Notable Women of Olden Time Part 5

Three women are brought distinctly before us, as connected with the early history of Moses. The mother's high duty and privilege it was (as it ever is) to instil into his opening mind those great truths and first principles which are at the foundation of all excellence. Had the nurse of Moses been an Egyptian idolatress, the character of the man had doubtless been very different. While Moses owed all his worldly advancement to the princess of Egypt, he derived other advantages from being brought under the familiar influence of one who preserved, amid the corruptions of a court, the best sympathies of our nature. A knowledge of human character and a power of adaptation to all the circ.u.mstances of his eventful life were thus imparted, and which could be hardly elsewhere acquired, yet they were very needful to one who was to fill the office allotted to him.

G.o.d has graciously ordered that while the parents and guardians are to pa.s.s away, there are early ties which are enduring. Where families are properly regulated, added years strengthen the bonds of natural affection. Through all the vicissitudes of his life, the brother and sister of Moses clung to him. We first see Miriam watching the cradle-ark in which the infant was concealed, and she never appears except some event in his career brings her into view. Yet, through their long lives she was his companion and helper, partic.i.p.ating in his labours, soothing his sorrows, and aiding and encouraging him in his work. She is a type of a large cla.s.s--we mean the daughters and the sisters who are not wives. Her life shows that a woman may be honourable, useful, distinguished, and happy, and yet remain single--that the holy duties of the wife and the mother are not the only duties. How many homes would be comparatively unblessed but for the presence of a dutiful daughter or a loving sister! How largely our own age is indebted to women as teachers; women, who, like the prophetess of Israel, while a.s.sisting their brothers to proclaim the oracles of G.o.d, devote themselves to the instruction of their own s.e.x, and bless men by instructing women!

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DEBORAH--THE INFLUENCE OF WOMAN.

The book of Judges gives a concise view of the people of Israel for a period of four hundred years, extending from the death of Joshua to the birth of Samuel.

It is peculiarly interesting as showing how G.o.d deals with the nations of the earth in visiting national sins with national punishments. It has ever been the painful office of the historian to record the crimes and misfortunes of mankind, and to present the outbreaks of society rather than to note its gradual advance and improvement, or to dwell upon the periods of peaceful prosperity. Like the records of a court of justice, it presents the criminals and the offences and those implicated, while the thousands of peaceful citizens are never brought to view. The flow of human life is, like that of a mighty river, unmarked during its mild course; but when it bursts its bounds and overflows its channel and spreads a wide destruction, it is watched with interest and its desolating ravages are all recorded.

Of the many women who have attained honour and celebrity amidst the intrigues of courts and cabinets and the revolutions of empires, few have retained the purity and the peculiar virtues of their s.e.x. Deborah seems to have united the sagacity and courage of man to the modest virtues of woman. She appears before us affecting no pomp, a.s.suming no state. The wife of Lapidoth--one known only as the husband of Deborah, but thus known never to be forgotten--she abode with her husband in their own dwelling, under that palm-tree distinguished, when Samuel wrote this book, as "the palm of Deborah," between Ramah, where Rachel died, and Bethel, where Jacob wors.h.i.+pped. "And all the children of Israel came up to her there for judgment."

The people of Israel had departed from G.o.d and from the laws of Moses, and for twenty years they had been mightily oppressed by Jabin. During this long period no priest called the people to repentance, no prophet was commissioned to promise them relief.

We may imagine Deborah dwelling among her people, a devout, strong-minded, enlightened woman. She saw their sins, she partic.i.p.ated in their trials, and she warned those around her of the evil of departing from Jehovah. She recalled His past acts of judgment and of mercy. She was well acquainted with the laws of Moses, and she recognised in the punishment of the people the fulfilment of prophecy.

The influence of such a woman--a woman instructed in the religion of Jehovah--a woman of faith and of prayer--would be felt, first, in her own family, or in her immediate circle of friends; and then would commence the reformation and the repentance and putting away of past sins and the return to the G.o.d of Israel. And as the influence spread, the circle extending, the whole nation would seem to have been affected, and they naturally resorted to one whose wisdom and piety were so well established, when any questions of their law, either civil or religious, were to be settled. Thus the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. They came to her--for her feet abode within her own dwelling.

