e Lord gave to Israel
at the battle of the Kishon, she puts the stars for the angelic legions
that she feels assured were engaged in warring in their support.

"They fought from heaven;
The stars in their courses fought against Sisera."

The "courses" of the stars are the paths which they appear to follow as
they move round the pole of the heavens as the night proceeds, whilst
the stars themselves stand for the heavenly helpers who, unseen, had
mingled in the battle and discomforted the squadrons of Sisera's
war-chariots. It almost reads as if to Deborah had been vouchsafed such
a vision as Elisha prayed might be given to his servant:--

"Therefore sent the King of Syria thither horses, and
chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and
compassed the city about.

"And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and
gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with
horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my
master! how shall we do?

"And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more
than they that be with them.

"And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray Thee, open his
eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the
young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of
horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."

The solemn procession of the starry host through the long night--the
rising in the east, the southing, and the setting in the west--is not
the only ordered movement of the stars of heaven that may be recognized.
As night by night brightens to its dawn, if we watch the eastern horizon
and note what stars are the last to rise above it before the growing
daylight overpowers the feeble stellar rays, then we see that some
bright star, invisible on the preceding mornings, shines out for a few
moments low down in the glimmer of the dawn. As morning succeeds morning
it rises earlier, until at last it mounts when it is yet dark, and some
other star takes its place as the herald of the rising sun. We recognize
to-day this "heliacal rising" of the stars. Though we do not make use of
it in our system of time-measuring, it played an important part in the
calendar-making of the ancients. Such heralds of the rising sun were
called "morning stars" by the Hebrews, and they used them "for seasons"
and "for years." One star or constellation of stars would herald b