Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 5:31
So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but [let] them that love him [be] as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
31. Conclusion.
So let all thine enemies perish ] With the same completeness, with the same overthrow of proud confidence. The language recalls Psa 68:2-3; Psa 92:9. It is taken for granted that Israel’s enemies are Jehovah’s also. Jehovah’s friends are compared to the rising of the sun, an impressive figure which fitly closes the Ode. It is remarkable to find such an expression as them that love him at this early date. This idea is strongly characteristic of Deut., and of Dtc. passages in the Hexateuch, e.g. Exo 20:6 = Deu 5:10; cf. the late Psa 31:23; Psa 97:10; Psa 145:20.
And the land had rest ] A chronological note added by the Rd; see on Jdg 3:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A most striking conclusion, in which the spiritual truth, which the whole narrative is intended to convey, comes out. The enemies of the Lord will perish like the host of Sisera, and all their hopes will end, like those of Siseras mother, in bitter disappointment and shame; but all that love our Lord Jesus Christ shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Compare Mat 13:43; Dan 12:3.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jdg 5:31
So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord.
The imprecations of the Old Testament
I have chosen this verse rather than any detailed utterances from the imprecations that are found in the imprecatory Psalms, because I believe it contains the key that will enable us to solve the inner meaning and the spiritual relations of these imprecations. It is always, I think, a wise thing to get a principle, if possible, where it is clearly stated, rather than where it is hidden by a mass of obscure material. Once we get the principle–the key of the question–we can then use it to bring order into what may appear at first sight to be disorder. I examine the modern theory that asserts that these imprecatory passages were inspired by unholy personal vindictiveness. The recoil from rigid theories of inspiration has caused some to run riot. They make swift work of anything that offends their taste or that they cannot immediately comprehend–they cut it out with the ready pen-knife. This seems an easy way of getting over difficulties. Yet, theory or no theory, there is a living unity and congruity in the Scriptures which demands recognition, and will revenge itself upon indiscriminate mutilation. But, someone may ask, is it not reasonable to suppose that even some of the Old Testament saints, under a fit of provocation, may have indulged in fierce imprecations, in such curses as these. I hesitate even to answer that in the affirmative. But that is not all you have to suppose. You have not only to suppose that one of these saints could lose his self-control and his spiritual sense so far as to indulge in terrible curses, inspired by personal malignity, but you have also to suppose that he deliberately threw that vindictive outburst into a high form of literary composition, bestowing upon it great literary care and skill; that he put it into the form of a sacred psalm, and deliberately designed that that furious outburst of evil and vindictive passion should be preserved and perpetuated. You have yet further to suppose that that man, inspired by the Satanic passion within him, having composed his psalm, was able to induce the elect nation, the people whose religious and spiritual intuitions were so marvellous, whom God was training in such a special manner, you have to suppose that that people adopted into their sacred book some of the most Satanic utterances ever given expression to by a member of their own or any other race. I would have you also note this. The most terrible imprecations occur in the Book of Psalms, and the Book of Psalms reaches the high water mark of spiritual thought and conception among the Jews. Such a supposition reduces the spiritual history of Israel to complete chaotic confusion. There is another consideration that is worthy of notice. These imprecatory Psalms, especially the 69th, are quoted in the New Testament more frequently perhaps than any other passage in the Old Testament Scriptures, quoted as forming a true and legitimate part of the sacred Scriptures of the Jews, quoted, mark you, not by fossilised and prejudiced Jews, but by the apostles of Jesus Christ.
II. place these utterances in their true setting in the writings of the Old Scriptures. You will now understand why I have chosen these words as my text. So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord. Thine enemies. This is the key that unlocks the whole matter. The ancient inspired writers never asked for the descent of judgment on their own personal account simply, but always as a vindication and assertion of eternal righteousness. There are two things we must remember, however, in considering these prayers for the extermination of the ungodly. The first is that these prayers refer primarily, almost, if not altogether, exclusively to the government of God upon this earth. When the psalmist prays that the wicked may be blotted out of the book of life, he is not speaking in the language of the New Testament, but in that of the Old, and from the standpoint of the earth. He is not praying for spiritual and eternal condemnation; he is praying that the race of the ungodly may be exterminated from this world. We must remember, further, that it is the wicked, as such, upon whom these judgments are denounced. The imprecation has force only in so far as the wicked continues in his wickedness.
III. Compare these utterances with the New Testament standpoint. It is easy to see, first, that the New Testament has a clearer view of the eternal scope of Gods government. It does not trouble us as it did the Jew when we see the ungodly flourish here, because we know that this life is but a short time in the annals of human life. We know that this earths history is only a speck in the history of the human race. Then there is another advance. We have larger conceptions of the love and forbearance of God. The ancient Jew could not understand the possibility of salvation for all. The world was divided into two parts for him–the righteous and the wicked; and they stood on each side of the moral line, and there was scarcely any crossing over. And especially did the Jewish nation in its entirety stand out in opposition to the other nations of the earth. The Jew had very little hope of Gods loving them, and bringing them into the joy of His grace. The ancient Jew desired righteousness to be vindicated by the victory of the righteous over the wicked; we rather desire that righteousness may be glorified by the victories of love, and that all men may be brought out of the sphere of destruction into the life and glory of God. But do not forget that that old principle of judgment was true. It is still in force, although it is now subordinate to the principle of life and hope; but we must not lose sight of it. Do not spurn these old solemn, terrible denunciations because Christ has set them in a blaze of love. (John Thomas, M. A.)
