Judges 4:15

_AND THE LORD DISCOMFITED SISERA, AND ALL HIS CHARIOTS, AND ALL HIS HOST, WITH THE EDGE OF THE SWORD BEFORE BARAK; SO THAT SISERA LIGHTED DOWN OFF HIS CHARIOT, AND FLED AWAY ON HIS FEET._ The Lord discomfited Sisera - Hebrew, threw his army into confusion. The disorder was produced by a supernatural panic (see the note at Judges 4:20). SO THAT SISERA LIGHTED DOWN OFF HIS CHARIOT, AND FLED AWAY ON HIS FEET. Sauve qui peut-`Every man look to himself'-became the order of the day. Sisera's chariot, being probably distinguished by its superior size and elegance, would betray the rank of its rider, who saw, consequently, that his only chance of escape was on foot. His flight was in a different direction from that of his army....

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 4:15. _THE LORD DISCOMFITED SISERA_] ויהם יהוה _vayiahom_ _Jehovah; the Lord CONFOUNDED, threw them all into confusion, drove_ _them pell-mell_-caused chariots to break and overthrow chariots, and threw universal disorder into all their ranks. In this case Barak and his men had little to do but kill and pursue, and Sisera in order to escape, was obliged to abandon his chariot. There is no doubt all this was done by supernatural agency; God sent his _angel_ and confounded them....

LIGHTED DOWN OFF HIS CHARIOT - Probably his chariot stuck in the morass (see the note at Judges 4:7); or he might leave his chariot in order to mislead his pursuers, and in hope of gaining a place of safety while they were following the track of the chariot-wheels and the bulk of the host....

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 THE LORD DISCOMFITED SISERA AND ALL [HIS] CHARIOTS, AND ALL [HIS] HOST,.... Frightened them, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, or disturbed them with a noise and tumult, as the word signifies; with a noise in the heavens, which were in their ears, as Abarbinel observes, like the noise of a large army, as was the case of the Syrians, 2 Kings 7:6; and they saw, he says, horses and chariots of fire, and the like, which terrified them; and all this he supposes was done before Barak descended from the mountain, so that he had nothing to do when he came but to pursue and kill, whereby it plainly appeared it was the Lord's doing. Josephus i says there was a great tempest of rain and hail, and the wind blew the rain in their faces, which so blinded their eyes, that their slings and arrows were of no use to them; and they that bore armour were so benumbed, that they could not hold...

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 BATTLE OF THE KISHON AND THE DEATH OF SISERA. The Galilean highlanders rushed like a torrent down the slope of Mt. Tabor, and swept the enemy before them. When Sisera left his chariot and fled on foot (Judges 4:15), he made westward for Harosheth. The tent of Jael was pitched somewhere in the Great Plain, not (as Judges 4:11; Judges 4:17 would imply) away north in the neighbourhood of Kedesh or Hazor. The account of Sisera's death given in this chapter differs materially from the representation in the triumphal Ode. Jael covers him with a rug, or perhaps the word (which is found only here) means a tent curtain; she opens her milk-skin, and bids him drink; she apparently agrees to stand at the tent door and put his pursuers off the

THE LORD DISCOMFITED. Jehovah discomfited. Compare Psalms 83:9. The word implies supernatural phenomena. Compare Judges 5:20.Exodus 14:24. Jos 10:10. 2 Samuel 22:15.Psalms 18:15....

_discomfited_ lit. -confused," -threw into a panic." The word, not a common one, occurs again in the prose counterpart to the Song of Moses (Exodus 14:24), and in Joshua 10:10 just before the poetic fragment Judges 4:12; cf. 1 Samuel 7:10. The words _with the edge of the sword_do not go well with _threw into a panic_; they may have come accidentally from Judges 4:16....