Sisera

SISERA, or Sisara, General of the Army of Jabin, King of Hazer.¹ He was sent by his Master against Barak and Deborah, who had got an Army together of ten thousand Men upon Mount Tabor. Sisera marched against them with nine hundred Chariots armed with Scythes, and a great Number of Infantry. Barak with his small Army fell upon Sisera’s with that Impetuosity, that he intirely routed them, kill’d a great Number of them, and put the rest to Flight. Sisera himself fled among the rest, and, as if his Horses did not make Speed enough, he quitted his Chariot, and fled away on Foot towards Harosheth of the Gentiles. He came near the Tent of Heber the Kenite, and Jael, the Wife of Heber, desir’d him to come in and hide himself. She cover’d him with a Mantle; and because he thirsted, she gave him Milk to drink. Then Sisera said to her; ” Do you stay at the Door of the ” Tent, and if any one asks you who is ” here, you shall say No-body. ” Jael went out to the Door of the Tent, and afterwards returning, and finding him fast asleep, she drove a great Nail through his Temples with a Hammer, and fastned him down to the Ground. At the same Time Barak arrived, and she shew’d him Sisera weltering in his Blood, and without Life.

We shall hear make some Remarks upon this Defeat of Sisera.

Observations upon the Defeat of the Army of Sisera, at the Brook Kishon, near Mount Tabor, Judg. iv. 3, &c.Panick Fears oftener happen in large Armies, than in small ones; for these are less susceptible of them. What hap-pen’d to Sisera has happen’d to a thousand other Generals; and it would not be easy to apprehend the Reason of certain Panick Terrors. An Imagination, a Phantom, a Whim may produce them, and yet this Whim is unknown, as if it proceeded from a superior Impulse. For it seizes at once upon a whole Army, as if it had but one Head. A Prepossession, a foolish Fear, the Cause of which is imperceptible, gets Possession in an Instant, and seizes Armies of one or two hundred thousand Men. All fly, all are for securing themselves in a Hurry, and often a Distance of many Leagues is not able to stop their Course. Every one asks his Neighbour, and would inform himself of the Cause of so strange an Accident; but no one can tell the Reason. Those in the Rear quicken the Flight of those in the Front; they are more afraid, because they think themselves in most Danger. And tho’ they neither see nor hear any thing behind them, yet they still imagine there must be Some-body, because the Confusion is general, and none would fly without Occasion. We find in History a Multitude of Examples of this kind of Events; so that there is nothing supernatural in them; tho’ I would not infer, for all that, that the Terror of Sisera and his Army, was not the immediate Effect of the divine Power. But let us proceed to the Story.

The Prophetess Deborah had a great deal of Difficulty to persuade Barak to set himself at the Head of the Israelites, in order to deliver them from the Yoke of the King of Hazor. He seem’d to doubt of her Inspiration, for Prophetesses were not frequent in Israel. However, the Commands of the Lord, which she declared to him, would not allow him to hesitate any longer. Then Barak answer’d her; If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. He was afraid, with good Reason, that the People would not be obedient to him, nor follow him to an Enterprize which seem’d to be so rash and dangerous. To this End, as the People had great Confidence in what she said, he would constrain her to accompany him. To this she consented, and when Barak had got together an Army of ten thousand Men of the Tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, they took the Field. And they shew’d Sisera, that Barak the Son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor. And Sisera gathered together all his Chariots, even nine hundred Chariots of Iron, and all the People that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, unto the River of Kishon. The Scripture does not inform us of the Number of the Troops that compos’d Sisera’s Army; but it is easy to perceive it must be very numerous, and vastly superior to that of the Israelites, by what the Prophetess says to Barak from the Lord: I will draw unto thee, to the River Kishon, Sisera the Captain of Jabin’s Army, with his Chariots, and his Multitude; and I will deliver him into thine Hand. Josephus allows him three hundred thousand Foot, ten thousand Horse, and three thousand Chariots.

Sisera therefore came down into the Plain, at the Bottom of Mount Tabor, on the Banks of the Kishon, where he marshal’d his Troops, and set forth his Chariots in great Pomp. Then the Prophetess inspired Barak with new Courage, saying to him; Up; for this is the Day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into thine Hand: Is not the Lord gone out before thee? This was but a short Speech, but a very powerful one, as it proceeded from the Mouth of a Woman inspired from Heaven, who gives him Assurance of a Victory. To this is to be added, the ardent Desire of being deliver’d from the Vassalage of an insolent Conqueror, the natural Hatred they had to the Enemies of their Religion, and the Necessity they were under either to conquer or to die. All these Motives have a mighty Influence, rouse the Spirits exceedingly, and excite the Courage and Hope both of the General and the Soldiers.