Jewish zeal, a pattern to Christians
What a contrast do these words present to the history which goes before them! Here is the picture of indolence and unfaithfulness leading to cowardice, to apostasy, and to national ruin. On the other hand consider, by way of contrast, the narrative contained in the chapter which ends with the text. Here is a picture of manly obedience to Gods will–a short trial of trouble and suffering–and then the reward, peace. What the Old Testament especially teaches us is this: that zeal is as essentially a duty of all Gods rational creatures as prayer and praise, faith and submission; and, surely, if so, especially of sinners whom He hath redeemed; that zeal consists in a strict attention to His commands–a scrupulousness, vigilance, heartiness, and punctuality which bears with no reasoning or questioning about them–an intense thirst for the advancement of His glory; a shrinking from the pollution of sin and sinners; an indignation, nay, impatience, at witnessing His honour insulted; a quickness of feeling when His name is mentioned, and a jealousy how it is mentioned; a fulness of purpose, an heroic determination to yield Him service at whatever sacrifice of personal feeling; an energetic resolve to push through all difficulties, were they as mountains, when His eye or hand but gives the sign: a carelessness of obloquy, or reproach, or persecution, a forgetfulness of friend and relative, nay, a hatred (so to say) of all that is naturally dear to us, when He says, Follow Me. These are some of the characteristics of zeal. Now, it has sometimes been said that the commands of strenuous and stern service given to the Israelites, for instance, those relative to their taking and keeping possession of the promised land, do not apply to us Christians. There can be no doubt it is not our duty to take the sword and kill the enemies of God as the Jews were told to do. But it does not hence follow that the temper of mind which they presuppose and foster is not required of us; else, surely, the Jewish history is no longer profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Mans duty, perfection, happiness, have always been one and the same. What was the holiness of an Israelite is still the holiness of a Christian, though the Christian has far higher privileges and aids for perfection. It is impossible, then, that all these duties imposed on the Israelites of driving out their enemies, and taking and keeping possession of the promised land, should not in some sense or other apply to us; for it is clear they were not in their case mere accidents of obedience, but went to form a certain inward character, and as clear is it that our heart must be as the heart of Moses or David if we should be saved through Christ. This is quite evident if we attentively examine the Jewish history and the Divine commands which are the principles of it. For these commands, which some persons have said do not apply to us, are so many and varied, and repeated at so many and divers times, that they certainly must have formed a peculiar character in the heart of the obedient Israelite, and were much more than an outward form and a sort of ceremonial service. Let us consider some of the commands I have referred to, and the terms in which they are conveyed. For instance, that for the extirpation of the devoted nations from the land of Canaan (Deu 7:1-5; Deu 7:16). Next observe this merciless temper, as profane people would call it, but as well-instructed Christians say, this godly zeal, was enjoined upon them under far more distressing circumstances, viz., the transgressions of their own relations and friends (Deu 13:6-9). Now, doubtless, we at this day are not to put men to death for idolatry; but, doubtless also, whatever temper of mind the fulfilment of this command implied in the Jew, such, essentially, must be our temper of mind, whatever else it may be also; for God cannot speak two laws, He cannot love two characters–good is good, and evil is evil (Psa 19:7-8; Psa 19:10-11). A self-mastering, fearless obedience was another part of this same religious temper enjoined on the Jews, and still incumbent, as I dare affirm, on us Christians (Jos 23:6). It required an exceeding moral courage in the Jews to enable them to go straight forward, seduced neither by their feelings nor their reason. Nor was the severe temper under review a duty in the early ages of Judaism only. The Book of Psalms was written at different times, between Davids age and the captivity, yet it plainly breathes the same hatred of Sin and opposition to sinners (Psa 139:21-24). Further still, after the return from the captivity, after the prophets had enlarged the compass of Divine revelation, and purified and heightened the religious knowledge of the nation, still this rigid and austere zeal was enjoined and enforced in all its ancient vigour by Ezra. The Jews set about a reformation; and what was its most remarkable act? Let us attend to the words of Ezra (Ezr 9:3-4). Now, I do not say that every one ought to have done what Ezra did, for he was supernaturally directed; but would the course he adopted have ever entered into the mind of men of this day, or can they even understand or acquiesce in it, now that they know it? for what did he? He offered a confession and intercession in behalf of the people; then at length he and the people came to a decision, which was no other than this–to command all persons who had married foreign wives to put them away. He undid the evil as well as hindered it in future. What an act of self-denying zeal was this in a multitude of people! These are some out of many instances which might be brought from the Jewish history in proof of the duty of strict and severe loyalty to God and His revealed will. There was an occasion when our Lord is expressly said to have taken upon Him the zeal which consumed David (Mat 21:12-13). Surely, unless we had this account given us by an inspired writer, we should not have believed it! To put aside form, to dispense with the ministry of His attendant angels, to act before He had spoken His displeasure, to use His own hand, to hurry to and fro, to be a servant in the work of purification, surely this must have arisen from a fire of indignation at witnessing His Fathers house insulted which we sinners cannot understand. But anyhow it is but the perfection of that temper which, as we have seen, was encouraged and exemplified in the Jewish Church. Such is the pattern afforded us by our Lord; to which add the example of the angels which surround Him. Surely in Him is mingled goodness and severity ; such, therefore, are all holy creatures, loving and severe. We read of their thoughts and desires in the Apocalypse (Rev 14:7; Rev 16:5-7; Rev 18:5-6), all which passages imply a deep and solemn acquiescence in Gods judgments. Thus a certain fire of zeal, showing itself, not by force and blood, but as really and certainly as if it did–cutting through natural feelings, neglecting self, preferring Gods glory to all things, firmly resisting sin, protesting against sinners, and steadily contemplating their punishment–is a duty belonging to all creatures of God, a duty of Christians, in the midst of all that excellent overflowing charity which is the highest gospel grace and the fulfilling of the second table of the law. And such, in fact, has ever been the temper of the Christian Church, in evidence of which I need but appeal to the impressive fact that the Jewish Psalter has been the standard book of Christian devotion from the first down to this day. Now I shall make a few observations in conclusion, with a view of showing how meekness and charity are compatible with this austere and valiant temper of the Christian soldier.
1. Of course it is absolutely sinful to have any private enmities. Not the bitterest personal assaults upon us should induce us to retaliate. We must do good for evil, love those who hate, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who despitefully use us. It is only when it is impossible at once to be kind to them and give glory to God that we may cease to act kindly towards them. We hate sinners by putting them out of our sight, as if they were not, by annihilating them, in our affections. And this we must do, even in the case of our friends and relations, if God requires it. But in no case are we to allow ourselves in resentment or malice.
2. Next, it is quite compatible with the most earnest zeal to offer kind offices to Gods enemies when in distress. I do not say that a denial of these offices may not be a duty ordinarily, for it is our duty, as St. John tells us in his second Epistle, not even to receive them into our houses. But the case is very different where men are brought into extremity.
3. And, further, the Christian keeps aloof from sinners in order to do them good. A true friend is he who speaks out, and, when a man sins, shows him that he is displeased at the sin. (J. H. Newman, D. D.)
The enemies and friends of Jehovah
I. The true character and certain doom of the ungodly.
1. The term enemies will apply to all the unrenewed portions of mankind. The heart is positively hostile, etc.. Carnal mind is enmity against God, etc.
(1) There are the daring enemies of God, who sceptically treat His revelation, yea, deny His being. They attack His rule; despise His word; rail at His servants; try to subvert His cause.
