Deeper Commentary
Jdg 4:1 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh, when Ehud was dead-
This is the intentionally repeated cycle of all the historical
records, both of the judges and kings. Israel's apparent loyalty to Yahweh
was only seen at the time of strong individual reformist leaders.
Immediately the leader died, they returned to unashamed idolatry. Clearly
the message is that no matter what strong leadership there may be amongst
God's people, or what truly spiritual ethos and culture is inculcated by
them- the hearts of individuals can still be untouched by it. And so
without that culture, if the church closes or the individual moves away
geographically or cannot attend due to health issues, or the leader
dies... the commitment of the individual will be shown to have been
meaningless. We must ask ourselves how our faith would really be, if we
were taken away from the Godly influences and cultures in our lives. If
individual believers were forcibly removed from their churches and
spiritual networks- would their faith stand? This is why we must continue
our appeal for personal Bible reading, indeed Bible study, and serious
personal prayer and witnessing.
"The children of Israel did evil in the sight of Yahweh" is a refrain which occurs seven times in Judges
(Jud. 2:11; 3:7,12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1),
recalling how Israel both over history and in the last days were to be
punished "seven times" for their sins (Lev. 26:23,24). But another
refrain in Judges is that every man did what was right in his own eyes-
but what is right in our own eyes, following our own heart, is usually not
what is right in God's eyes.
Jdg 4:2 Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan who reigned
in Hazor-
Josh. 11 speaks of Joshua totally destroying Hazor so that no Canaanite remained there. But clearly the site had been re-taken and populated again. Just as happens with the victories of Joshua-Jesus against everything that might be a barrier to our inheritance of the Kingdom. Joshua's destruction of "Jabin" is understandable once we perceive that "Jabin" was not a personal name but a title, like 'Pharaoh'.
Yahweh sold them, but the record often says that they sold or prostituted themselves to the idols of the nations. He will confirm men in the path they wish to go.
The record of Deborah and Barak's victory over "Jabin king of Canaan" is shot through with connections with other passages
which are clearly latter day prophecies, e.g. Ps. 83, Ez. 38.
There is also a very deliberate series of allusions in their song of
victory to Israel's exodus from Egypt and the destruction of Pharaoh's
army - which is also prophetic of Israel's future deliverance
from her neighbouring oppressors by the Lord's return. Other
expositors have shown the links between the song of Deborah and Barak and
Ps. 68, which is clearly prophetic of Christ's work of deliverance both on
the cross and in the final deliverance of Israel from the forces of evil.
Jdg 4:3 The Israelites cried to Yahweh, for he had nine hundred iron
chariots, and for twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of
Israel-
"Oppress" is the word used of how Israel were oppressed in Egypt (Ex.
3:9). But the intention, as with Israel's latter day oppression, is that
it would lead them to cry out for Yahweh's salvation, 'Jesus':
"For they
will cry to Yahweh because of oppressors, and He will send them a saviour
and a defender, and He will deliver them" (Is. 19:20 s.w.). All the judges
were therefore types of the ultimate deliverance of Israel by the Lord
Jesus in the last days.
The fearful implications of "chariots of iron" [probably wooden
chariots with iron scythes on the wheels] is hard for us
to fully appreciate. "The children of Joseph said... the Canaanites
that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron" (Josh. 17:16),
as if that were a totally understandable reason for their unwillingness to
even challenge the Canaanites; whilst some years later Saul and
Jonathan were the only Israelites to have iron weapons, thanks to the
Philistines' monopoly over it (1 Sam. 13:19-22).
Jdg 4:4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at
that time-
"Deborah" is usually interpreted as meaning 'bee', but clearly it is
a form of the common Hebrew word for 'word' or 'saying', debar.
The prophetess was a woman of the word, and as with many personal names,
she was named after her life's work- just as Anglo Saxons carry the name
carpenter, smith, buckler, joiner etc. She "judged Israel" perhaps in the
sense of giving them judgments from God's word. A judge was a
deliverer, and being a judge was being a deliverer (Jud. 2:16; 3:10). She
is not recorded as having delivered Israel and so we assume her 'judging'
Israel was in teaching them the law, and thereby resolving disputes. Doing
what the Levites were intended to do, but clearly didn't do- as we see
from the accounts of Levites in Jud. 17-21. Judges typically received a
commission or were filled with the Spirit; but we don't read of that with
Deborah. Most of the judges are described as having been raised up by
Yahweh to save Israel (Jud. 3:9,15; 6:14; 10:14,15; 13:5); and they
were empowered to do so by Yahweh’s spirit (Jud. 3:10,28; 6:16,34; 7:22;
8:3; 11:29,32; 13:25; 14:19; 15:14; 16:20). The judges
"save" Israel; but that term is never used about Deborah (cp. Jud. 2:16;
3:9,15,31; 6:14,15; 8:22; 10:1; 13:5). None of these things are ever
stated of Deborah. This sets us up to be somewhat uneasy about her from
the start; and we will see that she continually reflects pride. She is not
later listed as a judge in 1 Sam. 12:9-11 LXX, but Barak is; and Barak is
the one noted by name for his faith in Heb. 11:32.
