5 _The Song of Deborah_ There can be little doubt that this splendid Ode belongs to the same date as the events which it describes. The passions roused by the battle have not cooled down; the sense of a common danger, the enthusiasm of united action, the exultation in Jehovah's triumphant aid, are... [ Continue Reading ]
The title says that the Ode was sung by Deborah and Barak, no doubt on account of the 1st person in Judges 5:3_; Judges 5:9; Judges 5:13_, and the verb rendered _I arose_in Judges 5:7. But in Judges 5:12 Deborah herself is addressed by name (cf. Judges 5:15), and in Judges 5:7 the verb can just as c... [ Continue Reading ]
Exordium.... [ Continue Reading ]
The translation, after the LXX. cod. A, gives a good parallelism (leaders and people as in Judges 5:9), but it rests on slender support. The noun rendered _leaders_has this meaning among others (such as _abundant hair_, in Arabic), but in Hebrew the verb -took the lead" properly means to _loosen_Exo... [ Continue Reading ]
The great ones of the earth are called upon to attend the praises of the victorious God of Israel. _Hear … give ear_a frequent parallelism, e.g. Genesis 4:23; _kings … princes_again in Habakkuk 1:10; Psalms 2:2; Proverbs 8:15; Proverbs 31:4. The word for _princes_thus occurs chiefly in the later lit... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah's advent. These verses describe the awful coming of Jehovah to help His people in the battle: the Godhead approaches in storm and thunder, in the very storm which brought disaster upon Sisera's army, Judges 5:20 f. Similar accompaniments of Jehovah's presence are alluded to in Micah 1:3-4; I... [ Continue Reading ]
_flowed down_ STREAMED, Isaiah 64:1; the verb as in Isaiah 45:8; Job 36:28. The Hebr. form also allows the rendering _quaked_marg., LXX, from a different root. _Even yon Sinai at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel yon Sinai_, pointing to the mountain, which however is not visible from the G... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shamgar the son of Anath_ See on Judges 3:31. It is extraordinary that the period of the oppression (_in the days of_as Judges 15:20) should be dated by Shamgar, if he was the deliverer referred to in Judges 3:31, and by Jael who slew the leader of the Canaanite army. We have seen reason to questio... [ Continue Reading ]
The recent oppression.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The rulers ceased_ The Targ., Peshitto, Jewish commentators followed by AV., treat the Hebr. _pěrâzôn_(sing.), found only here and Judges 5:11, as equivalent to _pěrâzôth_(plur.) = -open regions," -hamlets," as opposed to walled towns, Ezekiel 38:11; Zechariah 2:3; hence _perâzî_-hamlet-dweller" 1... [ Continue Reading ]
It is still the period of the oppression, though Judges 5:7 has for a moment anticipated matters by alluding to the -rise" of Deborah. The first half of the verse yields no certain meaning. _They chose new gods_, lit. _it_(Israel) _chooses_etc., implies that Israel had been guilty of apostasy, and s... [ Continue Reading ]
_governors_ Apparently the same word as in Judges 5:14, though the form is slightly different, lit. _lawgivers_, Isaiah 10:1; but in a primitive community the lawgivers would be the military leaders (Judges 5:14), hence tr. _commanders_, cf. Deuteronomy 33:21; Isaiah 33:22; Vulgate principes. _That... [ Continue Reading ]
The celebration of Jehovah's acts. This seems to be the meaning of Judges 5:11; Judges 5:9 are exceedingly obscure, owing to the condition of the text. After dwelling upon Israel's sufferings, the poet, so far as we understand him, turns with thankful emotion to those who helped to put an end to the... [ Continue Reading ]
In this most obscure verse the poet is generally supposed to call upon various classes of Israelites to take their share in celebrating the victory. _Tell_of _it_ So LXX, Vulgate The verb means _talk_(against) Psalms 69:12, or _speak_(to) Job 12:8, but properly _to meditate upon, muse_Psalms 105:2;... [ Continue Reading ]
Another most obscure verse. _Far from_ The prep. (a single letter in Hebr.) is suspicious; omitting it we may render _The voice of the archers …!_, or _Hark! the archers_…, resting after battle by the cool, shaded wells which are a favourite place of resort in the East. The word for _archers_, howe... [ Continue Reading ]
The real subject of the Song, introduced by the previous verses, begins here. Part II, Judges 5:12, describes the muster and the battle. Like Part I it consists of three stanzas; like Part III (which has two longer stanzas) it starts with a short prelude, Judges 5:12 cf. Judges 5:23. _Awake, awake,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then came down a remnant_ The Massoretic scribes intended the verb to mean -then may the remnant (i.e. of Israel) rule over the noble ones," a prayer; but _the noble ones_like _the mighty_are most naturally Israelites, and after _then_the LXX and other Verss. give a perfect. With a slight change of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Out of Ephraim_came down _they whose root is in Amalek_ i.e. those Ephraimites whose settled home was -in the hill country of the Amalekites," the latter term being used in Judges 12:15 to describe the situation of Pirathon in the land of Ephraim. But the poet can hardly mean that only the Ephraimi... [ Continue Reading ]
