Praise of Jael, vs. 24-31

The song turns now to laud the heroism of Jael. Her praise should surpass that of all women who live in tents, that is, of all nomadic women. Her hospitality toward Sisera when he came to her tent, and the manner of his death are romanticized by the poet. She is shown bringing to him milk, even cream (butter), when he only asked water. Then she took the tent nail and hammer and proceeded to kill him as he slept. The reference to smiting off Sisera’s head is rendered “smashed his head” in other versions, and this apparently is what occurred. Sisera came to Jael, bowing to her and seeking refuge with her. It is emphasized that he ultimately bowed down in death at her feet.

The last scene of the song is an imaginary one, of Sisera’s mother expectantly waiting for him. She is worried about his tardiness in returning. Furtively she looks through the lattice of the window and murmurs to her maids, pondering the reason for his delay in returning. She reassures herself, however, and her maids also reassure her. They had gone out with great expectation of spoil. The women expect to receive from the Canaanite warriors beautiful dyed cloth from the Israelites. Their men would take each a slave girl or two, and Sisera would surely bring his mother some of the beautiful needlework of the Israelite women to grace her neck.

Abruptly the song ends with this fruitless wait of Sisera’s mother. The singers pray that the Lord’s enemies may perish as did Sisera, and that all who love Him might prosper as the sun in its might, (Mal 4:2-3).

A final note states that a period of forty years’ rest followed the deliverance wrought by Deborah and Barak in the power of God.

Lessons to be learned: 1) God’s people ought to feel like singing for the marvelous victories He gives them; 2) the Lord can, and does, use His creation to emphasize His power and give victory to His people; 3) there will be some who respond and some who resist the service of Christ; 4) some will refuse to consider their own best interests and be cursed for it; 5) at the last the worldly ambitions and expectations of men will be unrealized.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

(24) Blessed above women.Jael would be regarded as a patriotic heroine, whose daring had secured to Israel the fruits of their victory. The morals of that early age were not sufficiently enlightened to understand that treachery and assassination are never justifiable, however good may be the end in view. But, as serious moralists, even in the nineteenth century, have held up to admiration the murder of Marat by Charlotte Corday, and have even given to her the title of the Angel of Assassination, we can hardly be surprised that Deborah should exult in Jaels heroism, and her choice of the right side, without expressingperhaps even without the degree of later moral enlightenment which would have led her to feelany moral reprobation of the means by which the end was accomplished. But to compare this outburst of patriotic approval for such a deed with the salutation of Blessed art thou among women, addressed by the angel to the blessed Virgin Mary (as is done by some commentators), seems to me a most dangerous way of handling the mere words of Scripture, apart from their context and true significance.

Above women in the tent.The honour paid to her because of her deed would raise her far above the common mass of ignorant and downtrodden nomad women. Instead of a Kenite woman, she would be lauded and honoured as a heroine of Israel.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

24. Blessed be Jael From the cursing of Meroz the prophetess turns to the blessing of Jael, and puts the blessing in contrast with the curse. Note at end of chap. 4. This blessing of the inspired poetess, as well as the curse pronounced on Meroz, breathes the spirit of the vindictive psalms. The blessing does not require us to defend the absolute morality of Jael’s act. Grotius had not then written on the laws of nations, nor had the softening spirit of the Gospel yet done its work in exalting the standard of morality. The act of Jael and the song and soul of Deborah were at the level of the laws of war in their age. The prophetess aims to immortalize the heroine.

Women in the tent Women that dwell in tents; shepherdesses.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Fate Of The Enemy

Jdg 5:24-31

24Blessed among women be Jael,

The wife of Heber, the Kenite,
Blessed among women of the tents!

25He asks for water, she gives him milk,

In a beautiful bowl she carries him cream.

26With her left she takes the nail,57

With her right the heavy hammer,
Swings it over Sisera, smites his head,
Crashes through, and transpierces his temples.58

27At her feet he curls himself and falls,

At her feet he lies, curls himself again, and falls,
And as he curls himself again, fallsdead!59

Through the window she looks, at the lattice laments 28the mother of Sisera:

Why lingers his car so long,
Why stay the steps of his chariots?

29Wise ladies answer her,60

Herself also refutes her own words:

30Will they not find booty and divide it?

Two maidens for each man;
Booty of purple robes for Sisera,
Yea, booty of purple robes!
Color-embroidered vestments, two for each neck of the captured!61

31So may all thy foes fall, O God,

But those who love thee rise as the sun in his strength!
And the land rested forty years.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

[1 Jdg 5:26.The rendering of by her left hand,if admissible at all,must be justified by the assumption of an intended contrast with in the next line. The form , according to Gesenius, Gram. 47, 3, 3 is an improper use of the 3d plural for the 3d singular; according to Green, 88, p. 119, it stands for her hand, she puts it forth; according to Ewald, 191 c, it is simply the 3d fem. sg. , with an additional feminine characteristic () in order to distinguish it from the 3d masc. singular. Ewalds view is also adopted by Bertheau, Keil, and (in the main, by) Bachmann, and is probably the true one.Tr.]

[2 Jdg 5:26.Dr. Cassels rendering of the last two lines of this verse is as follows:

Schwingt ihn auf Sisra, schlgt ihn ans Haupt,

Schmettert nach und durchbohrt ihm die Schlafe.

