where such actions are recorded they are mentioned with abhorrence, there are some instances wherein they are mentioned with approbation and applause. Such was the case of Ehud, who stabbed Eglon king of Moab : and such was the case before us, where Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, destroyed Sisera, whom she had received under her protection, and to whom she had administered every friendly aid.
The account which is given us of this transaction must be considered in a two-fold view ;
I. As an historic fact —
The fact itself is set forth in the foregoing chapter —
[Jabin, king of Canaan, had mightily oppressed the chil- dren of Israel for twenty years. At last they cried unto God; who directed Deborah, a prophetess, to take immediate mea- sures for their deliverance. She commissioned Barak to raise ten thousand men ; and pi'omised, in God's name, that Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, should be drawn to him and delivered into his hands. The event corresponded with the prediction: Sisera was defeated; and he fled away on foot, and sought refuge in the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, with whom he was at peace. Jael received him most kindly, supplied him with necessary refreshment, covered him with a mantle, and gave him every reason to expect safety under her protection. But, when he was asleep, she took a hammer, and drove a long nail through his temples and through his head : and then went out to the door of her tent, and brought in Barak to see his enemy dead upon the floor.]
And what are we to think of this fact ? —
[Supposing it to be unauthorized by any commission from heaven, we cannot hesitate to pronounce it one of the vilest crimes that ever was perpetrated. Some have endeavoured to extenuate it, by saying, that she did not promise not to betray him. But this is a mere subterfuge : whether she promised or not, in words, her whole conduct was equivalent to the strongest promise: and she was guilty of the basest treachery that we can find on record in the annals of the world. She murdered a man who was at peace with her, and whom she had undertaken to protect.
Thus strongly have we spoken on the occasion, in order that our subsequent views may not be misinterpreted.
Here a question naturally arises ; If the action was so base, how comes it to be so highly commended? how comes a pro- phetess to pronounce such an eulogy upon her, as to call her