6<\/strong>. Shamgar the son of Anath<\/em> ] See on Jdg 3:31<\/span>. It is extraordinary that the period of the oppression ( in the days of<\/em> as Jdg 15:20<\/span>) should be dated by Shamgar, if he was the deliverer referred to in Jdg 3:31<\/span>, and by Jael who slew the leader of the Canaanite army. We have seen reason to question the account of Shamgar in Jdg 3:31<\/span>; the context of the present passage clearly implies that he was not a deliverer but a foreign oppressor, perhaps the predecessor of Sisera. Jael must be the same person as the heroine of Jdg 5:24<\/em><\/span> ff.; but she belongs to the time, not of the oppression, but of its termination. When once Shamgar had been treated by late interpreters as an Israelite champion (Jdg 3:31<\/span>), the words in the days of Jael<\/em> were probably inserted to mark the period more exactly.<\/p>\n the high ways were unoccupied<\/em> ] lit. ‘the ways ceased’ ( Jdg 5:7<\/em><\/span>), i.e. were disused, a doubtful meaning; render, with a slight change in the Hebr. pronunciation, the caravans ceased<\/strong> marg. The oppression had put a stop to all intercourse and trade, cf. Jdg 9:25<\/span>; travellers were driven to use circuitous routes. The next line runs, in parallelism with ‘caravans,’ and walkers by paths walked by crooked ways<\/em>; the word ways<\/em> is repeated incorrectly from the previous line; it is sufficiently implied by the plur. adj. crooked<\/em>, as in Psa 125:5<\/span>.<\/p>\n 6 8<\/strong>. The recent oppression.<\/p>\n Words dcscriptive of a state of weakness and fear, so that Israel could not frequent the highways. It is a graphic description of a country occupied by an enemy.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 6<\/span>. The highways were unoccupied<\/B><\/I>] The land was full of anarchy and confusion, being everywhere infested with banditti. No public road was safe; and in going from place to place, the people were obliged to use unfrequented paths.<\/P> <\/p>\n In the days of Shamgar; <\/B>whilst Shamgar lived, who was, if not a judge, yet an eminent person for strength and valour, Jdg 3:31<\/span>. <\/P> In the days of Jael:<\/B> Jael, though an illustrious woman, and of great authority and influence upon the people, did effect nothing for the deliverance of Gods people till God raised me up, &c. <\/P> Through by-ways; <\/B>partly because of the Canaanites, who, besides the public burdens and tributes which they laid upon them, waited for all opportunities of doing them mischief secretly; their soldiers watching for travellers in common roads, as is usual with such in times of war; and partly because of the robbers<\/I> even of their own people, who having cast off the fear and worship of God, and there being no king or ruler in Israel to restrain or punish them, and being also many of them reduced to great want, through the oppression of the Canaanites, it is not strange, if, in those times of public disorder and ataxy, divers of the Israelites themselves did break forth into acts of injustice and violence, even against their own brethren, whom they could meet with in convenient places, which made travellers seek for by-paths. <\/P> <\/p>\n 6-8.<\/B> The song proceeds in theseverses to describe the sad condition of the country, the oppressionof the people, and the origin of all the national distress in thepeople’s apostasy from God. Idolatry was the cause of foreigninvasion and internal inability to resist it.<\/P><\/p>\n In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath<\/strong>,…. Of whom see Jud 3:31<\/span>; who succeeded Ehud as a judge, but lived not long, and did not much; at least wrought not a perfect deliverance of the children of Israel; but during his time till now, quite through the twenty years of Jabin’s oppression, things were as they are after described:<\/p>\n in the days of Jael<\/strong>; the wife of Heber the Kenite, spoken of in the preceding chapter, Jud 4:17<\/span>, who appears to be a woman of masculine spirit, and endeavoured to do what good she could to Israel, though not a judge among them, as Jarchi suggests; and who before this affair of Sisera had signalized herself by some deeds of hers in favour of Israel, and against their enemies; yet far from putting a stop to the outrages committed; for in the times of both these persons,<\/p>\n the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways<\/strong>; the public roads were so infested with thieves and robbers, who stopped all they met with, and robbed them of what they had, that travellers and merchants with their carriages were obliged either to quit their employments, and not travel at all; or, if they did, were obliged to go in private roads, and roundabout ways, to keep clear of those rapparees the highways and public roads abounded with.