We have endeavored to reproduce his alliteration as nearly as possible, but have nevertheless lost the paranomasia of with , hammer, in the preceding line, for which our author has Schlgel, mallet, beetle. The awful energy of the lines, and their onomatopoetic character, may be distantly and somewhat inelegantly imitated in English, thus

She hammers Sisera, mashes his head,
Smashes (him), and crashes through his temples.Tr.]

[3 Jdg 5:27.The above translation of this verse disregards the Masoretic text-division (according to which , he lies, belongs to the first line), and takes in a temporal instead of local sense. The radical meaning of is probably to bend or contract ones self (cf. Ges. Lex., Keil, Bachmann), the usual sense to kneel being derivative. The mortally wounded Sisera, pinned to the ground (Jdg 4:21), involuntarily curls himself together, as Dr. Cassel saysi. e. brings his knees forward and upward. But Dr. Cassels idea that this involuntary muscular contraction was repeated three times is inconsistent with the proper local sense of , and with the repeated . Dr. Cassel, it is true, seeks to avoid the latter difficulty by supposing (see the com. below) that Sisera seeks to rise, and falls back; but how could he rise so as to fall back when his head was pinned to the ground? It is altogether more likely that in this song of victory, is used as in military language (and perhaps not without a touch of contemptuous irony), for to die, to be slain, in this sense, , like , cadere, and our fall, is frequently used, cf. the Lexica. The repetition of the idea of the first line in the second and third springs from the great interest of the singer in the destruction of the much-dreaded chieftain, and serves to intensify the impression to be produced on those who hear her. Accordingly, we would render:

At her feet he curls himself, he falls, he lies.
At her feet he curls himself, he falls!
Where he curls himself, there he fallsdestroyed.

So also Bertheau, Keil, Bachmann. For , in the sense of at cf. remarks of Hengstenberg on Zec 13:6, in Christol. iv. 106, Edinb. edition.Tr.]

[4 Jdg 5:29.The above translation neglects both the suffix in , and the construct state of (fem. of ). In Dr. Cassel apparently finds the 3d fem. sing. imperf. with the suffix of the 3d fem. sing. But as the subject is plural, it is better to take as standing for . The accented in the latter form seeks to strengthen itself by doubling the following consonant, in which case the naturally falls away, although it may also remain, as in Mic 7:10. Cf. Ewald, Gram. 17 c. The true rendering of the second line of this verse is much disputed. According to Keil the sense of the line is: Siseras mother, however, does not allow herself to be quieted by the speeches of her wise ladies, but repeats the anxious question, Why does Sisera delay to come? He and Bachmann translate the verse thus:

The wise ones of her princesses answer:
But she repeats to herself her words.Tr.]

[5 Jdg 5:30.On our authors text-division in this verse, see the Commentary below. Bachmann, who adheres to the Masoretic punctuation, translates as follows:

Will they not find, divide booty?
A maiden, two maidens for the head of a man,
Booty of colored garments for Sisera,
Booty of colored garments, (of) variegated work,
A colored garment, two variegated for the neck of the booty.Tr.]

EXEGETICAL AND DOCTRINAL

The closing part of Deborahs Song has justly been regarded as a specimen of poetical representation that cannot be surpassed. In it the singer shows that she is a woman. The triumph with which Jaels deed is praised and Siseras mother mocked, evinces an almost passionate mental exaltation. The picture of Siseras death is drawn with startling vividness. On the back ground of a divine enthusiasm, there rises an ecstatic delight in the deed of one woman, and in the misery of another, such as springs up in none but a womans heart. That which in heathen female characters becomes demoniac in its nature, is in Deborah purified by the divine thoughts which animate her. No subjective interest, no private feeling, no personal passion, influences her; the highest interests of her God and people fill her soul. It is not her triumph, but that of her ever-living Maker, that she celebrates; and yet at the height of its exultation her Song breaks out in a mood by which the woman might be recognized, even if neither name nor other information on the authorship had been handed down to us. That which especially gives to the conclusion of the Song its great value and attractiveness, is the fact that from it the genuineness of the whole becomes even more psychologically than grammatically evidentthat the mantic power of a prophetic woman, unweakened and in the full glow of its burning ecstasy, is nowhere else filled and controlled as it is here, by rational enthusiasm born of an objective, divinely-given truth. How well it was said of her, that she was a woman of a fiery spirit (Jdg 4:4), becomes here most manifest. The more terrible the tyranny, the more common-place the enemy, the more intensely burns her soul in her song of victory. The glowing heat of her prophetic enthusiasm shines through the irony, with which she places the vain pride of unbelieving enemies over against the almighty power of God. It is not an irony of hatred, disfiguring the face with scornful smiles, but such as springs from the consciousness that Gods wisdom and power are superior to all heroes and heathen. Verse 23, pronouncing the ban against Meroz, says, thus proclaims the messenger of God. The name of God is the source of all power and authority. Apostasy from God incurs the ban; whoever helps to advance his works, is blessed.

