Meditation

Hi there,

Today's passage is the longest of the week and also the most dramatic.

There are two distinct contrasting movements;

Verses 19-23 describe the battle in almost cosmic terms and invoke similar imagery to Exodus 15 with God bringing the force of nature to bear on the enemies of Israel.

Then it takes a sharp turn at verse 24, when in the calm and quiet of the tent, Jael gives Sisera seeming protection, rest and the comfort of warm milk only to vanquish violently him once and for all.

Commentaries I have read liken this scene to Genesis 3:15 where the offspring of the woman crushes the serpents head. Even going so far as to link the alliteration in the name "Sisera" to the sound we attribute to the serpent.

How intentional this is is an open question, but what is clear is the deliberate contrast of Jael's singular, calm and decisive action with whole tribes that feared the battle.

Today's text is Judges 5:19-27

The Song of Deborah

¹⁹ “Kings came, they fought,
the kings of Canaan fought.
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,
they took no plunder of silver.

²⁰ From the heavens the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
​²¹ The river Kishon swept them away,
the age-old river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul; be strong!

²² Then thundered the horses’ hooves—
galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.
​²³ ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord.
‘Curse its people bitterly,
because they did not come to help the Lord,
to help the Lord against the mighty.’

²⁴ “Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
​²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.

²⁶ Her hand reached for the tent peg,
her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷ At her feet he sank,
he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell—dead.

Encouragement

Today's encouragement verse starts with a statement we must all strive to remember...But God

²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

1 Corinthians 1:27

This week we are accompanying the text with Handel’s oratorio, Deborah.

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