Jdg 4:5 She lived under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel
in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came up to her for
judgment-
Presumably this refers just to those Israelites who wanted to hear
the judgments of God's word. She laments in Jud. 5:10 LXX that she was
largely ignored, and she rebukes those who ignored her prophetic words and
had been unwilling to assist in the battle: "Ye that sit on the
judgment-seat, and walk by the roads of them that sit in judgment by the
way". It was Deborah who sat by the roadside giving judgment from God's
word, and who was largely ignored
Note the parallel between an Angel sitting under an oak and a prophetess sitting under an oak (Jud. 4:5; 6:11). In Jer. 23:18,22 we find prophets standing in the “council of the Lord” (RV) to receive His word; and yet this sounds very much like Angels standing in the court of Heaven to receive God’s word of command. “The God of the spirits [Angels] of the prophets sent his Angel” to the prophet John (Rev. 22:6 RV); implying that as God had sent His Angel-Spirits to inspire the prophets, so now He did to John. Ps. 147:15,18 speak of the sending out of God’s word to melt snow and send rain; this must surely refer to the Angels being sent out from the court of Heaven to do these things. The way the “watcher and holy one” came down from Heaven is paralleled with the word of Divine command likewise coming down from Heaven (Dan. 4:23,31). The universe is not just ticking away on clockwork; the Angels are actively being sent out from Heaven to perform what may appear the most mundane and repetitious of things. Thus God sends out His Angels; He sends out His word; and He also sent out His prophets (Haggai- Hag. 1:12; Ezekiel- Ez. 3:5,6). God rose up and sent out His prophets (2 Kings 17:13; Jer. 7:25 and many others). He is described as doing this because those prophets likewise identified with the word (as Deborah- see on :4) and became part of their own message.
The geography is significant. Deborah lived in the south, and apparently had little ability to motivate many of the people around her, according to her lament in Judges 5. She sends a message to a man in the far north of Israel, telling him to rally 10,000 men and go and fight a far superior enemy. That Barak responds to this message, and from a woman, sent from a distance, is commendable. It was a great act of faith, even if his faith wasn't as total as it might have been, and reveals his huge respect for Deborah, 'woman of the word / debar'.
Jdg 4:6 She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh
Naphtali and said to him-
'The holy place of Naphtali' is an example of the paganic place names
still being used. Barak is being called to leave all that and go and work
for Yahweh in His strength. "Barak", 'lightning', is the word used to
describe Yahweh's miraculous manifestation through lightnings in the
saving of His people (s.w. Dt. 32:41; 2 Sam. 22:15), and He will use them
again in the last days when He repeats these ancient victories over
Israel's enemies (s.w. Hab. 3:11; Zech. 9:14). But Barak was slow and
nervous to live up to the potential victory which was implicit in his
name; and that was the tragedy of Israel's history at the conquest. And it
is the abiding tragedy of so much spiritual history.
Hasn’t Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded-
This could imply he had received the prophetic word to go into
battle, but had not responded.
‘Go
to Mount Tabor and take with you ten thousand men of the children of
Naphtali and Zebulun?-
"Mount Tabor... the river Kishon (Jud. 4:6,7) is near
the valley of Jezreel - Armageddon. Hence Jud. 5:19 speaks of "the
waters of Megiddo", and "men of... Naphtali... and... of Zebulun" from
those same areas (4:6) were used to win the victory. "Take with you", AV
"draw toward", is s.w. :7 for how God would likewise draw the enemy toward
them. The two sides were to be drawn together by God in conflict.
