Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 4:4
And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
4. Deborah, a prophetess ] i.e. a woman inspired to declare the divine will, and on this occasion to deliver her country from oppression; as a prophetess she announces the command of Jehovah ( Jdg 4:6) and the moment for action ( Jdg 4:14). We are reminded of Joan of Arc; Moore also compares the German Veleda, who instigated Civilis by her prophecies to throw off the Roman yoke, Tacitus Hist. iv. 61. Other prophetesses in the O.T. are Miriam (Exo 15:20), Huldah (2Ki 22:14), Noadiah (Neh 6:14). Debrah = ‘bee,’ Lappdoth = ‘torches.’
she judged Israel ] i.e. in the sense of Jdg 2:16, Jdg 3:10 (see notes); ‘delivered Israel,’ though in the Hebr. the verb is vocalized as a ptcp. she was judging, perhaps on account of the following at that time; it can hardly mean that Deborah exercised authority as ‘judge’ before the deliverance, for everywhere else it is the deliverance which establishes the judgeship, according to the Dtc. compiler. The next verse, however, interprets she was judging in the legal sense, and therefore adds that during the period of the oppression the Israelites came up to her for judgement; it would appear that Jdg 4:5 is an explanatory insertion.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Deborah, a prophetess – Her name, meaning a bee, is the same as that of Rebekahs nurse (marginal reference). The reason of her preeminence is added. She was a woman, a prophetess, like Miriam Exo 15:20; Huldah 2Ki 22:14, etc. In Jdg 4:6, Jdg 4:9,Jdg 4:14, we have examples of her prophetic powers, and in Judg. 5 a noble specimen of prophetic song. Though the other Judges are not called prophets, yet they all seem to have had direct communications from God, either of knowledge or power, or both (compare Jdg 3:10 note).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jdg 4:4-11
Deborah, a prophetess . . . Judged Israel.
Deborah: womans attribute
1. Amongst the women of the Bible Deborah stands out in great prominence, though we know but little of her character. She is one of those who show forth a distinctive characteristic of women–the power of contrivance and design carried out to such an extent as to make some doubt whether her acts were within the limits of religion and morality.
2. Deborah seems to have been a kind of oracle in the unsettled state of things that existed among the Jewish tribes; her advice was attended to and her voice followed by leaders and by armies with the most implicit devotion. Her parallels are many, both in Scripture and history. We are irresistibly reminded of one whose spirit once bore up the flagging energies of France in the annals of the latter, of Judith in those of the former. One circumstance strikes us as highly significant. Starting up close beside her was the kindred spirit of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Though not strictly answerable for the act of Jael, she nevertheless celebrated that act as one of her objects of gratulation in her magnificent hymn.
3. We must view her in two lights. She was of course under a heavenly inspiration, as well as under the guidance of a strong natural character. In the former capacity she is simply to be viewed as one of those instances in which God chooses to show forth His power through the weak things of this world, and to bring about great national crises through the instrumentality of the weaker sex. But placing this view of the subject aside, I will consider her in reference to her natural character and ordinary position, as a woman in the midst of vast and depressing circumstances rousing by the vigour, boldness, and freshness of her character, the flagging energies of men. We see this in many instances of life, public as well as private. How remarkable and almost miraculous it is that the wife, who shares the anxious cares of the husband, be he labourer or mechanic, is able to keep up her spirit and to hope to the end! How often would the man, who has had to contend with the waves of constant trouble, succumb to increasing difficulties; and how many a crisis of difficulty, in connection with illness, accidents, or the like, in the domestic circle, calls forth the presence of mind of the mother, when the father would shrink from the difficulty, and lend no hand to help. Nor is it only this power that is felt so beneficially in the cottage as well as in richer homes. The eye that sees a brighter day and that pierces the fast rolling clouds of present adversity, perceiving the glow of a brighter morning when the tyranny will be overpast, is especially the eye of woman. One other attribute of woman which comes out in Deborahs story is the deep impression that her mission was Divine, and that the instincts of nature were the gifts of inspiration. There is that spirit in the weaker sex which, in the moment of high crisis and difficulty, would often justify the impression; but this spirit is the gift of God for a special purpose, and is a substitute for those bolder and more persevering qualities which belong to the stronger sex. There are many periods, both in private and in public life, which need rather light shed by a ready and present mind than the steady beam of the more enduring fire. From the lack of it we may miss the object of our lifes search. It is the want felt in such conjunctures as these that woman supplies; she bears the lamp of the midnight; and sometimes when with weary watching other lamps have gone out, hers is trimmed.
4. Such is womans prerogative, such her peculiar characteristic. For though Deborah may be an exaggeration in a remarkable crisis of the characteristics of her sex, they nevertheless exist in more or less force in every representative of it. It is seemingly paradoxical, but no less true, that women should have the power of meeting imminent danger with a calmness and perseverance often denied to man. Let them view these gifts as the direct ordering of Heaven, and, while they glory in them as their heritage, let them cultivate and improve them as the talents committed to their trust. (E. Monro, M. A.)
Lessons from an old story
1. In an age and a season of perpetual unrest, how refreshing is it to the spirit to have before us the example, albeit in a remote past, of one judge who could dwell under the palm-tree between Rama and Bethel, and to whom the children of Israel could go up for judgment. If the right kind of men, a few of them, could be set free to think, to advise, to originate, to counsel, what a gain would this be to a people laden with care, full of intellectual and spiritual perplexities, and feeling themselves terribly alone in their difficult and embarrassing way. For lack of this many lives go utterly astray, and many minds are wrecked on shoals and sandbanks of doubting. It might be said that the two offices of action and thought are only kept distinct in the present state of things, and that those who want counsel have no lack of help from an innumerable crowd of writers. Unhappily the thinkers are too often too much isolated from action, so that they run into vain and profitless speculation, having neither help for this life nor hope in that which is to come. It is the combination which helps: the judge sitting under the palm-tree, but Israel coming up to him for judgment. The moral of it all is, busy men, snatch moments for reflection! let no day be quite without it!
