Judges 4:10

_AND BARAK CALLED ZEBULUN AND NAPHTALI TO KEDESH; AND HE WENT UP WITH TEN THOUSAND MEN AT HIS FEET: AND DEBORAH WENT UP WITH HIM._ Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh - by the blast of silver trumpets (see the note at Numbers 10:9). The oppressed tribes were naturally expected to bear the brunt of the war....

10-16. Siser's confidence was chiefly in his chariots. But if we have ground to hope that God goes before us, we may go on with courage and cheerfulness. Be not dismayed at the difficulties thou meetest with in resisting Satan, in serving God, or suffering for him; for is not the Lord gone before thee? Follow him then fully. Barak went down, though upon the plain the iron chariots would have advantage against him: he quitted the mountain in dependence on the Divine power; for in the Lord alone is the salvation of his people, Jeremiah 3:23. He was not deceived in his confidence. When God goes before us in our spiritual conflicts, we must bestir ourselves; and when, by his grace, he gives us some success against the enemies of our souls, we must improve it by watchfulness and resolution....

Verse Judges 4:10. _TEN THOUSAND MEN AT HIS FEET_] Ten thousand _footmen_. He had no _chariots_; his army was all composed of _infantry_....

Rather, “and ten thousand men went up (to Tabor) at his feet;” i. e. as his followers (“after him,” Judges 4:14)....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 4:2 SOLD THEM. See Judges 2:14, note. JABIN KING OF HAZOR. The exact site of _Hazor_ has not been identified with certainty, but it is conjectured by Robinson, with great probability, to have stood on the Tell now called _Khuraibeh_, overlooking the waters of Merom (now called Lake Huleh), where are remains of a sepulchre, Cyclopean walls, and other buildings. In Joshua 11:1 we read of the total destruction by fire of Hazor, and of the slaughter of Jabin, the king thereof, with all the inhabitants of the city, and of the slaughter of all the confederate kings, and the capture of their cities; Hazor, however, "the head of all those k

AND BARAK CALLED ZEBULUN AND NAPHTALI TO KEDESH,.... This he did either by the sound of a trumpet, as Ehud did, or by sending messengers to them to collect ten thousand men from among them, which they accordingly did, and came to him in Kedesh: AND HE WENT UP WITH TEN THOUSAND MEN AT HIS FEET; they following him up to Mount Tabor cheerfully and readily, being all footmen; for the Israelites had no cavalry, and yet got the victory over Sisera's army, which, according to Josephus g, had ten thousand horses in it: AND DEBORAH WENT UP WITH HIM; and his ten thousand footmen, to the top of Mount Tabor, to encourage him and them with her presence, and give her best advice when to descend and engage the enemy. g Antiqu. l. 5. c. 5. sect. 1....

3. THIRD DECLENSION: UNDER JABIN, DEBORAH, AND BARAK CHAPTER 4 _ 1. Sold into the hand of Jabin (Judges 4:1)_ 2. The cry of the children of Israel (Judges 4:3) 3. Deborah and Barak (Judges 4:4) 4. The conflict and Jael's deed (Judges 4:12) Ehud the mighty instrument of Jehovah had died, and again the children of Israel lapsed into evil. Then the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, King of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor. His captain was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. A powerful oppressor he was, for this King had nine hundred chariots of iron and oppressed Israel twenty years. About one hundr

THE PREPARATION FOR WAR. D's framework is found in Judges 4:1 and Judges 4:23 f. Judges 4-5. Deborah and Barak Deliver Israel. The record of this deliverance appears first in a prose and then in a poetical form, of which the latter is the older, written without doubt under the inspiration of the actual events. There are some striking differences between the two versions. In the prose narrative the oppressor of Israel is Jabin, king of Hazor, whose captain is Sisera; Deborah's home is in Mount Ephraim; only the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali fight the tyrant; and Jael murders Sisera when he lies asleep in her tent. In the triumphal Ode there is no Jabin; Sisera is at the head of the kings of Canaan, himself the greatest king of all; Deborah appears to belong to the tribe of Issachar; all the tribes aroun

CALLED: i.e. by proclamation....

See notes on Judges 4:6. _and Deboṛah went up with him_ i.e. to mount Tabor, Judges 4:12; the clause seems to belong to the story of Sisera. _at his feet_means _following him_, cf. Judges 8:5; 1 Samuel 25:27; 1 Kings 20:10....