This records the call to arms as only for Naphtali and Zebulon. But the other tribes are criticized in Jud. 5 for not entering into the spirit of the event. The need is the call, and no legalistic arguments can stop that call. The calling of 10000 men of Naphtali and Zebulon to Mount Tabor by Barak and Deborah surely was some fulfilment of the otherwise enigmatic Dt. 33:19: "They shall call the peoples to the mountain. There they will offer sacrifices of righteousness, for they shall draw out the abundance of the seas". This prophecy has as context "the ten thousands of Ephraim; they are the thousands of Manasseh" (Dt. 33:17). The impression is given there that they would offer sacrifice there on "the mountain" and share the spoil of "the seas" [nations], and possibly this happened as Deborah sung the song of Jud. 5. The people of Ephraim and Manasseh are first in the list mentioned in Jud. 5 as those who supported the thousands of Zebulon and Naphtali, and who assembled to the mountain of Tabor. Asher and Dan are criticized in Jud. 5 for not assembling to Tabor because they were too concerned with their business in their ports on the coast. But Dt. 33:19 LXX promises blessing to Zebulon and Naphtali from the coast: "For the wealth of the sea shall suckle thee, and so shall the marts of them that dwell by the sea-coast".
Jdg 4:7 I will draw to you, to the river Kishon-
This 'drawing' points forward to Gog, the chief (military?) prince of
Meshech and Tubal (parts of Assyria?), being drawn into Israel with hooks
in his jaws (Ez. 38:4,8). The Kishon is little more than a muddy
trench. But God uses the little things, and made it swell and flash flood
the plain so that the chariots and horses, Sisera’s super weapon, became
useless.
Sisera the captain of
Jabin’s army with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him
into your hand’-
The apparently insuperable strength of Sisera is recognized, but
within that recognition there is the encouragement that God would deliver
it all into the hand of Barak. He disbelieved this, and so the victory was
given into the hand of a woman. Thus God set up a potential which a man
didn't realize, and in this case, He transferred it into the hands of
another (:9).
Jdg 4:8 Barak said to her, If you will go with me then I will go, but if
you will not go with me I will not go-
If Yahweh had commanded him (:6), then Yahweh would be with him. But
just as Israel wanted a human king rather than Yahweh, so Barak wanted a
human manifestation of God to be with him. Just as Asa
is recorded as serving God just as well as David, when actually this
wasn't the case; but God counted him as righteous (1 Kings 15:11), so the
incomplete faith of men like Baruch was counted as full faith by later
inspiration (Jud. 4:8,9 cp. Heb. 11:32). Sometimes the purges of idolatry
by the kings is described in undoubtedly exaggerated language- such was
God's joy that at least something was being done? Barak is listed
in Heb. 11:32 as one of "those who through faith subdued kingdoms... from
weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, turned to flight armies
of aliens". As with Samson, we ponder whether the record presents his weak
side. But God saw the faith that was also within him, and noted that for
us all to see in Hebrews 11. But "I will not go..." could be read as a
defiant refusal of the Divine call ["go to mount Tabor", :6; "Arise Barak
and lead away captives", Jud. 5:12] unless Deborah 'goes' with him. Yahweh
has gone out before him, but still he refuses to 'go' unless Deborah
'goes' with him. Many of the calling narratives feature this weakness of
response to the call to "go". Moses objects "Who am I that I should go...
they will not believe me" (Ex. 3:11; 4:1). Jeremiah and Ezekiel
both protest their inadequacy to "go". Gideon opines that his clan is the
smallest in Manasseh and he isn't the right man (Jud. 6:15); Saul likewise
objects that he is from a poor family and the smallest tribe (1 Sam.
9:15). We too are called, for the language of calling is applied to us all
in the New Testament. Not only to the Kingdom, but to "go" into all the
world around us with the Gospel. And our responses likewise will be
faltering. We as men balk at God's call. Clearly enough, from all these
examples of Old Testament men doing so.
We can compare Barak's desire for Deborah the prophetess to "go with" him with Moses, Aaron and Hur praying for Israel on a hill, whilst Joshua down below was fighting the battle. Or the prophet Elisha being present during battles. Barak on one level believed God's word through Deborah, because he does muster 10000 men for an apparently suicidal encounter with Sisera. But like so many of us, he still wanted the physical embodiment of that word to be with him visibly.
LXX adds: "For I know not the day on which the Lord prospers his messenger / Angel with me". We have here another allusion to Angelic involvement in the victory, which we have noted elsewhere and on Jud. 5:23. But at this point, Barak is unsure whether this will happen. And yet he is counted in Heb. 11:32 as a man of faith. This not knowing is then alluded to in :9 LXX "but know that thy honour shall not attend...". See on :14.
Jdg 4:9 She said, I will surely go with you; nevertheless the journey that
you take will not be for your honour, for Yahweh will sell Sisera into the
hand of a woman. Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh-
The potential was that the enemy was to be sold into Barak's hands
(:7). But Barak didn't fully believe that, and so the potential was
applied to another. This is still how God works. This opens
up the question of whether God automatically reassigns a task and
possibility to another; or whether if we let the ball drop, His intention
will not be realized. We think of Mordecai's comment to Esther in Esther
4:14 [see commentary there] that if she doesn't speak up for the Jews,
deliverance will come from another quarter. And yet the original is
unclear- it could equally be saying "And shall deliverance come from
another quarter?". As if it might not. The lack of clarity is intentional.