(2) There are the profane and reckless enemies of God, who defy, contemn the Most High–Pharaoh, Belshazzar, Herod.
(3) There are those who are wickedly neutral, and who temporise in religion.
2. Now as to the doom of the enemies of God they will all perish except they repent; all have one condemnation, sentence, woeful abode. It will include–
(1) Utter shame and confusion;
(2) total wretchedness and misery;
(3) eternal ruin and despair.
II. The illustrious representation given of the friends of Jesus: Them that love Him. In the enemy we look for hate; in the friend, love. Now love to Jesus is–
1. A Divine principle of God and from God. The result of regeneration.
2. A pre-eminent principle. Above all, it has the centre, it reigns, it subordinates.
3. It is manifest. Lives, breathes, speaks, acts. Moves all the springs of the heart. Affects all the machinery of life. Loosens the tongue, employs the hands and feet. Mark the representation–Let them that love Him be as the sun, etc. Now, the metaphor will apply–
(1) To the exalted station which they occupy. Sin debases, sinks, etc. Religion exalts.
(2) To the spiritual rays they diffuse abroad. Ye were once darkness, etc. Now lights, etc. Arise, shine, etc.
(3) As fertilising and beautifying all around. Now, believers shed moral beauty all around. Holy virtues, heavenly graces, Christ-like feelings, all tend to expel the winter of moral evil and misery, like the sun.
(4) Irresistibly advancing in their glorious career.
(5) Like the sun setting in celestial radiance and moral splendour. However bright the career, it must cease on earth. See the aged Christian declining, etc.; at last it sets–but watch the scene. No stormy sky, no threatening tempest, no cloud; all still and tranquil and clear; the whole horizon mellowed with the golden glory.
(6) As the sun rising in another hemisphere and shining in fairer worlds. Is that setting sun annihilated? He rises in another land as he sets in this. So with those who once shone here, etc. They are lost to us but they still live, and are more radiant, shine brighter, etc.
Application:
1. Let the subject be the test of character. Are we enemies? etc.
2. Learn the supreme excellence of true religion. Godliness leads to honour, usefulness, blessedness, and glory.
3. Let the enemies of God consider. Kiss the Son lest He be angry, etc.
4. Let the professed friends of Jesus exemplify their principles. (J. Burns, D. D.)
The rival armies
I. the enemies of the Lord.
1. Their character.
(1) The idolater. The giving up the throne of our being to any king but God.
(2) The forgetful.
(3) The indifferent. As God adds to His mercies we subtract from our thanks.
(4) The undecided. An insult to God, for He has granted evidence sufficient.
(5) The reckless. Those who defile, despise, and disgrace the unutterable goodness of the Lord.
2. Their doom. They perish,
(1) As without God, and so cut off from the only source of true life.
(2) As without God and so without hope.
(3) As fighting against God and so doomed to certain defeat.
II. The friends of the Lord. As the sun when he goeth forth in his might. The figure refers not to the period from sunrise to sun set but from sunrise to the meridian of his splendour. It is a striking metaphor as setting forth the glorious ongoing and enlivening influence of the Christian character.
1. Very quiet.
2. Gladdening.
3. Regular and sure.
4. Increasing in brightness. (H. G. Parrish, B. A.)
Rejoicing at the death of an oppressor
Hearing a whole choir of birds chirping merrily together, my curiosity was excited to inquire into the occasion of their convocation and merriment, when I quickly perceived a dead hawk in the bush, about which they made such a noise, seeming to triumph at the death of an enemy. I could not blame them for singing the knell of one who, like a cannibal, was wont to feed upon their living bodies, tearing them limb from limb, and scaring them with his frightful appearance. Over this bird, which was so formidable when alive, the most timid wren or titmouse did not now fear to chirp or hop. This occurrence brought to my mind the case of tyrants and oppressors. When living, they are the terror of mankind; but when dead, they are the objects of general contempt and scorn. When the wicked perish, there is shouting (Pro 11:10). The death of Nero was celebrated by the Romans with bonfires and plays; birds ate the naked flesh of Pompey; Alexander lay unburied thirty days; but a useful and holy life is generally closed by an honourable and lamented death.
The victorious course of the Divine kingdom
The song closes with an apostrophe or prediction of a similar and sure disappointment and fatal issue for every evil cause; while brighter and brighter must wax the course of Gods kingdom on the earth, like the sun shining forth in its strength towards the effulgence of perfect day. It is at once a principle, a prediction, and a prayer.
1. A principle: for there is a Divine cause and interest of God in the world, often obscured by human passion, often clouded with sad disaster, like the sun wading through mist and storm, but destined ever to re-assert itself and establish its bright ascendancy.
2. A prediction. Every inimical interest must and shall give way and succumb to His undying kingdom, with the seed Divine of immortal youth within its bosom–
And the power of each foe, as if smote with the sword,
Shall melt like the snow in the glance of the Lord.
3. A prayer. So is it, so it shall be: and so says the singer, let it be. (A. H. Drysdale, M. A.)
Let them that love Him be as the sun.
Christians like the sun
I. The character of Gods people: They love Him.
1. This love has been implanted in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. Formerly they hated Him and His service.
2. Their love is sincere. It must be so if the Spirit has created it in the heart (Eph 6:24). The love of many, however, is merely professional.
3. This love is supreme: Whom have I in heaven but Thee? etc.
4. This love is practical. It dwells in the heart and shows itself in the life.
5. It is self-denying.
II. The similitude by which the character of Gods people is illustrated.
1. The sun receives its light from the creative energy of God (Psa 136:8). So Christians have derived their light from God Himself (2Co 4:6).
2. Christians resemble the sun in beauty: Truly light is sweet, And a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. So Christians are beautiful in their individual spiritual character–in their associated character.
3. The sun is a visible object; it excites attention and inspires admiration. The course of Christians is not hidden; they are lights of the world, cities set on a hill, living epistles (Mat 5:16).
4. The Christian resembles the sun in usefulness. What a dark world this would be if the natural sun were to cease its shining? What would the world be without Christianity?
(1) As the rising sun dispels clouds and darkness, so the believer rises above the changes and calamities of life–he dispels the mists and darkness of prejudice; proves that religion does not tend to licentiousness, that it is not a system of melancholy.
(2) Like the sun, the Christian spreads the most salutary and delightful effects around. The sun is the great spirit of the world, in the light of which all things are made to rejoice. So the life of the Christian and the benevolent efforts of the Church, in conjunction with Divine power, are calculated to make the desert blossom as the rose, etc. (Isa 35:1-2).