2. We see the true place and dignity of woman here in the positive and in the negative. Deborah was a prophetess. God spoke to her. She saw within and beneath the appearance of things. She did not allow the visible to crush out the invisible. She was not appalled by the nine hundred chariots of iron. She knew that there was still a God in Israel who rules in the kingdom of men, and though He bears long with evil, and sometimes sets up over nations the basest of men, He can yet be called on by prayer, and in the long run will make it to be well with the righteous. In a great emergency she became an influence; she called Barak to her, set him his task, assured him of his commission, and even consented at his request to accompany him on his march. This was heroic, but it was also feminine. Deborah did not assume the command of the army; she was the influence, she was the inspiration, but she left the leadership and the generalship to another. Not for nothing have we the record of another woman on the same page with that of Deborah. We shrink instinctively from the bloodstained hand of Jael. She has overstepped the line between the feminine and the masculine–nay, between the enthusiast and the fanatic. The excitement of victory might draw forth the impassioned cry even from one of the male sex, even from one of Gods utterers, Blessed above women; but that cry has never found even an echo in evangelical hearts; that cry has given trouble and pain to champions of revelation. We cannot receive it as the voice of Gods Spirit, except in some modified and softened-down form, in which it hails, and justly hails, the victory as a victory of the cause of the monotheistic idea as against the polytheistic; as a victory of the cause of progress, of the cause of development, and therefore in some sense the cause of mankind and of the world.
3. One last thought occurs, and it might seem at first hearing to conflict with the foregoing; but it is not so. Deborah says to Barak, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded? And he replies to her–a woman–If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. She rejoined yet again, 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. We are not concerned with the last phrase–God shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Scripture readers see the hand of God every-where–go so far as to say, Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it? We ask what was the point, what was the characteristic, the differentia in the faith of Barak, that the Epistle to the Hebrews should single him out for mention? And we find it here in the self-forgetfulness of Barak in doing Gods work. What if one woman set him on it, and another woman is to finish it? What if the journey he took was not to be for his own honour? Shall that stop him? What will the troops say if they see a woman marching by his side; see him consult her about his tactics; hear him confess that she is his monitress and his inspirer? Shall that thought deter him? No. He has Gods cause in hand; Gods honour, not his, is the thing to aim at. Here is faith forgetting itself in the cause. It is a grand heroism; for lack of it much good work is spoilt and much forborne. There is a phrase which more often disguises than precludes the self-glorifying. Humble instruments all call themselves; yet the same modest disclaimer asserts the instrumentality. Propose to omit the name from the subscription list or the list of patrons, where will the humble instrument be then? The journey which thou takest shall not be for thine honour. No, for one woman suggested it and another woman shall complete it. What then? Faith is willing to have it so; for faith is the sight of the invisible, and this arrangement will show the Invisible, the Doer. (Dean Vaughan.)
The duty of woman to women
It is a suggestive and on the whole perhaps a creditable fact that heroic women are not so interesting to women as to men. We read about that German prophetess who roused her people against the invaders from Rome, or about Joan of Arc, who, simple peasant girl that she was, communing with mysterious angels voices (as the legend runs), kindled the French nation against the English dominion when princes and statesmen had well-nigh given up the cause; or we read about Deborah, like St. Louis under the oak at Vincennes, sitting under a Judaean palm, not with downcast eyes and folded hands and extinguished hopes, but all on fire with faith and energy, with the soul of courage and the voice of command, and we are constrained to pay homage to her daring and her fearlessness, to her strong will and her unshrinking purpose. But if I were to ask any young girl whether she were ambitious of such a career, there is not one in a score who would say so. A womans idea of happiness and usefulness ordinarily centres in a home. We have been accustomed to hear the constantly reiterated assertion that womans sphere is the home. I confess for one that in view of the actual facts of society, as they exist around us, there is often in such words a sound of cruel irony. Do not you and I know, that there are thousands of women to whom a home is as impossible a thing as a castle in Spain? Do we not know that there are thousands of young girls who have no human being but themselves to depend upon, and who must somehow make their way and earn their own bread in life? Will you tell me how a home or anything else than a room and a hard, stern struggle for life is possible to these? We have now reached a point in the social progress of this age when it is necessary that we should every one of us recognise the crisis that is upon us. A much larger number of women must hereafter support themselves than have ever done so before. There are some callings from which, as it seems to me, women must for ever remain shut out. Any calling which requires conspicuous publicity, masculine activities, and out-door leadership is not, I venture to submit, for a woman. For one, I should not care to see her hanging from a yard-arm, driving a steam-engine, digging in a coal-mine, or vociferating in congress. But when we have eliminated from the question those occupations from which healthy self-respect would restrain any really womanly woman, there remain a vast range of employments on which women have not yet entered, but for which, nevertheless, they have singular and supreme qualifications. Already women have acquired the science of telegraphy, and they are, of course, more expert in it than men can possibly be. Women are already training themselves to be phonographic reporters. And here again their peculiar aptitudes are a pre-eminent qualification. Why should they not oftener provide for them an honourable maintenance? It is a curious and scarcely known fact that in the middle ages, the daughters as well as the sons in a family often inherited and carried on the family art or handicraft. When one goes to Nuremberg, or Prague, or Heidelberg, he will find bits of wood carving, artistic work in metal or stone, which no modern hand can pretend to rival. How are we to explain this earlier perfection? Simply on this wise: the calling of the father was the calling of the children. Exquisite workmanship was a hereditary trait. Among goldsmiths the daughters executed chasing, among furniture-makers carving, among stone-masons sculpture, among engravers drawing and graving. Could there be more pleasing or wholesome employment of ones best aptitudes? It is time that every woman among us, and especially every young girl with culture and influence and social power, should awaken to the needs of her own sex. What Deborah was under the palm-tree at Mount Ephraim every brave and true-hearted woman is called to be in the service of as holy a cause and as precious interests. We call Deborah a prophetess, and so she was. We regard her as somehow separated by her rare natural endowments and her exceptional inspiration from the other women of her time, and so she was. But in a very real and a very living and lofty sense every woman is a prophetess, with a prophets gifts and a prophets calling. For what are prophets gifts but that Divine insight, that swift and heaven-born intuition, which is your rarest gift, your loftiest endowment? Shall I be opening an old wound if I say that it was a womans voice and pen that, more than any other, roused this land to the evils and the cruelties of slavery? and as truly I believe they must be womens voices that must waken us men to the cruelties of that other servitude in which too often and too widely the weak of your sex are to-day oppressed. Do not, then, be afraid to lift your voice in any good cause that aims to elevate women to equal chance and equal respect and equal emolument with men in the great struggle of life. Be, each one of you, a Deborah to cry to some slumberous and sluggish Barak, Up and do the Masters Work, in the spirit of the Masters example! (Bp. H. C. Potter.)