We are to appreciate the degree to which we matter. The Lord's parables
speak of Him giving His wealth to His servants to trade with. How far His
work prospers is over to them; for He has 'gone into a far country', He is
far away in the sense that He has delegated to us authority to do His work
on His behalf, and will review that work at His return. To
have your life's mission done by a woman, to be shown to have been less
brave than a woman, and to be presented as having been spiritually
inferior to a woman... all this would have been shameful and humbling to
Barak. But he is the one mentioned by name in Hebrews 11, and not Deborah
nor Jael. His humiliation may well have developed his faith. Or perhaps
the women were brave but without the faith that he had, for people can be
very brave for reasons other than faith in God. And he was humbled whereas
Deborah was proud. We note that Barak is listed as judge in 1 Sam. 12:11
rather than Deborah: "Yahweh sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and
Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies". I note on Jud.
5:7 ["The rulers ceased to rule in Israel. They ceased until I, Deborah,
arose; until I arose, a mother in Israel"] that Deborah's victory song
hints at excessive pride in herself; and perhaps that is why the
apparently weaker Barak is seen by God as the greater hero than Deborah.
Deborah's statement that Yahweh would "sell Sisera into the hand of a
woman" may indeed have been a prophetic word of Jael's murder of Sisera.
But we can also accept the possibility that the "woman" Deborah had in
view was herself. And her prophetic word was fulfilled through another
woman, not herself as she perhaps imagined.
"Deborah arose" is to be connected with how the Divine word was "Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives" (Jud. 5:12). Barak didn't make this response. Deborah did it for him. And yet he is counted as a man of faith (Heb. 11:32).
"I will surely go with you" sounds like Yahweh's assurance to a nervous Joshua (Josh. 1:9) and Israel (Dt. 1:30; 20:4). But Deborah rather arrogantly puts these words in her own mouth to the nervous Barak, facing the same essential enemies as Joshua.
Jdg 4:10 Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh and
he went with ten thousand men following him; and Deborah went with him-
Heb. 11:32 seems to imply that Barak did this in faith, although not
to the ideal level possible for him. Heb. "Ten thousand men
at his feet", perhaps meaning 'Ten thousand footmen'. He had no chariots;
his army was all composed of infantry, facing a vast multitude with 900
chariots of iron. We note the contrast in :13 between these foot soldiers,
and the chariots of iron- whose iron scythes were specifically designed to
kill foot soldiers: "Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to
Kedesh; and he went up by foot with ten thousand men behind him” (4:10)...
“Sisera summoned all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron,
and all the troops who were with him” (4:13).
Jdg 4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from
the children of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his
tent by the oak in Zaanannim which is by Kedesh-
Kedesh, 'holy place', was an example of the pagan names still being
used by the Israelites. Likewise Zaanannim is LXX "the oak of the covetous
ones", and we recall the association of oaks with idolatry. Again we are
getting the impression of strength coming out of surrounding spiritual
weakness. Heber's separation from the Kenites is here not presented in a
very positive light. See on :17. Probably it was motivated by
personal betterment; hence he chose to live by LXX "the oak of the
covetous ones". Jael's faithfulness to Israel is the more remarkable;
because her family were on the side of Sisera, and had fallen out with the
Israelites. Previously, the Kenites had been part of Israel: “the
descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people
of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies
in the Negeb near Arad, and they went and settled with the people” (Jud.
1:16). But Heber at least had now fallen out with Israel, seeing he was in
alliance with Jabin; yet clearly his wife had retained her personal faith
in Yahweh despite the family politics around her. She was in any case
distantly related not to Moses directly, but to Moses' Gentile wife. But
clearly she had faith in Israel's God, or else she wouldn't have done the
hugely counter cultural thing that she did, reversing the hospitality code
and going against her husband and clan to slay their ally Sisera. She
acted totally alone to do so, and showed thereby her faith and personal
relationship with Yahweh.
The “Oak in Zaanannim” next to Kedesh, 'the holy place', is surely a sign of idolatry, and stands in contrast to Yahweh's woman Deborah prophesying His word beneath “the palm tree of Deborah” (:5). Heber had gone away from Yahweh; yet within his camp, his wife was strongly faithful to Yahweh. "Kenite" is literally, one from Cain; and is the word for "spear" (s.w. 2 Sam. 21:16). Israel won their victory without sword or spear, as Deborah will later sing. Even from the family like Cain, there was at least one faithful woman. Here we see the power of a new creation, of how our background and surrounding environment need not railroad us into unspirituality.
