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Introduction to the Old Testament by John Edgar McFadyen
page 77 of 318 (24%)
interrupt the connexion and deals with Moab, not with Ammon, is a
later interpolation.]

Fortunately we are able in one case to trace the source of a story.
The story of Deborah and Barak is told in chs. iv. and v. Ch. 5, which
is so graphic that it must have come from a contemporary-one had almost
said an eye-witness--is undoubtedly the older form of the story, as it
is in verse. Partly on the basis of this poem ch. iv. has been built
up, and the account of Sisera's death in this chapter, iv. 21, which
differs from that in v. 26, 27, rests on a misunderstanding of the
situation in v. 26. Here we see the risks which the ballads ran when
turned into prose, but more important is it to note the poetical origin
of the story. Probably ch. v. originally belonged to such a collection
as the book of the wars of Jehovah or the book of Jashar, and it is
natural to suppose that other stories in the book of Judges--e.g. the
exploits of Gideon--may have similarly originated in war-ballads.

The religion of the book of Judges is powerful but primitive. The
ideal man is the ideal warrior. Grim tales of war are told with
unaffected delight, and the spirit of God manifests itself chiefly
in the inspiration of the warrior. Gideon and Micah have their
idols. Chemosh and Dagon are as real, though not so powerful, as
Jehovah. Unlike the redaction, the earlier tales are not given to
moralizing, and yet once at least the moral is explicitly pointed,
ix. 56ff. But elsewhere the power of religion in life is suggested,
not by explicit comment, but rather by the naturalness with which
every interest and activity of life are viewed in a religious light.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in the priceless song of
Deborah[1] (v.). Israel's battles are the battles of Jehovah; her
triumph is His triumph. The song is inspired by an intense belief in
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