Judges 5:22

_THEN WERE THE HORSEHOOFS BROKEN BY THE MEANS OF THE PRANSINGS, THE PRANSINGS OF THEIR MIGHTY ONES._ Horse-hoofs. Anciently, as in many parts of the East still, horses were not shod. The breaking of the hoofs denotes the hot haste and heavy irregular tramp of the routed foe....

12-23 Deborah called on her own soul to be in earnest. He that will set the hearts of other men on fire with the love of Christ, must himself burn with love. Praising God is a work we should awake to, and awake ourselves unto. She notices who fought against Israel, who fought for them, and who kept away. Who fought against them. They were obstinate enemies to God's people, therefore the more dangerous. Who fought for them. The several tribes that helped are here spoken of with honour; for though God is above all to be glorified, those who are employed must have their due praise, to encourage others. But the whole creation is at war with those to whom God is an enemy. The river of Kishon fought against their enemies. At most times it was shallow, yet now, probably by the great rain that fell, it was so swelled, and the stream so deep and strong, that those who attempted to pass, were dro...

Verse Judges 5:22. _THEN WERE THE HORSEHOOFS BROKEN_] In very ancient times horses were not shod; nor are they to the present day in several parts of the East. Sisera had _iron chariots_ when his hosts were routed; the horses that drew these, being strongly urged on by those who drove them, had their hoofs broken by the roughness of the roads; in consequence of which they became lame, and could not carry off their riders. This is marked as one cause of their disaster....

Probably an allusion to the frantic efforts of the chariot-horses to disengage themselves from the morass (Judges 4:15 note). MIGHTY ONES - Applied to bulls Psalms 22:12 and horses Jeremiah 8:16; Jeremiah 47:3; Jeremiah 50:11; elsewhere, as probably here, to men....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 5:1 THEN SANG DEBORAH, etc. The ode which follows was doubtless the composition of Deborah the prophetess, and was sung by her (as the gender of the Hebrew verb indicates), assisted by Barak, who perhaps sang the antistrophe (cf. Exodus 15:1, Exodus 15:21). It is a song of wonderful beauty and lyric power, somewhat difficult, as all Hebrew poetry is. JUDGES 5:2 Her first feeling was one of patriotic joy that her countrymen had been roused to the venture of war, and of gratitude to God that it was so. "For the bold leading of the leaders of Israel, for the

THEN WERE THE HORSE HOOFS BROKEN BY MEANS OF THE PRANSINGS,.... Either through the force of the waters of the river, where they pranced and plunged, and could have no standing; or through the swift haste they made to run away, striking the earth so quick, and with such force and vehemence, that their hoofs were broken thereby, especially on stony ground, and so their speed retarded: THE PRANSINGS OF THE MIGHTY ONES; either their riders, princes, and great personages, who made them prance, leap, and run with great speed and force; or horses strong and mighty, being such as were selected for this purpose, and trained to war....

CHAPTER 5 The Song of Deborah and Barak _ 1. The praise of Jehovah (Judges 5:1)_ 2. The condition of the people and their deliverance (Judges 5:6) 3. The celebration of the victory and the victors (Judges 5:12) 4. The fate of the enemy (Judges 5:23) This is one of the prophetic songs of the Bible. It is full of the fire of passion and enthusiasm, reflecting the character of the woman through whom the deliverance had been wrought. It has been classed with the barbaric outbursts of the battle-hymns and odes of triumph of heathen nations, likened to some wild chant of a victor, whose blood-thirst has been que

THE BATTLE OF MEGIDDO. The waters of Megiddo were tributaries of the Kishon. Taanach and Megiddo (p. 30) were both towns on the left bank of the river. The battle-field of Megiddo long afterwards suggested the name of the last weird battle of the nations the apocalyptic Armageddon (Revelation 16:16). Judges 5:20. The very stars take part in the fight a magnificent poetical way of saying that all the forces of the universe are arrayed on the side of righteousness. The battle must have been fought in winter or spring. Yahweh's storm-clouds burst, and the swollen river swept many of Israel's enemies away. In Judges 5:22 b there is an attempt to imitate the galloping of horses in flight....

THE PRANSINGS. Figure of speech _Epizeuxis._...

The battle....