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imposed on us: he may act towards his creatures as he sees best, and may employ instruments in any way that he pleases: nor would even an angel contract defilement in executing any commission that God had given him. An angel slew in one night all the first-born in the land of Egypt; and on another occasion, a hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians: yet no one thinks of imputing guilt to him on that account:-so Ehud, if appointed to the work by God, might innocently effect it in the way he did. Jehu was commissioned by God to dethrone Ahab, and destroy his family: and, though he was punished afterwards because he was not actuated by a becoming zeal for the glory of God, yet for the action itself he was rewarded even to the fourth generation. Precisely thus may Ehud at this moment be receiving a reward from God for that act of his, which, under other circumstances, would have been highly sinful. And there is reason to believe that he was directed by God in that action; since not only were his wisdom, courage, and success, beyond all that could have been expected in a merely human enterprise, but we are expressly told that "God raised up this man to be the deliverer of his people"."

We must not however imagine, that his conduct is to be followed as a precedent: for no man can dare to follow it, unless he have infallible evidence that he is called of God to do so: but, as no man can expect such a call at this time, no man can without the deepest criminality presume to imitate his example.]

Having thrown what light we can on the dubious conduct of Ehud, we proceed to suggest,

II. Some reflections arising from it

Supposing Ehud to have been divinely commissioned, he might well say to Eglon, "I have a message from God to thee." At all events his language leads us to observe,

1. That God does send messages to mortal men— [The whole creation is delivering to us, as it were, a message from God, and conveying to us the knowledge of his perfections b Every providential dispensation also has some important lesson to communicate: the mercies of God declare his goodness to us, and invite us to repentance, and his judgments are intended to discover to us some truths which we did not previously discern: "Hear ye the rod," saith the prophet, "and Him that hath appointed it." But it is in his word more especially that God comes down to commune

a ver. 15.

c Rom. ii. 4.

b Rom. i. 20. Ps. xix. 1—4.

d Mic. vi. 9.

with sinful man. His Gospel is so called from the very circumstance of its being a message of mercy, or, as the word means, good tidings from God to man: and ministers are ambassadors from him, sent to beseech you in his name to accept reconciliation with him through the death of his Son. Indeed this message contains the substance of all that we have to speak to you in God's name; and from hence it is called by God himself," the ministry of reconciliation." Behold then this day we come unto you and "We have a message from God to you!" He sends us this day to invite you to come to him for all the blessings of salvation, and to receive them freely at his hands, "without money, and without price."

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say,

2. That, by whomsoever his messages are delivered, we should attend to them with the profoundest

reverence

[Though Eglon was a king, and Ehud an oppressed servant, yea, though Eglon was a heathen that did not worship the true God, yet, the very instant that Ehud announced that he had a message from God unto him, he rose up from his seat, that he might receive it with the greater reverence. And does not this idolatrous heathen reproach us, who, when God's servants are delivering messages to us in his name, scarcely pay any attention to them, or perhaps fall asleep in the midst of them? Behold, how Israel listened to the reading of God's word in the days of Nehemiaha. that is the way in which we should read or hear the word of God at this time. We should not come to the house of God as critics, to sit in judgment; or as curious persons, to be entertained; but as sinners, to "hear what the Lord God will say concerning us." Beautiful is the example of Cornelius and his family: they did not regard Peter as a man, but as a messenger from God: and in like manner should we also "receive the word, not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the word of Godh." O that the spirit of Samuel were more visible in us1, and that we sought instruction from the word, only in order to obey it!"]

3. That we should ever be prepared for whatsoever message he may send

[Who can tell but that as his message to Eglon was a message of death, so he may send to us this day, saying, "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die and not live." He needs not the aid of an assassin to take away our lives: there are millions of ways in which death may seize upon us. As

e Isai. lv. 1—3.

b 1 Thess. ii. 13.

f Neh. viii. 3, 5, 6.
i 1 Sam. iii. 10.

g Acts x. 33.

k John ix. 36.

for our security, the more secure we are in our own apprehension, the more likely are we to receive such a message from God'. It was when the rich fool was looking forward to years of enjoyment, that God said to him, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee:" and it was when Job fondly expected he should "die in his nest m," that God pulled down his nest, and despoiled him of all that he had. Let us not then promise ourselves an hour's continuance even of life itself": "but be standing" with our loins girt, and our lamps trimmed, that at whatever hour our Lord may come, he may find us watching❞— APPLICATION

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1 1 Thess. v. 3.

m Job xxix. 18. See also Ps. xxx. 6, 7.

n Prov. xxvii. 1. • This may be more appropriate or more general: in the former case, a message may be delivered as from God himself to Oppressors, and the Oppressed; (to awe the one, as Isai. x. 5-18. and encourage the other, as Isai. x. 24-27.) in the latter case, an Address may be made to the Careless, the Backsliding, and the Faithful, with the prefatory Remark to each, "I have a message from God to thee."

CCLXIV.

JAEL AND SISERA.

Judg. v. 24-27. 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 butter in a lordly dish. She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workman'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 subject of assassination, one would suppose, should not admit of much diversity of sentiment: but there are those even in the Christian world, who think that in extreme cases, where the death of a tyrant would put an end to grievous oppressions and desolating wars, the dagger of an assassin might be employed. I am not aware that any would attempt to vindicate this sentiment by an appeal to Scripture: they would justify it rather on reasonings from expediency but it is certain that, though in most cases

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 children of Israel for twenty years. At last they cried unto God; who directed Deborah, a prophetess, to take immediate measures for their deliverance. She commissioned Barak to raise ten thousand men; and promised, 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 prophetess to pronounce such an eulogy upon her, as to call her

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"the most blessed of women," for doing that which was in itself such a flagrant act of injustice and cruelty? I answer, (as we before answered in the case of Ehud,) that God is not bound by the laws which he has given to us; and that he may dispense with those obligations which men owe to each other, in order to advance his own purposes in the way he sees fit. He may, as we before observed, order Abraham to slay his son: and therefore he might equally order Jael to slay Sisera; and might make known his mind with equal certainty to her as to him. And, that he did give her this commission, we can have no doubt: for, on account of Barak's unbelief, Deborah told him that he should lose part of the honour which he might have acquired; and that "God would sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.' Moreover, this whole chapter is a tribute of praise to God on account of the transaction, wherein Jael in particular is celebrated as having performed a most acceptable

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service to the Lord.

Our proud hearts are apt to rise up in rebellion against God on this occasion; and to ask, how such an order could consist with his perfections? But let us be careful how we presume" to reprove God." We forget that he is the Creator of all, and "may do what he will with his own";" and that "he giveth not account of any of his matters." Let us remember too, that we are no more than mere worms, which, as creatures, have no claim to existence for one moment; and, as sinners, deserve to be in hell: and that, consequently, it is not possible for God to do us any injustice. If, however, we still be disposed to quarrel with this dispensation, the answer of St. Paul to such objectors must be resorted to; "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" Consider the objections to which that reply was made; and it will be found abundantly sufficient for every other objection that can be raised d

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Let us next consider this account,

II. As an emblematic record

The words which close this divine hymn, clearly shew that we are to consider the history in this viewe. The transaction was an emblematic representation,

1. Of the judgments that await God's enemies

[Sisera's army was, humanly speaking, invincible, especially by such an handful of men as Barak could muster, and b Matt. xx. 15.

a Job xl. 2.

d Rom. ix. 16-24.

e

c Job xxxiii. 13.

Compare ver. 31. with Ps. lxxxiii. 2, 3, 4, 9, 10.

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