The Book of Judges
Judges 5
Chapter V · Vol. II, pp. 590–592
The song of Deborah and Barak.
1 Then asang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam, on that day, saying,
a Ex.15.1. 1 Sa.2.1. Lu.1.45-79. Is.xii.xxv.xxvi. Re.19.1,4.
3 Hear, dO ye kings; give ear, O ye princes: eI, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.
4 LORD, fwhen thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.
6 In the days of hShamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers2 walked through byways.3
h ch.3.31; 4.18. Le.26.22. 2 Ch.15.5. La.1.4. Mi.3.11,12.
2 Heb. walker of paths.
3 Heb. crooked ways.
7 The inhabitants of ithe villages ceased,4 they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a kmother in Israel.
i Es.9.19. Je.35.10,11.
4 As in the case of Jael, so in the case of Sisera, we are unable to ascertain the complete facts of the indictment. What his personal delinquencies may have been, we cannot tell; but there is here a note of his administration of the government, that marks him as a political and military delinquent of the deepest dye.—C.
A.M. 2745 B.C. 1259
k ch.4.4,6. Is.49.23.
8 They lchose new gods; then was war in the gates: was mthere a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
l ch.2.12; xvii.xviii. De.32.16,21.
m 1 Sa.13.19,22. Le.26.36. ch.20.21,25.
9 My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD.
11 They that are delivered from othe noise of archers in the places of drawing water;8 there shall they rehearse the prighteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD qgo down to the gates.9
o La.5.4,9. 1 Sa.9.11. Ge.24.11. The soldiers robbing people of their water.
8 Travellers in dry climates are required to pass by the watering places, and there the Moabite archer waited to rob and destroy.—C.
p Heb. righteousnesses of the LORD, 1 Sa.12.7. Mi.6.5. Is.63.7.
q ch.4.16. Is.28.6.
9 Oppression had driven the people from the defenceless villages to mountain recesses, now they may visit the city gates in safety.—C.
12 Awake,r awake, Deborah; awake, awake; utter a song: arise, Barak, and slead thy captivity captive,1 thou son of Abinoam.
13 Then the made him that remaineth2 have dominion over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.
t Ps.149.8,9; 49.12,20. Re.2.26,27. Is.41.15,16. Eze.17.24. 1 Co.1.26-29.
2 Then made the Lord of Barak, who was a poor relic of an oppressed people, a ruler over the mighty nobility of Moab.—C.
14 Outu of Ephraim was there a root3 of them against Amalek; xafter thee, Benjamin, among thy people: out of yMachir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen4 of the writer.
3 A root concealed in the ground (Deborah, who was of Ephraim), but springing up into a tree of power against Amalek.—C.
x ch.4.10,14. These four tribes assisted a little.
y Nu.32.39,40. Jos.17.1.
4 Heb. draw with the pen.
15 And the zprinces of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot5 into the valley. aFor the divisions of Reuben there were great bthoughts of heart.6
z 1 Ch.12.32.
5 Heb. his feet.
a Or, in the divisions, &c., Ac.15.39.
b Heb. impressions, Pr.22.13. 2 Co.11.2.
6 Unhappy divisions in council; a people deliberating much, but through party feuds never coming to the aid of their brethren; but consulting an ignominious safety in the sheepfolds—changing the jarring of their divided councils, for the united bleatings of the flocks.—C.
16 Why abodest thou camong the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For7 the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
17 Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships?8 Asher continued on the sea-shore, and abode in his breaches.9
8 Or, port.
9 Or, creeks.
18 Zebulund and Naphtali were a people that ejeoparded1 their lives unto the death in fthe high places of the field.
19 The gkings came and fought; then fought the kings of Canaan in hTaanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.2
20 Theyi fought from heaven; the stars in their courses3 fought against Sisera.4
i Ps.77.17,18. Jos.10.11. 1 Sa.7.10.
3 Heb. paths.
4 Perhaps the sun, at the commencement of the battle, glaring in the face of Sisera's army, gave the first advantage to Israel; or an eclipse operating upon their superstitious fears, unmanned them—such events have often decided the fate of a battle, and literalized the text. Or, did the battle last till night, and the light of the stars, breaking out after the storm, enable Israel to complete the discomfiture of Sisera and his army?—C.
21 Thek river of Kishon swept them 5away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. lO my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.
k ch.4.7,13. Ps.83.9,10. 1 Ki.18.40.
5 There was evidently a storm and destructive inundation—an occurrence very destructive in mountainous districts.—C.
l ver.13.
22 Thenm were the horse-hoofs broken by the means of the prancings,6 the prancings of their mighty ones.
23 Curse ye Meroz,7 (said the nangel of the LORD,) curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they ocame not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.
