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language of the Bible. "The Song of Deborah and Barak" praises Jael for
the memorable service she had rendered, in an exultant strain:
"
Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be,
blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
"
He asked for 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."
Stirring scenes like these occur in this valley no more. There is not a
solitary village throughout its whole extent--not for thirty miles in
either direction. There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin
tents, but not a single permanent habitation. One may ride ten miles,
hereabouts, and not see ten human beings.
To this region one of the prophecies is applied:
"
I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies which dwell
therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the
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