(3) The influence of the sun is very extensive, reaching to every creature. The charity of Christians would save the whole world.
5. The light of the sun is irresistible. Who can say to it, Hitherto shalt thou come? etc. No one can stop the work of the Church, for it is Gods work (Isa 55:11). O Christians, like the sun, shine more and more unto the perfect day. They grow in grace, in knowledge, purity, peace, joy, till their course terminates in the meridian noontide splendour of heaven. (Helps for the Pulpit.)
Love makes suns
If we think of the singer, of the age, and the occasion of the song, such purely spiritual, lofty words must seem very remarkable.
I. Note, first, how here we have a penetrating insight into the essence of religion. This woman had been nourished upon a more or less perfect edition of what we know as the Mosaic law. Her faith had been fed by forms. She moved amidst a world full of the cruelties and dark conceptions of a mysterious Divine power which torture heathenism apart from Christianity. She had forced her way through all that, and laid hold of the vital centre. And there, away out amidst cruelty and murder, amidst the unutterable abominations and terrors of heathenism, in the centre of a rigid system of ceremonial and retaliation, the womans heart spoke out and taught her what was the great commandment. Deborah had got as far, in a moment of exaltation and insight, as the teaching of the apostle John, although her thought was strangely blended with the fierceness of the times in which she lived. Her approval of Jaels deed by no means warrants our approving it, but we may thankfully see that though she felt the fierce throbbing of desire for vengeance, she also felt this–Them that love Him; that is the Alpha and Omega of all. Our love must depend on our knowledge. Deborahs knowledge was a mere skeleton outline as compared with ours. Contrast the fervour of emotional affection that manifestly throbbed in her heart with the poor, cold pulsations which we dignify by the name of love, and the contrast may put us to shame.
II. Further, note the grand conception of the character which such a love produces: Let them be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. Think of the fierce eastern sun, with sunbeams like swords, that springs up from the east and rushes to the zenith, and nothing is hid from the heat thereof–a sun the like of which we, in our cloudy skies, know little about, but which, to the Oriental, is the very emblem of splendour and of continuous victorious power. There are two things here–radiance and energy, light and might. As the sun when he goeth forth in his strength. Deborah was a prophetess, and people say, What did she prophesy? Well, she prophesied the heart of religion in reference to its essence, and, as one sees by this phrase, in reference to its effects. What is her word but a partial anticipation of Christs saying, Ye are the light of the world; and of His disciples utterance, Ye were sometimes darkness, and now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of the light? Is Deborahs aspiration fulfilled about me? Let each of us ask that. As the sun when he goeth forth in his strength–would anybody say that about my Christian character? Why not? Only because the springs have run low within is the stream low through the meadows. Only because the love is cold is the light feeble. There is another thing here. There is power in sunlight as well as radiance. On that the prophetess especially lays a finger. As the sun when he goeth forth in his strength. She did not know what we know, that solar energy is the source of all energy on this earth, and that, just as in the deepest analysis there is no power but of God, so in the material region we may say that the only force is the force of the sun, which not only stimulates vegetation and brings light and warmth–as the pre-scientific prophetess knew–but in a hundred other ways, unknown to her and known to modern science, is the author of all change, the parent of all life, and the reservoir of all energy. And so we come to this thought: the true love of God is no weak, sentimental thing, such as narrow and sectional piety has often represented it to be, but it is a power which will invigorate the whole of a man and make him strong and manly as well as gentle and gracious; being, indeed, the parent of all the so-called heroic and of all the so-called saintly virtues. If you love God you will surely be a strong man as well as an emotional and affectionate Christian. That energy is to be continuous and progressive. The sun that Deborah saw day by day spring from his station in the east and climb to his height in the heavens and ray down his beams, has been doing that for millions of years, and it will probably keep doing it for uncounted periods still. And so the Christian man, with continuity unbroken and progressive brilliance and power, should shine more and more till the unsetting noontide of the day.
III. Here is a prophecy of which the utterer was unaware. There is a contrast drawn in the words of our text and in those immediately preceding. So, says Deborah, after the fierce description of the slaughter–so let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord! but let them that love Thee be as the sun when he shineth in his strength. She contrasts the transiency of the lives that pit themselves against God with the perpetuity that belongs to those which are in harmony with Him, because the livers are lovers of Him. The truth goes further than she probably knew; certainly further than she was thinking when she chanted these words. Let us widen them by other words which use the same metaphor and say, They that be wise–that is a shallower word than them that love Thee–they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. Let us widen and deepen them by sacreder words still, for Jesus Christ laid hold of this old metaphor and said, describing the time when all the enemies shall have perished and the weeds have been flung out of the vine-yard, Then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in the kingdom of My Father. A brilliancy that will fill heaven with new galaxies, bright beyond all that we see here, amidst the thick atmosphere and mists and clouds of the present life! (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Interposing power
I. The object: Them that love Him.
II. The request: Let them be as the sun. I think the chief doctrine here intended is that of infallibility. First, the sun is a faithful witness in heaven. The sun has never failed yet, and never can fail. When He goeth forth in His might. The Scriptures are clear that the people are all predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ; that what He is they are to be. Did not Jesus Christ go forth in His might in His humiliation; and doth He not also go forth in His might in His exaltation?
III. The repose here mentioned: The land had rest forty years. How is it that they had rest forty years? Well, they had rest, liberty, and quiet, enjoying all the privileges of the promised land during these forty years, by one of the most simple things. It was by simply rejecting all false gods, and abiding by the God of Israel, and just bringing up a little of past history, and learning that this God, who had delivered them from Egypt, this God, who had sustained them through the wilderness, this God that brought them into the promised land and planted them there, He, and He alone, was God; and the consequence was that their liberty remained, their harvests were good, their vintage was good, their flocks and their herds increased, and they were every way happy. Just so now; if we would have spiritual rest, spiritual settlement, and real prosperity, it must be by simply abiding by that truth that represents the great God to us as a Saviour, that represents Him in a covenant ordered in all things and sure–simply abiding by that. Now how was it they had rest no longer than forty years? I can hardly tell; but you do not get through the next chapter before you stumble upon an altar, and say, What altar is this? This is not the Lords; no, it is Baals. And here is a beautiful grove and gardens–everything made pleasant to the flesh, a great display. Well, how in the world Baal got in again I do not know, but I should not wonder if it was either by trade affairs, or else by matrimonial affairs, or else by both. (James Wells.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
So, i.e. so suddenly, so surely, so effectually and irrecoverably.
