IV. 1-3. Fresh apostasy of Israel, and their consequent oppression by Jabin. Judges 4:4. Deborah, the prophetess. Judges 4:6. She summons Barak to deliver Israel, and accompanies him at his request. Judges 4:10. Army of Barak. 11. Heber the Kenite. Judges 4:12. Gathering of Sisera’s host. Judges 4:1... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAIN DID EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD. — “They turned their backs, and fell away like their forefathers, starting aside like a broken bow” (Psalms 78:57); see Judges 3:12. WHEN EHUD WAS DEAD. — See Judges 3:31.... [ Continue Reading ]
SOLD THEM. — See Judges 2:14. JABIN. — The name means, “he is wise.” It may have been a dynastic name, like Abimelech, Melchizedek, Pharaoh, Hadad, Agag, &c. KING OF CANAAN — _i.e.,_ of some great tribe or nation of the Canaanite8. In Joshua 11:1 Jabin is called king of Hazor, and sends messages t... [ Continue Reading ]
CRIED UNTO THE LORD. — Judges 3:9; Judges 3:15; Psalms 107:13. NINE HUNDRED. — Josephus magnifies the number to 3,000. CHARIOTS OF IRON. — Judges 1:19; Joshua 17:10. We may notice that as the children of Israel _burnt_ these chariots at Misrephoth-maim (Joshua 11), they could not have been of soli... [ Continue Reading ]
DEBORAH. — The name means “bee,” like the Greek Melissa. The names of Jewish women were often derived from natural objects, as Rachel, “a lamb,” Tamar,”a palm,” &c. It has been sometimes regarded as a title given to her as a prophetess, just as the priestesses of Delphi were called Bees (Pindar, _Py... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE DWELT UNDER THE PALM TREE OF DEBORAH. — Similarly Abraham is said to have lived under the oak of Mamre (Genesis 14:13), and Saul under the pomegranate of Migron (1 Samuel 14:2). “Such tents the patriarchs loved “(Coleridge). Dean Stanley (_Jewish Chron._ i. 318) draws a fine contrast between the... [ Continue Reading ]
BARAK. — The name means “lightning” (Jos., _Antt._)_,_ as does Barca, the family name of Hannibal and Hasdrubal. So in Virgil, the Scipios are called “two lightnings of war.” (Comp. Boanerges, Mark 3:17.) KEDESH-NAPHTALI. — The name “Kedesh” means a _holy_ city. There were, therefore, many towns of... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE RIVER KISHON. — This word rendered “river” is _nachal,_ which means rather “a torrent-bed” or “water-course,” the Arabic _wady,_ the Italian _fiumara — _such as the bed of the Kedron and the Rhinocolura. (LXX. _cheimarrous,_ Vulg. _torrens._) The river is always prominently mentioned in conne... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THOU WILT GO WITH ME. — The enterprise seemed so daring and so hopeless, that if not for his own sake, yet for the sake of his army, Barak felt how much would be gained by the presence of the inspired prophetess. The LXX. has the remarkable addition, “Because I know not the day in which the Lord... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SURELY GO WITH THEE. — Literally-_Going, I will go._ SHALL NOT BE FOR THINE HONOUR. — Literally, _thy pre-eminence_ (LXX. _“proterçma”;_ Luther, “_der Preis_ “) _shall not be on the path which thou enterest._ OF A WOMAN. — To enter into the force of this we must remember the humble and almo... [ Continue Reading ]
CALLED. — The word used is the technical word for summoning an army (2 Samuel 20:4). Naturally Zebulun and Naphtali would be more difficult to arouse than the central tribes, because, though they felt the oppression most, they would have to bear the brunt of the vengeance in case of defeat. Ephraim... [ Continue Reading ]
HEBER THE KENITE. — See Judges 1:16; Judges 3:31; Numbers 10:29. WHICH WAS OF THE CHILDREN OF HOBAB. — Rather, _had separated himself from Kain,from the children of Hobab._ Nomadic settlements are constantly liable to send off these separate colonies. The life and movements of the Kenites resembled... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHEWED SISERA. — The previous verse has been introduced by way of anticipation, that the reader — who has last heard of the Kenites in the south of Judah (Judges 1:16) — may not be surprised at Judges 4:17 to find them in Naphtali. It is not, therefore, necessary to suppose that the “they” mean... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL HIS CHARIOTS. — He saw at once that this very sudden revolt had assumed formidable proportions, and he would need all his forces to dislodge Barak from his strongly entrenched position on Tabor. HAROSHETH OF THE GENTILES. — This is simply the name of the town Harosheth-haggoîm. (See Judges 4:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS THE DAY. — See the addition of the LXX. to Judges 4:8. The ancients attached the utmost importance to fortunate and unfortunate days, and Barak was guided by a prophetess, not by idle auguries. IS NOT THE LORD GONE OUT BEFORE THEE? — “Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nat... [ Continue Reading ]
DISCOMFITED. — The same word as in Exodus 14:24; Joshua 10:10. The LXX. _exestçse,_ and the Vulg. _perterruit,_ imply the element of immediate Divine aid in the battle. SISERA, AND ALL HIS CHARIOTS. — “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Ps... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WAS NOT A MAN LEFT. — The massacre in all battles in which the fugitives have to escape over a river and contend with a storm is always specially fatal. The memory of this terrible carnage was preserved for years, together with the circumstance that the soil was enriched by the dead bodies (Ps... [ Continue Reading ]
FLED AWAY ON HIS FEET TO THE TENT OF JAEL. — In a different direction from that taken by his army, which fled towards Harosheth (Kimchi). The expression is probably used by anticipation. He could hardly have meant to fly to Jael rather than to Heber, until Jael came to meet him, unless there are cir... [ Continue Reading ]
JAEL WENT OUT TO MEET SISERA. — This makes it probable that her design was already formed, unless we suppose that Jael as a chieftainess was placed above the ordinary rules which regulate the conduct of Oriental women. As nothing is said of Heber, he may have been absent, or he may have kept out of... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE ME, I PRAY THEE, A LITTLE WATER. — The request was natural enough; but, as he had not made it at first, we may suspect that he wanted to taste food in the tent, as a way of rendering still more secure the inviolable laws of Eastern hospitality. Saladin refuses to let Reginald of Chatillon drink... [ Continue Reading ]
STAND. — The imperative here used has the masculine, not the feminine termination, but probably only because it is used generally. THAT THOU SHALT SAY, NO. — In that age, and among those nations, and under such circumstances, a lie would have been regarded as perfectly natural and justifiable; even... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN. — Many commentators have ventured to assume that at this instant Jael received a Divine intimation of what she was to do. To make such an assumption as a way of defending an act of assassination peculiarly terrible and peculiarly treacherous seems _to_ be to the last degree unwarrantable. If a... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, SISERA LAY DEAD. — Thus the glory, such as it was, of having slain the general of the enemy passed to a woman (Judges 4:9). The scene which thus describes the undaunted murderess standing in the tent between the dead and the living chieftains — and glorying in the decision which had led her... [ Continue Reading ]
SO GOD SUBDUED. — The word used for God is here _Elohim,_ while Jehovah occurs through the rest of the narrative. We are not yet in a position to formulate the law which regulates the interchange of these names. It need hardly be added that this attribution of the deliverance of Israel to God’s prov... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HAND OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL PROSPERED, AND PREVAILED. — Literally, as in the margin, _The hand.... going went, and was hard_ — i.e., “became heavier and heavier in its pressure.” The battle of the Kishon was the beginning of a complete deliverance of Israel from the yoke of the Canaanites.... [ Continue Reading ]