RIVER KISHON AND MOUNT CARMEL
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood and used by special permission.
Esdraelon is usually regarded as one plain under one name from sea to Jordan. In reality, however, it is not one but several plains, more or less divided by the remains of ridges, which once upon a time sustained across it the continuity of "the backbone of Palestine." Thus, nine miles from the sea, near Tell el Kasis, the traditional site of the slaughter of the priests of Baal, a promontory of the Galilean hills shoots south to within a hundred yards of Carmel, leaving only that space for the Kishon to break through. Eight or nine miles farther east, at Lejjun, probably the ancient Megiddo, low ridges run out from both north and south, as if they had once met, and again leave Kishon but a narrow pass. And once more, between Jezreel and a spot west of Shunem, about twenty-four miles from the coast, there is a sudden fall of level eastwards, which visibly separates Esdraelon proper from the narrower valley sloping towards Jordan and is perhaps evidence of a former connection between Gilboa and Moreh.
They chose new gods;
Then was war in the gates:
Was there a shield or spear seen
Among forty thousand in Israel?
My heart is toward the governors of Israel,
That offered themselves willingly among the people:
Bless ye the Lord.
"Tell of it, ye that ride on white asses,
Ye that sit on rich carpets,
And ye that walk by the way.
Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water,
There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord,
Even the righteous acts of his rule in Israel.
Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates.
"Awake, awake, Deborah;
Awake, awake, sing a song:
Arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.
Then came down a remnant of the nobles and the people;
The Lord came down for me against the mighty.
Out of Ephraim came down they whose root is in Amalek;
After thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples;
Out of Machir came down governors,
And out of Zebulun they that handle the marshal's staff.
And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
As was Issachar, so was Barak;
Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet.
By the watercourses of Reuben
There were great resolves of heart.
Why satest thou among the sheepfolds, [{58}] To hear the pipings for the flocks?
At the watercourses of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart.
Gilead abode beyond Jordan:
And Dan, why did he remain in ships?
Asher sat still at the haven of the sea,
And abode by his creeks.
Zebulun was a people that jeoparded their lives to the death,
And Naphtali, upon the high places of the field.
"The kings came and fought;
Then fought the kings of Canaan,
In Taanach by the waters of Megiddo:
They took no gain of money.
They fought from heaven,
The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
The river Kishon swept them away,
That ancient river, the river Kishon.
O my soul, march on with strength.
Then did the horse hoofs stamp
By reason of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones.
"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.
"Blessed above women shall Jael be,
The wife of Heber the Kenite,
Blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
He asked water, and she gave him milk; [{59}] She brought him butter in a lordly dish.
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 through his head,
Yea, she pierced and struck through his temples.
At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay:
At her feet he bowed, he fell:
Where he bowed, there he fell down dead.
"Through the windows she looked forth, and cried,
The mother of Sisera cried through the lattice,
'Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the wheels of his chariots?'
Her wise ladies answered her,
Yea, she returned answer to herself,
'Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil?
A damsel, two damsels to every man;
To Sisera a spoil of dyed garments,
A spoil of dyed garments embroidered,
Of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the spoil?'
"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."
ESTHER
PERSONS OF THE STORY.
Ahasuerus, King of Persia.
Vashti, Queen of Ahasuerus, deposed by him.
Esther, Queen of Ahasuerus.
Mordecai, an officer of the Court.
Courtiers, officers, women of the harem, messengers.
PLACE OF THE STORY.