When he goeth forth in his might; when he first riseth, and so goeth on in his course, which he doth with great might, even as a strong man that runneth a race, Psa 19:5, and so as no creature can stop or hinder him; even so irresistible let the people be.
Forty years; how to be computed, See Poole “Jdg 3:11“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord!…. As Sisera and his army did, and be disappointed as his mother and her ladies were; which is not only a wish or prayer that it might be, but a prophecy that so it would be:
but let them that love him; that love the Lord superlatively and sincerely, with all their heart and soul, and from love serve and fear him:
[be] as the sun when he goeth forth in his might; in the middle of the day, when its heat and light are the greatest, and in the summer solstice, in the month of June, when the sun is in Cancer, as Ben Gersom and Abarbinel observe, and it is hottest: the sense is, let the true friends of God be as bright and as glorious, and increase in light, lustre, and splendour, as that glorious luminary in midday, and be no more liable to be resisted and stopped by their enemies, and as much out of the reach of them as that is:
and the land had rest forty years; these are not the words of Deborah, whose song ends with the last clause, but of the writer of this book; which years, according to most, are to be reckoned from the death of Ehud, including the twenty years’ bondage under Jabin, as Ben Gersom and Abarbinel; so that strictly speaking the rest was but twenty years; one would think they should be reckoned from the victory obtained over Jabin king of Canaan.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
31 a So shall all Thine enemies perish, O Jehovah!
But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its strength.
This forms the conclusion of the song. , so, refers to the whole of the song: just in the same manner as Sisera and his warriors. The rising of the sun in its strength is a striking image of the exaltation of Israel to a more and more glorious unfolding of its destiny, which Deborah anticipated as the result of this victory. With the last clause, “ And the land had rest forty years ” (cf. Jdg 3:11, Jdg 3:30; Jdg 8:28), the account of this event is brought to a close.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(31) So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord.The abrupt burst in which the song rushes, as it were, to its conclusion, is very grand. The total frustration of the hopes of the princesses is all the more forcibly implied by the scorn with which it is left unexpressed. The one word so sums up the story in all its striking phases; and this passionate exclamation accounts, in part, for the intensity of feeling which runs through the whole poem, by showing that Deborah regards the battle as part of one great religious crusade. The completeness of the overthrow caused it to be long remembered as an example of Israels triumph over Gods enemies (Psa. 83:9-10; Psa. 83:12-15). When the Christian warriors of the first crusade were riding deep in the blood of the murdered Saracens, after the capture of Jerusalem, they were fully convinced that they were doing God service; and so filled were they with religious emotion, that at vesper-time they all suddenly fell upon their knees with streaming tears. The general dissemination of a feeling of pitypity even for our worst enemiesis a very modern feeling, and still far from universal.
But let them that love him.This is probably the right reading, though it was early altered into they that love thee.
As the sun when he goeth forth in his might.For the metaphor, comp. Psa. 19:4-5; Psa. 68:1-3; Dan. 12:3; Mat. 13:43.
And the land had rest.This is not a part of the song, but concludes the whole story (Jdg. 3:11; Jdg. 3:30; Jdg. 8:28). This is the last we hear of any attempt of the Canaanites to re-conquer the land which they had lost, although we see a small and spasmodic outbreak of this race in the story of Abimelech (Judges 9.).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
31. So shall perish Or, so let all thy enemies perish. “The prophetess does not stop to say that all the hopes of Sisera’s mother were dashed to the ground, but she implies this in another abrupt apostrophe, in which she invokes like destruction upon all the enemies of Jehovah. This abruptness makes a far more vivid impression than any language.” Robinson.
As the going forth of the sun A bold and striking figure, which forcibly and truly indicates the rising and growing power of the true Israel of God.
Rest forty years The result of this great victory over Jabin’s host, a victory that has no parallel in the history of the Judges. Joshua’s great battle at Merom seemed to have crushed the northern Canaanites; but from that fearful blow they rallied again, and regained, apparently, nearly all their ancient power. But by this defeat of Sisera’s host the kingdom of Hazor seems to have been utterly ruined, and we hear no more of Canaanitish dominion in northern Palestine. Hence the prophetess conceived this victory as a type of Jehovah’s ultimate triumph over all his foes.
How many of the sacred books have their divine songs! In Genesis (49) we have Israel’s dying blessing, a psalm prophetic of the destinies of his children; in Exodus (15) Moses celebrates the triumph at the Red Sea; in Numbers (23, 24) are the wondrous oracles of Balaam; and in Deuteronomy (32, 33) the last song of Moses. Here in Judges we have Deborah’s song; in 1 Samuel (2) Hannah’s magnificat; and in 2 Samuel (22, 23) David’s songs of triumph over all his foes. In the New Testament (Luke 1) we have the Magnificat of Mary and the song of Zacharias; “and all these songs,” says Wordsworth, “are preludes to the new song, the song of Moses and the Lamb, which the saints of the Church glorified, from all nations, will sing at the crystal sea, with the harps of God, (Rev 14:1-3; Rev 15:2-4,) when all the enemies of Christ and his Church will have been subdued, and their victory will have been consummated for ever.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Cry of Triumph ( Jdg 5:31 ).
Jdg 5:31
“So let all your enemies perish, Oh Yahweh.
But let those who love him be as the sun when he goes out in his might.”
Deborah finishes with a cry to Yahweh, that all His enemies will also be dealt with in the same way, that all might so perish. For only then can Israel be free. But for those who love Him she desires that they shine like the sun as it comes up in its strength, a picture of splendour and glory.
Jdg 5:31 b
‘And the land had rest forty years.’
A comment added at the end of the song. The result of the victory of Yahweh was a generation of peace. But a period also of waiting and testing for the next episode in the story.
It is significant in the song that there is no mention of Judah and Simeon. They were clearly either not called on or not expected to respond to the call. This may have been because it was recognised that they could not because they were facing their own problems, the keeping at bay of the Philistine threat. Shamgar may have been connected with Judah (Jos 15:59 – there was a Beth Anoth in the territory of Judah). This partial separation from the other tribes (although they assisted against Cushan-rishathaim (Jdg 3:9) and in the Gibeah incident (Jdg 20:18)) would come to fruition later on in the establishing of Israel and Judah as separate nations.
It is interesting to note the use of ‘Gilead’ to represent tribes across the Jordan, possibly a sign that territorial position was beginning partially to replace tribal designation, unless the reference is to the sub-tribe of Gilead (Num 26:29).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
DISCOURSE: 265
THE PRAYER OF DEBORAH
Jdg 5:31. So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.
