_A.M. 2708. B.C. 1296._ Deborah's song begins with praise, Judges 5:1. Compares God's present appearance for them with his appearance on mount Sinai, Judges 5:4; Judges 5:5. Describes the condition they were in before, Judges 5:6. Calls all the delivered to join in praise, Judges 5:9. Commends thos... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then sang Deborah_ The composer of this song, one of whose special gifts, as a prophetess, it was to sing God's praises, 1 Chronicles 25:1. _And Barak_ Who was now probably become a judge, in consequence of this great deliverance which God had wrought by him. _On that day_ In which they had complet... [ Continue Reading ]
_Praise ye the Lord_, &c. This verse seems to be no more than the _exordium_, or preface to the song, expressing the subject or occasion of it, namely, _the avenging of Israel_, or the deliverance of them from Canaanitish slavery, and the people's willingly offering themselves to battle. Houbigant r... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear, O ye kings_, &c. The prophetess begins her song with summoning the attention of the neighbouring kings and princes, that they might understand and lay to heart what God had done for Israel, and learn from thence not to oppress them, lest the same vengeance which had fallen upon Jabin and his... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir_ Thus the prophetess, by a sudden apostrophe, addresses him, not as their present deliverer, but as the God who had formerly exerted his miraculous power to bring them into the promised land; leaving her hearers to recollect, that it was the same power which had... [ Continue Reading ]
_The mountains melted_ Or flowed with floods of water, poured out of the clouds upon them, and from them flowing down in mighty streams upon the lower grounds, and carrying down part of the mountains with them. _Even that Sinai_ Or rather, _As did Sinai itself._ The whole verse might be better trans... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the days of Shamgar_, &c. In this and the two following verses Deborah, to give the Israelites a just sense of their deliverance, and excite them to greater thankfulness, represents the miseries to which the Canaanites had reduced them by twenty years' oppression; their public roads or high-ways... [ Continue Reading ]
_The inhabitants of the villages ceased_ The people forsook all their unfortified towns, not being able to protect them from military insolence. _A mother_ That is, to be to them as a mother, to instruct, and rule, and protect them, which duties a mother owes to her children.... [ Continue Reading ]
_They chose_, &c. That is, the Israelites, after the death of Ehud, forsook the Lord, and served other gods. And they did not only submit to idolatry when they were forced to it by tyrants, but they freely chose it. _New gods_ New to them, and unknown to their fathers, and new in comparison of the t... [ Continue Reading ]
_My heart is toward the governors_ I honour and love those, who, being the chief of the people in wealth and dignity, did not withdraw themselves from the work, as such usually do; but exposed themselves to the same hazards, and joined with their brethren in this noble but dangerous attempt. It seem... [ Continue Reading ]
_Speak ye_ Celebrate the praise of our mighty God, and give him thanks. The word שׂיחו, _sichu_, however, here rendered, _Speak ye_, more properly signifies to _consider, meditate_, or _reflect_ deeply, namely, on the miserable condition they were in before, and on the great deliverance God had wrou... [ Continue Reading ]
_From the noise of archers_ From the triumphant noise and shouts of archers, rejoicing when they met with their prey. Together with the princes, judges, and merchants, she would have the shepherds praise the Lord every time they came to water their flocks; remembering how they were formerly disturbe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Awake, awake, Deborah_ Stir up thyself, with all that is within thee, to admire and praise Jehovah. This work needs, and well deserves, the utmost liveliness and vigour of soul. Thus, having called upon all others, she now excites herself, with the most earnest and zealous affection, (expressed by... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then he made him that remaineth have dominion_, &c. This verse is very obscure, nor is it easy to fix the sense of the original, the principal verb in the sentence, ירד, _jerad_, which occurs in both clauses of it, meaning both to _have_, or to _cause to have dominion_, and also to _descend_, or _c... [ Continue Reading ]
_Out of Ephraim_, &c. The prophetess, having directed their praises to the Author of their deliverance, proceeds to speak with commendation of the instruments of it, and gives us the muster of those tribes which freely offered themselves to battle. She assigns the first place to the tribe of Benjami... [ Continue Reading ]