<\/p>\n 6 In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath,<\/p>\n In the days of Jael, the paths kept holiday, <\/p>\n And the wanderers of the paths went crooked ways.<\/p>\n 7 The towns in Israel kept holiday, they kept holiday,<\/p>\n Until that I, Deborah, arose, <\/p>\n That I arose a mother in Israel <\/p>\n 8 They chose new gods; <\/p>\n Then was war at the gates: <\/p>\n Was there a shield seen and a spear <\/p>\n Among forty thousand in Israel?<\/p>\n The deep degradation and disgrace into which Israel had sunk before the appearance of Deborah, through its falling away from the Lord into idolatry, forms the dark reverse of that glorification at Sinai. Although, after Ehud, Shamgar had also brought help to the people against their enemies by a victory over the Philistines (Jdg 3:31<\/span>), and although Jael, who proved herself a heroine by slaying the fugitive Sisera, was then alive, things had got to such a pitch with Israel, that no one would venture upon the public high roads. There are no good grounds for the conjecture that Jael was a different person from the Jael mentioned in Jdg 4:17<\/span>., whether a judge who is not further known, as Ewald<\/em> supposes, or a female judge who stood at the head of the nation in these unhappy times ( Bertheau<\/em>). , lit., “ the paths ceased<\/em>,” sc., to be paths, or to be trodden by men. , “ those who went upon paths<\/em>,” or beaten ways, i.e., those who were obliged to undertake journeys for the purpose of friendly intercourse or trade, notwithstanding the burden of foreign rule which pressed upon the land; such persons went by “ twisted paths<\/em>,” i.e., by roads and circuitous routes which turned away from the high roads. And the , i.e., the cultivated land<\/em>, with its open towns and villages, and with their inhabitants, was as forsaken and desolate as the public highways. The word perazon<\/em> has been rendered judge or guidance by modern expositors, after the example of Teller<\/em> and Gesenius<\/em>; and in Jdg 5:11<\/span> decision or guidance. But this meaning, which has been adopted into all the more recent lexicons, has nothing really to support it, and does not even suit our verse, into which it would introduce the strange contradiction, that at the time when Shamgar and Jael were judges, there were no judges in Israel. In addition to the Septuagint version, which renders the word in this verse (i.e., according to the Cod<\/em>. Vat<\/em>., for the Col<\/em>. Al<\/em>. has ), and then in the most unmeaning way adopts the rendering in Jdg 5:11<\/span>, from which we may clearly see that the translators did not know the meaning of the word, it is common to adduce an Arabic word which signifies segregavit, discrevit rem ab aliis <\/em>, though it is impossible to prove that the Arabic word ever had the meaning to judge or to lead. All the old translators, as well as the Rabbins, have based their rendering of the word upon , inhabitant of the flat country (Deu 3:5<\/span>, and 1Sa 6:18<\/span>), and , the open flat country, as distinguished from the towns surrounded by walls (Eze 38:11<\/span>; Zec 2:8<\/span>), according to which , as the place of meeting, would denote both the cultivated land with its unenclosed towns and villages, and also the population that was settled in the open country in unfortified places-a meaning which also lies at the foundation of the word in Hab 3:14<\/span>. Accordingly, Luther<\/em> has rendered the word Bauern<\/em> (peasants). for . The contraction of into , with Dagesh<\/em> following, and generally pointed with Seghol<\/em>, but here with Patach<\/em> on account of the , which is closely related to the gutturals, belongs to the popular character of the song, and is therefore also found in the Song of Solomon (Jdg 1:12<\/span>; Jdg 2:7<\/span>, Jdg 2:17<\/span>; Jdg 4:6<\/span>). It is also met with here and there in simple prose (Jdg 6:17<\/span>; Jdg 7:12<\/span>; Jdg 8:26<\/span>); but it was only in the literature of the time of the captivity and a still later date, that it found its way more and more from the language of ordinary conversation into that of the Scriptures. Deborah describes herself as “a mother in Israel,” on account of her having watched over her people with maternal care, just as Job calls himself a father to the poor who had been supported by him (Job 29:16<\/span>; cf. Isa 22:21<\/span>).<\/p>\n 6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. 7 The inhabitants of<\/I> the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. 