Judges 5:23-24

Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord— It is plain from the corresponding clause, that Meroz was a city, the inhabitants whereof refused to assist in this war, and therefore are thus solemnly devoted by the angel of the Lord. See Joshua 5:14. Against the mighty, at the close of this verse, is rendered by Houbigant, with the mighty; with those warriors of the Lord, who freely offered themselves in this enterprise. From this curse the prophetess passes, by a beautiful transition, to the blessing of Jael, whose exploit is recorded in the foregoing chapter. The passage is so truly elegant and poetical, that our translators have insensibly fallen into two fine heroic lines in the 25th verse:

He asked water, and she gave him milk; She brought forth butter in a lordly dish.
The word translated dish would be more properly rendered bowl (see ch. Judges 6:38.); a large and capacious vessel, in which she brought him perhaps cream, or the best milk. See AEneid 1: The liquid here presented by Jael to Sisera was butter-milk. Few people, I believe, would think cream very proper drink for one that was thirsty. M. D'Arvieux informs us, that the Arabs make their butter by churning in a leathern bottle; that they drink sometimes sweet milk, and sometimes make froth of it; but that, when it curdles, they put the juice of an herb to it to make it sourer: they also put some of it upon their pilaw, or boiled rice, and eat it mixed together. If then the Kenites made butter as the modern Arabs do, (and there does not appear any refinement in the present Arab custom, which retains strong marks of the ancient simplicity,) the supposing Jael to have been just churning will account for the present passage, and chap. Judges 4:19. Sisera, being thirsty, asked for water; she opens a bottle (a skin, according to the original), i.e. the leathern bottle with which she had been just churning; and pouring its contents into a bowl, fit to be presented to a man of Sisera's quality, and doubtless the best in her tent, she offers him this butter-milk to drink. This gave occasion to Deborah to speak of milk and butter both. Sour milk is esteemed by those people as more refreshing than that which is sweet. Thus then, instead of water, she gave him a better liquid; the most refreshing, we may believe, that she had by her. Dr. Pococke, vol. 2: p. 25 says, that during the time of his entertainment by the Arabs, in the Holy Land, they brought cakes which were sour, and fine oil of olives to dip them in: but, perceiving that he did not like this, they served him up some sour butter-milk to drink; and every meal was finished with coffee. This, we are to observe, was the entertainment of people who treated him in the most respectful manner they could; and was produced, when they found that what was before prepared for him was not so agreeable, being desirous of doing every thing they could to accommodate him. So, in the account of Commodore Stewart's embassy to redeem some British captives, in 1721, we are told, "that butter-milk is the chief dessert of the Moors; and that when they would speak of the extraordinary sweetness of any thing (I suppose agreeableness is meant), they compare it with buttermilk." Observations, p. 152. The following verses (26, 27) are equally elegant and poetical with Judges 5:25. The description is so minute, that we, as it were, behold the very action.

REFLECTIONS.—Deborah, proceeding in her seraphic song, kindles as she recites the righteous acts of the Lord, and calls up all the faculties of her soul to stretch their utmost powers in uttering his praise. Let Barak now arise, and lead the captive nobles of Canaan bound to his chariot-wheels; and let the meanest of the Israelites who have survived their oppressors trample on the necks of the mighty: yea, Deborah herself, though a woman, shall triumph in the dominion that God has given her. With just praise, she mentions the brave warriors who assisted her; with wonder, the mighty foes who fell before them; and with just indignation, stamps with infamy the coward tribes that sat unconcerned spectators of the war. Note; (1.) They who are zealous for God, shall assuredly hear of it shortly to their everlasting honour. (2.) When we go to war with the enemies of our souls, we had need be determined, since conquest or death eternal must be the issue. (3.) The whole creation is armed to avenge God's quarrel against his own and his people's enemies. Jael, the wife of Heber, receives her deserved encomium for that noble deed against the enemy of God and his Israel. Lulled into security by her invitation and treatment, Sisera, without suspicion, drank of her cup, and lay down to sleep; when, stirred up by a divine impulse, her manly soul approached the devoted victim, and, with unrelenting steadiness, she struck the deadly blow. Awaking, at her feet he fell: the shadows of death hung heavy on his eye-lids, he bowed, he fell; he bowed, he fell down dead, not in the bed of honour, nor slain by the devouring sword, but by the hand of a woman, surprised without the power of resistance. The terror of the mighty now lies low, and pride is humbled to the dust: thus will it shortly be with those who now are sunk in sin, and asleep in security; soon the arrows of the Almighty will stick fast in them; they must bow under the stroke of vengeance, and fall, not into the arms of Death only, but into the belly of Hell!