisera were now utterly useless. The hoofs of the horses vainly plunging in the tenacious mud and swollen streams were broken by means of their pransings (Judg. v. 22). The torrent of the Kishon, now rushing fast and furious, swept them away, and the strength of the Canaanites was trodden down. Stuck fast, entangled, overwhelmed they could not stand for a moment before the avenging Barak, and not a man made good his escape to the city of their great leader, Harosheth of the Gentiles, before their pursuers had smitten them with the edge of the sword (Judg. iv. 16).
Meantime, while his mother and her attendants were vainly awaiting the return of his triumphal chariot (Judg. v. 28), Sisera himself fled away on foot to the friendly tribe of Heber the Kenite beneath the oaks of Zaanaim, where he hoped for safety from his remorseless pursuers. After a while he drew near the tent of Jael, Heber’s wife, and chieftainess of the tribe. She herself had descried him approaching, and went forth to meet him. Turn in, my lord, said she, turn in to me, fear not. And he turned in, and she covered him with a rug or blanket (Judg. iv. 18). Spent and weary, before he lay down, he asked for a little water to drink; but she gave him something better than water. She opened the skin bottle of milk, such as always stands by Arab tents, she brought forth butter, or “thick curdled milk” in a lordly dish[194], or the bowl used for illustrious strangers, and covered him again with the rug.
Thus doubly assured of hospitality Sisera bade her deny his presence if any enquired after him, and then laid him down and slept. But as she stood at the tent-door, other thoughts than those of kindness towards the slumbering chief came over Jael. At length taking one of the wooden sharp-pointed tent-nails in one hand and a mallet in the other, she went softly unto him, and smote him with such force that the nail entered into his temples, and fastened his head to the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary, and so he died. Meanwhile the pursuing Barak drew near. Him too Jael went forth to meet, and taking him within, showed him his terrible foe, the captain of the nine hundred iron chariots, lying dead upon the ground, with the nail driven through his temples.
Thus on that day, as the Prophetess had said, God delivered Sisera into the hand of a woman. Together she and Barak returned from the battle-field, and chanted responsively a sublime Triumphal Hymn, celebratingthe recent victory over the northern Canaanites, which now secured to the land rest for 40 years (Judg. v.).