OF the victories gained by Gods ancient people, many are so incredible, that we could never believe the histories that record them, if we did not know those histories to have been written by holy men, under the direction and inspiration of the Holy Ghost. The destruction of a mighty army by means of trumpets, and lamps in broken pitchers, seems altogether fabulous: yet was this effected by Gideon, in conformity with the direction given him, and in dependence upon God. The overthrow of Jabin the king of Canaan, by ten thousand men under the command of a woman, was scarcely less miraculous, especially if we consider to what a low state the whole kingdom of Israel was reduced, and how exceeding powerful was the army of their oppressors: yet was Sisera, the captain of Jabins army, routed by this little band, and not so much as a single individual of that mighty host survived the contest [Note: Jdg 4:16.]. The hymn of thanksgiving, wherein Deborah celebrated this wonderful event, is recorded in the chapter before us; and she closes it with a prayer,
I.
For the destruction of all Gods enemies
Imprecations, when personal and vindictive, are contrary to the mind of God: but when uttered as denunciations of Gods determined purpose, they are not unsuited to the most holy character. Even St. Paul said, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maran-atha [Note: 1Co 16:22.]. Thus, in imprecating destruction on Gods enemies, Deborah must be understood to express,
1.
Her approbation of it as just
[Who does not see, that those who rise in rebellion against their God, deserve punishment? There is not a creature suffering under the displeasure of the Most High, who must not say, True and righteous are thy judgments, Lord God Almighty [Note: Rev 15:3.].]
2.
Her desire of it as good
[The Law of God, which denounces a curse against every transgression, is declared to be holy and just and good [Note: Rom 7:12.]. In like manner, all considerate men are agreed in acknowledging it a blessing to live under laws wisely enacted and faithfully administered. What though the execution of the laws prove fatal to some? it is a benefit to the community, who are thereby enabled to live in peaceful security. So the execution of Gods laws proves doubtless terrible to those who are called to sustain his vengeance; yet to the whole universe is it the means of displaying the justice and holiness of the Deity, which, if sin were unpunished, would be altogether compromised and eclipsed.]
3.
Her expectation of it as certain
[In fact, her imprecation has the force of a prediction; a prediction which shall assuredly be accomplished in its season. Of Siseras army not one survived: and of those who die in their sins, there shall not one be found at the right hand of God in the day of judgment. Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.]
To this she adds a prayer,
II.
For the advancement of all his loving and obedient people
Well is the distinction drawn between the enemies and the friends of God. The latter are described as those who love him [Note: Eph 6:24.]. If, between men, we could admit a medium between love and hatred, we can by no means admit of it between God and his creatures. Indifference towards God would be constructive enmity. Those only who love him can be numbered amongst his friends. In behalf of these, therefore, she prays, that they may be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. Under this beautiful image she prays,
1.
That they may shine with ever-increasing splendour
[The sun in its early dawn casts but feeble light upon the world; but soon proceeds to irradiate the whole horizon, and to burst with splendour upon those who but a little before were immersed in darkness. Thus, the goings-forth of those who seek the Lord diffuse at first but an indistinct and doubtful gleam [Note: Hos 6:3.]: but, through the tender mercy of God, they advance; and their light shines brighter and brighter to the perfect day [Note: Pro 4:18.]. How desirable is this to be realized in us! Let us so walk, my Brethren, that our profiting may appear unto all.]
2.
That they may diffuse benefits whithersoever they come
[The sun is the fountain of light and life to the whole world. Look at the places where, for months together, the sun never bends its course: the whole face of nature wears the appearance of death: and nothing but the return of his kindlier influences restores her to life. Thus in countries where the friends of God are not found, the whole population are in a state of spiritual and moral death: but in their light is light seen [Note: Psa 36:9.], and from them is spread abroad a vital influence, to animate and fructify the sons of men. View the path of the Apostle Paul from Judea round about unto Illyricum: in all his way he was the instrument of turning men from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God [Note: Act 26:18.]. Such should we also be, my Brethren, according to the ability which God has given us, and the opportunities he affords us: we should shine as lights in a dark world, holding forth to all the word of life [Note: Php 2:15-16.], for the illumination and salvation of all around us.]
3.
That they may reflect honour upon God in the eyes of all who behold them
[Who ever contemplated the sun shining in his strength, and did not admire the wisdom and goodness and power of Him who created it? The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy-work; nor is there any speech or language where their voice is not heard [Note: Psa 19:1-3.]. Such should be the effect of the light diffused by the saints of God: it should constrain all to confess that we are Gods workmanship [Note: Eph 2:10.], and so to shine before men, that they may be compelled to glorify our Father which is in heaven [Note: Mat 5:16.].]
Address
[Inquire, Brethren, to which of these classes you belong: for, however they may be confounded now, there will be an awful difference between them ere long; the one awaking to everlasting shame and contempt [Note: Dan 12:2-3.], and the other shining forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father [Note: Mat 13:41-43.]. On the one shall the justice of God be magnified; but in the other shall his love and mercy be glorified, to all eternity [Note: 2Th 1:6-10.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
The song as beautifully ends in prayer as it had opened in praise: to the contents of which every lover of the Lord Jesus and his Church, cannot but say Amen. They who love God’s church, must hate the foes of that church, for there is no being neutral in this holy war. The appeal of every heart is like the Psalmist’s, Psa 139:21-22 . Forty years rest was a blessed consequence of this victory. But oh! what an everlasting rest hath the Lord Jesus, by his victory obtained over sin, death, hell, and the grave! And how is he himself become the rest of the soul. Isa 25:8 ; Mat 11:28-29 ; Heb 4:9 .
REFLECTIONS
BEHOLD! My soul with holy joy, how infinite the resources are in the faithfulness of Israel ‘ s God! What hath he not wrought! What is he not able to accomplish! And although Israel merited it not, yet nevertheless Jehovah wrought for his name ‘ s sake, and that he might make his power to be known.
