Judges 5 - Introduction

V.

The song of Deborah is one of the grandest outbursts of impassioned poetry in the Bible. It is a song of victory, or what the Greeks would have called an Epinician ode. Attempts have been made to show that it cannot have been the work of Deborah, but must belong to a later age, because it contains certain forms which are asserted to be of late occurrence. It is now, however, generally admitted that these may be provincial or colloquial usages of great antiquity, though they only found their way later into the written style. The peculiar splendour and intensity of the poetic passion which breathes throughout the ode, the archaic simplicity of its structure, and the fact that it refers to many circumstances not preserved in the parallel prose narrative, leave little or no doubt as to its perfect genuineness.
It has been arranged in various ways; but the arrangement adopted by Ewald (which may be seen in Dean Stanley’s Jewish Church, ii. 334), with some modifications, seems to be the most satisfactory. It consists there of a prelude, followed by three main sections, each divisible into three unequal strophes, and ended by a triumphant aspiration, as follows: —

The Prelude (Judges 5:2).

I.

The Significance of the Victory (Judges 5:4).

α. Israel’s glorious Redemption of old (Judges 5:4).

β. Israel’s recent Degeneracy (Judges 5:6).

γ. The Crisis of Deliverance (Judges 5:9).

II.

Second Prelude (Judges 5:12).

The Muster and the Battle (Judges 5:13).

α. The Gathering of the Loyal (Judges 5:13 a).

β. The Malingerers and the Brave (Judges 5:15 b — Judges 5:18).

γ. The Victory (Judges 5:19).

III.

The Issues of the Victory (Judges 5:24).

α. The Faithless City (Judges 5:23).

β. The Avenger (Judges 5:24).

γ. The Mother’s Frustrated Hope (Judges 5:28).

The Cry of Triumph (Judges 5:31).

Although the structure of the ode may not have been intended to be exactly regular, the above scheme fairly represents it. It is characterised throughout by an intense and scathing irony and passion, which gains fresh force from the alliterative form in which it resembles the old Scandinavian and Teutonic poems. There are similar Epinician odes in Exodus (Exodus 15.), Numbers (Numbers 21:27), Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 32), 1 Samuel (1 Samuel 18:7), and 2 Samuel (2 Samuel 1); but this is incomparably finer than any of those, and has never been equalled, much less surpassed. In energy, scorn, and pathos it rises immensely above the loftiest flights of the “Theban Eagle” (Pindar), whose odes were regarded as unequalled in Greek poetry.

TRANSLATION OF THE SONG OF DEBORAH.

I.

THE PRELUDE (Judges 5:2).

2.

For the leading of the leaders of Israel,

For the self-devotion of the people — praise ye the Lord.

3.

Hear, O kings; attend, O princes; I to the Lord, even I, will sing, I will sound the harp to the Lord, the God of Israel.

I.

ISRAEL’S GLORIOUS REDEMPTION OF OLD (Judges 5:4).

4.

Lord, in Thy going forth from Seir,

In Thy marching forth from Edom’s field,
The earth trembled; yea, the heavens dropped:
Yea, the clouds poured down water.

5.

The mountains flowed away before the face of the Lord:

This Sinai before the Lord, the God of Israel.

II.

ISRAEL’S RECENT DEGENERACY (Judges 5:6).

6.

In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways ceased, The wayfarers walked in winding ways.

7.

Ceased the warriors in Israel, ceased Until I arose — Deborah —

I arose, a mother in Israel.

III.

THE CRISIS OF DELIVERANCE (Judges 5:8).

8.

They chose new gods;

Then was there war in the gates.
Shield nor spear was seen
Among forty thousand in Israel!

9.

My heart is with the reformers of Israel,

With the self-devoted of the people — Praise the Lord:

10.

Ye that ride on bright she-asses,

Ye that sit on rich divans,
Ye that walk in the way,
Think of it!

11.

Instead of the hallooings of the archers

Among the water-drawers,
Then let them praise the righteous acts of the Lord;
The righteous acts of His governance in Israel.
Then to the gates went down the people of the Lord.

II.

NEW PRELUDE (Judges 5:12).

12.

Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake; utter a song!

Up, Barak! lead captive thy captives, son of Abinoam!

THE MUSTER AND THE BATTLE (Judges 5:13).

I.

THE GATHERING OF THE LOYAL (Judges 5:13).

13.

Then came down to battle a valiant few of the nobles of

the people; The Lord came down to me among the heroes;

14.

Out of Ephraim (came) those whose root is in Amalek Behind thee (came) Benjamin, among thy people; Out of Machir came masters;

And from Zebulon chieftains, with the marshal’s staff-

15.

And the princes of Issachar, with Deborah, Even Issachar, as well as Barak, Rushed down at his heels into the plain.

II.

THE MALIGNERERS AND THE BRAVE (Judges 5:16).

16.

By the streams of Reuben was courage of word.

Why stayest thou within the sheepfolds,
To hear the sounds of shepherds’ flutes?
By the streams of Reuben was cowardice in deed,

Gilead beyond Jordan lingered,

And Dan, why did he cower in ships?
Asher sat by the shore of the sea,
And by his rocky bays reposed.

Zebulon-a people flinging its soul to death!

And Naphtali — on the heights of the field.

III.

THE VICTORY (Judges 5:19).

19.

They came-the kings they fought;

They fought, the kings of Canaan.
In Taanach, on Megiddo’s waters,
No dust of silver did they win.
From heaven they fought;
The stars in their courses fought against Sisera!

21.

The torrent Kishon swept them away;

The torrent of slaughters, the torrent Kishon.
Trample, my soul, on strength!

22.

Then stamped the hoofs of the steeds

With the plungings, the plungings of the mighty ones!

III.

THE ISSUES OF THE VICTORY (Judges 5:23).

I.

THE FAITHLESS CITY (Judges 5:23).

23.

Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord;

Curse ye with a curse the inhabitants thereof;
Because they came not to the help of the Lord,
To the help of the Lord among the heroes.

II.

THE AVENGER (Judges 5:24).

24.

Blessed among women be Jael,

Heber, the Kenite’s wife;
Among women in the tent blessed be she.

25.

Water asked he, milk she gave:

In a bowl of the nobles she brought him cream.

26.

Her left hand to the tent-peg she stretched forth,

And her right hand to the workman’s hammer.
And she hammered Sisera, shattered his head,
And battered and crashed through his temples.

27.

Between her feet he writhed, he fell, he lay;

Between her feet he writhed, he fell;
Where he writhed there he fell down — dead!

III.

THE MOTHER’S FRUSTRATED HOPES (Judges 5:28).

28.

Through the window looked forth and wailed

The mother of Sisera, through the lattice-work,
“Why lingers his chariot to come?
Why tarry the pacings of his chariots?”

29.

The wise of her princesses answer her;

Yea, she repeats their words to herself —
“Are they not finding? Are they not sharing the spoil?
A maiden, two maidens, to each man.”

30.

Prey of dyed robes for Sisera,

Prey of red robes, of embroidery;
One dyed, two of embroidery, for the neck of the princess.

THE EPILOGUE.

31.

So perish thine enemies, O Lord!

But let those who love Thee be as the sun’s rising in his

strength.