Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 5:13
Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.
13. Then came down a remnant ] The Massoretic scribes intended the verb to mean ‘then may the remnant (i.e. of Israel) rule over the noble ones,’ a prayer; but the noble ones like the mighty are most naturally Israelites, and after then the LXX and other Verss. give a perfect. With a slight change of pronunciation the RV. renders ‘Then came down a remnant of the nobles and the people,’ inserting and without any right. The word for remnant means, not ‘a mere handful,’ but survivors from a battle, a sense unsuitable here; we may perhaps correct the form to Israel (Budde, Moore), and thus obtain a good parallelism to the people of the Lord, as the words are to be read (LXX. B). The whole verse may be restored:
Then came down Israel like noble ones,
The people of the Lord came down for Him as heroes.
For Him (LXX) is preferable to for me in the text.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This verse is otherwise rendered: then a remnant of the nobles came down; the people of the Lord came down for me against the mighty. The following verses mention in detail who this remnant were.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. Make him that remaineth] This appears to be spoken of Barak, who is represented as being only a remnant of the people.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thus God did not only preserve the poor and despised remnant of his people from the fury of the oppressor before this war, and from the destruction which Sisera designed and promised himself to bring upon them by this war; but also gave them the victory, and thereby the dominion over the princes and nobles of Canaan, who were combined against them.
Me, though but a weak woman.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then he made him that remaineth,…. The people of Israel that remained, who had been under the yoke of Jabin king of Canaan, under which many of the Israelites very probably died; but now the few mean and miserable that remained were raised to an high estate, and made to
have dominion over the nobles among the people; that is, over the Canaanitish nobility, that were among the people under Jabin; but he being conquered by the Israelites, his people and even his nobles became subject to them; and this was the Lord’s doing, as the following words show:
the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty; that is, Deborah, to whom God gave dominion either over the mighty ones of Israel, being raised up to be their judge; or over the mighty Canaanites, she having a concern in the conquest of them and triumph over them, through her direction, advice, command, and presence, though a woman.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13 Then came down a remnant of nobles of the nation;
Jehovah came down to me among the heroes.
14 Of Ephraim, whose root in Amalek;
Behind thee Benjamin among thy peoples.
From Machir came down leaders,
And from Zebulun marchers with the staff of the conductor.
15 a And princes in Issachar with Deborah,
And Issachar as well as Barak,
Driven into the valley through his feet.
Looking back to the commencement of the battle, the poetess describes the streaming of the brave men of the nation down from the mountains, to fight the enemy with Barak and Deborah in the valley of Jezreel; though the whole nation did not raise as one man against its oppressors, but only a remnant of the noble and brave in the nation, with whom Jehovah went into the battle. In Jdg 5:13 the Masoretic pointing of is connected with the rabbinical idea of the word as the fut. apoc. of : “ then (now) will the remnant rule over the glorious,” i.e., the remnant left in Israel over the stately foe; “Jehovah rules for me (or through me) over the heroes in Sisera’s army,” which Luther has also adopted. But, as Schnurr. has maintained, this view is decidedly erroneous, inasmuch as it is altogether irreconcilable with the description which follows of the marching of the tribes of Israel into the battle. is to be understood in the same sense as in Jdg 5:14, and to be pointed as a perfect .
(Note: The Cod. Al. of the lxx contains the correct rendering, . In the Targum also is correctly translated , descendit, although the germs of the rabbinical interpretation are contained in the paraphrase of the whole verse: tunc descendit unus ex exercitu Israel et fregit fortitudinem fortium gentium. Ecce non ex fortitudine manus eorum fuit hoc; sed Dominus fregit ante populum suum fortitudinem virorum osorum eorum .)
“ There came down,” sc., from the mountains of the land into the plain of Jezreel, a remnant of nobles. is used instead of a closer subordination through the construct state, to bring out the idea of into greater prominence (see Ewald, 292). is in apposition to , and not to be connected with the following word , as it is by some, in opposition to the accents. The thought is rather this: with the nobles or among the brave Jehovah himself went against the foe. is a dat. commodi, equivalent to “for my joy.”
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(13) Then he made him that remaineth have dominion.The translation, reading, and punctuation of this verse is uncertain. The MSS. of the LXX. vary, and the Vulgate merely gives a paraphrase. The Alexandrine MS. of the LXX. may be correct: Then descended a remnant against the mighty. Ewald renders it, Then descended a remnant of the nobles of the people. They were only a remnant, because at least six of the tribesJudah, Simeon, Dan, Asher, Reuben, Gadheld aloof.
The Lord made me have dominion over the mighty.Rather, Jehovah descended to me among the heroes. The LXX. (Cod. B) and others connect people with this clause: The people of Jehovah descended, &c., and perhaps correctly.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Then came down We feel constrained to discard the Masoretic punctuation in this word , and translate it as if written . To render it in the imperative, or with Robinson and others to supply I said, is awkward and unnecessary. The poetess refers to the coming down from their mountain homes of the valiant heroes who rendered such noble services in this war. The words nobles, mighty ones, rulers, commanders, and princes, in this and the two following verses, are to be understood as titles of honour attributed to those valiant soldiers in view of their noble work.
Jehovah came down to me To me, Deborah. This coming of Jehovah to the prophetess is explained by Jdg 4:6-7. Jehovah came to Deborah with a revelation of the triumph over Jabin’s army which was about to exalt Israel from the dust.
Among the mighty ones Not against the mighty, for then we should have , but , in, or among. As the heroes of the land rallied around her, Jehovah himself came, as it were, among them, and also accompanied her as an ally to the war.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
There is a great beauty in this verse. It is more than probable that from the long oppression the enemies of Israel had exercised over them, God’s people had been reduced in number. Yet, saith Deborah, the remnant were made victorious in this day over the mighty. Yea, such was the Lord’s display of the sovereignty of his grace, that he made me, a poor woman a mother in Israel, to triumph over the powerful. Reader! do not forget to recollect that the promise is, Satan shall be bruised under our feet shortly. Rom 16:20 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jdg 5:13 Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.
Ver. 13. Then he made him that remaineth, ] i.e., Once he made the relics of the Canaanites to rule over the nobles of Israel; but now the Lord hath made me or my people to have dominion over those mighties. Or rather thus, Then he made the residue of Israel to prevail over their oppressors. The Lord made me, a weak woman, to get the better of those nobles and high officials.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Some codices and Septuagint divide the two lines thus:
Then came down a remnant of the nobles, And the People of Jehovah [came down] with me against the mighty ones.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he made: Psa 49:14, Isa 41:15, Isa 41:16, Eze 17:24, Dan 7:18-27, Rom 8:37, Rev 2:26, Rev 2:27, Rev 3:9
the Lord: Psa 75:7
Reciprocal: Exo 24:11 – nobles
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 5:13. Then he made him that remaineth have dominion, &c. This verse is very obscure, nor is it easy to fix the sense of the original, the principal verb in the sentence, , jerad, which occurs in both clauses of it, meaning both to have, or to cause to have dominion, and also to descend, or come down. According to our translation, which seems as accurate as any proposed, the sense is, that God had not only preserved a remnant of his people from the fury of the oppressor, and from the destruction which Sisera designed, but also now gave them the victory, and thereby the dominion over the nobles of Canaan, who had been combined against them. The Lord made me have dominion Though but a weak woman. But Dr. Kennicotts translation of the verse, which is countenanced by the Seventy, is,
Then, when the remainder descended after their chiefs,
Jehovahs people descended after me against the mighty:
which interpretation agrees in substance with that of the ingenious Mr. Green and some others.