Jdg 5:24-25. Blessed among women be Jael. Meroz did not come to the help of the people of God. Jael came, though a woman; and not of Israel, but a dweller in tents. The name of her husband is mentioned to distinguish her from others of the same name, and also to give him an interest in the fame of his wife. Accordingly, for her sake, he also has obtained a place in the records of history. The blessing which she enjoys before all women in the tent, i.e. before all who like herself and the Kenites wandered about in tents, after the manner of nomads, she did not win by accident. She made an energetic use of her opportunity. She deceives the flying Sisera by the signs of homage which she presents to him. He asks only for water; she offers him milk, and, as was befitting with such a guest, , in a bowl such as princes use. She takes the handsome show-bowl, not used on ordinary occasions, and hands him . This word, which also signifies butter, expresses in general the more solid forms of milk. Here, where it stands parallel with , it signifies, in harmony with the show-bowl, the best milk, the cream. There is absolutely nothing to suggest the opinion of older expositors (Schnurrer, p. 83, received by Herder also) that she wished to intoxicate him with the milk. Moreover, we need not assume that the milk was camel-milk; and, at all events, the intoxicating property of that milk62 must have been known to Sisera. Before Bochart (cf. Serarius, p. 145), Junius and Tremellius had already expressed the opinion, approved by Scaliger, that in the Latin simpulum reappears. But saph, sephel, are Hebrew forms of a widely-diffused term for round, scooped-out vessels, whether of larger or smaller size, and may be recognized in the Greek , bowl, trough, tub, Latin scaphium, and in the German Schaff (tub, pail), Scheffel (modius), a round measure).63 It is true, however, that sephel continued to be used among the Jews (in the Talmud) and Syrians, and that the shape of the vessel may be most nearly expressed by simpulum, which, as Ciceros proverb, fluctus in simpuloa tempest in a nutshellproves, was a smaller drinking-vessel.

Jdg 5:26-27. The first of these verses shows that the narrator in Judges 4 was in possession of traditional information beside that furnished by this Song. The prophetess passes over intermediate, self-evident matters. Sisera, of course, must lie down and sleep, before a woman can approach his head with hammer and nail. The verse depicts the dreadful work and vigor of Jael, as she approaches and drives the nail into Siseras head. The terms employed ( , ,) are such as cause us to hear the blows of the hammer, sounding repeatedly, till she finishes her work. What a terrible picture! Before the warrior stands the kindled womanthe heavy hammer (as Herder finely translated , for is one who works hard or heavily, a toiler) in her right hand. The smitten chieftain draws himself together, he seeks to rise, and falls back. Twice more he writhes convulsively, and dies. There he lies, the haughty warrior, who thought to destroy the People of Godslain by a woman in disgraceful flight, far from his kindred, alone and unlamented, an example to conquerors of human weakness and divine power. ( is the condition of utter lifelessness, when every sound and motion has ceased; hence it stands in contrast with , which describes the wounded man instinctively bending and drawing himself together, as if about to rise.)

Jdg 5:28-31. But the fall of Sisera in the tent of a woman does not complete the picture of the extraordinary triumph. The prophetess shows yet another view. She carries her hearers to a distant scene. While Sisera lies here in ignominious death, what takes place in the palace of his capital? The return of the chieftain, accustomed to victory, has already been long expected. His mother stands at the window above,64 in the airy upper room. Her view commands the road to a great distance. She peers and listens; but still the rolling of the victorious chariots is not heard. No triumphal procession, with Sisera at its head, gorgeously attired and proud of victory, lights up the horizon. A sad presentiment steals over her heart: Why does his chariot delay? she cries, wailingly;65 why does he tarry so long? Is there no car66 coming, to bring tidings at least?Who should first suffer anxiety, if not a mother? Of a wife, nothing is said; such love thrives not in the harem of a prince. He is his mothers pride, the great hero, who had hitherto been invincible. What she has in him, and what she loses, concerns no other woman. With this pride, her women, noble ladies, whom her high rank as mother of the all-powerful commander draws around her, comfort her. Victory, they say, has also its occupations. If he has not come yet, it is because these detain him. No other explanation of his non-arrival is possible. Anxiety, therefore, is improper. For it is precisely victory that delays him. This is what her women say to her; the flattered mother admits the justness of their observations, and with them confutes her own foreboding questions.67 The prophetess, with delicate irony, calls the women who thus counsel, wise ones. It is the wisdom of a pride that deems it inconceivable that Sisera should not have been victorious; how could he prove unfortunate against this insignificant people! What to them is the God of Israel! It is the booty that hinders his coming. Booty, of course, delays the victor; for he must cause it to be divided. The mother and her women naturally think first of the booty; to them, that is the pith of all victories. Their fancy then proceeds to picture at pleasure the conquered treasures. How much time must it take, before every soldier has the two maidens whom he obtains as booty, assigned to him!68 And then the heap of costly clothing. The purple garments fall naturally to Sisera, for they are suitable only for princes. But each of the others also obtains embroidered garments, always two for each maiden that fell to his share. In this strain they talk with each other, and already imagine themselves to be looking over the goods which Sisera is bringing with him. But all at once the message comes: No booty, no victorythe hero is dead, the army is shattered! All is lostthe castle falls. So perish they who set themselves against God. Fearful sorrow breaks their pride. But they who love God conquer. Their type is the sun, who like a fame-crowned victor, every morning, every spring, triumphs gloriously, with hero-like power, over clouds and darkness.

Account must here be given for departures from the ordinary division and translation in Jdg 5:30. That verse, like several others in Deborahs Song, has undergone an incredible amount of conjecture and emendation. It reads as follows:

1.

2.

3.

4.

. 5.

