Judges 4:1-24

Deborah and Barak

This deliverance is described a second time in the early poem in Judges 5 (see on Judges 5:1). No other narrative describes more clearly the religious gathering of the clans, and the prowess of the hardy mountaineers when united. The plain of Esdraelon (see Intro. § 5) is one of the famous battle-fields of history. It drives like a wedge from the coast within 10m. of the Jordan; but it is dominated by hills on all sides, and is almost closed by them at its western end. In Judges 5 all the tribes are mentioned either as uniting or refusing to appear, save Judah and Simeon. Subsequently we hear no more of such united efforts.

1-3. Oppression by Jabin.