_He was sent on foot_ Or, when he was sent, _with his foot, into the valley._ This is not an immaterial remark of the prophetess. It expresses that the tribe or people of Issachar, following the counsel and example of their princes, were as hearty and valiant in the cause as Barak their general; and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why_, &c. Having mentioned with honour the tribes that willingly offered themselves, the prophetess proceeds to expostulate with those who, when summoned to the assistance of their brethren, shamefully refused to arm in the common cause. The first two that she upbraids are Reuben and Gad, who were... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gilead abode_, &c. Or, why did Gilead abide? Gilead was divided between the children of Machir and the tribe of Gad, Joshua 13:24. The children of Machir came down to the battle, and therefore the tribe of Gad can only be meant here, the land of Gilead being put for the inhabitants of it. _Beyond J... [ Continue Reading ]
_Zebulun and Naphtali_, &c. These were the two tribes out of which Barak, by the order of God, (Judges 4:6,) drew ten thousand men, who charged the enemy from mount Tabor; and Deborah here celebrates their gallant behaviour. _That jeoparded their lives_ Hebrew, חר Š, _cherep, despised their lives_,... [ Continue Reading ]
_The kings came and fought_ There were divers petty kings in those parts who were subject to Jabin. _Taanach_ and _Megiddo_ were two eminent cities not far from mount Tabor, nor from the river Kishon. _They took no gain of money_ Some interpret this as meaning they fought without pay, whether from m... [ Continue Reading ]
_They fought from heaven_ The prophetess, having in the foregoing verse mentioned who were the allies and helpers of Jabin, does here, in a very magnificent manner, represent who were the allies and helpers of Israel. _They fought from heaven_ on this side; namely, the very angels of God themselves,... [ Continue Reading ]
_The river of Kishon_ Which, though not great in itself, was now much swelled by the foregoing storm and rain, and therefore drowned those who, being pursued by the hand of God and by the Israelites, were forced into it, and thought to pass over it, as they did before. _Ancient river _ So called, ei... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then were the horse-hoofs broken_ This verse finely expresses, and gives us the strongest image of, the confusion and rapidity of the flight of Sisera's captains and great men, as well as of the multitude, from God and Israel; which was such that the very hoofs of their horses were broken by their... [ Continue Reading ]
_Curse ye Meroz_ A place then, no doubt, eminent and considerable, though now there be no remembrance of it left, which possibly might be the effect of this bitter curse; as God cursed Amalek in this manner, that he might utterly blot out their remembrance. And this place, above all others, may be t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed_, &c. This is a beautiful and striking transition, whereby the prophetess passes from the curse pronounced by the command of the angel on the Merozites to the blessing of Jael, on whom she passes the finest encomium, because, though only a sojourner in Israel, she had done them most signal... [ Continue Reading ]
_He asked water_, &c. The original here is very poetical and elegant, and not badly imitated in our translation of it, if it were placed in hemistics thus: _HE ASKED WATER, AND SHE GAVE MILK; _ She brought forth butter in a lordly dish. The last clause, however, perhaps had better be rendered, _c... [ Continue Reading ]
_She smote off his head_ Or rather, smote through his head, for there is not the least hint given in the story that she cut off his head. The latter part of the verse, _When she pierced_, &c., may be rendered, _She wounded and pierced through his temples._... [ Continue Reading ]
_At her feet he bowed_, &c. This verse is considered by many as a description of the struggles of Sisera after he was wounded; but perhaps it may only be a relation of his lying down to sleep quite spent with fatigue, from which he never rose again. For it is expressly said, (Judges 4:21,) that Jael... [ Continue Reading ]
_The mother of Sisera looked out at a window_ Expecting to see him returning; for she concluded that he went forth not so much to fight as to take the spoil. _Have they not divided the spoil?_ That is, it is certain they have got the prey, only they tarry to distribute it, according to every man's q... [ Continue Reading ]
_So let thine enemies perish, O Lord_ That is, so suddenly, so surely, so effectually and irrecoverably; an elegant apostrophe of the prophetess this, in turning and addressing her speech to God; that as her speech began with him, so it might likewise conclude with him. And with what gracefulness, a... [ Continue Reading ]