If thou wilt go with me, then I will go.
Self-reliance
It was very natural that Barak should desire the presence of Deborah. She was a woman of natural influence, possessed of sagacity, able to read the signs of the times. As it has been said the best definition of a fool is a man who is wise too late, so the best definition of wisdom is wisdom at the right moment; and she possessed that wisdom, and understood what was the proper occasion when it was desirable to strike the blow for freedom. Her intellectual powers had made her influence great among the people; difficult cases were brought to her; her knowledge and her sagacity had won its way and established its influence in Israel. But it was not only natural; there was a certain appearance of piety in the profession. Deborah was not merely one of those persons whose gifts give them a high dominating influence over their fellow-beings, but she was believed by the people to be inspired by the breath of the Spirit of God. And, therefore, there was in their view a certain sanction of the Divine power which came, as it were, from her lips. Was it not, then, because he regarded her as the Divine representative that he said, If thou wilt go with me I will go? May we not argue further, and say precisely, because she was the one person in Israel at that time in whose words you could trace the meanings of the Divine Spirit, therefore was it not an attitude of the spirit of piety which would say, I Cannot undertake this expedition alone; I must be assured of the presence of the prophetess of the Lord? Is there not piety in the resolution, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go? And yet, it is necessary for us to try and understand the motive before we declare whether it is good or bad. If thou wilt come with me, then I will go. In what strain ought a man to face the obvious duties of life? Is it true that we are always to wait for the assistance of others, or are we bound to do what lies before us, regardless of the sympathy we may receive? The message sent by Deborah was an emphatic message, Go there with ten thousand men, and I, says the voice of the Lord, will draw thy adversaries to the river Kishon. There is not the slightest hint or any suggestion of condition; it is a plain, simple, and absolute order. The hour is come; the blow is to be struck; it is your duty to do it; here are your instructions. You know the class of persons who are never able to do any duty without the assistance of others; you know the schoolboy who always does his work when he can get his sister to stand beside him; you know the class of man who is always reluctant to quit with company and undertake any irksome duty by himself. He is not the character which impresses us as possessing strong, marked, or admirable lines. You want some one more determined and self-relying. If a duty has to be done, in the name of that duty, and in the name of your God who gives you that duty, do it like a man, and do not stop to make conditions which betray your weakness, and say, If this condition be fulfilled, if I am assisted by the presence of another, then I think I can do my duty, but I do not think I can face the frowning face of duty alone. I say this is a character which does not possess the highest order of self-reliance. It is also an answer which betrays slackness and feebleness of life. By the very law by which Israel was then governed, by the law of that very religious sentiment which had been operating in the minds of the chosen people, one thought was predominant in all their minds, The Lord is the God of Israel. It is the realisation of the Divine presence, and that alone, which marks the higher range of faith; the power to say, I will go in His strength because He sends me, and I ask not Deborah to go with me to jeopardise her life; she has her work to do and I have mine to do, and the God who inspired her can make my hand strong. But what was the result? As a fact the victory was won; but you know how truly the scorn of Deborah burst forth when she received the conditions of Barak, If thou wilt go with me. Then let it be known that the laurels of this victory are not for thy brow. If thou hast thought that only with a woman at thy side thou canst face the crowning hour of battle, those honours which you would boast are reserved for a woman. The Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Barak sinks down into the second place in the story, and the opportunity which might have been his was snatched from his hand, as in the hour when he was tested he betrayed weakness. What, then, should we gather from this? The enormous and measureless importance of self-reliance in every affair of life. Life is a constant movement from companionship into isolation. As I pass through the road of life I have to determine certain questions, and I must determine them by the law of my own existence and my own conscience as in the sight of God. Over and over again we are bound to have that experience. We think we have others to help us in certain matters, but the final decision rests with us. Does it not mean that in the purposes of God we are to be taught self-reliance? Sometimes we are told that Christianity is deficient in the virile virtues. That is only because we have misunderstood the story. What is the story of the Redeemer? Is it the story of one who relied so completely upon others that by a dexterous adjustment of His teaching to the wants of the day He was able so to establish His ascendancy over others as to be able to bring forward a community willing to be called by His name? That is the very reverse of the genesis of Christianity. (Bp. Boyd Carpenter.)
Influence
Every human being has influence, which is a part of himself, and helps to make up his personal being. And as long as he lives it goes out from him to others, for weal or for woe. Nay, more; it is not limited to time. Once having lived, it never dies. For the individual may go down to the tomb and perish; but his influence shall go on evermore.
I. We are accountable for our influence. This is evident from the very nature of influence. What is it? It is power; the power of one will over another. This power and authority go forth from us to others in various ways–in speech, by action, by the glance of the eye, by the expression of feeling, by the show of passion, by the play of the countenance, by the motion of the hand, by our dress, our habits, our style of living, and our conduct. And now I ask–if I cause a man to do an act, am I not responsible, i.e., so far forth as I lead him to do it? Of course I am not to bear the entire burden of his conduct, for he is a man as well as I, and he is bound to think and judge for himself. But if I am the stronger, more controlling character, and use my influence to guide him astray, and start him on his way to ruin, surely I am responsible for what I do. But it is manifest that this principle is not one that is local, partial, or limited. It is a broad, general, universal principle; pertaining to souls under all circumstances. And see how it reaches our fellow-creatures on every side, with awful significance and tremendous power. I am responsible for my influence; I am held accountable by the Almighty for the way in which I affect and prompt the souls of my fellow-men. Then I am responsible for my influence upon you. Then you are responsible for your influence upon me; and each and every one of us is responsible for the influence we exert upon our neighbours. Then we are responsible for the channels by which our influence goes forth from us to others. And we are responsible for their outflowings; and though the influence of a man differs somewhat, in kind, from his specific acts, yet the law of Divine justice comes in here, with the same force and authority as in any outward deed.