Victors found their greatest satisfaction and joy in the booty. Hence, Moses also makes Pharaoh say (Exo 15:9): I will pursue, I will divide the spoil. The women took for granted that Sisera will find () much booty, and that consequently a division will commence. Lines 25 point out the method of the division. First (line 2) each man gets two maidens, or women. Then the garments are divided. But how this was done, depends upon the explanation of line 5, particularly of the words . The difficulty69 under which expositors labored, originated in their failing to perceive that means the booty of maidens mentioned in line 2. It cannot be denied that is booty of persons as well as of things, cf. Num 31:11. Zec 2:13 (9) says, They become a spoil to those who have served them. In Isa 10:2, widows are called , cf. Jer 21:9, as also Jer 1:10, where the Chaldeans are spoken of as booty. An entirely analogous error used to be made in interpreting the celebrated chorus in the Antigone of Sophocles:

,

,

the word being understood, not of the unfree, but always of things (cf. Weimar. Jahrbuch fur Deutsche Lit., ii. 359). The unfree booty consists of men, animals, and things. So here, are the necks of the women taken as booty. For each neck two cloths are allowed. Thus the of line 5 corresponds to the of line 2. The division was thus systematized. As many women as each had, so many times did he receive two cloths (for doubtless the dual form here really signifies the dual number). Now, it must not be overlooked that is used only in connection with the division of the cloths according to the number of maidens. Elsewhere also (Eze 26:16, excepted) appears as an article of female adornment, cf. Psa 45:15, for instance; also in Eze 16:13, the figure is that of a woman. This confirms the above division, and explains the expression of line Judges 3 : . The , which the chieftain is to receive, are distinguished from the , which fall to the maidens. The latter are beautifully-colored female dress-cloths;70 the former belong to Sisera, and are therefore to be taken as purple garments. It is true, , in itself, means only to dip, i.e. to dye; but the spirit of the passage invites us to think not of merely colored, but of purple-colored garments, . Such garments were worn by princes in battle (cf. Jdg 8:26), and distinguished kings and rulers; by reason of which it was an honor for Mordecai to wear them (Est 8:15; cf. Rosenmller, Morgenland, iii. 37). It is a proud thought for Siseras mother, that the princely garments belong to her son. The repetition of the words (line 4) is to be taken as expressive of this her joy. The women do not speak, as has perhaps been supposed, of what they themselves shall receive, but simply represent to themselves how much time must be consumed in dividing so much booty among so many persons, in order to explain that which so greatly needed explanationthe delay of Sisera.

We omit recounting the various different expositions of this section. Nor is room allowed us to notice the manifold endeavors that have been made to analyze the arrangement of the whole Song. Neither Ksters, nor Ewalds, nor Bertheaus division holds good. Le Clerc attempted to arrange the Song according to endings of similar sound,an attempt that must necessarily fail. On the other hand, alliteration is of such frequent occurrence, as to betray more than anything else the presence of conscious art. Since the Song, however, is not built up of regular strophes, it of course cannot be subject to the same regular laws which govern the Scandinavian poems. But the alliterative form, in its perfect freedom, enhances the power of the Song to an extraordinary degree. It resembles in its effects the pebble-stones of the brook, over which the current flows with augmented force. It would transcend the limits of our present task to institute a comparison between the various productions of the Hebrew muse with reference to this alliterative form. Let it suffice, that in the rendering of the original we have endeavored to give prominence to the delicacy of the alliteration as it appears in this Song of Deborah.

And the land rested forty years. These words do not belong to the Song; but connect themselves with the prose narrative, at Jdg 4:24, into which the poem was inserted.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Deborah, the prophetic Singer. After the victory, Deborah sings a noble song, and thereby enables us to recognize that the spirit which animates her is the spirit of prophecy. The other Judges conquer like herself, but they have left us no songs of victory. But, indeed, they are not said to have been prophets. Only prophetic tongues can sing. True poetry is a sacred art. For that reason, all prophecy is a sublime hymn on judgment and divine redemption. Whatever the prophet sees, he proclaims and sings to the harp of faith. What they believed, that they spake. The wonderful works of God are always spoken of and preached with other tongues and in ecstatic song. Thus, from Davids time till now, the church of God has sung. Hallelujah is the keynote of all church-hymns.
But, just as Deborah, like Moses and Miriam, sang among the people, so the prophecy of song is not confined within the limits of the church. All popular poetry is the product of popular faith. The decay of literature is bound up in the decay of prophetic inspiration. Rhymes and verbal decorations do not rouse the masses. But when the jubilant heart, redeemed, strikes up its Easter-song, then every pulse will beat responses.

Starke: Although God has not committed the regular office of preaching to women, he has nevertheless many times imparted his prophetic Spirit to them, and through them has spoken great things.The same: All who share in the benefits of God, should also join in bringing Him praise and thanksgiving.Gerlach: An age in which this sublime, high-wrought, and spirited song could be composed, though full of restless and wildly antagonistic movements, was certainly not without deep and living consciousness of the high and glorious calling of the covenant-people.

