Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 4:19
And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
19. a bottle of milk ] the milk-skin, the goat-skin in which the Bedouin still keep water, milk etc.; cf. Jos 9:4 (used for wine). From Jdg 5:25 we gather that Jael poured the milk into a bowl. Her hospitality gave Sisera a feeling of security. Note the contrast with Jdg 5:25-27; here Sisera asks for drink, and Jael brings it after he has lain down and been covered with the tent-rug.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 19. She opened a bottle of milk] She gave more than he requested; and her friendship increased his confidence and security.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Gave him milk to drink; either because she had not water in her tent, and pretended fear of discovery or some inconvenience if she went out to fetch it; or as a signification of greater respect; or as a likely mean to cast him into a sleep, which she desired and designed; to which end possibly she might mix something with it to cause sleep, which she could not so conveniently have done with water. Covered him, upon pretence of hiding him, but really to dispose him to sleep.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. she . . . gave him drink, andcovered himSisera reckoned on this as a pledge of his safety,especially in the tent of a friendly sheik. This pledge was thestrongest that could be sought or obtained, after he had partaken ofrefreshments, and been introduced in the inner or women’s apartment.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he said unto her, give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty,…. Which might be occasioned by the heat of the battle, and by the heat of the day, and by heat in running; he asks for a little water, that being very desirable by persons athirst. Some think he did not ask for wine, because he knew the Kenites did not drink any, and so of course kept none in their tents; but though this was the custom of the Rechabites, who were the same with the Kenites,
Jer 35:8; yet it is very probable this custom had not yet obtained among them, since it was enjoined by Jonadab their father, who lived in the times of Jehu, 2Ki 10:15;
and she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him to drink; which she did either out of courtesy, being a better liquor, or with design to throw him into a sleep, which milk inclines to, making heavy, as all the Jewish commentators observe; though Josephus n has no authority to say, as he does? that the milk she gave him was bad and corrupt:
and covered him: again, after he had taken a draught of milk, which it seems she poured into a dish with the cream on it, see Jud 5:25.
n Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 5. sect. 1.)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(19) Give me, I pray thee, a little water.The request was natural enough; but, as he had not made it at first, we may suspect that he wanted to taste food in the tent, as a way of rendering still more secure the inviolable laws of Eastern hospitality. Saladin refuses to let Reginald of Chatillon drink in his tent, because he means to kill him.
A bottle of milk.Rather, the skin of milk. The word bottle means, of course, a leathern bottle or skin. Josephus says that the milk was already corrupted, i.e., that it was butter-milk (Antt v. 6, 5). This is quite probable, because butter-milk (lebban) is a common drink in Arab tents. When R. Tanchum adds that butter-milk inebriates, and Rashi that it produces deep sleep, and that it was her object to stupefy him, they are simply giving reins to their imagination. Josephus says, He drank so immoderately that he fell asleep. It might have been supposed that she would naturally offer him wine; but it is far from certain that even must or unfermented winemuch less fermented wine, which requires considerable art to makewould have been found in those poor tents; and, further, these Kenites may have been abstainers from wine, as their descendants the Rechabites were. ( Jer. 35:2.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. A bottle of milk “He asked water and she gave him milk.” Chap.
Jdg 5:25. Josephus states that it was milk already sour. Sour or curdled milk ( lebban) is still a common and favourite drink among the Arabs. Thus Jael satisfied Sisera’s thirst by giving him a drink esteemed better than water, and by such apparent kindness allayed suspicion.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jdg 4:19 a
‘And he said to her, “Give me, I pray you, a little water to drink, for I am parched.”
It should be noted that up to this stage she had not offered hospitality. Perhaps he should have taken a hint from that. To hide a male fugitive in your tent might be one thing, to feed him there another. So he has committed another breach of etiquette.
Much is made here by commentators of the question of hospitality, but it is questionable whether that was always seen as fully applying to women. There was no hospitality shown to the woman when the old man offered the Levite’s concubine to the sodomites gathered outside his house (Jdg 19:24), even though she had eaten at his table. It was the preservation of the men that was seen as important. That may suggest that in hospitality matters it was often in fact the menfolk who were seen as the ones who counted. Perhaps the women were in many cases merely sheltered because of their menfolk. Thus Jael may not have felt that similar laws applied to her. And the laws of hospitality did not provide for a married woman having a man alone with her in her tent. That was a flagrant breach of hospitality.
Jdg 4:19 b
‘And she opened a leather skin of milk, and gave him drink and covered him.’
It may be she had no water, or perhaps she was trying to reassure him of her friendly intent. The covering was probably so that he could sleep.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 4:19 And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
Ver. 19. And she opened a bottle of milk. ] Ut esset potus suavior, et induceret illi somnum, saith Vatablus; that she might mend his liquor, and make him sleep; as it is the nature of milk, when drunk largely by them that are hot, to render them sleepy.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
bottle = skin.
milk. Rendered “butter” in Jdg 5:25; probably = buttermilk, much used in the East.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Give me: Jdg 5:25, Jdg 5:26, Gen 24:43, 1Ki 17:10, Isa 41:17, Joh 4:7