II. The measure of our responsibility is proportioned to our influence. Herein lies our stewardship. We are stewards of God in the particular item of influence. A little girl is beloved by her schoolmate; and so great power has she over her, that that schoolmate will do anything she wants her to do, good or bad. She is responsible for her control over that childs soul, and to God. They are both responsible for the power they possess, the one over the other. Here is a man in a community, of such commanding power, whether through wealth, talent, or character, that everybody quotes him as authority, and aims to follow in his track. As sure as God liveth, He will hold him responsible for his popularity and his power.
III. Influence is an awful, a perilous thing when it assumes the form and proportions of mastery and control. And this is often the case. The mass of men, the world over, are governed by opinion and example. Imitation, too, is a most powerful agent in deciding the convictions and habits of men. No doubt it is Gods will that certain prominent men should have authoritative influence; that is their calling; to that they are elected by the Almighty Himself, to the end that they may help to quicken inferior wills, and to decide human destinies. Thus in the family relation the words of a father or mother go with children to mature manhood, and may descend to childrens children. How in our school-days our hearts have become knit as with hooks of steel to companions whom we have loved as Jonathan loved David, with a love passing the love of women. I have myself seen men moving about through a nation, after whom millions of men flowed as with the mighty current of a torrent; and when they spoke, momentous questions were settled, as though decisive utterances had come forth from an oracle or a god. But the illustrations of this controlling influence of men is as common in the lowlier spheres of life as in the higher. Sometimes a grand, noble parent serves his generation and blesses it, and then sends down the crystal purity of his honour and the odour of his sanctity to childrens children. Sometimes it is the reverse, and the alcoholic blood and the alcoholic breath of a drunkard triumphs over the dominion of the grave, and reaches over a whole generation of men to his descendants, poisoning the atmosphere and polluting society by the sottishness of sons and grandsons. (A. Crummell.)
Is not the Lord gone out before thee?–
A sermon for the new year
Wherever we may be called upon to go, our Lord has gone before us.
I. We are entering into darkness. God is light. What does it matter what we see, or whether we see at all, if He has seen and known that the way is safe?
II. We are entering upon uncertainty. But all things are fixed and ordered by Gods power, and from knowledge.
III. We are entering upon difficulty. God is almighty in power.
IV. We are to meet with pain and death. God cannot die. Learn:
1. To distrust all human help and consolation.
2. To trust in Him who is so well able to do for us, and to be to us all we need.
3. To implicitly follow and confidently resign ourselves to His leadership. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Deborah, a prophetess] One on whom the Spirit of God descended, and who was the instrument of conveying to the Israelites the knowledge of the Divine will, in things sacred and civil.
She judged Israel] This is, I believe, the first instance of gynaecocrasy, or female government, on record. Deborah seems to have been supreme both in civil and religious affairs; and Lapidoth, her husband, appears to have had no hand in the government. But the original may as well be translated a woman of Lapidoth, as the wife of Lapidoth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
As there were men prophets, so there were also women prophetesses, as Miriam, Exo 15:2, Huldah, 2Ki 22:14, and divers others; but the word prophets or prophetesses is very ambiguous in both Testaments; sometimes being used of persons extraordinarily inspired by God, and endowed with a power of working miracles, and foretelling things to come; and sometimes of persons endowed with special, though not miraculous, gifts or graces, for the better understanding of and discoursing about the word and mind of God, for praising of God, or the like; of which see 1Ch 25:1; 1Co 11:5; 14:1,3,4 &c. And of this sort were the sons of the prophets, or such who were bred in the schools of the prophets, who are often called prophets, as 1Sa 10:5,10-12. See, also 1Ki 18:4; 1Ki 19:10. And because we read nothing of Deborahs miraculous actions, peradventure she was only a woman of eminent holiness and prudence, and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, by which she was singularly qualified for the judging of the people according to the laws of God. If it be alleged that she foresaw and foretold the following victory, so did all the sons of the prophets foresee and foretell Elijahs translation, 2Ki 2:3,5, which yet were not extraordinary prophets.
The wife of Lapidoth; or, a woman of Lapidoth; and so Lapidoth is not the name of a man, but of the place of her birth or abode.
She judged Israel, i.e. determined causes and controversies arising among the Israelites, as is implied, Jdg 4:5. And this Jabin might suffer to be done, especially by a woman; and the frequent discharge of this part of the judges office, whereby she gained great power and authority with the people, did notably (though not observed by the tyrant) prepare the way for her sliding into the other part of her office, which was to defend and rescue the people from their enemies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. And Deborah, a prophetessAwoman of extraordinary knowledge, wisdom, and piety, instructed indivine knowledge by the Spirit and accustomed to interpret His will;who acquired an extensive influence, and was held in universalrespect, insomuch that she became the animating spirit of thegovernment and discharged all the special duties of a judge, exceptthat of military leader.
the wife of Lapidothrenderedby some, “a woman of splendors.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth,…. Deborah was a name common to women with the eastern people, see Ge 35:8; as Melissa, which is of the same signification with the Greeks, and both signify a “bee”; and to which Deborah answered in her industry, sagacity, and sweetness of temper to her friends, and sharpness to her enemies: she was a “prophetess”, and foretold things to come, as the drawing of Sisera and his army to a certain place named by her, the victory that should be gained over him, and the delivery of him into the hands of a woman. Who Lapidoth was, or what is meant by the name, is not certain; most take it to be the name of her husband, which seems best, but who he was is not known; the Jews will have him to be the same with Barak, there being, as they think, some agreement in the names, Barak signifying lightning, and Lapidoth, lamps; but the whole context shows the contrary, that he was not her husband. Some render the words, “a woman of Lapidoth”, taking it for the name of her native place on habitation; but where there was a place of this name no account can be given: some say she was so called from her employment before she was a prophetess and judge, making wicks for the lamps in the sanctuary, as Jarchi relates; and others take it to be expressive of her excellencies and virtues, which shone in her as lamps; the first sense is best:
she judged Israel at that time; toward the close of the twenty years’ oppression under Jabin, being raised up of God as other judges were, and eminently endowed with gifts and grace; she endeavoured to convince the people of their sins, exhorted them to repentance, and was a means of reforming them, and administering justice and judgment in all cases brought before her; and which Jabin might admit of, connive at, or take no notice of, she being a woman, of whose growing power and interest he had no jealousy.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
At that time the Israelites were judged by Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, who dwelt under the Deborah-palm between Ramah (er Rm: see at Jos 18:25) and Bethel (Beitin: see at Jos 7:2) in the tribe of Benjamin, upon the mountains of Ephraim. Deborah is called on account of her prophetic gift, like Miriam in Exo 15:20, and Hulda the wife of Shallum in 2Ki 22:14. This gift qualified her to judge the nation (the participle expresses the permanence of the act of judging), i.e., first of all to settle such disputes among the people themselves as the lower courts were unable to decide, and which ought therefore, according to Deu 17:8, to be referred to the supreme judge of the whole nation. The palm where she sat in judgment (cf. Psa 9:5) was called after her the Deborah -palm. The Israelites went up to her there to obtain justice. The expression “ came up ” is applied here, as in Deu 17:8, to the place of justice, as a spiritual height, independently of the fact that the place referred to here really stood upon an eminence.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Project of Deborah and Barak. | B. C. 1258. |
4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. 5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 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? 7 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 hand. 8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. 9 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 went with Barak to Kedesh.