Jdg 4:12 They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to
Mount Tabor-
The battle plans seemed all the wrong strategy in human terms. The
dreaded chariots were at full advantage on the flat land around the
Kishon. Barak took his men up into the mountain, which was logical, as
chariots couldn't be used there. But then they are told by God to come
down from mount Tabor and fight with the chariots (:14). As with the
capture of Jericho, God's strategy is seen as unwise humanly. But this is
the 'foolishness of the thing preached' which Paul says confounds the
might of this world.
Jdg 4:13 Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots
of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the
Gentiles to the river Kishon-
This 'gathering together' is spoken of in latter-day
passages - Zech. 14:2 and Rev. 16:14. These previous invasions which
typify those of the future, also mention this 'gathering together':
Sisera's forces did this (Jud. 4:13), as did those of Ammon (Jud. 10:19; 1
Chron. 19:7), the Amorites (Jud. 11:20), the local powers with Assyria in
Hezekiah's time (Mic. 4:11), Gog's forces (Ez. 38:7), the Arab-Canaanite
tribes (Gen. 34:30) and especially the Philistines (Jud. 16:33; 1 Sam.
13:5,11; 17:1; 25:1; 28:1; 29:1; 2 Sam. 23:11). This is quite some
emphasis. Thus while we can expect to see greater potential Arab unity
developing around the Israel issue and perhaps a common allegiance to
charismatic 'Nebuchadnezzar' figure for a brief period, their complete
meeting of minds will not be until the final push against Jerusalem.
Jdg 4:14 Deborah said to Barak, Go, for this is the day in which Yahweh
has delivered Sisera into your hand-
"This is the day" would connect with Barak's complaint in :9 LXX: "I know not the Day in which God will send his angel to give me prosperity: come with we that you may direct me in this respect”. She did come with him, and now tells him the precise time in which he was to make the attack: "This is the day".
But as explained on :7,9, Yahweh's plan was indeed that ideally
Sisera would be delivered into Barak's hand. But his faith wasn't up to
it, so the enemy was to be delivered into a woman's hand. But it seems
Deborah, as a prophet, knew that it was still potentially possible for
Barak to have the victory through the enemy being delivered into his
hands.
Just as all the animals and everything in the eretz promised to Abraham was 'delivered into the hands' of Noah (s.w. Gen. 9:2), so the nations of that eretz were delivered into the hands of Israel (s.w. Ex. 6:8; 23:31; Dt. 2:24; 3:2,3; 7:24; 21:10; Josh. 2:24; Jud. 1:2). Tragically, like Adam in Eden [perhaps the same eretz promised to Abraham] and Noah in the new, cleansed eretz, Israel didn't realize this potential. What was delivered into the hand of Joshua (Josh. 2:24) actually wasn't delivered into their hand, because they disbelieved (Jud. 2:23); and this looks ahead to the disbelief of so many in the work of the Lord Jesus, who has indeed conquered the Kingdom for us. They considered the promise of the nations being delivered into their hand as somehow open to question, and only a possibility and not at all certain (Jud. 8:7; Num. 21:2 cp. Num. 21:34). Some like Jephthah (s.w. Jud. 11:32; 12:3), Ehud (Jud. 3:10,28), Deborah (Jud. 4:14), Gideon (Jud. 7:15) did, for a brief historical moment; but as individuals, and their victories were not followed up on. Instead they were dominated by the territory. And so instead, they were delivered into the hands of their enemies within the eretz (s.w. Lev. 26:25; Jud. 13:1).
Hasn’t Yahweh gone out before you? So
Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten thousand men after him-
See on :12. To come down from mount Tabor to where the chariots could
be used was the very opposite of good strategy. Deborah in Jud. 4:14 quotes the words of Dt. 9:3 concerning the Angel
going before Israel to drive out the nations to Barak, to inspire him with
courage in fighting them: "Yahweh your God is He who goes over
before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them and He will bring
them down before you; so you shall drive them out and make them perish
quickly". She recognized that the
work the Angels did when they went out many years ago to do all the
groundwork necessary for Israel to destroy all the tribes of Canaan was
done for all time. It was not too late to make use of that work by making
a human endeavour in faith. So with us, the smaller objectives in our
lives as well as our main goal of reaching the Kingdom have all been made
possible through the work of Christ and the Angels in the past. Deborah's
recognition of this is shown in her song- Jud. 5:20: "They (the Angels)
fought from Heaven; the stars (Biblical imagery for Angels) in their
courses fought against Sisera". In passing, note that the Hebrew for
'courses' is almost identical with that for 'ladder' in the account of
Jacob's vision of a ladder of Angels. Strong specifically defines it as
meaning 'staircase'. See on Ex. 14:24.