There is great Reason to believe, that the mighty Confidence Sisera had in his superior Strength, made him believe, that the Israelites, who were encamped upon the Height of Tabor, would not have done this if they had not been in Fear of an Engagement in the Plain, or in a Place of less advantageous Situation. For this intimates, as he thought, that the Hebrews were much afraid; and far from having any Desire of provoking the Battle, they thought themselves very happy if they could only defend themselves by a vigorous Resistance. Having such Notions as these, Sisera disposed his Army in Battle-array along the Side of the River with a very large Front, as well to shew his Strength, and terrify the Enemy, as afterwards to gain the Ascent of the Mountain, where the Jews were posted, and to attack them in several Places. This Disposition would at first appear well contrived, and very prudent; and indeed it would have been so against any other People but the Israelites, who were wearied out with Oppression, and resolved upon gaining their Liberty whatever it should cost them; and what was more, they were full of Assurance that Heaven would fight for them.

When such Troops as these are concern’d, if very much Prudence and Precaution are not used, there is no relying upon the superior Numbers of the opposite Party. If Barak had continued in his Post upon the Defensive Side only, Sisera would have attack’d him on all Sides, and could not but have forc’d him from his Retreat. He imagin’d it could not be otherwise, and that his Enemy would never have the Boldness to come down with so small a Body of Troops. He was deceived; and this very Disposition of his Army was the Occasion of its being put to Confusion.

So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand Men after him, over the Rocks and Precipices, and fell upon the Army of Sisera, which was ranged in Order of Battle along the Banks of the River. Sisera at first took this Motion to be only a Feint, and without doubt could not think that Barak would quit the Advantage of the higher Ground, to come down into the Plain; which made him not draw his Wings together, to re-inforce his Center.

When the Israelites were come to the Foot of the Mountain, they form’d themselves into several Bodies, upon the Side of the River, before Sisera’s Face, who doubtless must admire the Boldness and Resolution of Barak. From admiring so uncommon a Piece of Intrepidity, he passes to Astonishment, and thence to a kind of Discomposure, which generally terminates in Fear. At last the ten thousand Men prepared for all Events, and ranged according to the Manner of the Jews in a great Depth, pass over the River or Brook, and fall so impetuously upon the Center of this formidable Army, that they separate it from its Wings, and make their Way over the Bodies of all that dare to oppose them. ‘Tis the greatest Misfortune that can happen to an Army, to be open’d and penetrated at its Center. This is nothing in Appearance to so prodigious an Army as Sisera had; but this nothing soon becomes something, and at last proves very fatal in a Battle. When the Wings are cut off from the Body, they make but a feeble Resistance, and are soon put to flight.

And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his Chariots, and all his Host with the Edge of the Sword, before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his Chariot, and fled away on his Feet. The sacred Author explains himself here in such a Manner, that one would imagine the whole Army of Sisera made no Resistance, but fled away at the very Sight of the Israelites. Yet notwithstanding Joseph. Antiq. l. 5. c. 6.the Tempest that Josephus raises upon this Occasion, it is easy to perceive that the Enemies did defend themselves, but that they were penetrated. There are Generals who have been surprized by Fear, upon much more slender Occasions. Several Instances of this might be produced, if this were a proper Place for it.

What creates some Astonishment, is, to see Sisera jump from his Chariot, to run away on Foot, as if he had had the Nimbleness of a Hind, and as if his Horses were not as swift as himself, in order to make his Escape. The learned Commentator observes, that “ this General must “ have been much discomposed in his Understanding, to think of leaping out of “ his Chariot, that he might fly away the “ better. ‘Tis thus, says he, in Homer, “ where a Trojan Warrior being in a Consternation, throws himself out of his “ Chariot, that he might escape from Dio- “ medes; Hom. Iliad. v. Ibid. Iliad. xx.“ medes; and another does the same thing “ before Achilles. Their Horses were not “ so swift as their Fears.” So truly it may be affirm’d, that nothing hurries us into Danger so much, as the inconsiderate Eagerness we generally have, of delivering our selves from it.

It is observ’d, that to be discreetly Afraid, requires a good Degree of Courage. This Maxim is true; When our Fears do not intercept our Judgment, when they do not disturb the Understanding, and when of two Dangers we know how to chuse the least, without any Blemish to our Honour. In our own Days we have seen a Horseman take to a River, very deep and wide, after the losing of a Battle. It was hardly possible he should swim over without a kind of Miracle. His Fears had so discomposed him, that he took the River for a small Brook, and thus miserably drowning himself, he lost both his Life and Reputation at once. For he might have escaped the Peril he was in, if he had not quitted his Post. He might have made an honourable Retreat, or surrender’d himself a Prisoner of War. But he had lost his Presence of Mind, and it was not in his Power to chuse the wisest and the safest Measures.

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