[Wordsworth: We have a song of victory in Exodus; we have a song of victory in Numbers; we have a song of victory in Deuteronomy; we have this song of victory in Judges; we have a song of victory in the first of Samuel; we have a song of victory in the second of Samuel; we have the song of Zacharias, and the Magnificat, or Song of the Blessed Virgin, and the song of Simeon, in the Gospel; and all these songs are preludes to the new song, the song of Moses and of the Lamb, which the Saints of the Church glorified, from all nations, will sing, at the crystal sea, with the harps of God, when all the enemies of Christ and his Church will have been subdued, and their victory will be consummated forever (Rev 14:1-3; Rev 15:2-4).The same (on Jdg 5:17): Here, in Dan and Asher, is the second hindrance to zeal for Gods cause; the other was that in the case of Reubencomparative distance from the scene of danger, and rural occupation (see Jdg 5:15-16). They who live in commercial and maritime cities, engaged in worldly business, are tempted to prefer their own worldly interest to the cause of God and his Church. They who thus act, imitate Dan, and forfeit the blessing of Deborah. They also who live in country villages, removed from the din of controversy, and engaged in farming and other rural occupations, have strong temptations to live merely to themselves, and to stand aloof from their brethren, and not to listen to Deborahs voice, and not to flock to Baraks standard, and fight Gods battle together with them against the heresy and infidelity which assail his Church.The same (on Jdg 5:18): Zebulun and Naphtali, in Galilee of the Gentiles, sent forth champions to the Lords battle against the enemies of the Hebrew Church; and their land was afterwards honored as the scene of Christs preaching (see Mat 4:13), and gave birth to many of the Apostles, the first champions of the Christian Church against the spiritual Siseras of this world.The same (on Jdg 5:31): After the stirring emotions of the tempest of the elements, and the rush of the combatants, and the din of arms, and shock of battle, described with wonderful energy in this divine poem, the land had rest; a beautiful contrast, and an emblem of the peaceful calm which will prevail when the storms of this world will be lulled in the Sabbath of Eternity.Henry: And well had it been if, when the churches and the tribes had rest, they had been edified, and had walked in the fear of the Lord.Tr.]

Footnotes:

[57][Jdg 5:26.The rendering of by her left hand,if admissible at all,must be justified by the assumption of an intended contrast with in the next line. The form , according to Gesenius, Gram. 47, 3, 3 is an improper use of the 3d plural for the 3d singular; according to Green, 88, p. 119, it stands for her hand, she puts it forth; according to Ewald, 191 c, it is simply the 3d fem. sg. , with an additional feminine characteristic () in order to distinguish it from the 3d masc. singular. Ewalds view is also adopted by Bertheau, Keil, and (in the main, by) Bachmann, and is probably the true one.Tr.]

[58] [Jdg 5:26.Dr. Cassels rendering of the last two lines of this verse is as follows:

Schwingt ihn auf Sisra, schlgt ihn ans Haupt,

Schmettert nach und durchbohrt ihm die Schlafe.

We have endeavored to reproduce his alliteration as nearly as possible, but have nevertheless lost the paranomasia of with , hammer, in the preceding line, for which our author has Schlgel, mallet, beetle. The awful energy of the lines, and their onomatopoetic character, may be distantly and somewhat inelegantly imitated in English, thus

She hammers Sisera, mashes his head,
Smashes (him), and crashes through his temples.Tr.]

[59] [Jdg 5:27.The above translation of this verse disregards the Masoretic text-division (according to which , he lies, belongs to the first line), and takes in a temporal instead of local sense. The radical meaning of is probably to bend or contract ones self (cf. Ges. Lex., Keil, Bachmann), the usual sense to kneel being derivative. The mortally wounded Sisera, pinned to the ground (Jdg 4:21), involuntarily curls himself together, as Dr. Cassel saysi. e. brings his knees forward and upward. But Dr. Cassels idea that this involuntary muscular contraction was repeated three times is inconsistent with the proper local sense of , and with the repeated . Dr. Cassel, it is true, seeks to avoid the latter difficulty by supposing (see the com. below) that Sisera seeks to rise, and falls back; but how could he rise so as to fall back when his head was pinned to the ground? It is altogether more likely that in this song of victory, is used as in military language (and perhaps not without a touch of contemptuous irony), for to die, to be slain, in this sense, , like , cadere, and our fall, is frequently used, cf. the Lexica. The repetition of the idea of the first line in the second and third springs from the great interest of the singer in the destruction of the much-dreaded chieftain, and serves to intensify the impression to be produced on those who hear her. Accordingly, we would render:

At her feet he curls himself, he falls, he lies.
At her feet he curls himself, he falls!
Where he curls himself, there he fallsdestroyed.

So also Bertheau, Keil, Bachmann. For , in the sense of at cf. remarks of Hengstenberg on Zec 13:6, in Christol. iv. 106, Edinb. edition.Tr.]

[60] [Jdg 5:29.The above translation neglects both the suffix in , and the construct state of (fem. of ). In Dr. Cassel apparently finds the 3d fem. sing. imperf. with the suffix of the 3d fem. sing. But as the subject is plural, it is better to take as standing for . The accented in the latter form seeks to strengthen itself by doubling the following consonant, in which case the naturally falls away, although it may also remain, as in Mic 7:10. Cf. Ewald, Gram. 17 c. The true rendering of the second line of this verse is much disputed. According to Keil the sense of the line is: Siseras mother, however, does not allow herself to be quieted by the speeches of her wise ladies, but repeats the anxious question, Why does Sisera delay to come? He and Bachmann translate the verse thus:

The wise ones of her princesses answer:
But she repeats to herself her words.Tr.]

