Judges 4:6

_AND SHE SENT AND CALLED BARAK THE SON OF ABINOAM OUT OF KEDESH-NAPHTALI, AND SAID UNTO HIM, HATH NOT THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL COMMANDED, SAYING, GO AND DRAW TOWARD MOUNT TABOR, AND TAKE WITH THEE TEN THOUSAND MEN OF THE CHILDREN OF NAPHTALI AND OF THE CHILDREN OF ZEBULUN?_ She sent and called Barak - i:e., lightning, as Hamilcar, a famous Carthaginian general, was called Barca. Deborah summoned him, i:e., Barak, by virtue of her official authority as judge. KEDESH-NAPHTALI - situated on an eminence, not far from Hazor, a little north of the sea of Galilee, and so called to distinguish it from another Kedesh in Issachar. It is now Kades. It was 20 Roman miles from Tyre, and not far from Paneas (Robinson, 'Biblical Researches,' 3:, p. 354; Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 331; also 'Lectures on the Jewish Church,' p. 319). HATH NOT THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL COMMANDED - a Hebrew form of...

4-9 Deborah was a prophetess; one instructed in Divine knowledge by the inspiration of the Spirit of God. She judged Israel as God's mouth to them; correcting abuses, and redressing grievances. By God's direction, she ordered Barak to raise an army, and engage Jabin's forces. Barak insisted much upon her presence. Deborah promised to go with him. She would not send him where she would not go herself. Those who in God's name call others to their duty, should be ready to assist them in it. Barak values the satisfaction of his mind, and the good success of his enterprise, more than mere honour....

Verse Judges 4:6. _SHE SENT AND CALLED BARAK_] She appointed him to be _general_ of the armies on this occasion; which shows that she possessed the supreme power in the state. _MOUNT TABOR_] "Mount Tabor," says Maundrell, "stands by itself, about two or three furlongs within the plains of _Esdraelon_. It has a plain area at the top, both fertile and delicious of an oval figure, extending about one furlong in breadth, and two in length. The prospect from the top is beautiful: on the N.W. is the _Mediterranean_; and all around you have the spacious plains of _Esdraelon_ and _Galilee_, which present you with a view of many places famous for the resort and miracles of the Son of God. At the bottom of Tabor, westward, stands _Daberah_, a small village, supposed to have taken its name from _Deborah_. Near this valley is the brook Ki

The name Barak signifies lightning, an appropriate name for a warrior. It is found also as Barca or Barcas, among Punic proper names. Compare Mark 3:17. On Kedesh-Naphtali see the marginal reference. Deborah speaks of God as Yahweh the God of Israel, because she speaks, as it were, in the presence of the pagan enemies of Israel, and to remind the Israelites, in the day of their distress, that He was ready to perform the mercy promised to their fathers, and to remember His holy covenant. This title, too, would recall to their memories in an instant all His past acts in Egypt, at the Red Sea, in the wilderness, and in the conquest of Canaan. The object of “drawing (toward Mount Tabor” rather, spreading out, compare Judges 20:

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 SHE SENT AND CALLED BARAK THE SON OF ABINOAM OUT OF KEDESHNAPHTALI,.... So called to distinguish it from other places of the same name, this being in the tribe of Naphtali, and a city of refuge, Joshua 20:7; of which tribe and place Barak was, but who he and his father Abinoam were we have no other account; it seems clear from hence that he was not the husband of Deborah, as the Jews say, or they would have lived together; though, according to Ben Gersom, she lived separate from him, because of the spirit of prophecy that was upon her; however, in this mission and message to Barak she acted not as a private person, but as a judge in Israel, and as having and exercising public power and authority: AND SAID UNTO HIM; when come to her upon her summons: HATH NOT THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL COMMANDED: can any doubt be made of it? can Barak in the least question

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

HATH NOT. ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6. GOD. Hebrew. _Elohim._ App-4. RIVER KISHON. Compare Psalms 83:9; Psalms 83:10. HAND. Some codices, with two early printed editions, Septuagint, and Syriac, read "hands"....

_And she sent and called Barak_ continues Judges 4:4. Barak = -lightning"; the name is found in Phoenician, e.g. Barcas the father of Hannibal, and in Palmyrene and Sabaean (_NSI_., p. 299). _out of Kedesh-naphtali_ also called K. in Galilee (Joshua 20:7) to distinguish it from other places of the same name; it is mentioned in the Amarna letters and in Egypt, documents; the modern Ḳades 4 m. N.W. of the lake of Ḥûleh represents the ancient site. But the presence of Kedesh in this chapter raises serious difficulties; the town was too near Hazor, and too far from the scene of the conflict with Sisera, for the muster of Barak's troops. Probably, therefore, Kedesh is an element in the Jabin-tradition, though how much of the present narrative belongs to that tradition cannot be exactly determined. mo