And is there nothing in all this, to lead the heart both of the writer and the reader in the discovery of similar deliverances? If Deborah and Barak had their day of triumph in the Lord’s manifestations for Israel, cannot you and I look back, my brother, and count the day when we had cause to praise the Lord for the avenging of Israel? Oh! yes, trust we may both well count the day when the Lord Jesus made bare his holy arm, and rescued our souls from the arrows of the enemy, in the place of drawing water from the wells of salvation. Long did our foes oppose our way, and the highways of ordinances were unoccupied by us, until that Jesus arose and led captivity captive. Then, dearest Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, then did the mountains of sin in our nature melt before the Sun of Righteousness at his rising, and Sinai with all its terrors gave way at the presence of Jesus. Oh! give us grace, dearest Redeemer, to awake and utter a song, even a song of salvation, to the Lord Jehovah. May this be the everlasting rejoicing of our hearts: the Lord is our strength, and our song, and he is become our salvation.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jdg 5:31 So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but [let] them that love him [be] as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
Ver. 31. So let all thine enemies perish, &c. ] “Let them be as dung for the earth”; Psa 83:10 yes, do thou dung thy vineyard with their dead carcasses.
Be as the sun.
And the land had rest forty years.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Judges
LOVE MAKES SUNS
Jdg 5:31
These are the closing words of Deborah, the great warrior-prophetess of Israel. They are in singular contrast with the tone of fierce enthusiasm for battle which throbs through the rest of the chant, and with its stern approval of the deed of Jael when she slew Sisera. Here, in its last notes, we have an anticipation of the highest and best truths of the Gospel. ‘Let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in His might.’ If we think of the singer, of the age and the occasion of the song, such purely spiritual, lofty words must seem very remarkable.
I. Note, then, first of all, how here we have a penetrating insight into the essence of religion.
Our love must depend on our knowledge. Deborah’s knowledge was a mere skeleton outline as compared with ours. Contrast the fervour of emotional affection that manifestly throbbed in her heart with the poor, cold pulsations which we dignify by the name of love, and the contrast may put us to shame. There is a religion of fear which dominates hundreds of professing Christians in this land of ours. There is a religion of duty, in which there is no delight, which has many adherents amongst us. There is a religion of form, which contents itself with the externals of Christianity, and that is the religion of many men and women in all our churches. And I may further say, there is a religion of faith, in its narrower and imperfect sense, which lays hold of and believes a body of Christian truth, and has never passed through faith into love. Not he who ‘believes that God is,’ and comes to Him with formal service and an alienated or negligent heart; not he who recognises the duty of worship, and discharges it because his conscience pricks him, but has no buoyancy within bearing him upwards towards the object of his love; not he who cowers before the dark shadow which some call God; but he who, knowing, trusts, and who, knowing and trusting ‘the love which God hath to us,’ pulses back the throbs of a recipient heart, and loves Him in return-he, and he only, is a worshipper. Let us learn the lesson that Deborah learnt below the palm-trees of Lapidoth, and if we want to understand what a religious man is, recognise that he is a man who loves God.
II. Further, note the grand conception of the character which such a love produces.
‘As the sun when he goeth forth in his strength.’ Deborah was a ‘prophetess,’ and people say, ‘What did she prophesy?’ Well, she prophesied the heart of religion-as I have tried to show-in reference to its essence, and, as one sees by this phrase, in reference to its effects. What is her word but a partial anticipation of Christ’s saying, ‘Ye are the light of the world’; and of His disciple’s utterance, ‘Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light’?
It is too plain to need any talking about, that the direct tendency of what we venture to call love to God, meaning thereby the turning of the whole nature to Him, in aspiration, admiration, longing for likeness, and practical imitation, is to elevate, ennoble, and illuminate the whole character. It was said about one woman that ‘to love her was an education.’ That was exaggeration; but it is below the truth about God. The true way to refine and elevate and educate is to cultivate love to God. And when we get near to Him, and hold by Him, and are continually occupied with Him; when our being is one continual aspiration after union with Him, and we experience the glow and rapture included in the simple word ‘love,’ then it cannot but be that we shall be like Him.
That is what Paul meant when he said, ‘Now are ye light in the Lord.’ Union with Him illuminates. The true radiance of saintly character will come in the measure in which we are in fellowship with Jesus Christ. Deborah’s astronomy was not her strong point. The sun shines by its own light. We are planets, and are darkness in ourselves, and it is only the reflection of the central sun that ever makes us look silvery white and radiant before men. But though it be derived, it is none the less our light, if it has passed into us, as it surely will, and if it streams out from us, as it no less surely will, in the measure in which love to God dominates our whole lives.
If that is so, dear brethren, is not the shortest and the surest way to have our faces shining like that of Moses when he came down from the mountain, or like Stephen’s when he ‘saw the heavens opened,’ to keep near Jesus Christ? It is slow work to hammer bits of ore out of the rock with a chisel and a mallet. Throw the whole mass into the furnace, and the metal will come out separated from the dross. Get up the heat, and the light, which is the consequence of the heat, will take care of itself. ‘In the Lord’ ye shall be ‘light.’
Is Deborah’s aspiration fulfilled about me? Let each of us ask that. ‘As the sun when he goeth forth in his strength’-would anybody say that about my Christian character? Why not? Only because the springs have run low within is the stream low through the meadows. Only because the love is cold is the light feeble.
There is another thought here. There is power in sunlight as well as radiance. On that truth the prophetess especially lays a finger; ‘as the sun when he goeth forth in his strength .’ She did not know what we know, that solar energy is the source of all energy on this earth, and that, just as in the deepest spiritual analysis ‘there is no power but of God,’ so in the material region we may say that the only force is the force of the sun, which not only stimulates vegetation and brings light and warmth-as the pre-scientific prophetess knew-but in a hundred other ways, unknown to her and known to modern science, is the author of all change, the parent of all life, and the reservoir of all energy.
So we come to this thought: The true love of God is no weak, sentimental thing, such as narrow and sectional piety has often represented it to be, but it is a power which will invigorate the whole of a man, and make him strong and manly as well as gentle and gracious; being, indeed, the parent of all the so-called heroic and of all the so-called saintly virtues.
The sun ‘goeth forth in his strength,’ rushing through the heavens to the zenith. As one of the other editions of this metaphor in the Old Testament has it, ‘The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more until the noontide of the day.’ That light, indeed, declines, but that fact does not come into view in the metaphor of the progressive growth towards perfection of the man in whom is the all-conquering might of the true love of Jesus Christ.
Note the context of these words of our text, which, I said, presents so singular a contrast to them. It is a strange thing that so fierce a battle-chant should at the end settle down into such a sweet swan-song as this. It is a strange thing that in the same soul there should throb the delight in battle and almost the delight in murder, and these lofty thoughts. But let us learn the lesson that true love to God means hearty hatred of God’s enemy, and that it will always have to be militant and sometimes stern and what people call fierce. Amidst the amenities and sentimentalities of modern life there is much necessity for remembering that the Apostle of love was a ‘son of thunder,’ and that it was the lips which summoned Israel to the fight, and chanted hymns of triumph over the corpses borne down by the rushing Kishon, which also said: ‘Let them that love Him be as the sun when he shineth forth in his strength.’ If you love God, you will surely be a strong man as well as an emotional and affectionate Christian.