Her influence extended throughout all the borders of her land, but her presence still blest her own house. The prophetess of Israel was still the wife of Lapidoth, and her only authority was that of piety, wisdom and love. A more beautiful instance of a woman's true, legitimate influence cannot be given. Quietly, unostentatiously exercised, it penetrated through the nation and brought them back to Jehovah, and prepared the way for the removal of their yoke.

For many years she was doubtless employed in reclaiming and instructing her people. Through this influence the children of Israel were prepared to a.s.sert their liberty; and then Deborah was inspired to call upon "Barak the son of Abinoam," to gather an army, and take his station on Mount Tabor, where the Lord would deliver the enemies of Israel into his hands. She did not propose to attend--certainly not to lead--the army; but, giving her message, her counsel and her prayers, would still abide under the palm-tree and remain with her husband. But the appointed general knew so well the value of her presence in inspiring the people with confidence, and felt so much the need of her prayers, that he refused to go unless she sanctioned the expedition with her attendance.

"And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go."

Thus appealed to, the answer was immediate: "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 hands of a woman."

Mount Tabor, chosen for the encamping-place of the army of Barak, still rises like a tall cone in the vast plain of Esdraelon, which, stretching across the land to the sea, has since been the battle-ground of nations.

From the wide plain on its lofty summit, Deborah and Barak could look over almost all the land. The view of the hills of Judea, of the sea of Tiberias, and of a country of wide extent, still repays the toil of those who climb to its summit.

But since the days of Deborah and of Barak, Tabor is generally supposed to have witnessed another scene. The Man of grief, who bore our sins and took upon himself our sorrows, climbed its steep ascent with his favoured disciples--And Moses and Elias appeared unto him there, and there "they talked with him." Of what? Not of the battle of Deborah and Barak with Sisera--although they stood where the leaders of Israel had watched the hosts of their enemies encompa.s.sing them. It was a converse of high things, not meet for us to know. And there he was transfigured before his wondering disciples, and his "raiment became exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them." And there was a cloud that overshadowed them, and a voice out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son--hear him. Alas! the Divine command has been ill obeyed. Tabor yet retains the remains of a fortress and preserves the marks of warfare; but no trace of the meeting there of the great lawgiver and reformer of Israel with Him who came both to fulfil and to abolish. No temples have yet been there erected to Him whose mission was far above all who were sent either to announce or prepare for his forthcoming.

From Mount Tabor the leaders and hosts of Israel watched their enemies gathering from afar and encompa.s.sing them. With the chariots of iron, so much dreaded by the Israelites, came the archers, and the spearmen, and the mult.i.tude that were with them--all a.s.sembled to surround and to destroy the allies of Barak.

But when Deborah gave the signal, "Up! for this is the day in the which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hands: is not the Lord gone out before thee?" Barak went from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men. The victory was complete--"Jehovah triumphed, His people were free." The hosts of the enemy were vanquished. The river Kishon, that ancient river, swept them away. And the victory was celebrated by a song of most triumphant, yet grateful exultation, in a strain of the loftiest, purest poetry, such as the prophets and psalmists of Israel alone could pour forth:--

Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, When the people willingly offered themselves.

Hear, O ye kings!

Give ear, O ye princes!

I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD G.o.d of Israel.

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.

The mountains melted from before the LORD, Even that Sinai from before the LORD G.o.d of Israel.

In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, And the travellers walked through byways.

The inhabitants of the villages ceased, They ceased in Israel, Until that I Deborah arose, That I arose a mother in Israel.

They chose new G.o.ds; Then was war in the gates: Was there a s.h.i.+eld 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!

Speak, Ye that ride on white a.s.ses, Ye that sit in judgment, And walk by the way!

They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the place of drawing water, There shall they rehea.r.s.e the righteous acts of the LORD, Even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: Then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.

Awake, awake, Deborah!

Awake, awake, utter a song!

Arise, Barak!

And lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.

Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the n.o.bles among the people: The LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.

Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; After thee, Benjamin, among thy people; Out of Machir came down governors, And out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.

And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; Even Issachar, and also Barak: He was sent on foot into the valley.

For the divisions of Reuben There were great thoughts of heart.

Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, To hear the bleatings of the flocks?

For the divisions of Reuben There were great searchings of heart.

Gilead abode beyond Jordan: And why did Dan remain in s.h.i.+ps?

Asher continued on the sea sh.o.r.e, And abode in his breaches.

Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives Unto the death in 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, thou hast trodden down strength.

Then were the horsehoofs broken By the means of the prancings, the prancings of their mighty 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 the wife of Heber the Kenite be, Blessed shall she be above women in the tent!

He asked water, and she gave him milk; She brought forth b.u.t.ter 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 off his head, When she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

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.

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?

Her wise ladies answered her, Yea, she returned answer to herself, 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 needlework on both sides, Meet for the necks of them that take 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.

One such strain preserved from any other ancient nation would establish their claims to the highest order of poetic genius, and lead to the most industrious and painful research for all that could throw light upon their literature. It comes over the soul now like the full burst of martial music. It stirs the blood and quickens the pulses with its strain of triumph, while it melts us to pity, as it brings before us so graphically, with such exquisite power--yet such slight allusion--the distress and desolation of Israel. It is a finished picture of the age.

We see the judges, those that ride on white a.s.ses (still reserved for royal stables) that walk by the way; while it gives us a full character of Sisera and the mother who trained him. We see the mother--haughty, proud, avaricious, surrounded by "her wise ladies," who are flatterers rather than counsellors--ready to exult in the rapine and plunder of the army of her son; her natural fears awakened by his delayed return, yet hushed and soothed by the enumeration of the spoil. No feeling of pity softening the love of vengeance,--the desire for the plunder of a conquered people engrossing all.

And in Sisera we see the proud, cruel, licentious spoiler--all the powers of his evil nature called into exercise by success and the long indulgence of every evil pa.s.sion and gross appet.i.te--arrogant, oppressive and cruel in success; abject, cowardly and overreaching in adversity. We can well imagine the state of an oppressed people ruled by such a man at the head of a licentious soldiery. And harsh as may seem some of the expressions of Deborah, in her joyous outbursts of praise and thanksgiving, they arise from the ineffable miseries, the deep degradation, the oppressive cruelties, to which all the daughters of Israel would have been exposed had he been triumphant; and a mother in Israel might well exult in a deliverance from one whose desolating track was marked by l.u.s.t and carnage.

We do not love to dwell on the treachery of Jael--we do not feel called upon to justify the act, although Deborah might well rejoice in the deliverance of her people from so stern a foe, so foul an oppression.

Sisera appears as abject in the hour of defeat as he had been insolent and arrogant and cruel in the hour of triumph.

After Israel was restored to liberty we hear no more of Deborah; but "the land had rest forty years." She again returns to her own sphere, to the unostentatious, yet all-pervading usefulness of domestic life. No honours, no triumphs, no statues were awarded to her. No monuments seem to have been erected to her memory. The palm-tree was her fitting memorial; delighting the eye, affording shade, shelter and nourishment; asking and securing nought from man, watered by the dew and rain of heaven, and rejoicing in the beams of the sun--still pointing to heaven while sheltering those beneath it.

Jehovah seems to permit such examples to stimulate woman to usefulness and to vindicate their capacity; and thus there ever have been and are still Deborahs--mothers in Israel--those who, dwelling under their own roof, in the seclusion of domestic life, yet send forth an influence which extends far and wide.

The sound, rational piety of such women, and their lives of humble faith, of prayer, and of consistent usefulness, have often awakened a high tone of religious feeling and led to extensive revivals of pure religion.

Without departing from their allotted sphere, without forgetting the delicacy and proprieties demanded from their s.e.x, they have been greatly instrumental in elevating the moral and religious standard of a community by their faithfulness in reproving the erring and reclaiming the backsliding, while by their kindly sympathy and effectual co-operation, they have aided, encouraged, and, by their prudent, judicious counsel, guided--the appointed leaders of Israel.

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