Other implications that a repentant Israel will be used to win this great victory, are to be found in the mention of "the river Kishon" and "Harosheth", which was near Mount Carmel. These places feature in the record of Elijah's great appeal to Israel; the apostate element among them were slain at the Kishon (1 Kings 18:40), as the faithless in Israel will be in the last days. The typical inference here in Judges that the invader will be destroyed at this same place would suggest that they will share in the judgments that come upon God's enemies, and therefore perish in the same geographical location. Yet it was also in this same place that Israel repented, finally responding to Elijah's ministry. The work of the Elijah prophet of the last days will likewise culminate in a spiritually revived Israel defeating their enemies.
Jdg 4:15 Yahweh routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with
the sword before Barak, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away
on foot-
This stress on chariots, both in the record of the attack and of
God's defeat of them, takes the mind back to the Egyptian chariots which
pursued Israel and were destroyed in the Red Sea. "The Lord
routed Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host"
(Jud. 4:15) recalls how God "troubled (same Hebrew word translated
"routed" /
"discomfited") the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot
wheels... so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee... and the Egyptians fled"
(on foot, Ex. 14:24-27), just as Sisera "lighted down off his chariot,
and fled away on his feet" (Jud. 4:15), due to the mud produced by the
hail (Ps. 83:9).
Deborah will later exalt that Israel had no shield nor spear (Jud. 5:8). The "sword" here may therefore refer to Yahweh doing this rout with His sword.
Jdg 4:16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth of the
Gentiles, and all the army of Sisera fell by the sword; there was not a
man left-
"There was not a man left" matches the comment concerning the Egyptians, that "there remained not
so much as one of them" (Ex. 14:28).
"Not a man left" may allude to how Canaanites were to be totally destroyed as herem to Yahweh, devoted as a burnt offering in totality. One of many examples in Dt. 7:2: “When the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them". See too Dt. 7:16,17,24; 9:1,3; 11:23; 33:27 etc.
Jdg 4:17 However Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of
Heber the Kenite-
The wives of Bedouin chiefs have their own tent.
For there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house
of Heber the Kenite-
Jabin / Hazor is listed in Joshua 11 as one of the kings
overcome by Joshua earlier, and now Heber has made peace with Hazor. LXX
adds "...the Kenite his friend", pointing up Jael's bravery in murdering
the friend of her husband under the guise of friendly hospitality. For a
wife was expected to uphold the political alliances of her husband.
This would suggest Heber had moved away from the things of God and
was now in league with Jabin, rather than maintaining the connection
between the Kenites and Israel. We recall that Moses' wife was a Kenite.
See on :11. Again we are getting the impression of strength coming out of
surrounding spiritual weakness.
Jdg 4:18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, Turn in, my lord,
turn in to me; don’t be afraid. He came in to her into the tent and she
covered him with a rug-
LXX "Hid him behind the curtain". Here again,
as with Rahab, Ehud
and the Gibeonites, we have deception used as an expression of faith.
"The curtain" would have been the curtain which separated her
sleeping space from the rest of the tent. To invite another man into her
tent and invite him into her personal sleeping space was unheard of. She
was very brave to do this, and was desperately thinking outside the box of
her surrounding culture and all the expectations upon her as Heber's wife.
Because she wanted to rise to the moment and carpe diem for the
Lord's work. Sisera was surely heading towards the tent of the male head of the
family, Heber. But Jael goes out to meet him and urges him to turn in to
her tent. Men never entered the tent of another man's wife; even Amnon had
to ask his father's permission for his half sister to come into his
bedroom. So quite possibly he perceived that Barak was hot on his heels
chasing him, and there was not a moment to be lost. Hence he tells her to
stand at the tent door and inform any man looking for him that there is no
man in her tent. And this would explain the violation of custom in
entering the personal tent of the wife of a married man. Sisera is expecting pursuit and expecting tents to be
entered in search of him. All the examples of the hospitality culture
include footwashing (Gen. 18:4; 19:2; 24:32; Jud. 19:21). She doesn't do
this because time is of the essence- Barak is hot on the heels of Sisera. All
this highlights Jael's bravery and quick
thinking. Women lived in separate tents to their husbands, often because
the husband had more than one wife. We recall Laban searching the tents of
Jacob and also the tents of his wives (Gen. 31:33).