The year of the redeemed at length came, when Israel was to be delivered out of the hands of Jabin, and restored again to their liberty, which we may suppose the northern tribes, that lay nearest to the oppressors and felt most the effects of his fury, did in a particular manner cry to God for. For the oppression of the poor, and the sighing of the needy, now will God arise. Now here we have,
I. The preparation of the people for their deliverance, by the prophetic conduct and government of Deborah, Jdg 4:4; Jdg 4:5. Her name signifies a bee; and she answered her name by her industry, sagacity, and great usefulness to the public, her sweetness to her friends and sharpness to her enemies. She is said to be the wife of Lapidoth; but, the termination not being commonly found in the name of a man, some make this the name of a place: she was a woman of Lapidoth. Others take it appellatively, Lapidoth signifies lamps. The Rabbin say she had employed herself in making wicks for the lamps of the tabernacle; and, having stooped to that mean office for God, she was afterwards thus preferred. Or she was a woman of illuminations, or of splendours, one that was extraordinarily knowing and wise, and so came to be very eminent and illustrious. Concerning her we are here told, 1. That she was intimately acquainted with God; she was a prophetess, one that was instructed in divine knowledge by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God, and had gifts of wisdom, to which she attained not in an ordinary way: she heard the words of God, and probably saw the visions of the Almighty. 2. That she was entirely devoted to the service of Israel. She judged Israel at the time that Jabin oppressed them; and perhaps, being a woman, she was the more easily permitted by the oppressor to do it. She judged, not as a princess, by an civil authority conferred upon her, but as a prophetess, and as God’s mouth to them, correcting abuses and redressing grievances, especially those which related to the worship of God. The children of Israel came up to her from all parts for judgment, not so much for the deciding of controversies between man and man as for advice in the reformation of what was amiss in things pertaining to God. Those among them who before had secretly lamented the impieties and idolatries of their neighbours, but knew not where to apply for the restraining of them, now made their complaints to Deborah, who, by the sword of the Spirit, showing them the judgment of God, reduced and reclaimed many, and excited and animated the magistrates in their respective districts to put the laws in execution. It is said she dwelt, or, as some read it, she sat under a palm-tree, called ever after from her the palm-tree of Deborah. Either she had her house under that tree, a mean habitation which would couch under a tree, or she had her judgment-seat in the open air, under the shadow of that tree, which was an emblem of the justice she sat there to administer, which will thrive and grow against opposition, as palms under pressures. Josephus says that the children of Israel came to Deborah, to desire her to pray to God for them, that they might be delivered out of the hand of Jabin; and Samuel is said at one particular time to judge Israel in Mizpeh, that is, to bring them back again to God, when they made the same address to him upon a like occasion, 1Sa 7:6; 1Sa 7:8.
II. The project laid for their deliverance. When the children of Israel came to her for judgment, with her they found salvation. So those that seek to God for grace shall have grace and peace, grace and comfort, grace and glory. She was not herself fit to command an army in person, being a woman; but she nominated one that was fit, Barak of Naphtali, who, it is probable, had already signalized himself in some rencounters with the forces of the oppressor, living near him (for Hazor and Harosheth lay within the lot of that tribe), and thereby had gained a reputation and interest among his people. Some struggles, we may suppose, that brave man had made towards the shaking off of the yoke, but could not effect it till he had his commission and instructions from Deborah. He could do nothing without her head, nor she without his hands; but both together made a complete deliverer, and effected a complete deliverance. The greatest and best are not self-sufficient, but need one another.
1. By God’s direction, she orders Barak to raise an army, and engage Jabin’s forces, that were under Sisera’s command, Jdg 4:6; Jdg 4:7. Barak, it may be, had been meditating some great attempt against the common enemy; a spark of generous fire was glowing in his breast, and he would fain do something to the purpose for his people and for the cities of his God. But two things discouraged him:
(1.) He wanted a commission to levy forces; this therefore Deborah here gives him under the broad seal of heaven, which, as a prophetess, she had a warrant to affix to it: “Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded it? Yet, certainly he has; take my word for it.” Some think she intends this as an appeal to Barak’s own heart. “Has not God, by a secret whisper to thyself, given thee some intimation of his purpose to make use of thee as an instrument in his hands to save Israel? Hast not thou felt some impulse of this kind upon thy own spirit?” If so, the spirit of prophesy in Deborah confirms the spirit of a soldier in Barak: Go and draw towards Mount Tabor. [1.] She directs him what number of men to raise-10,000; and let him not fear that these will be too few, when God hath said he will by them save Israel. [2.] Whence he should raise them–only out of his own tribe, and that of Zebulun next adjoining. These two counties should furnish him with an army sufficient; he need not stay to go further. And, [3.] She orders him where to make his rendezvous–at Mount Tabor, in his own neighbourhood.