8 They chose new gods; then was<\/I> war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? 9 My heart is<\/I> toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD<\/B>. 10 Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way. 11 They that are delivered<\/I> from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD<\/B>, even<\/I> the righteous acts toward the inhabitants<\/I> of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD<\/B> go down to the gates.<\/P> Here, I. Deborah describes the distressed state of Israel under the tyranny of Jabin, that the greatness of their trouble might make their salvation appear the more illustrious and the more gracious (v.<\/I><\/span> 6<\/span>): From the days of Shamgar,<\/I> who did some thing towards the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines, to the days of Jael, the present day, in which Jael has so signalized herself, the country has been in a manner desolate. 1. No trade. For want of soldiers to protect men of business in their business from the incursions of the enemy, and for want of magistrates to restrain and punish thieves and robbers among them (men of broken fortunes and desperate spirits, that, having no employment, took to rob on the highroad), all commerce ceased, and the highways were unoccupied; no caravans of merchants, as formerly. 2. No travelling. Whereas in times when there was some order and government the travellers might be safe in the open roads, and the robbers were forced to lurk in the by-ways, no, on the contrary, the robbers insulted on the open roads without check, and the honest travellers were obliged to sculk and walk through by-ways, in continual frights. 3. No tillage. The fields must needs be laid waste and unoccupied when the inhabitants of the villages, the country farmers, ceased from their employment, quitted their houses which were continually alarmed and plundered by the banditti, and were obliged to take shelter for themselves and their families in walled and fenced cities. 4. No administration of justice. There was war in the gates where their courts were kept, v.<\/I><\/span> 8<\/span>. So that it was not till this salvation was wrought that the people of the Lord<\/I> durst go down to the gates,<\/I> v.<\/span> 11<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. The continual incursions of the enemy deprived the magistrates of the dignity, and the people of the benefit, of their government. 5. No peace to him that went out nor to him that came in. The gates through which they passed and repassed were infested by the enemy; nay, the places of drawing water were alarmed by the archers–a mighty achievement to terrify the drawers of water. 6. Neither arms nor spirit to help themselves with, not a shield nor spear seen among forty thousand,<\/I> v. 8<\/I><\/span>. Either they were disarmed by their oppressors, or they themselves neglected the art of war; so that, though they had spears and shields, they were not to be seen, but were thrown by and suffered to rust, they having neither skill nor will to use them.<\/P> II. She shows in one word what it was that brought all this misery upon them: They chose new gods,<\/I> v.<\/span> 8<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. It was their idolatry that provoked God to give them up thus into the hands of their enemies. The Lord their God was one Lord, but this would not content them: they must have more, many more, still more. Their God was the Ancient of days, still the same, and therefore they grew weary of him, and must have new gods, which they were as fond of as children of new clothes, names newly invented, heroes newly canonized. Their fathers, when put to their choice, chose the Lord for their God (Josh. xxiv. 21<\/span>), but they would not abide by that choice, they must have gods of their own choosing.<\/P> III. She takes notice of God’s great goodness to Israel in raising up such as should redress these grievances. Herself first (v.<\/I><\/span> 7<\/span>): Till that I Deborah arose,<\/I> to restrain and punish those who disturbed the public peace, and protect men in their business, and then the face of things was changed for the better quickly; those beasts of prey retired upon the breaking forth of this joyful light, and man went forth again to his work and labour,<\/I>Psa 104:22<\/span>; Psa 104:23<\/span>. Thus she became a mother in Israel, a nursing mother, such was the affection she bore to her people, and such the care and pains she took for the public welfare. Under her there were other governors of Israel (v.