[61] [Jdg 5:30.On our authors text-division in this verse, see the Commentary below. Bachmann, who adheres to the Masoretic punctuation, translates as follows:

Will they not find, divide booty?
A maiden, two maidens for the head of a man,
Booty of colored garments for Sisera,
Booty of colored garments, (of) variegated work,
A colored garment, two variegated for the neck of the booty.Tr.]

[62][When soured. See Winers Realwrterbuch, i. 648.Tr.]

[63]Of two hollow measures, still in use in Damascus, the one is called mudd, the other sumbul.

[64] . invariably expresses the act of looking out from a height, from a mountain, for instance, or from heaven; also from the upper chambers (Gen 26:8), to which persons of quality (Eglon, for example) retired to cool themselves.

[65] , occurs only in this passage. It is an onomatopoetic word, like the German jammern, [cf. the English wailing.] In Chaldee, however, it chiefly has the sense of crying, sounding, in a favorable as well as unfavorable sense.

[66]Why delay . may be used of any kind of repeated motion, like that of treading; and therefore also of the rolling of wheels.

[67] . The mother replies herself to her own words, corrects herself. She does not answer the others,an interpretation neither philologically congruous, nor in harmony with the fact that they have not said anything which the mother would wish to refute. Cf. Job 35:4, and Pro 22:21.

[68]The following passage from a letter written by the Emperor Claudius II., after his great victory over the Goths, may serve to confirm our explanation of Jdg 5:30 : Tantum mulierum cepimus, ut binas et ternas mulieres victor sibi miles possit adjungere. Trebellius Pollio, cap. 8.

[69]Observable also in Keils exposition.

[70][This general explanation of , as cloth or garments worked in colors, is probably to be preferred to the more definite embroidered in colors, adopted by Dr. Cassel in his translation of the passage. Keil (on Exo 26:36) remarks that in the only passage where the verb occurs, Psa 139:15, it signifies to weave. Robinson (Bibl. Repos., i. 610) says: The verb , both in Hebrew and Arabic, signifies to diversify, make variegated, sc. in color; and is not necessarily applied to needlework. Cf. also Bachmann, in loc.Tr.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

DISCOURSE: 264
JAEL AND SISERA

Jdg 5:24-27. Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmans hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

THE subject of assassination, one would suppose, should not admit of much diversity of sentiment: but there are those even in the Christian world, who think that in extreme cases, where the death of a tyrant would put an end to grievous oppressions and desolating wars, the dagger of an assassin might be employed. I am not aware that any would attempt to vindicate this sentiment by an appeal to Scripture: they would justify it rather on reasonings from expediency: but it is certain that, though in most cases where such actions are recorded they are mentioned with abhorrence, there are some instances wherein they are mentioned with approbation and applause. Such was the case of Ehud, who stabbed Eglon king of Moab: and such was the case before us, where Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, destroyed Sisera, whom she had received under her protection, and to whom she had administered every friendly aid.
The account which is given us of this transaction must be considered in a two-fold view;

I.

As an historic fact

The fact itself is set forth in the foregoing chapter
[Jabin, king of Canaan, had mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years. At last they cried unto God; who directed Deborah, a prophetess, to take immediate measures for their deliverance. She commissioned Barak to raise ten thousand men; and promised, in Gods name, that Sisera, the captain of Jabins army, should be drawn to him and delivered into his hands. The event corresponded with the prediction: Sisera was defeated; and he fled away on foot, and sought refuge in the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, with whom he was at peace. Jael received him most kindly, supplied him with necessary refreshment, covered him with a mantle, and gave him every reason to expect safety under her protection. But, when he was asleep, she took a hammer, and drove a long nail through his temples and through his head: and then went out to the door of her tent, and brought in Barak to see his enemy dead upon the floor.]
And what are we to think of this fact?
[Supposing it to be unauthorized by any commission from heaven, we cannot hesitate to pronounce it one of the vilest crimes that ever was perpetrated. Some have endeavoured to extenuate it, by saying, that she did not promise not to betray him. But this is a mere subterfuge: whether she promised or not, in words, her whole conduct was equivalent to the strongest promise: and she was guilty of the basest treachery that we can find, on record in the annals of the world. She murdered a man who was at peace with her, and whom she had undertaken to protect.

Thus strongly have we spoken on the occasion, in order that our subsequent views may not be misinterpreted.
Here a question naturally arises; If the action was so base, how comes it to be so highly commended? how comes a prophetess to pronounce such an eulogy upon her, as to call her the most blessed of women, for doing that which was in itself such a flagrant act of injustice and cruelty? I answer, (as we before answered in the case of Ehud,) that God is not bound by the laws which he has given to us; and that he may dispense with those obligations which men owe to each other, in order to advance his own purposes in the way he sees fit. He may, as we before observed, order Abraham to slay his son: and therefore he might equally order Jael to slay Sisera; and might make known his mind with equal certainty to her as to him. And, that he did give her this commission, we can have no doubt: for, on account of Baraks unbelief, Deborah told him that he should lose part of the honour which he might have acquired; and that God would sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Moreover, this whole chapter is a tribute of praise to God on account of the transaction, wherein Jael in particular is celebrated as having performed a most acceptable service to the Lord.