That energy is to be continuous and progressive. The sun that Deborah saw day by day spring from his station in the east, and climb to his height in the heavens, and ray down his beams, has been doing that for millions of years, and it will probably keep doing it for uncounted periods still. And so the Christian man, with continuity unbroken and progressive brilliance and power, should shine ‘more and more till the unsetting noontide of the day.’
III. That brings me to the last thought, which passes beyond the limits of the prophetess’ vision. Here is a prophecy of which the utterer was unaware.
There is a contrast drawn in the words of our text and in those immediately preceding. “So,” says Deborah, after the fierce description of the slaughter of Sisera-’So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord! but let them that love Thee be as the sun when he shineth in his strength.’ She contrasts the transiency of the lives that pit themselves against God with the perpetuity that belongs to those which are in harmony with Him. The truth goes further than she probably knew; certainly further than she was thinking when she chanted these words. Let us widen them by other words which use the same metaphor, and say, ‘they that be wise’-that is a shallower word than ‘them that love Thee’-’they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.’ Let us widen and deepen them by sacreder words still; for Jesus Christ laid hold of this old metaphor, and said, describing the time when all the enemies shall have perished, and the weeds have been flung out of the vineyard, ‘Then shall the righteous shine forth like the sun, in the Kingdom of their Father,’ with a brilliancy that will fill heaven with new splendours, bright beyond all that we see here amidst the thick atmosphere and mists and clouds of the present life!
Nor need we stop even there, for Jesus Christ not only laid hold of this metaphor in order to describe the eternal glory of the children of the Kingdom, but at the last time that human eyes on earth saw Him, the glorified Man Christ Jesus is thus described: ‘His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.’ Love always tends to likeness; and love to Christ will bring conformity with Him. The perfect love of heaven will issue in perfect and perpetual assimilation to Him. Science tells us that the light of the sun probably comes from its contraction; and that that process of contraction will go on until, at some point within the bounds of time, though far beyond the measure of our calculations, the sun himself shall die, the ineffectual beams will be paled, and there will be a black orb, with neither life nor light nor power. And then, then, and after that for ever, ‘they that love Him’ shall continue to be as that dead sun once was, when he went forth in his hot might.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
So. Figure of speech Epiphonema.
had rest. See note on Jdg 3:11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
So let: Psa 48:4, Psa 48:5, Psa 58:10, Psa 58:11, Psa 68:1-3, Psa 83:9-18, Psa 92:9, Psa 97:8, Rev 6:10, Rev 18:20, Rev 19:2, Rev 19:3
them that: Exo 20:6, Deu 6:5, Psa 91:14, Psa 97:10, Rom 8:28, 1Co 8:3, Eph 6:24, Jam 1:12, Jam 2:5, 1Pe 1:8, 1Jo 4:19-21, 1Jo 5:2, 1Jo 5:3
the sun: 2Sa 23:4, Psa 19:4, Psa 19:5, Psa 37:6, Pro 4:18, Dan 12:3, Hos 6:3, Mat 13:43
And the land: The victory here celebrated in this song, was of such happy consequence to Israel, that for the principal part of one age, they enjoyed the peace to which it had been the means of opening the way. The land had rest forty years, that is, so long it was from this victory to the raising up of Gideon. And well would it have been for the Israelites, if while the tribes had rest, they had taken advantage of the cessation from war, and had walked in the fear of the Lord. Jdg 3:11, Jdg 3:30
Reciprocal: Jos 14:15 – And the land Jdg 8:28 – forty years Jdg 11:26 – three hundred Jdg 16:28 – that I may 1Sa 2:10 – adversaries 1Sa 28:16 – Wherefore 2Sa 18:14 – thrust them 2Sa 18:32 – The enemies 2Ch 14:6 – for the land Neh 9:28 – did evil again Job 30:24 – they cry Psa 5:11 – But Psa 20:8 – They Psa 36:12 – There Psa 37:20 – But the Psa 48:11 – because Psa 104:35 – sinners Psa 124:6 – who hath not Psa 132:9 – let thy saints Pro 11:10 – when Isa 17:14 – the portion Isa 34:1 – Come Jer 21:2 – according Heb 11:32 – Barak Rev 1:7 – Even So
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 5:31. So let thine enemies perish, O Lord That is, so suddenly, so surely, so effectually and irrecoverably; an elegant apostrophe of the prophetess this, in turning and addressing her speech to God; that as her speech began with him, so it might likewise conclude with him. And with what gracefulness, and, at the same time, with what grandeur and sublimity does she change the subject! How was it possible for her to conclude her song in a finer manner than by this sudden, but, at the same time, earnest wish that all the enemies of Jehovah might perish as Sisera had done. And that all that love him might, like the rising sun, proceed from strength to strength, till they should arrive at the highest pitch of glory. Deborah was a prophetess, and this prayer may be considered as a two-fold prediction, importing both that, in due time, all Gods enemies shall perish; and that those who love him in sincerity, and persevere in so doing, shall shine for ever as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5:31 So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but [let] them that love him [be] as the {x} sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
(x) Shall grow daily more and more in God’s favour.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The final chorus 5:31
The song concludes with a reminder that those who oppose Yahweh will perish. Those who love Him will prosper, as Israel did in this battle through His intervention for her. [Note: See Barnabas Lindars, "Deborah’s Song: Women in the Old Testament," Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 65:2 (Spring 1983):158-75.] This verse invites the reader to consider how we too may join God in His work of crushing oppressors, His enemies, and so take our place among His friends. [Note: McCann, p. 61.]
Following this victory and the battles that followed (Jdg 4:24), the land saw no major wars for 40 years (Jdg 5:31). One writer pointed out several features of the ministry of Deborah that reveal Israel’s inverted life during the era of the judges. [Note: Freema Gottlieb, "Three Mothers," Judaism 30 (Spring 1981):194-203.] Perhaps the most obvious is the fact that a woman rather than a man led Israel at this particular time.
The emphases in this song are that God’s people should honor Him for His salvation, the importance of cooperation in God’s work, and the heroism of people such as Jael. The greatest argument for the propriety of Jael’s action is God’s honoring of her in this song (Jdg 5:24-27). The whole song of Deborah celebrates the establishment of God’s justice and righteousness (cf. Jdg 5:11).