Shamgar HOW SHAMGAR WITH HIS OX-GOAD DELIVERED ISRAEL And after him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad: and he also delivered Israel. - Judges 3:31. Photograph by W. A. Pottenger expressly for The Book of Life The farmer has yoked an ox and an ass for his plowing. He uses still the wooden plow of his ancestors which makes a very shallow furrow. This primitive method of agriculture accounts in some degree for the poverty of Palestine. Deborah and Jael THE STORY OF DEBORAH: HOW SHE SAVED THE PEOPLE The story of Deborah is one of the oldest and finest of the tales of the Judges. The Song of Deborah is a battle-ode, one of the earliest poems in the Old Testament. It is a stirring story of two brave women who saved the people. ND the children of Israel again did evil in the A sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. And the LORD sold them into the hand of Ja bin, King of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she dwelt under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in Mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. -Judges 4:1-5. DEBORAH AND BARAK MUSTER THE FORCES And she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, "Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, 'Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun and I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.'" THE GREAT PLAIN OF ESDRAELON LOOKING TOWARDS Photograph by W. A. Pottenger expressly for The Book of Life This broad plain is traversed by the river Kishon. Here for centuries the armies of the world have contended in battle. "Was ever arena so simple, so regulated for the spectacle of war?" Esdraelon is a vast theatre, with its clearly defined stage, with its proper exits and entrances. The first battle on the plain recorded in Scripture is that of Deborah and the Canaanites. The next victory was that of Gideon over the Midianites. The Philistines came up from Esdraelon when they attacked and defeated Saul at Gilboa. Here Josiah was slain by an Egyptian arrow. Here was fought the decisive battle of Karkar between the Egyptians and Syrians. Some of the battles of the Maccabean period were fought here. Later came the conflict between Crusaders and the Syrians. Napoleon was here in 1799; and it was here in 1918 on a part of the plain of Esdraelon, the vale of Megiddo, "Armageddon" in Hebrew, that General Allenby completely defeated the Turkish forces and released Palestine from the Moslem rule. And Barak said unto her, "If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. And she said, "I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber, the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh. And they shewed Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, was gone up to Mount Tabor. And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon. And Deborah said unto Barak, "Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. - Judges 4:6-14. HOW SISERA AND HIS CHARIOTS WERE DEFEATED And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet. But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left. - Judges 4:15, 16. HOW JAEL SLEW THE GREAT CAPTAIN SISERA Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin, the king of Hazor, and the house of Heber, the Kenite. And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, "Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not." And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. And he said unto her, "Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty." And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. THE RIVER KISHON IN THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON This is the famous stream with its low-lying banks which was the scene of the defeat of the Canaanites by Barak and Deborah. A sudden storm in the hills turned the sluggish stream into a torrent and the heavy chariots of the Canaanites were caught in the morass and the army annihilated. |