_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,... [ Continue Reading ]
_among the sheepfolds_ Genesis 49:14, cf. Psalms 68:13; the meaning is uncertain; it ought to be -fire-places" or -ash-heaps," according to the etymology of the Hebr. word. _the pipings for the flocks_ The root is used of _whistling, hissing_, in order to call together, Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 7:18; Zec... [ Continue Reading ]
In contrast to the lethargy of the tribes on the E. and N. was the heroic valour of Zebulun and Naphtali. _the high places of the field_ is hardly applicable to the field of battle, which was a plain; perhaps the general meaning is, the two tribes came fearlessly down from their mountain homes prep... [ Continue Reading ]
_the kings of Canaan_ the chiefs of the principal Canaanite cities in the Plain and neighbourhood; Sisera, if not their overlord, was their leader. The _kings of Canaan_are mentioned in the Amarna letters, e.g. 101, 13; cf. Joshua 5:1, and contrast the unhistorical term _king of C_. in ch. Judges 4:... [ Continue Reading ]
The battle.... [ Continue Reading ]
Render with a slight change of the stop: _From heaven fought the stars_: _From their highways they fought with Sisera_. _The kings fought … The stars fought_ A splendid contrast. Jehovah used the forces of nature as His allies and instruments; cf. Joshua 10:11; 1 Samuel 7:10; Psalms 18:14; Jeremi... [ Continue Reading ]
_swept them away_ The battle must have taken place in the winter or spring, for in summer the Kishon runs low. The fate of Sisera's host finds a parallel in the battle of Mt Tabor between the army of Napoleon and the Turks, Apr. 16, 1799, when many of the latter were drowned when attempting to escap... [ Continue Reading ]
_did … stamp_ or _hammered_(i.e. the earth); the same verb as in Judges 5:26. In the next line the Hebrew words imitate the gallop of horses in precipitate flight. Cf. Nahum 3:2. _Their strong ones_are the enemy's steeds; cf. Jeremiah 8:16; Jeremiah 47:3. Part iii. _Jdg 5:23-31_a. The death of Sise... [ Continue Reading ]
_Curse ye Meroz_ Probably this village lay on the route of Sisera's flight, and the inhabitants, though they were Israelites, made no effort to help their kinsmen in following up the victory. Similarly Succoth and Penuel refused to give Gideon assistance, Judges 8:5-9. The situation of Meroz is unkn... [ Continue Reading ]
The courageous devotion of Jael is set effectively against the unpatriotic selfishness of Meroz. Jael here receives enthusiastic praise for what strikes us as nothing less than a treacherous murder. According to the standards of the times, however, it would not appear in this light at all, and such... [ Continue Reading ]
The original is more forcible: _Water he asked, milk she gave_, _In a bowl fit for nobles she offered him curd_. _A bowl of_(i.e. fit for) _nobles_was a large, rich bowl. The word, only here and Judges 6:38 in Hebr., is mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions as an object of plunder or tribute, e.g. a... [ Continue Reading ]
While he was standing (Judges 5:27) and about to drink, Jael dealt him a shattering blow with a wooden implement. We are tempted to suppose that, if he had drunk, he would have been protected by the laws of Eastern hospitality. So in _The Talisman_, Sir Walter Scott makes Saladin dash the cup from t... [ Continue Reading ]
The effect of the blow, vividly depicted in short, abrupt words; from a standing position his body collapsed; lit. -he dropped on his knees, fell headlong, and lay a broken wreck upon the ground." For _he bowed_cf. Judges 7:5-6; Isaiah 46:1; _he fell_cf. 1 Samuel 28:20; _he lay_cf. Lamentations 2:21... [ Continue Reading ]
For a translation of the verse see p. 54. _Out of the window looked_cf. 2 Samuel 6:16; 2 Kings 9:30. _Lattice_, again in Proverbs 7:6 "_window_; the rendering comes from LXX. A; cod. B gives -a hole in the wall." _and cried_ Only here; in Aramaic the word means -shout," -sound" the clarion; so we m... [ Continue Reading ]
The mother of Sisera. The last scene is a fine piece of dramatic irony. The king's mother is pictured as waiting eagerly for her son's return; her disappointment is left to the imagination.... [ Continue Reading ]
The queen-mother is surrounded by _her princesses_in the ḥarîm of the palace. The wisest of them will soon discover their folly! The mother -tries to silence her presentiment by the same kind of answer which her sage companions give her" (Moore).... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse has suffered from corrupt repetitions: _spoil_four times, _divers colours_three times. Omitting the superfluous words we may restore the text as follows: _Are they not finding, dividing the spoil?_ a wench or two for each man; _a spoil of dyed garments for Sisera_; _a broidered cloth o... [ Continue Reading ]
Conclusion. _So let all thine enemies perish_ With the same completeness, with the same overthrow of proud confidence. The language recalls Psalms 68:2-3; Psalms 92:9. It is taken for granted that Israel's enemies are Jehovah's also. Jehovah's _friends_are compared to the rising of the sun, an impre... [ Continue Reading ]