(2.) When he had an army raised, he knew not how he should have an opportunity of engaging the enemy, who perhaps declined fighting, having heard that Israel, if they had but courage enough to make head against any enemy, seldom failed of success. “Well,” says Deborah, in the name of “God, I will draw unto thee Sisera and his army.” She assured him that the matter should be determined by one pitched battle, and should not be long in the doing. [1.] In mentioning the power of the enemy, Sisera, a celebrated general, bold and experienced, his chariots, his iron chariots, and his multitude of soldiers, she obliged Barak to fortify himself with the utmost degree of resolution; for the enemy he was to engage was a very formidable one. It is good to know the worst, that we may provide accordingly. But, [2.] In fixing the very place to which Sisera would draw his army, she gave him a sign, which might help to confirm his faith when he came to engage. it was a contingent things, and depended upon Sisera’s own will; but, when afterwards Barak should see the event falling out just as Deborah had foretold, he might thence infer that certainly in the rest she said she spoke under a divine direction, which would be a great encouragement to him, especially because with this, [3.] She gave him an express promise of success I will (that is, God will, in whose name I speak) deliver them into thy hand; so that when he saw them drawn up against him, according to Deborah’s word, he might be confident that, according to her word, he should soon see them fallen before him. Observe, God drew them to him only that he might deliver them into his hand. When Sisera drew his forces together, he designed the destruction of Israel; but God gathered them as sheaves into the floor, for their own destruction, Mic 4:11; Mic 4:12. Assemble yourselves, and you shall be broken to pieces, Isa. viii. 9. See Rev 19:17; Rev 19:18.
2. At Barak’s request, she promises to go along with him to the field of battle. (1.) Barak insisted much upon the necessity of her presence, which would be to him better than a council of war (v. 8): “If thou wilt go with me to direct and advise me, and in every difficult case to let me know God’s mind, then I will go with all my heart, and not fear the chariots of iron; otherwise not.” Some make this to be the language of a weak faith; he could not take her word unless he had her with him in pawn, as it were, for performance. It seems rather to arise from a conviction of the necessity of God’s presence and continual direction, a pledge and earnest of which he would reckon Deborah’s presence to be, and therefore begged thus earnestly for it. “If thou go not up with me, in token of God’s going with me, carry me not up hence.” Nothing would be a greater satisfaction to him than to have the prophetess with him to animate the soldiers and to be consulted as an oracle upon all occasions. (2.) Deborah promised to go with him, v. 9. No toil nor peril shall discourage her from doing the utmost that becomes her to do for the service of her country. She would not send him where she would not go herself. Those that in God’s name call others to their duty should be very ready to assist them in it. Deborah was the weaker vessel, yet had the stronger faith. But though she agrees to go with Barak, if he insists upon it, she gives him a hint proper enough to move a soldier not to insist upon it: The journey thou undertakest (so confident was she of the success that she called his engaging in war but the undertaking of a journey) shall not be for thy honour; not so much for thy honour as if thou hadst gone by thyself; for the Lord shall sell Sisera (now his turn comes to be sold as Israel was, v. 2, by way of reprisal) “into the hands of a woman;” that is, [1.] The world would ascribe the victory to the hand of Deborah: this he might himself foresee. [2.] God (to correct his weakness) would complete the victory by the hand of Jael, which would be some eclipse to his glory. But Barak values the satisfaction of his mind, and the good success of his enterprise, more than his honour; and therefore will by no means drop his request. He dares not fight unless he have Deborah with him, to direct him and pray for him. She therefore stood to her word with a masculine courage; this noble heroine arose and went with Barak.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Deborah Calls for Barak, vs. 4-9
At this time the Lord had two judges in Israel. Though it is not here related that Barak was a judge his name appears among others who were judges in other passages (Heb 11:32). The other judge was a great woman of the times, Deborah, who was a prophetess. The question has been raised by some as to why the Lord raised up a woman to lead Israel. In my first pastorate I had a great old Bible teacher in my congregation who answered this question by saying, “There were no men who would answer His call.” This seems to be borne out in the person of Barak. How many times has the work of the Lord’s churches persevered through the faithfulness of godly women?
Deborah lived in the tribe of Ephraim, her house marked by a notable palm tree. Barak lived at Kedesh, the chief city of the tribe of Naphtall, near Chinnereth, or the Sea of Galilee. Barak seems to have been more a material leader of Israel, while Deborah represented the spiritual. The Lord sent His call for Barak through Deborah. It was that he should gather an army of ten thousand men from the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali on mount Tabor. This mountain lay between the Kishon valley and the southern end of Chinnereth. The Lord would cause Sisera to gather the Canaanite forces, with the dreadful chariots of iron, into the Kishon valley, and there He would deliver them into Barak’s hand.
There is nothing to indicate that Barak disbelieved the Lord’s message. What he evidenced is a rather weak faith. On the other hand, he had great confidence in Deborah and her influence with God. He refused to go to the battle of the Lord unless Deborah would accompany him. One might say that Barak had faith in Deborah’s faith. Here is a lesson of how the faith of one strong person will encourage another, (Gal 6:2). Deborah consented readily to go with Barak, but informed him it would be no honor to him, for the Lord .would give Sisera into the hand of a woman. Barak probably thought Deborah had reference to herself.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(4) Deborah.The name means bee, like the Greek Melissa. The names of Jewish women were often derived from natural objects, as Rachel, a lamb, Tamar,a palm, &c. It has been sometimes regarded as a title given to her as a prophetess, just as the priestesses of Delphi were called Bees (Pindar, Pyth. iv. 106); and priests were called by the title Malebee (Essn). But the fact that Rachels nurse (Gen. 35:8) had the same name is against this supposition, though Josephus (Antt. v., 5) accepts it. She had, as Cornelius Lapide quaintly says, a sting for foes, and honey for friends. The pronunciation Debrah is now so deeply-rooted in England (possibly from the Vulgate, Debbora) that it would, perhaps, be pedantic to alter it; but properly the is long ; LXX., Deborra and Debbra).
A prophetess.Literally, a woman, a prophetess; like Miriam (Exo. 15:20), Huldah (2Ki. 22:14), Noadiah (Neh. 6:14), Anna (Luk. 2:36), &c. She is the only female judge, or, indeed, female ruler of any kind in Jewish history, except the Phoenician murderess, Athaliah. She is also the only judge to whom the title prophet is expressly given. Prophetess (like the Latin Vates) implies the possession of poetic as well as of prophetic gifts (Exo. 15:20); and we see her right to such a title, both in her predictions (Jdg. 4:9), her lofty courage (Jdg. 5:7), and the splendour of her inspired song (Judges 5). She has modern parallels in the Teutonic prophetesses, Veleda and Alaurinia (Tac., Germ. 8), and Joan of Arc, the Inspired Maid of Domremi. Among the Jews prophetesses were the exception; among the ancient Germans they were the rule.