“Turn in, my lord, turn in to me" is the language of the hospitality culture. It repeats the words of Lot to the Angels in Gen. 19:2: "My lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house”. And yet she bravely subverts and goes against that hospitality culture; instead of protecting her guest with her life, she kills him. And thus stands as an example of rejecting our surrounding culture and even subverting it, for the sake of the Lord's work. And so it is used in Prov. 9:15,16; 7:5-23). Indeed, for a married woman to invite a male in to her tent and cover him with a blanket / invite him beyond the curtain into her sleeping space... was most definitely seen as a very forward thing to do. Whilst I fail to see solid evidence that they had a sexual encounter, it does seem to me that she was giving him the come on... and that helped him to make that split second decision to go into her tent for refuge. When her plan was to kill him. We note too that the invitation from a woman to turn in to her personally [Lot invites his guests to turn in to his house] could be read as having a hint of sexual invitation. Hospitality culture always involved the male head of family making the offer to the visitor. But Heber was a friend of Sisera; and he was not consulted. Jael invites the guest- and that was unheard of in their hospitality culture.
Jdg 4:19 He said to her, Please give me a little water to drink for I am
thirsty. She opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him-
The cameraman of Divine inspiration is zoomed close in here upon the
two people in the tent. She gives him more than he asks, not water but
milk, and butter (Jud. 5:25), perhaps thinking that dairy products would
make him more sleepy. She did what she did on the spur of the moment, for
she was surely not expecting Sisera to come stumbling in to her tent.
Although she had her own tent, there is no evidence that the other people
in the encampment, including her husband, agreed with her actions. Like
Ehud, she acted completely alone, quite against the expectations of her
surrounding family and environment. And for all time
we have an example of a woman far from the battle front, "a woman of the
tents" (Jud. 5), in an unspiritual environment, surrounded by children and
domestic issues, suddenly given a chance to do a major thing for God. And
she rises to the call magnificently, grabbing what she had to hand [a tent
peg] and using it. The comment has been made that "Now as then
the work of pitching tents fell to women among the Bedouin". The tools of
her workaday life were transformed into God's instruments in her hand.
Just as a delivery driver or hairdresser on a British council estate rises
up to lead woman after woman to the saving Truth of Jesus Christ.
As we see from Lot and the old man in Jud. 19 being willing to sacrifice their daughters for the sake of hospitality culture, the woman was bound by that culture of hospitality to have defended his life, even at the risk of her own. So what Jael did was powerfully and radically counter cultural. She thought well beyond the narrow confines of her social situation.
Deborah responds to a request for something to drink, gives milk and covers Sisera with a blanket. Possibly in her own bed. This is very much the image of a mother. I suggest this quietly subverts Deborah's proud claim to be a "mother in Israel", and Deborah's implication that the glory for killing Sisera would go to her as a true "mother in Israel". The glory goes to Jael, also presented as a mother figure, who was not in fact an Israelite.
Jdg 4:20 He said to her, Stand at the door of the tent and when any man
comes and asks you ‘Is there any man here?’ say ‘No’-
The theme of gender continues. She surely had children and other
women in her tent. She was to speak of Sisera as if he were not even a
man, but a woman. The whole story is a deconstruction of the male
glorifying narrative of those times. And this was not purely for the sake
of it, rather is it part of a wider theme that God works through the
despised in order to achieve His greatest victories.
Jdg 4:21 Then Jael Heber’s wife took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand
and went quietly to him and hammered the peg into his temples, and it
pierced through into the ground-
"Heber's wife" is noted because what she was doing was so countercultural, against the will of her husband who was in league with Sisera. And the inspired record takes note of that. "Jael" can mean 'wild deer', and we note that "Naphtali [source of most of Barak's soldiers] is a hind [yaelah] let loose" (Gen. 49:21)- suggesting she was on the side of her husband's enemies. A sleeper cell, even perhaps of just one woman, within the tents of Israel's enemies. Just as so many of the Lord's people today.
We too easily assume that a nail was made of iron or some metal, as we are used to. But all archaeological evidence is that tent pegs were wooden. And so were hammers. Metal was at a premium. To kill a man with a wooden peg was an act of faith by Jael. The way he apparently rose up against her three times is thereby more understandable if the peg was only wooden. Ez. 15:3 is specific that a pin or nail (s.w.) was made out of wood. The word for nail is also rendered "stake" in Is. 33:20; 54:2. We note that some pointings of the Hebrew in Jud. 3:31 have Shamgar killing 600 Philistines with an ox goad or "mattock" [as LXX]- again, using whatever came to hand in workaday life. Likewise Samson killing 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass (Jud. 15:14,15).
