Judges 5:4-5

The Greatness of Yahweh (Judges 5:4).

Judges 5:4

“Yahweh, when you went out of Seir,

When you marched out of the field of Edom,

The earth quaked, the heavens also dropped,

Yes, the clouds dropped water.

The mountains flooded down at the presence of Yahweh,

Even yon Sinai, at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.”

The greatness of Yahweh was now described in terms of natural phenomenon. The connection of Seir with Sinai suggests that we have here a picture of Yahweh marching with His people out of the wilderness to capture the land of Canaan for Himself. ‘Seir, the field of Edom', was connected with the old Edom (Genesis 32:3) and that stretched right back into the wilderness.

The quaking earth was a reminder of God's revelation of Himself at Sinai (Exodus 19:18), while the waters flooding down were particularly appropriate in view of the way in which He destroyed the Canaanites at the Kishon. The thought is of a mighty storm which she may reasonably have connected with the phenomena at Sinai (Exodus 19:16), while linking Sinai with what he had done at Kishon. For this is poetry. Compare Psalms 68:7 which clearly has the song of Deborah in view. Thus the God of the covenant fulfilled His part in the covenant at Kishon. The floods of water from the skies flowed down ‘from Mount Sinai'.

She may also have had in mind the blessing of Moses. There Moses had said, ‘Yahweh came from Sinai, And rose from Mount Seir to them, He shone forth from Paran, and He came from ten thousands of holy ones' (Deuteronomy 33:2 compare Psalms 68:17). It is clear reference to the fact that their mighty covenant God, with Whom they had dealt at Sinai, had come with them. He was not a far off God in a holy mountain, He was One Who was with them, the ‘I am'.