<\/I><\/span> 9<\/span>), who, like her, had done their part as governors to reform the people, and then, like her, offered themselves willingly to serve in the war, not insisting upon the exemption which their dignity and office entitled them to, when the had so fair an opportunity of appearing in their country’s cause; and no doubt the example of the governors influenced the people in like manner willingly to offer themselves,<\/I> v.<\/span> 2<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. Of these governors she says, My heart is towards them,<\/I> that is, “I truly love and honour them; they have won my heart for ever; I shall never forget them.” Note, Those are worthy of double honour that recede voluntarily from the demands of their honour to serve God and his church.<\/P> IV. She calls upon those who had a particular share in the advantages of this great salvation to offer up particular thanks to God for it, Jdg 5:10<\/span>; Jdg 5:11<\/span>. Let every man speak as he found of the goodness of God in this happy change of the posture of public affairs. 1. You that ride on white asses,<\/I> that is, the nobility and gentry. Horses were little used in that county; they had, it is probable, a much better breed of asses than we have; but persons of quality, it seems, were distinguished by the colour of the asses they rode on; the white being more rare were therefore more valued. Notice is taken of Abdon’s sons and grandsons riding on ass-colts, as indicating them to be men of distinction, ch.<\/I><\/span> xii. 14<\/span>. Let such as are by this salvation restored, not only to their liberty as other Israelites, but to their dignity, speak God’s praises. 2. Let those that sit in judgment<\/I> be sensible of it, and thankful for it as a very great mercy, that they may sit safely there, that the sword of justice is not struck out of their hand by the sword of war. 3. Let those that walk by the way,<\/I> and meet with none there to make them afraid, speak to themselves in pious meditations, and to their fellow-travellers in religious discourses, of the goodness of God in ridding the roads of those banditti that had so long infested them. 4. Let those that draw in peace, and have not their wells taken from them, or stopped up, nor are in danger of being caught by the enemy when they go forth to draw, there, where they find themselves so much more safe and easy than they have been, there let them rehearse the acts of the Lord,<\/I> not Deborah’s acts, nor Barak’s, but the Lord’s, taking notice of his hand making peace in their borders, and creating a defence upon all the glory. This is the Lord’s doing.<\/I> Observe in these acts of his, (1.) Justice executed on his daring enemies. They are the righteous acts of the Lord. See him pleading a righteous cause, and sitting in the throne judging aright, and give him glory as the Judge of all the earth. (2.) Kindness shown to his trembling people, the inhabitants of the villages,<\/I> who lay most open to the enemy, had suffered most, and were most in danger, Ezek. xxxviii. 11<\/span>. It is the glory of God to protect those that are most exposed, and to help the weakest. Let us all take notice of the share we in particular have in the public peace and tranquility, the inhabitants of the villages especially, and give God the praise of it.<\/P> <\/p>\n (6) In the days of Shamgar.<\/strong>In this and the two next verses is described the misery and dejection of Israel; and the names of Shamgar and Jael are mentioned to enhance the glory of Deborah, by showing that even the presence among the Israelites of two such heroic souls as Shamgar and Jael was unavailing to deliver them until Deborah arose. That Shamgar is thus (apparently) alluded to as a contemporary of Jael has an important bearing on the chronology; for it at least shows that simultaneous struggles may have been going on against the Philistines in the south and the Canaanites in the north.<\/p>\n In the days of Jael.<\/strong>It has been thought so strange that Deborah should mention the name of the Bedouin chieftainess as marking the epoch, that some have supposed Jael to be the name of some unknown judge; and some have even proposed to read Jair. Others render it the helper, and suppose that Ehud, or Shamgar, is referred to. But (1) Jael is essentially a womans name (see Jdg. 4:17<\/span>; Pro. 5:19<\/span>); (2) she is mentioned prominently in this very song as having put the finishing stroke to the victory of Israel; and (3) she may have beenand various incidents in the history lead us to suppose that she wasa woman of great importance and influence, even independently of her murder of Sisera.<\/p>\n The highways were unoccupied.