Judges 5:15

the princes of Issachar were with Deborah This seems to be the meaning; if Deborah belonged to the tribe of Issachar we can understand why she accompanied it; contrast Judges 4:5 n.Issachar is not mentioned in ch. 1 (see p. 3). The settlements of the tribe lay S.E. of the Plain, S. of Naphtali, and S.E. of Zebulun, to judge from Joshua 19:17-23, which, however, defines the boundaries of a much later age. At this period Issachar had not earned the ignoble reputation with which it is taunted in Genesis 49:14 f.

As was Issachar, so was Barak What can this mean? The construction of the sentence is harsh, and the second Issacharis omitted by LXX and Vulgate We should expect the name of another tribe here; in view of Judges 5:18, cf. Judges 4:6, Naphtali deserved honourable mention at this point.

Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet i.e. at his heels, after him, cf. Judges 4:10; Judges 8:5. The rendering they rushedis a questionable paraphrase of the verb which lit. = he was sent, i.e. according to usage was let goGenesis 44:3, or dismissedIsaiah 50:1; the form must be incorrect. Winckler repeats the verb which he suggests for Judges 5:14 a.

15 b 18. The reluctant and the ready.

By the watercourses of Reuben For the rendering watercoursescf. Job 20:17. But the territory of Reuben was dry rather than well-watered (like that of Gad); perhaps the old rendering divisions(LXX, Vulgate), i.e. sections of the tribe, is to be preferred; for this use of the word cf. 2 Chronicles 35:5. Instead of resolves, lit. decisions, the form in Judges 5:16 b is better, soundings, lit. investigations, cf. 1 Samuel 20:12 -when I have sounded my father." Transl. Among the divisions of Reuben great were the soundings of heart, i.e. to find out one another's sentiments. Note the character of Reuben given in Genesis 49:4.