Our proud hearts are apt to rise up in rebellion against God on this occasion; and to ask, how such an order could consist with his perfections? But let us be careful how we presume to reprove God [Note: Job 40:2.]. We forget that he is the Creator of all, and may do what he will with his own [Note: Mat 20:15.]; and that he giveth not account of any of his matters [Note: Job 33:13.]. Let us remember too, that we are no more than mere worms, which, as creatures, have no claim to existence for one moment; and, as sinners, deserve to be in hell: and that, consequently, it is not possible for God to do us any injustice. If, however, we still be disposed to quarrel with this dispensation, the answer of St. Paul to such objectors must be resorted to; Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Consider the objections to which that reply was made; and it will be found abundantly sufficient for every other objection that can be raised [Note: Rom 9:16-24.] ]

Let us next consider this account,

II.

As an emblematic record

The words which close this divine hymn, clearly shew that we are to consider the history in this view [Note: Compare ver. 31 with Psa 83:2-4; Psa 83:9-10.]. The transaction was an emblematic representation,

1.

Of the judgments that await Gods enemies

[Siseras army was, humanly speaking, invincible, especially by such an handful of men as Barak could muster, and even the greater part of them unarmed, except with such weapons as they might hastily collect [Note: Jdg 4:13 with 5:8.]. Indeed his mother and friends had not the least doubt of a successful issue to the conflict. But when his time was come, he and his army were wholly destroyed: and the very steps which he took for the destruction of Gods people, God himself overruled to effect his overthrow [Note: Jdg 4:6-7.]. Thus it shall be with all the oppressors and persecutors of Gods Church and people: how potent soever they may be, and however secure they may think themselves, their judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not [Note: 2Pe 2:3.]. They exult in the thought of what they will effect: but God laugheth them to scorn, for he seeth that their day is coming [Note: Compare Psa 2:3-4 with 37:12, 13.]. The very plans which they concert for the destruction of the Church, God will often overrule for their own destruction [Note: Mic 4:11-12.]: or, if no particular judgment come upon them in this world, the time is quickly coming, when they would be glad to have the rocks and mountains fall upon them, to cover them from the wrath of an avenging God. They think themselves strong now: but will they be strong in the day that HE shall deal with them, and will they thunder with a voice like his? O that they were wise and would consider this, ere they be suddenly destroyed and without a remedy!]

2.

Of the triumphs that are prepared for the Lords people

[The Church at large, or individuals in it, may be reduced, like Israel of old, to great distress; but they shall surely triumph at last. However weak you may be in yourselves, you have no cause to fear; for God is on your side; and will suffer neither sin nor Satan to have dominion over you [Note: Rom 6:14; Rom 16:20.]. You need not direction or assistance from man; you need not say to any human being, If thou wilt go with me, I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go [Note: Jdg 4:8.]: for God is with you; and through him you shall be more than conquerors. His voice to every one of you is, like that of Deborah to Barak, Up, for this is the day that the Lord hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee [Note: Jdg 4:14.]? The very stars in their courses shall fight for you [Note: ver. 20.], rather than that you shall be subdued. This is the testimony of all the prophets; nor shall any one that trusts in it be disappointed of his hope. See how the sun bursts through the clouds that obscured it in the early morn, and shines forth in its might: so shall you rise above all your enemies, and shine forth in everlasting glory [Note: ver. 31.].]

The subject addresses itself particularly,

1.

To those who are in affliction

[What was the remedy to which Israel had recourse, when their affliction pressed sore upon them? It was prayer: they cried unto the Lord. And is not the same remedy open to us? is it not also as effectual as ever? Is the Lords hand shortened that it cannot save, or his ear heavy that it cannot hear? He has given the direction, Call upon me in the time of trouble, and I will hear thee, and thou shalt glorify me: nor will he ever suffer any to seek his face in vain ]

2.

To those who have been delivered from it

[Delay not to render thanks to your Almighty Deliverer. Whatever means he may have used, remember that HE is the first great Cause, the Author and Giver of every good and perfect gift. Stir up yourselves then to glorify him, like Deborah of old; Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake; utter a song. Call to mind also the various circumstances both of your affliction and deliverance; that nothing maybe omitted which may enhance the mercy in your eyes, or give glory to your heavenly Benefactor. This is a matter of great importance: if you rest in general acknowledgments, you will feel but weak emotions of gratitude: but if you search out occasions of praise, you will soon be filled with wonder and amazement at the mercies vouchsafed unto you.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

Jdg 5:24 Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

Ver. 24. Above women in the tent. ] A fit place for women to be found in, but not for the men of Meroz; they should have been active in the field against the Church’s enemies, as she was in her tent. Others that were more remote are blamed: but they are bitterly cursed, and that by the authority of the angel.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Blessed above women. Compare Luk 1:28 “among”. See notes on Jdg 4:4, Jdg 4:17; Jdg 5:7, Jdg 5:11, Jdg 5:30.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

at the Mercy of Midian

Jdg 5:24-31; Jdg 6:1-6

What a contrast our reading suggests between those that love the Lord and go from strength to strength in the undimming luster and influence of their life, and the evil that once more brought the tyrants yoke upon this neck of Israel! Yet these alternations have too often befallen us. At one moment Sisera and his hosts are chased before us as sheep before the dog; then a reaction sets in and the hand of Midian prevails against us. Why are we not always glad, strong, and victorious? Is it not because we look to our moods, we relax our close walk with God, and we set up the images of Baal in our hearts? We are then reduced to the plight described here and in Hag 1:6. Why are there not more conversions in the Church? Why is there so little difference between the Church and the world? Why is so much of our Sunday-school teaching ineffective? Ah, the Midianite is in our midst and we acquiesce! The urgent, primal need of the present day is for the Church to realize her true condition, and cry mightily unto God for help. Note Jdg 6:6 and Joe 1:14, etc.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Jdg 4:17, Gen 14:19, Pro 31:31, Luk 1:28, Luk 1:42

Reciprocal: Jdg 4:9 – into 1Sa 15:6 – the Kenites 1Sa 27:10 – Kenites

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE BLESSING ON JAEL

Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

Jdg 5:24

The main interest of this narrative lies with a woman. Deborah is one of the most striking figures in Jewish history. She was the leader and guide of her countrymen in the effort which restored to them peace and freedom, civil and religious. She was the judge who awarded praise or blame to those who had been false or true to the cause of God and of Israel. At the close of her song she utters an emphatic and extraordinary blessing on Jael.