<\/strong>Literally, kept holiday. <\/em>This had been foretold in Lev. 26:22<\/span>. The grass grew on them; there was no one to occupy them. The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth (Isa. 33:8<\/span>). The land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned (Zec. 7:14<\/span>). (Comp. 2Ch. 15:5<\/span>; Lam. 1:4<\/span>; Lam. 4:18<\/span>.)<\/p>\n Travellers.<\/strong>Literally, as in the margin, walkers of paths. <\/em>Those of the unhappy conquered race whose necessities obliged them to journey from one place to another could only slink along, unobserved, by twistedi.e., <\/em>tortuous, deviousbye-lanes. A traveller in America was reminded of this verse when he saw the neutral ground in 1780, with houses plundered and dismantled, enclosures broken down, cattle carried away, fields lying waste, the roads grass-grown, the country mournful, solitary, silent.(Washington Irvings Life of Washington, ch. 137)<\/p>\n 6<\/strong>. <\/strong> Shamgar <\/strong> See on Jdg 3:31<\/span>. <\/p>\n In the days of Jael <\/strong> Many scholars understand that this Jael was not the wife of Heber, mentioned in chap. Jdg 4:17<\/span>, and in Jdg 5:24<\/span> of this chapter, for such a reference to a contemporary, and one so prominent in this very victory over Sisera, would be strange; besides, the context seems to refer to a period previous to the time when Deborah arose; and the prophetess carefully distinguishes her contemporary as “the wife of Heber, the Kenite.” They therefore understand by this Jael either another name for Shamgar, or Ehud, as Gideon is also called Jerubbaal, (Jdg 6:32<\/span>,) or else a judge (either male or female) who lived soon after the time of Shamgar, but of whom we have no other mention. But as this is all conjecture, it is, perhaps, safer to understand the Jael of this history, whom it is Deborah’s purpose to immortalize in song. Shamgar and Jael may be mentioned as bounding the age of misery and fear: as if she had said, From the days of Shamgar to those of Jael. She modestly names Jael here instead of herself, whom she names in the next verse in connexion with a similar thought. <\/p>\n Ceased the roads <\/strong> Ceased to be travelled, as explained in the next line. The highways were abandoned on account of the dangers to which travellers were exposed; and those who were obliged to travel turned aside from them, and stole from place to place by winding by-paths. “We have ourselves,” says Kitto, “known in the East, in unsettled times, persons afraid to stir, for months together, beyond their towns and villages; and for still longer periods travelling wholly abandoned, or undertaken only in large and well-armed bodies.”<\/p>\n The Condition of Israel and The Rise of Deborah ( Jdg 5:6-8<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ). <\/p>\n Jdg 5:6<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> <\/p>\n “In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, <\/p>\n In the days of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, <\/p>\n The highways were unoccupied, <\/p>\n And the travellers walked through byways.” <\/p>\n In the days, that is, before they acted (Jdg 3:31<\/span>; Jdg 4:17<\/span>). Israel in those days dared not be found in the plains where the caravans made their way between Mesopotamia and Egypt. They had had to trade secretly and keep to secret paths to avoid the enemy. For the Philistines were threatening from one angle and Hazor from another. Thus the actions of Shamgar and Jael are possibly seen as contemporary. Israel were a people who lived in terror until, along with Deborah, Shamgar and Jael arrived. <\/p>\n Jdg 5:7<\/strong><\/span> a <\/p>\n ‘Those in open country ceased in Israel, they ceased.’ <\/p>\n It was at this time not safe for Israelites to live in the open country for otherwise they would suffer raids and have had all they possessed taken away from them, while they themselves would have been left as dead. While we are dealing with poetic exaggeration, this all suggests the cruel way in which Jabin was dealing with them. <\/p>\n Jdg 5:7<\/strong><\/span> b <\/p>\n ‘Until that I, Deborah, arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.’ <\/p>\n It was the rise of Deborah, the Spirit-filled prophetess, that made the difference. She points to herself because she is the instrument of Yahweh. There may be here a deliberate contrast with the mother in verse 28 who waited in vain. Deborah had known what it was like to be such a mother, watching hopelessly, like the other mothers in Israel, while their sons were brutally treated and slain. But more probably it refers to her status as a prophetess. Compare the other wise woman, ‘the mother in Israel’, who waited to be destroyed along with her city, and saved it by her wisdom (2Sa 20:19<\/span>). By her wisdom and guidance and judgments Deborah had been a true ‘mother in Israel’, and she would especially be so when she delivered her people. <\/p>\n Notice the repetition of ‘ceased’ and the repetition of ‘arose’, placed in parallel for contrast, and doubled for emphasis. The cessation had taken place some time before. Now had come the arising. <\/p>\n Jdg 5:8<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n “They chose new gods, then was war in the gates. <\/p>\n Was there a shield or spear seen among forty eleph in Israel?” <\/p>\n The parlous state of Israel is now described. Instead of seeking to Yahweh, they had sought new gods, they had turned to the Baalim and the Ashtaroth. And the result for them was war, a war in which they could not defend themselves for they were without shield or spear. They were unarmed. Those who dominated them would not allow them to carry weapons. <\/p>\n “Forty eleph.”<\/strong> This is a general figure. It illustrates well the general use of numbers in ancient days. The forty represents trial and waiting, the ‘military units’ or ‘thousands’ represent a full number. It thus summarises the whole of Israel’s available fighting men without counting them, waiting and under trial. <\/p>\n Some would see it as referring to the forty thousand (one tenth of four hundred thousand – Jdg 20:2<\/span> with Jdg 20:10<\/span>) who went against Benjamin in battle in the revenge for Gibeah (Jdg 20:19-21<\/span>). The passage would then refer to the new gods which led to the disgraceful behaviour of the men of Gibeah and the resulting war. The question about arms would then be answered ‘yes’. <\/p>\n “In the gates.”<\/strong> The gates of a fortified city were always its weak point which is why when kings were strong their gates were huge and complicated, like a heavily fortified tower. That was where an attacker would concentrate his attacks and the main fighting would take place. <\/p>\n Jdg 5:6-7<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>In the days of Shamgar<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> The prophetess in these verses gives us a description of the wretched state of Israel during the time of that captivity, from which she, by the assistance of God, delivered them. It is very easy, says the author of the Observations, <\/em>(p. 216.) to turn out of the roads in the east, and go to a place by winding about over the lands, when that is thought safer. Dr. Shaw takes notice of this circumstance, observing, that in Barbary they found no hedges, mounds, or inclosures, to retard or molest them. To this Deborah doubtless refers, though the Doctor does not apply his remark to the present passage. Bishop Pococke’s account of the manner in which the Arabs, under whose care he was, conducted him to Jerusalem, illustrates this with great liveliness. It was by night, not by the high road, <\/em>but through the fields; <\/em>and I observed that he avoided, as much as he could, going near any village or encampment, and sometimes, as I thought, to hearken. “And just in that manner people were obliged to travel in Judea in the days of Shamgar and Jael.” Bishop Patrick would render the first line, from the days of Shamgar. <\/em>Mr. Green supposes, that Jael <\/em>here mentioned, was not Jael the wife of Heber; and he justly observes, that the phrase, In the days of Jael, <\/em>implies time past, and supposes that Jael was dead, as well as Shamgar. Besides, what honour could redound to the prophetess from such a comparison? Is it worthy of a boast, that she, who was Judge <\/em>in Israel, <\/em>had done more in delivering them from the enemy than Heber’s wife, who was only a sojourner in Israel, <\/em>and whose husband was at peace with the enemy? The Jael here mentioned, therefore, seems to have been a prophetess, raised up before Deborah to judge Israel, but who died without delivering them. It is true, indeed, the name of this prophetess is not mentioned before; but neither are any of the transactions of the time in which she is supposed to have lived, recorded; nor is Shamgar’s name mentioned more than once, ch. Jdg 3:31<\/span> and then principally on account of that single exploit of slaying six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad. Deborah <\/em>is called a mother in Israel, <\/em>for the same reason as every deliverer of his country is called the father <\/em>of it. <\/p>\n The Previous Distress<\/em><\/p>\n Jdg 5:6-8<\/span>.<\/p>\n 6After14<\/span> the days of Shamgar, son of Anath,<\/p>\n After the Helpers (Jaels) days, 7Deserted were Israels hamlets,15<\/span> deserted,<\/p>\n Till I Deborah rose uprose up a mother in Israel.