7 Its place is unknown. It has fallen through indifference to the cause of God, or cowardly fear of enemies, beneath the anathema, not of man, but of the angel of the Lord.—Note, Let churches take warning, lest they perish.—C.
n ch.2.1; 6.11; 4.6; 13.3. Jos.5.14. Ex.23.20,23. Is.63.9.
o Ne.3.5. 1 Sa.17.48. Re.17.14. Je.48.10.
24 pBlessed8 above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be; blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
26 She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer9 she smote Sisera: she smote1 off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.
9 Heb. she hammered.
1 'She smote his head, then she struck and pierced through his temples,' which is more agreeable to the original, and consonant to the facts, as it does not appear she struck off his head.—C.
27 At2 her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down; at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down rdead.
28 The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?
30 Haves they not sped? have they not divided the prey? to every man4 a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needle-work, of divers colours of needle-work on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?
31 Sot let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them uthat love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest xforty years.
Notes
[Ver. 11. The degraded state of fear and servitude to which the whole nation had been reduced, and the desolation which war and tyranny had left behind them, are described with wonderful graphic power in this noble ode:—The highways waste; travellers stealing along by obscure paths; arms all gone; the towns and villages deserted; and the inhabitants seeking an asylum in caves and mountain fastnesses. P.]
Ver. 13. [Ver. 13 may be thus rendered:—'Then descended a remnant to (to follow them to battle) the nobles of the nation;—Jehovah descended to me with the heroes.' P.]
Ver. 14. ['From Ephraim (came warriors) whose root (whose settlement) is in (the mountain formerly possessed by) Amalek. Behind thee Benjamin among thy peoples.' P.——So zealous, they drop the merchant's pen for the soldier's spear. High authorities, for 'pen,' read 'sceptre,' 'rod,' or 'javelin.' The Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee translations read 'pen,' which, upon the whole, we are disposed to follow. C.]
Ver. 16. [Great searchings of heart. God searching the hearts, and showing what was in them, Ps. 139. 23—the thoughtful in Reuben searching why God was contending with them by confounding their counsels.—Note, What a lesson to the divided churches! Why divided in doctrine? why divided in love? why in forbearance? why in mutual help—the help of the Lord against the mighty? Shed abroad, O Lord, thy love in the hearts of thy churches; and teach them to 'keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' C.]
Ver. 17. ['Gilead reposes beyond Jordan. And Dan; why tarries he by his ships? Asher remains by the sea-shore; he reposes in his harbours.' The territory of Dan reached to the Mediterranean, and contained the port of Joppa. Asher held the coast along the Bay of Akka. P.]
Ver. 21. [This part of the triumphal ode throws light on the battle. Both armies descended from the mountains of Naphtali, but they were drawn to opposite points in the plain. Barak occupied the top of Tabor; Sisera, with his 900 iron chariots, took up a position on the level plain between Megiddo and Taanach. Deborah gave the signal for attack. When Barak charged the enemy, a tremendous storm of hail burst over the plain from the east, and drove full in the face of Sisera. The hail, the tempest, and the lightning, together with the charge of Barak, threw the Canaanites into hopeless confusion. The Kishon rose suddenly in its miry bed; horses and chariots were engulfed; the torrent swept away the fleeing soldiers. Sisera, seeing the danger, leaped from his chariot, and escaped on foot to his native mountains, and met the fate he deserved in the tent of Jael. P.]
Ver. 22. [Prancings of their mighty ones. 'Mighty ones,' strong steeds, as translated by Kennicot. 'Horse hoofs broken,' because not shod with iron, a thing unknown in several ancient nations, and still unpractised in several districts of the East. The hoofs were broken in the rugged ways and rapid flight. C.]
Reflections.—God must have all the glory of his work; whoever be the instruments, the success is entirely owing to him. His new favours should occasion an affecting remembrance of former ones, and of our relation to him as our God: and the heights of his mercy should be compared with the depths of distress into which our apostasy from him hath brought us.—Oh! what woes befall people in every place and station when God departs from them! They have no comfort, no safety, no protection left. And though the enemies of the Lord are unanimous and hearty against him and his interests, yet certain is their final destruction, since even the irrational creation stands ready armed to destroy them. Eminent and lasting honours await those who heartily espouse the cause of Christ when it is in great danger, and who are determined to conquer or to die; but shame and curses shall descend on those who, for their ease or carnal advantage, remain neutral and unconcerned. Such as would save their lives, by their cowardice or carnal fears, shall lose them; and such as are afraid or ashamed to join God's people in an evil day, shall be held as deserters from God's camp, and treated accordingly. Death makes easy work with the mightiest heroes; and bitter is the meeting with terrible disasters, when our vain hopes of success, glory, and wealth are wound up to the highest. But how bright and lasting the glory of such as fight the good fight of faith, and work by love to the Lord! Their path is like the rising sun, shining brighter and brighter to the perfect day.