The wife of Lapidoth.This is probably the meaning of the phrase, although some ancient commentators make it mean a woman of Lapidoth; as does Tennyson (Princess), Like that great dame of Lapidoth. The phrase closely resembles Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, Huldah the prophetess, wife of Shallum. The name Lapidoth, which occurs nowhere else, means flames, lamps, or splendours; and Rashi says that she was called a woman of lamps, from making the wicks for the lamps of the sanctuary; while others, with equal improbability, interpret it of her shining gifts and of her fiery spirit. The parallels which are adduced to support this view (Isa. 62:1; Job. 41:2; Nah. 2:5) are inadequate; as also is Ecclus. xlviii. 1, The word of Elias burnt like a torch; and the Midrash, which says of Phinehas, that when the Holy Ghost filled him, his countenance glowed like torches (Cassel). Perhaps there was a fancy that such a prophetess could only be a virgin. The name Lapidoth has a feminine termination, but this does not prove that it may not have been, like Naboth, Shelomith, Koheleth, &c., the name of a man. It is uncertain whether Deborah was of the tribe of Ephraim or Issachar (Jdg. 5:15; Ewald, ii. 489).
She judged Israel.We see from the next verse that up to this time her functions had mainly consisted of peaceful arbitration and legal decision (Deu. 17:8).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Deborah, a prophetess One of the most celebrated women and most remarkable characters of the Old Testament. The title prophetess indicates her possession of a divine gift which exalted her above the dignity of a military commander, and made her an oracle to whom the people came for counsel. Rebecca’s nurse had borne her name, (Gen 35:8,) and Moses’ sister Miriam had possessed the spirit of prophecy (Exo 15:20) ages before this date, but never before had a woman appeared who combined in herself such wisdom, authority, and power as this “mother in Israel.” The manly energy and spirit of the nation had almost expired, when a woman appeared to be the saviour. Joan of Arc may be cited as a somewhat singular parallel to Deborah in modern history. No great and noble act which she has power to do is out of woman’s sphere.
Wife of Lapidoth The versions and most interpreters take Lapidoth as a proper name, and understand it of Deborah’s husband, and this is the most natural and simple explanation. Others translate the word as the plural of lapid, a lamp, and render, a woman of lights or of splendours, thus poetically designating the brilliancy and force of her genius and power. Cassel renders, woman of a fiery spirit, and explains that she was a divinely-lighted torch to kindle the languid hearts of Israel. Some rabbins have thought that she was so called from having had charge of the lamps in the tabernacle.
She judged Israel By giving counsel and pronouncing decisions on cases that were submitted to her.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time.’
Deborah is one of three prophetesses mentioned in the Old Testament, two of whom were powerful figures. The others were Miriam (Exo 15:20) and Huldah (2Ki 22:14). Deborah means ‘a bee’ and was a relatively common name. The fact that she was a prophetess indicated that she had the Spirit of Yahweh. Her influence was so powerful that she was made a judge of Israel. All recognised an aura about her. It is significant that while prophetesses were officially allowed as religious functionaries, priestesses were not. Women could serve at the door of the Tabernacle but they could not enter it (Exo 38:8). This may have been partly because of the function that priestesses served in other religions with their sexual rites. The Tabernacle was an asexual reserve.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 4:4-5. Deborah, a prophetess, &c. Like Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, Deborah was enriched with the gifts of heaven, necessary to instruct, to direct, and to govern: besides which, God excited her by the Holy Spirit to declare his will to the people, as appears by the following part of this history. Her name signifies a Bee, which has been given by other nations to illustrious women; as among the Greeks, the nymph said to be the nurse of Jove, is called Melissa, and the wife of Periander, king of Corinth, had the same name. See Witsii Miscel. Sac. tom. 1: lib. 1: cap. 23. The Hebrew renders it doubtful whether she was the wife of Lapidoth, or a woman of Lapidoth, but the first is the most common opinion. She judged Israel at that time; i.e. had the supreme authority: well known to be divinely inspired, she was respected as such, and the people submitted to her judgment. She dwelt under the psalm-tree of Deborah; or, as the LXX and Vulgate understand it, She sat under the palm-tree which was called by her name, where she administered justice. Calmet says, that it may be rendered a forest of palms.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The Holy Ghost hath thought proper to render this woman’s name illustrious in the Church. Some have thought that, as Lapidoth is not a very common name for a man, and rather means light, and illumination, the expression is symbolical, for the extraordinary degree of grace imparted to Deborah, and particularly on this occasion, of delivering Israel. Be this as it may, certain it is, that she was highly esteemed; for the people came to her for judgment.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jdg 4:4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
Ver. 4. The wife of Lapidoth. ] Or, A woman of Lapidoth, a or a woman of lights, – so some render it, taking the word appellatively, – so called either because concinnabat ellychnia, she made lights for the sanctuary; b or because she was full of heavenly lights, by the Spirit. c
a Lapidothana.
b Tremel.
c Vatab.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
a prophetess. Not therefore a “judge “in the strict sense of the title. Like Miriam, Exo 15:20; Huldah, 2Ki 22:14. Compare her prophecy in verses: Jdg 4:7, Jdg 4:9.
she. Some codices, with two early printed editions, read “and she”. Note the two women connected with Barak, Deborah and Jael, verses: Jdg 4:17-21. See note on Jdg 4:17, and Compare Jdg 5:7, Jdg 5:11, Jdg 5:24, Jdg 5:30.
at that time. Yet Israel was “mightily oppressed”, contrary to Jdg 2:18. The words “she judged” state a fact: but do they imply a Divine appointment to the office? She was “a prophetess”, but was she “a judge” in the proper sense of the word?