I. Jaels action on the one hand, and Deborahs inspired judgment on the other, raise questions to which no reflecting mind can be insensible.(1) We cannot get over the difficulty by saying that Deborahs utterance about Jael is not inspired; that it is only a page of dark human passion occurring in a generally inspired poem. If Deborahs blessing of Jael is uninspired, it is hard to claim inspiration reasonably for any part of her song; and if Deborahs song is not inspired, it is difficult to say what other portions of the Book of Judges are. (2) In weighing Deborahs language, we have to consider, first of all, that Siseras life was, in Deborahs judgment, rightly forfeited. She speaks of him as the Lords enemy. And what Deborah knew about him, Jael knew also. Neither of them had any doubt that his life was justly forfeited. The question could only arise as to Jaels method of taking it. (3) Let us notice that Deborahs language about Jael is relative language. It is relative to the conduct of other persons than Jael, and it is relative to Jaels own circumstances as a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel. Jael was blessed among women in the tent, women, that is, who lead such a life as that of the wandering Arabs beyond the confines of Israel. Deborah contrasts the poor heathen woman of the desert with the recreant sailors of Asher and Dan, and the herdsmen of Reuben, and the townsmen of Meroz. She projects Jaels fervid loyalty into luminous prominence, where it stands out in telling rebuke to the indifference of those who had far greater advantages.

II. Notice three points in conclusion.(1) The equitableness of Deborahs judgment of Jael. (2) Note that this history would be sorely misapplied, if we were to gather from it that a good motive justifies any action that is known to be bad. Jael is only eulogised because she lived in an age and circumstances which exonerated what was imperfect or wrong in her act. (3) Note the presence of unsuspected imperfections in all human endeavour, even when God graciously accepts it.

Canon Liddon.

Illustrations

(1) There is no need to extenuate Jaels deed. It was the product of a barbarous time, whose spirit is wholly foreign to the Christian spirit. But even in that rude age, Jaels deed must have brought upon her the reprobation of her people. For the one sin, which is above all sins, in the eye of the children of the desert, is a breach of the laws of hospitality. Once a man has eaten salt in an Arab tent, his life is safe. (Compare Saladins remark in The Talisman: Had he murdered my father, and afterwards partaken of my food and my bowl, not a hair of his head could have been injured by me.)

(2) Jael appears friendly to Sisera, she is in reality loyal to Israel, and because Sisera is Israels enemy, he is her enemy as well. She being a woman, could not, of course, meet him in open fighting, but when he is fast asleep she kills him; and when Barak comes along on the trail of Sisera, Jael calls him in and shows him the body. Although one can hardly understand how a woman could nerve herself to such a deed, her loyalty to Gods people, and the fulfilment of Deborahs prophecy that Sisera should be slain by a woman, must not be overlooked.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Jdg 5:24. Blessed, &c. This is a beautiful and striking transition, whereby the prophetess passes from the curse pronounced by the command of the angel on the Merozites to the blessing of Jael, on whom she passes the finest encomium, because, though only a sojourner in Israel, she had done them most signal service in taking off Sisera, their most inveterate enemy. Blessed above women Celebrated and endowed with all sorts of blessings more than they. In the tent In her tent and habitation; in her house and family, and all her affairs. The Kenites lived not in houses, but in tents. But the tent is here mentioned as an allusion to the place where the fact was done.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jdg 5:24-26. The Blessing of Jael.Jaels deed is unhesitatingly and emphatically approved. While the oppressor of Israel stood in her tent, drinking the milk she gave him, she suddenly felled him to the earth with her tent-hammer. In Jdg 5:26 read, She put her hand to the mallet, Her right hand to the hammer, And she hammered Sisera. It is often supposed that, seizing a wooden tent-peg in her left hand and a hammer in her right, she drove the peg through his temples into his brainsurely a difficult thing to do to a standing warrior. But according to the laws of Heb. parallelism, the second line of Jdg 5:26 is merely a variation of the first, so that she had only one weapon, called now a mallet and now a hammer, with which she dealt the death-blow. And when a woman of leonine courage, burning with a sense of intolerable wrongs, becomes the minister of a countrys vengeance and of Yahwehs justice, we hold our breath and are silent. Who will blame her? If her victim had fallen in battle, or been led a captive to his doom, everyone would have given thanks. And if the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon Gideon and upon Jephthah when they went to overthrow the enemies of Israel, who will say that the same spirit did not impel the wife of Heber to take the life of Sisera, and inspire the prophetess Deborah to call her blessed among women?

Jdg 5:25. For butter read sour milk, which is still the most refreshing drink among the Bedouin.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible