1And the sons of Israel will add to do evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and Ehud died. 2And Jehovah will sell them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the captain of his army, Sisera; and he will dwell in Harosheth of the nations: 3And the sons of Israel will cry to Jehovah; for nine hundred chariots of iron to him; and he pressed the sons of Israel by force twenty years. 4And Deborah, a woman, a prophetess, wife to Lapidoth, she judged Israel in that time. 5And she will dwell under the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and between Bethel, in mount Ephraim: and the sons of Israel will go up to her for judgment 6And she will send and call for Barak, son of Abinoam, from KadeshNaphtali; and she will say to him, Did not Jehovah the God of Israel command, Go, and draw into mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulon? 7And I drew to thee to the torrent Kishon, Sisera, captain of Jabin's army, and his chariots and his multitude; and I gave him into thy hand. 8And Barak will say to her, If thou wilt go with me, and I will go: and if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go. 9And she will say, Going, I will go with thee: but yet it shall not be thine honor upon the way which thou goest; for Jehovah will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah will rise and will go with Barak to Kadesh. 10And Barak will cry out to Zebulon and Naphtali to Kadesh; and he will go up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah will go up with him. 11And Heber the Kenite separated himself from Kain, from the sons of Hobab, father-in law of Moses, and he will stretch out his tent even to the oak in Zaanaim which is at Kadesh. 12And they will announce to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam, went up to mount Tabor. 13And Sisera will call together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people which are with him from Harosheth of the nations, to the torrent of Kishon. 14And Deborah will say to Barak, Arise; for this is the day which Jehovah gave Sisera into thine hand; went not Jehovah out before thee? and Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. 15And Jehovah will discomfit Sisera and all the chariots and all the camp, with the mouth of the sword before Barak; and Sisera will descend from the chariot, and will flee on his feet 16And Barak pursued after the chariots and after the camp, even to Harosheth of the nations: and all the camp of Sisera will fall by the mouth of the sword; there was not left even one. 17And Sisera fled upon his feet to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber, the Kenite: for peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18And Jael will go forth to meet Sisera, and will say to him, Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; thou shalt not be afraid. And he will turn aside to her to the tent, and she will cover him with a carpet 19And he will say to her, Give me to drink now a little water, for I thirsted. And she will open a sack of milk, and will give him drink, and will cover him. 20And he will say to her, stand at the door of the tent, and it was when a man shall come, and ask thee and say, Is a man here? and say thou, No 21And Jael, Heber's wife, will take a peg of the tent, and will put a hammer in her hand, and will go to him softly, and will drive the peg into his temples, and it will go down into the earth; and he was in a deep sleep and was wearied. And he will die. 22And behold, Barak pursued Sisera, and Jael will come up to meet him, and she will say to him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest And he will go in to her, and behold, Sisera fallen dead, and the peg in his temples. 23And God will subdue in that day, Jabin, king of Canaan, before the sons of Israel. 24And the hand of the sons of Israel, going, will go, and be hard upon Jabin, king of Canaan, till they cut off Jabin, king of Canaan.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 DEBORAH AND BARAK DELIVER ISRAEL FROM JABIN AND SISERA. (Jdg. 4:1-17)
The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead--The removal of the zealous judge Ehud again left his infatuated countrymen without the restraint of religion.
2 Jabin king of Canaan--"Jabin," a royal title (see on
Josh 11:1). The second Jabin built a new capital on the ruins of the old (
Josh 11:10-
Josh 11:11). The northern Canaanites had recovered from the effect of their disastrous overthrow in the time of Joshua, and now triumphed in their turn over Israel. This was the severest oppression to which Israel had been subjected. But it fell heaviest on the tribes in the north, and it was not till after a grinding servitude of twenty years that they were awakened to view it as the punishment of their sins and to seek deliverance from God.