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
am 2719, bc 1285, An, Ex, Is, 206, Exo 15:20, 2Ki 22:14, Neh 6:14, Joe 2:28, Joe 2:29, Mic 6:4, Luk 2:36, Act 21:9, 1Co 11:5, Gal 3:28
Reciprocal: Jdg 5:7 – a mother 2Ch 34:22 – the prophetess Isa 8:3 – the prophetess Eze 13:17 – prophesy
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 4:4. A prophetess Such a one as Miriam, Exo 15:23; Huldah, 2Ki 22:14, and divers others; but the word prophets, or prophetesses, is ambiguous, sometimes being meant of persons extraordinarily inspired by God, and endowed with the power of working miracles, and foretelling things to come; and sometimes of persons endowed with special gifts or graces, for the better understanding and discoursing about the word and mind of God. Of this sort were the sons of the prophets, or such as were bred in the schools of the prophets, who are often called prophets, 1Sa 10:5; 1Sa 10:10. And because we read nothing of Deborahs miraculous actions, some have thought she was only a woman of eminent holiness, and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, by which she was singularly qualified for judging the people according to the laws of God. It appears, however, from Jdg 4:7; Jdg 4:9, that she was endowed with the gift of prophecy, properly so called, or of foretelling, at least in some instances, future events. Judged Israel That is, determined causes and controversies arising among the Israelites, as is implied, Jdg 4:5. And this Jabin might suffer to be done, especially by a woman. Yet the frequent discharge of this part of the judges office, whereby she gained great power and authority with the people, did, in a peculiar manner, (though not observed by the tyrant,) prepare the way for her sliding into the other part of her office, which was to defend and rescue the people from their enemies.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
4:4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she {c} judged Israel at that time.
(c) By the spirit of prophesy resolving controversies and declaring the will of God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Deborah was one of three prophetesses identified as such in the Old Testament (Jdg 4:4), along with Miriam (Exo 15:20) and Huldah (2Ki 22:14). Anna (Luk 2:36) and Philip’s four daughters (Act 21:8-9) were also prophetesses. Deborah was also one of the judges (Jdg 4:4). Another translation of "wife of Lappidoth" is "woman of torches." This may be the meaning since she motivated Barak and demonstrated conquering power, which torches symbolize (cf. Jdg 5:7; Isa 62:1; Dan 10:6; Zec 12:6). [Note: McCann, pp. 51-52.] The account of her life and ministry shows that some of the judges served as civil leaders almost exclusively. [Note: See M. O’Connor, "The Women in the Book of Judges," Hebrew Annual Review 10 (1986):277-93.] Samuel was a similar type of judge, whose military exploits were minor.
"The very looseness of early Israelite social and political organization, along with the requirements of a subsistence economy, probably explains why women could play such a major role in Israelite life, as they clearly do in the book of Judges, especially in chapters 4-5 . . ." [Note: McCann, p. 56.]
Deborah lived in the hill country of Ephraim (Jdg 4:5). Her name means "Bee," and she did what often marks a bee. She stung the enemy, and she brought sweet refreshment to her people. However, her name also suggests her prophetic role as she spoke to Barak, since the consonants in her name are the same as those in the Hebrew word translated "speak" and "word." The writer may have referred to her palm tree, another source of sweetness, to contrast it with the oak of Zaanannim under which the compromising Heber worked (Jdg 4:11).
Barak apparently was a well-known military leader in Israel at this time. He lived in far north Israel in Kadesh of Naphtali (Jdg 4:6), which was fairly close to Hazor. It stood at the southwest corner of the Sea of Chinnereth. [Note: Yohanan Aharoni, Land of the Bible, p. 204.] Some scholars favor a Kadesh north of Lake Huleh. Barak’s name means "Lightning," which he proved to be in his battle against the Canaanites.
As a prophetess Deborah sent orders to Barak to assemble 10,000 soldiers, or possibly 10 units of soldiers, at Mt. Tabor southwest of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee). Note that God’s command to Barak was clear. He was to "Go" (Heb. masak, lit. to draw along) with his recruits and wait at the mountain. God said He would draw Sisera out to come against Barak. Barak was then to move west against Sisera’s forces at the Kishon River just north of the Carmel mountain range, which stood on the south side of the Jezreel Valley.
"RSV rightly renders torrent (Hebrew nahal), the Kishon in its upper course being indeed a seasonal wadi, which, however, rises quickly and strongly in its lower course, swollen by flash floods from the slopes of Carmel and the hills of Lower Galilee as they converge upon it near Harosheth." [Note: Gray, p. 278.]
On this occasion Israel’s forces were very numerous. They had perhaps a 10 to one advantage over the Canaanites. Gideon’s later battle with the Midianites would be the opposite with Israel’s forces in the minority. God promised to give the Canaanites into Barak’s hand (Jdg 4:7).
Barak’s refusal to go on this mission without Deborah raises questions. He may have been afraid to go into battle without Deborah’s comforting company. Probably he wanted to have this prophetess with him so he could obtain God’s guidance through her if he needed to do so. A third explanation follows.
". . . his mistrust of his own strength was such that he felt too weak to carry out the command of God. He wanted divine enthusiasm for the conflict, and this the presence of the prophetess was to infuse into both Barak and the army that was to be gathered around him." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, p. 303.]
Whatever his motivation may have been, he put a condition on obeying God. The will of God was clear. He even had God’s promise of victory. Nevertheless he refused to obey unless Deborah accompanied him. Barak would defeat the Canaanites, but a woman would get the credit for defeating the commander, Sisera. This was Barak’s punishment for putting a condition on his obedience to God (Jdg 4:9). Barak probably assumed that the prediction in Jdg 4:9 referred to Deborah, but, as things turned out, Jael the Kenite received the glory that might have been his. Even though Barak had faith (Heb 11:32), his faith was not as strong as it should have been.
Apparently some of the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, had moved north to continue their semi-nomadic life in the northern part of western Manasseh. Hobab was probably Moses’ brother-in-law (NIV) rather than his father-in-law (AV, NASB; cf. Num 10:29). The consonants of the Hebrew words translated "father-in-law" and "brother-in-law" are the same (i.e., htn). Only the vowels, which later scribes supplied, are different (hoten being "father-in-law" and hatan being "brother-in-law").
Most of the Kenites lived in southern Judah. Heber’s family was able to maintain good relations with both the Canaanites and the Israelites (Jdg 4:17). Heber’s name means "Ally" and reflects his alliance with the Canaanites. "Kenite" means "smith" as in "blacksmith." Heber seems to have been plying his trade under the oak of Zaanannim. Was he one of the blacksmiths responsible for keeping the Canaanites’ 900 iron chariots in good repair? Oak trees were often the sites of pagan Canaanite worship. Had he set up shop at the cultic shrine of Baal in his area? If so, he contrasts sharply with Deborah, who carried out her work of revealing the words of God and ruling His people under a palm tree (Jdg 4:5). Here was a descendant of Moses’ family who may have been fraternizing with the very people Moses had commanded the Israelites to exterminate!