4. 4. Deborah and Barak, Chaps. 4, 5 And the children of Israel again did that which was RD evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. Chaps. 4, 5. The deliverance through Deborah and Barak is related in two narratives, one of prose (chap. 4), the other a triumphal song (chap. 5). According to the first, which has the Deuteronomic introduction, the children of Israel, having again apostatized after the death of Ehud, were severely oppressed for twenty years by Jabin, the Canaanite king of Hazor, when Deborah, a prophetess of Mt. Ephraim, instigated Barak of Naphtali to lead a revolt. This Barak did successfully. Collecting a force of ten thousand men from Zebulun and Naphtali, he attacked and signally defeated Sisera, the commander of the army of Jabin, near the river Kishon. Sisera in flight sought refuge in the camp of some friendly Kenites and was treacherously slain by the wife of the sheikh. The poem, chapter five, celebrates this victory, but differs in these important details: (1) Jabin is not mentioned; (2) Sisera appears as a king and other kings are joined with him; (3) the tribes who furnish the warriors for the battles are not only Zebulun and Naphtali, but also Ephraim, Machir (i.e. Manasseh), Benjamin, and Issachar; and Reuben, Gilead (i.e. Gad), Dan, and Asher are reproached for not assisting. All Israel thus appears involved except the southern tribes, Judah and Simeon. There is also no mention of Levi. (4) The details of the death of Sisera are also different. In chapter four he is slain asleep; in chapter five while standing upright. The prose narrative contains also inconsistencies within itself. In vv. 9 f. the center of the revolt is at Kedesh, clearly Kedeshnaphtali, the home of Barak. Near this Kedesh the Kenites are encamped (v. 11). But in v. 13 the headquarters of Sisera are Harosheth, a town of the plain of Esdraelon, near the river Kishon. In harmony with this, the rendezvous of Barak's men, in vv. 15 f., is Mt. Tabor and from thence they march against Sisera. Jabin also has no part in the battle and is not mentioned in connection with the defeat. Considering all these facts, it is probable that in chapter four two conflicts with the Canaanites 2. And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. And the children of Israel cried unto 1 Or, nations. have been confused: one confined perhaps to the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, in which Jabin, King of Hazor, took part, the seat of which was near to Hazor in the north; and the other, celebrated in the song, in which Sisera was the leader of the enemy and which arose from a confederacy of the Canaanites of the plain of Esdraelon and adjacent parts against the Israelites of Central and North Palestine, whose leaders and deliverers were Deborah and Barak. The former conflict gave rise to the record in Josh. 11:1-9, where Jabin appears as the head of a confederacy of Canaanitish kings whom Joshua defeated at the Waters of Merom. The appearance of the Kenites in connection with each is probably not due to any such original connection, but to a harmonizing editor. Originally the Kenites probably had no part in the northern conflict. The conflict of Central Palestine was unquestionably one of great historic moment. Under Sisera the Canaanites were clearly getting the upper hand of Israel; and had he prevailed, the development of Israel would have been greatly retarded. The result of the contest seems to have been very decisive, for, although the cities of the plain of Esdraelon may not have become an integral part of Israel until later times, yet we never read of the Canaanites again taking a stand against Israel. Their defeat was as decisive as crushing. 4: 2. Jabin. Cf. vv. 7, 17; Josh. II: 1; see also above. King of Canaan. The Deuteronomic editor ascribed a political unity to Canaan as well as to Israel. Historically there was no king of Canaan, i.e. a single sovereign ruling the whole land. The government was that of independent municipalities, each one of which had its own king. Hazor. Near Kedesh, west of Lake Merom, not identified (cf. 2 Kgs. 15:29; Josh. 19:36). The captain of whose host was Sisera. A harmonizing statement which arose from the confusion of two conflicts (see above). 3. the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. 4. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, JE 5. she judged Israel at that time. And she 1 dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el 1 Or, sat. Harosheth. Sisera in reality had no connection with Jabin. 3. Chariots of iron. See 1:19. These instruments of warfare enabled Sisera to control the plain. Thotmes III records 924 chariots taken in the battle of Megiddo, where the Egyptians won a great victory over a group of Asiatic allies led by the king of Kadesh in the fifteenth century B.C. 4. Deborah. Also the name of Rebekah's nurse (Gen. 35: 8). The word means bee." A prophetess. I.e. a woman moved by divine inspirations. The term is applied to Miriam (Exod. 15:20), Huldah (2 Kgs. 22:14), Noadiah (Neh. 6:14), and the wife of Isaiah (Isa. 8:3). Lappidoth. A name of doubtful meaning not occurring elsewhere. She judged Israel. Acted as an arbitrator of disputes. The people came to her somewhat in the same manner as they are represented in Exod. 18:13 as coming to Moses; only the number who sought her need not have been very large, since Israel was not then unified. 5. And she dwelt. May also be rendered sat, held her court. The palm tree of Deborah. The later name of the tree, derived from its association with Deborah. Some have supposed it identical with the tree beneath which Rebekah's nurse, Deborah, was said to have been buried, below Bethel, north of Jerusalem (Gen. 35:8). The residence beneath the tree was not accidental. The tree was without doubt regarded as sacred through the abode of a divinity through whom the prophetess might derive inspiration. Even at the present time certain trees in Palestine are in the hill country of Ephraim: and the children of 6. Israel came up to her for judgement. And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded, saying, Go and draw unto mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebu7. lun? And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine 8. hand. And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, I 9. will not go. And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and IO. went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah revered as the dwelling places of spirits or divinities, and votive offerings are placed on their branches. Ramah. Modern er-Ram, north of Jerusalem. The hill country of Ephraim. See on 3: 27. 6. Barak. The word means "" 'lightning." Not elsewhere in the Old Testament as a proper name but the same as the Carthaginian Barcas. Kedesh-naphtali. Northwest of Lake Merom. The place still retains its old name. Tabor. Southwest of the Sea of Galilee, a natural base of operations against the Canaanite cities of the plain of Esdraelon. 7. Kishon. The stream traversing the northern portion of the plain. This exhortation of Deborah is phrased according to the result of the encounter; also the words of v. 9. 10. Kedesh. As a rendezvous is agreeable to the story of the conflict with Jabin (see above). II. went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite had sev- R ered himself from 1 the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab the 2 brother in law of Moses, and had 3 pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which 12. is by Kedesh. And they told Sisera that Barak the JE the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor. 13. And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even 4 nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, unto 14. the river Kishon. And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount 15. Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera lighted down from his chariot, and fled 16. away on his feet. But Barak pursued after the 1 Heb. Kain. See Num. 24:22. 4 Or, nations. 2 Or, father in law. 3 Or, terebinth. 11. Heber. Representing a Kenite family, he had separated himself from his brethren who dwelt in the southern part of Judah (see 1:16) and had migrated to Northern Palestine. The oak in Zaanannim. More correctly the oak of Bezaanannim, mentioned also in Josh. 19:33. This verse seems to belong to the story of Jabin. It is probably an editorial note introductory to v. 17, written, then, after the fusion of the two stories. 14. Is not the Lord gone out before thee? Has not Jehovah prepared the way for the victory? 15. The Lord discomfited. The foe were panic-stricken by Jehovah. The phrase is frequently used to describe Israel's rout of an enemy (cf. Exod. 14: 24; Josh. 10: 10; 1 Sam. 7: 10). 16. Harosheth of the Gentiles. See on v. 2. |