4 And Deborah, a prophetess--A woman of extraordinary knowledge, wisdom, and piety, instructed in divine knowledge by the Spirit and accustomed to interpret His will; who acquired an extensive influence, and was held in universal respect, insomuch that she became the animating spirit of the government and discharged all the special duties of a judge, except that of military leader.
the wife of Lapidoth--rendered by some, "a woman of splendors."
5 she dwelt under the palm tree--or, collectively, "palm-grove." It is common still in the East to administer justice in the open air, or under the canopy of an umbrageous tree.
6 she sent and called Barak--by virtue of her official authority as judge.
Kedesh-naphtali--situated on an eminence, little north of the Sea of Galilee, and so called to distinguish it from another Kedesh in Issachar.
Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded?--a Hebrew form of making an emphatic communication.
Go and draw toward mount Tabor--an isolated mountain of Galilee, northeast corner of the plain of Esdraelon. It was a convenient place of rendezvous, and the enlistment is not to be considered as limited to ten thousand, though a smaller force would have been inadequate.
8 Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go--His somewhat singular request to be accompanied by Deborah was not altogether the result of weakness. The Orientals always take what is dearest to the battlefield along with them; they think it makes them fight better. The policy of Barak, then, to have the presence of the prophetess is perfectly intelligible as it would no less stimulate the valor of the troops, than sanction, in the eyes of Israel, the uprising against an oppressor so powerful as Jabin.
9 the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman--This was a prediction which Barak could not understand at the time; but the strain of it conveyed a rebuke of his unmanly fears.
11 Now Heber the Kenite . . . pitched his tent--It is not uncommon, even in the present day, for pastoral tribes to feed their flocks on the extensive commons that lie in the heart of inhabited countries in the East (see on
Judg 1:16).
plain of Zaanaim--This is a mistranslation for "the oaks of the wanderers." The site of the encampment was under a grove of oaks, or terebinths, in the upland valley of Kedesh.
13 the river of Kishon--The plain on its bank was chosen as the battlefield by Sisera himself, who was unconsciously drawn thither for the ruin of his army.
14 Barak went down from mount Tabor--It is a striking proof of the full confidence Barak and his troops reposed in Deborah's assurance of victory, that they relinquished their advantageous position on the hill and rushed into the plain in face of the iron chariots they so much dreaded.
15 the Lord discomfited Sisera--Hebrew, "threw his army into confusion"; men, horses, and chariots being intermingled in wild confusion. The disorder was produced by a supernatural panic (see on
Judg 5:20).
so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet--His chariot being probably distinguished by its superior size and elegance, would betray the rank of its rider, and he saw therefore that his only chance of escape was on foot.
16 But Barak pursued . . . unto Harosheth--Broken and routed, the main body of Sisera's army fled northward; others were forced into the Kishon and drowned (see on
Judg 5:21).
17 Sisera fled . . . to the tent of Jael--According to the usages of nomadic people, the duty of receiving the stranger in the sheik's absence devolves on his wife, and the moment the stranger is admitted into his tent, his claim to be defended or concealed from his pursuers is established.
19 she . . . gave him drink, and covered him--Sisera reckoned on this as a pledge of his safety, especially in the tent of a friendly sheik. This pledge was the strongest that could be sought or obtained, after he had partaken of refreshments, and been introduced in the inner or women's apartment.
20 he said unto her, . . . when any man doth come and enquire of thee and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No--The privacy of the harem, even in a tent, cannot be intruded on without express permission.
21 Then Jael took a nail of the tent--most probably one of the pins with which the tent ropes are fastened to the ground. Escape was almost impossible for Sisera. But the taking of his life by the hand of Jael was murder. It was a direct violation of all the notions of honor and friendship that are usually held sacred among pastoral people, and for which it is impossible to conceive a woman in Jael's circumstances to have had any motive, except that of gaining favor with the victors. Though predicted by Deborah [
Judg 4:9], it was the result of divine foreknowledge only--not the divine appointment or sanction; and though it is praised in the song [
Judg 5:24-
Judg 5:27], the eulogy must be considered as pronounced not on the moral character of the woman and her deed, but on the public benefits which, in the overruling providence of God, would flow from it.