Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Judges 5:6-8
The Condition of Israel and The Rise of Deborah (Judges 5:6).
“In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath,
In the days of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite,
The highways were unoccupied,
And the travellers walked through byways.”
In the days, that is, before they acted (Judges 3:31; Judges 4:17). Israel in those days dared not be found in the plains where the caravans made their way between Mesopotamia and Egypt. They had had to trade secretly and keep to secret paths to avoid the enemy. For the Philistines were threatening from one angle and Hazor from another. Thus the actions of Shamgar and Jael are possibly seen as contemporary. Israel were a people who lived in terror until, along with Deborah, Shamgar and Jael arrived.
‘Those in open country ceased in Israel, they ceased.'
It was at this time not safe for Israelites to live in the open country for otherwise they would suffer raids and have had all they possessed taken away from them, while they themselves would have been left as dead. While we are dealing with poetic exaggeration, this all suggests the cruel way in which Jabin was dealing with them.
‘Until that I, Deborah, arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.'
It was the rise of Deborah, the Spirit-filled prophetess, that made the difference. She points to herself because she is the instrument of Yahweh. There may be here a deliberate contrast with the mother in verse 28 who waited in vain. Deborah had known what it was like to be such a mother, watching hopelessly, like the other mothers in Israel, while their sons were brutally treated and slain. But more probably it refers to her status as a prophetess. Compare the other wise woman, ‘the mother in Israel', who waited to be destroyed along with her city, and saved it by her wisdom (2 Samuel 20:19). By her wisdom and guidance and judgments Deborah had been a true ‘mother in Israel', and she would especially be so when she delivered her people.
Notice the repetition of ‘ceased' and the repetition of ‘arose', placed in parallel for contrast, and doubled for emphasis. The cessation had taken place some time before. Now had come the arising.
“They chose new gods, then was war in the gates.
Was there a shield or spear seen among forty eleph in Israel?”
The parlous state of Israel is now described. Instead of seeking to Yahweh, they had sought new gods, they had turned to the Baalim and the Ashtaroth. And the result for them was war, a war in which they could not defend themselves for they were without shield or spear. They were unarmed. Those who dominated them would not allow them to carry weapons.
“Forty eleph.” This is a general figure. It illustrates well the general use of numbers in ancient days. The forty represents trial and waiting, the ‘military units' or ‘thousands' represent a full number. It thus summarises the whole of Israel's available fighting men without counting them, waiting and under trial.
Some would see it as referring to the forty thousand (one tenth of four hundred thousand - Judges 20:2 with Judges 20:10) who went against Benjamin in battle in the revenge for Gibeah (Judges 20:19). The passage would then refer to the new gods which led to the disgraceful behaviour of the men of Gibeah and the resulting war. The question about arms would then be answered ‘yes'.
“In the gates.” The gates of a fortified city were always its weak point which is why when kings were strong their gates were huge and complicated, like a heavily fortified tower. That was where an attacker would concentrate his attacks and the main fighting would take place.