<\/p>\n 8New gods had they got them16<\/span>therefore the press of war approached their gates;17<\/span><\/p>\n Among forty thousand in Israel was there found18<\/span> or shield or spear?<\/p>\n TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL<\/strong><\/p>\n [1 Jdg 5:6<\/span>.On this translation of , compare the authors remarks below. The justification they attempt, is, however too forced and artificial to be satisfactory. The passages cited in its support, are rather against it. For in Num 14:11<\/span>, it is the very fact that Israels unbelief exists contemporaneously, in the presence, as it were, of mighty wonders, that makes it so culpable. And so in the passages cited from Isaiah (Jdg 5:25<\/span>; Jdg 9:11<\/span> (12); Jdg 10:4<\/span>), it is the continuance of Jehovahs anger while surrounded, so to speak, by the terrible evidences of previous punitive inflictions, that gives it its full dreadfulness. It seems necessary, therefore, to take here in the sense of in, during. It is necessary, further, to place Shamgar not in, but after, the eighty years rest procured by Ehud, cf. on Jdg 3:31<\/span>; for while the land rested, such a state of affairs as Deborah here describes cannot have existed. He belongs to the period of the Canaanite oppression in the north, and fought against the Philistines who rose up in the south (so Bachmann and others). A single exploit is told of him; and the comparatively inferior position assigned him in the Book of Judges, seems to warrant the conclusion that it was the only remarkable deed he did. That deed, however, was one which would make him universally known and held up as a great hero. Deborah seizes on this popular estimate of Shamgar, in order by contrast to heighten the glory of the divine deliverance just achieved. Such was your condition when your great hero lived, she says: but now, behold, what hath God wrought!The words , in the days of Jael, contain another difficulty. It must strike every one as inappropriate that one who, so far as we know, had only now become famous, and that by a deed of deliverance, namely, Jael, the slayer of Sisera, should be connected with the past misery. Dr. Cassels suggestion that is to be taken as a surname or popular designation of some hero (see below), becomes therefore exceedingly attractive. But according to our view of , the hero thus designated cannot be Ehud, but must be Shamgar.Tr.<\/p>\n [2 Jdg 5:7<\/span>. Gesenius and Frst define this word as properly meaning, rule, dominion; here, concrete* for rulers, leaders. So also Bertheau, De Wette, Bunsen, and similarly many previous expositors and versions: LXX., Cod Vat. , al. codd. (Cod. Al. simply transfers the word, and writes ); It. Vers. potentes<\/em>, Vulg. fortes<\/em>. This undoubtedly yields a good sense; but, as Bachmann points out, it rests on a meaning of the root , which although belonging to it in Arabic, it does not practically have in Hebrew. Moreover, it appears to be a hazardous proceeding to separate from in signification, if not (as Frst does) in root-relations. Accordingly, Bachmann and Keil, like our author and others, explain by , and make it mean the open country, or the unwalled cities or villages of the open country. In this they only follow the Targum, Peshito, most of the Rabbins, and many earlier and later expositors. The form of the word shows that it is properly an abstract, cf. Ges. Gr.<\/em> 83, 2; 84, 15; Ewald, 163, b, d. Keil and Cassel make it apply in the concrete to the cities, villages, or hamlets, Bachmann to the population, of the open country (Landvolk<\/em>). The connection of the passage, he thinks, requires a personal, not local, signification; for as Jdg 5:8<\/span> a<\/em> corresponds to (or rather gives the ground of) Jdg 5:6<\/span> c d, so Jdg 5:7<\/span> a (the cessation of ) must correspond to Jdg 5:8<\/span> b<\/em> (the absence of shield and spear). He further argues that as in Jdg 5:2<\/span>; Jdg 5:7<\/span> b<\/em>, and 8 b<\/em>, refers to the people<\/em> of Israel, it must also refer to them in Jdg 5:7<\/span> a<\/em>; and, finally, that the signification rural population, is more suitable in Jdg 5:11<\/span>. The ultimate result is the same whether one or the other interpretation be adopted; yet, as Bachmanns arguments do not appear to have much force, and as the immediately preceding mention of highways leads the mind to think of local centres of population rather than of the population itself, we prefer to interpret villages or hamlets.Tr.]<\/p>\nFuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
The highways were deserted.
The traveller went in winding ways.<\/p>\n