One of the noblest odes in literature! It celebrates a mighty victory, through the enthusiastic consecration of the people, who laid themselves as freewill offerings on the altar of their country’s deliverance, vs, 2 and 9. There is a greater cause that summons us to-day, for we fight ‘‘not against flesh and blood, but . . . against the rulers of the darkness of this world,’’ Eph. 6:12.

The singer recites the mighty deeds of the Exodus, vs. 4 and 5. She feels that the present hour is not less full of God. Let us dare to believe that to-day is as sublime as any day of the past, and live as though it were. She describes the desolations caused by the foe: the divested caravans, the deserted roads, the defenseless, weaponless people, vs. 6-8. She tells how men mustered in the city gates to take their part in the great effort to which she called them, vs. 9-11. Ye daughters of Deborah, who know God, wake again and sing till your hearts grow hot again; and ye brethren of Borak, arm yourselves for battle against the lies, fashions and sins that curse both the Church and the world!

Judges 5: 12-23. This noble psalm contains memorable sentences. The ‘‘captivity’’ phrase in v. 12 is quoted in Psalm 68 and Ephesians 4; and in the latter is applied to the ascension of our Lord. He led in captivity those evil powers which had for so long held mankind in captivity. Let us not fear death, or the grave, or Hades. They have been bound to the chariot-wheels of our Lord, and their keys hang at his girdle, Rev. alcike},

From Painting by Epw1n AusTIN ABBEY. Modern American Artist.

Permission of George D. Sprottl, who owns the copyright in the United States.

Levies and reinforcements poured in from the hill_ country of Ephraim, once owned by Amalek, 12:15; from little Benjamin; from the northern tribes: but the main brunt of the war of liberation fell on Zebulun and others adjacent to the plain of Esdraelon, one of the great battlefields of history. Megiddo stands to the south of this famous site and has given its name to the last momentous struggle of Armageddon. Clearly Deborah refers to a terrific storm that broke, perhaps at night, upon the plain, flooding the river Kishon and the adjacent lands, so that Sisera’s chariots were rendered useless. O my soul, thou, too, mayest tread under foot thy foes, v. 21, R. V., margin; but be sure never to refuse, as Meroz did, to respond when God needs thy help, v. 23.