"In her hand" is added, whilst obvious, to show the fulfilment of the prophecy that Sisera would be given into "the hand" of a woman (Jud. 4:9; 5:25,26). He ran to the encampment and was enticed by Jael's hospitality; but through that, Yahweh was putting him into Jael's hand. But if Jael had remained within the very narrow horizons of her tent life, if she had remained just a woman of her time and station... then the potential gift 'into her hand' wouldn't have happened.
This is clearly intended to be understood as the seed of the woman smiting
the seed of the serpent in the head. Jael smiting off Sisera's head may be
the basis of Ps. 110:7: "therefore shall he lift up the head". It also
connects with David cutting off Goliath's head
in an encounter full of
echoes of the latter-day conflict between Christ and Israel's enemies. In
the same way as Israel then had to follow up David's token victory, so
they had to do the donkey- work in the wake of Sisera's death, and so they
will also engage in a process of subduing the nations after Christ's
initial dramatic victory at Armageddon - the landing of the stone upon the
feet, the killing of Goliath, the nailing of Sisera's head. "The hand of the children of Israel prospered
('going, went and was hard', A.V. mg.), and prevailed against Jabin the
king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin" (Jud. 4:24) definitely
speaks of a subsequent process of subjugation.
LXX "darkness fell upon him and he died". But the idea seems to be that he
swooned, and then died. She didn't kill him outright, according to
Deborah's song of praise for Jael, he rose up and then fell down dead at
her feet (Jud. 5:27). This makes Jael's bravery all the more commendable,
especially in that her husband was in league with Jabin. Indeed
Jud. 5:26,27 could suggest he sank down three times: "She sent her hand to
the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen's mallet; she struck
Sisera; she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his
temple. Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; between her feet
he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell—dead". She hammered the peg
through his skull and into the ground [NIV “She drove the peg through his
temple into the ground”], implying his head was on the ground. If she had
first struck him while he was lying down asleep, covered with a blanket,
then there would have been some cushion or mattress between his head and
the ground. So it makes sense to understand she had a struggle with him,
he fell to the ground [as in Jud. 5], and she at that point nailed his
head into the ground [Jud. 4:21]. We can read with LXX "darkness fell upon
him and he died" rather than that he was asleep. Or "he was in a deep
sleep" [NEV] may mean he was stunned and unconscious when he fell the last
time.
Jdg 4:22 As Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to
him, Come and I will show you the man whom you seek. He came to her and
there lay Sisera, dead; and the tent peg was in his temples-
In Jud. 5:15 LXX, Deborah comes over as in command in the field,
sending Barak on foot to find Sisera: "And princes in Issachar were with
Deborah and Barak, thus she sent Barak on his feet in the valleys into the
portions of Reuben". We wonder whether Barak pursuing Sisera
personally was because Barak wanted the glory of killing him. He would
thereby have been disregarding Deborah's prophecy that "Yahweh will sell
Sisera into the hand of a woman" (:9). Despite constantly being presented
as not being of the highest spiritual caliber, Barak is the one
listed in Hebrews 11 as the man of faith. We aren't told how Barak felt as
he saw Sisera's body in Jael's tent and realized the brave act she had
performed. He would have been filled with deep respect for her. But also a
deep sense, surely, of how foolish he had been to pursue the glory of
killing Sisera himself. Naturally he would have remembered Deborah's words
to him, and realized that he had wasted his effort in running after Sisera
seeking to kill him. Just as so much of our human endeavour we suddenly
realize to have been so misplaced. If we had been more sensitive to God's
word, we'd have saved ourselves so much exertion.
Jdg 4:23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the
Israelites-
The nations in the land being "subdued" was the outcome of Israel
being obedient to the covenant (s.w. Dt. 9:3). We read this word "subdued"
used of how the land was at times subdued before Israel (Jud. 3:30; 4:23;
8:28; 11:33). But each time it is clear that the people generally were not
obedient to the covenant. One faithful leader was, and the results of his
faithfulness were counted to the people. This is what happened with the
Lord's death leading to righteousness being imputed to us.
Jdg 4:24 The hand of the Israelites prevailed more and more against Jabin
the king of Canaan until they had destroyed him-
All this is but one of several hints that after
Christ's latter day destruction of the military arm (cp. Sisera) of the
enemies in the land of Israel, the campaign is then taken to the civil
headquarters (represented by 'Babylon' in the Apocalypse?), typified here
by Jabin.
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