Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.
Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”
Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”
“Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.
Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.
Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
“I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
“Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”
But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.
On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.
- Judges 4:1-24
On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:
“When the princes in Israel take the lead,
when the people willingly offer themselves—
praise the Lord!
“Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
I, even I, will sing to the Lord;
I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.
“When you, Lord, went out from Seir,
when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook, the heavens poured,
the clouds poured down water.
The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
before the Lord, the God of Israel.
“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned;
travelers took to winding paths.
Villagers in Israel would not fight;
they held back until I, Deborah, arose,
until I arose, a mother in Israel.
God chose new leaders
when war came to the city gates,
but not a shield or spear was seen
among forty thousand in Israel.
My heart is with Israel’s princes,
with the willing volunteers among the people.
Praise the Lord!
“You who ride on white donkeys,
sitting on your saddle blankets,
and you who walk along the road,
consider the voice of the singers at the watering places.
They recite the victories of the Lord,
the victories of his villagers in Israel.
“Then the people of the Lord
went down to the city gates.
‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah!
Wake up, wake up, break out in song!
Arise, Barak!
Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’
“The remnant of the nobles came down;
the people of the Lord came down to me against the mighty.
Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek;
Benjamin was with the people who followed you.
From Makir captains came down,
from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s staff.
The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
yes, Issachar was with Barak,
sent under his command into the valley.
In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
Why did you stay among the sheep pens
to hear the whistling for the flocks?
In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.
And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?
Asher remained on the coast
and stayed in his coves.
The people of Zebulun risked their very lives;
so did Naphtali on the terraced fields.
“Kings came, they fought,
the kings of Canaan fought.
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,
they took no plunder of silver.
From the heavens the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
The river Kishon swept them away,
the age-old river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul; be strong!
Then thundered the horses’ hooves—
galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.
‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord.
‘Curse its people bitterly,
because they did not come to help the Lord,
to help the Lord against the mighty.’
“Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
Her hand reached for the tent peg,
her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.
At her feet he sank,
he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell—dead.
“Through the window peered Sisera’s mother;
behind the lattice she cried out,
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’
The wisest of her ladies answer her;
indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:
a woman or two for each man,
colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,
colorful garments embroidered,
highly embroidered garments for my neck—
all this as plunder?’
“So may all your enemies perish, Lord!
But may all who love you be like the sun
when it rises in its strength.”
Then the land had peace forty years.
- Judges 5:1-31
Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments
Judges 4:1-11 ‘The Promise of Victory over Sisera’: “After Suffering 20 Years of oppression, one of Israel’s judges, Deborah the prophet, and her commander, Barak, were divinely promised victory over Sisera, a Canaanite commander. Owing to Barak’s unsatisfactory reaction to Deborah’s conveyance of divine military instructions, Deborah prophesied that the ultimate victory over Sisera would be by means of a woman.
“This prophecy was immediately fulfilled both literally and viscerally, as revealed in the ensuing narrative of 4:15-21.”
- Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy
Judges 4:4 ‘Deborah, a prophetess’: “She was an unusual woman of wisdom and influence who did the tasks of a judge, except for military leadership. God can use women mightily for civil, religious, or other tasks, e.g., Huldah the prophetess (2 Kin. 22:14), Philip’s daughters in prophesying (Acts 21:8, 9), and Phoebe a deaconess (Rom. 16:1). Deborah’s rise to such a role is the exception in the book because of Barak’s failure to show the courage to lead courageously (vv. 8, 14). God rebuked his cowardice by the pledge that a woman would kill Sisera (v. 9).”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Judges 4:8-13 ‘God’s promise to give victory’: “At this point. geography is instructive. The Israelites and the Canaanites were intermingled in Galilee and Ephraim with the Canaanites generally controlling the valleys and the Israelites the hill country. Deborah’s instructions are as follows. Barak, living in Kedesh, roughly six miles north of Hazor in the hill country, is to lead ten thousand men to Mount Tabor some thirty miles south of Hazor. The region around Mount Tabor is relatively accessible to chariots, and the mere presence of ten thousand Israelites mobilized in such an area will suffice to ‘lure’ Sisera to the region. God’s sovereignty over human affairs is asserted in Deborah’s promise that God will give victory.
“Deborah’s status is further underscored by Barak’s demand that she accompany the army (4:8-13). In doing so, Barak forfeits part of the honor and glory of the victory. Barak sends out the call from Kedesh, apparently his hometown. Zebulun and Naphtali answer Barak’s call (v. 10; cf. also 5:18). The extensive ranging of the Kenites is illustrated by Heber’s move to the north (v. 11; cf. 1:16). Sisera is lured to the Kishon along with his chariots and additional infantry support troops (i.e., ‘all the men,’ v. 13)”
- Walter A. Elwell, editor, Baker Commentary on the Bible
Judges 4:19-20 ‘she … gave him a drink, and covered him’: “Usually, this was the strongest pledge of protection possible.”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Judges 4:21 ‘a tent peg and … a hammer’: “Jael’s bold stroke in a tent rather than on a battlefield draws Deborah’s and Barak’s praise (5:24-27). Her strength and skill had no doubt been toughened by a common Bedouin duty of hammering down pegs to secure tents, or striking them loose to take down tents.”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Judges 4:22 ‘a just end to tyranny’: “I have been struck, while passing through many lands, by the horrible sufferings that have been endured by the poor at the hands of the rich kings and lords who were their oppressors. In almost every town we enter, we have shown to us the rack, the dark dungeon, the thumbscrew, or the infernal machine, or instruments too horrible to describe that make one’s blood run cold at the thought and sight of them. But I speak in sober earnestness when I declare that all the sufferings that have ever been inflicted have never been equal to the tyranny humanity has brought on itself—the tyranny of sin. It has brought more pains and more miseries than the craftiest inventions of the most cold-blooded and diabolical tormentors. Sin is the world’s great despot. It is such a tyranny that none but those God delivers have been able to escape from it. The wicked and powerful King Jabin is but a faint picture of the oppression that our own iniquities bring on us. We stand at the door today, not of a tent but of a tomb, and we say to the sinner who is anxious to know how his sins may be killed, ‘Come and I will show you the man you are looking for. When you come in, you will see your sins lying dead, with nails in their temples.’ The sin we dread is forgiven when we have wept before God and have cast ourselves on Christ alone. In the name of the eternal God, our sins are all forgiven. From the book of God’s remembrance, they are blotted out. They are as gone as the clouds that floated through the sky last year and left their showers on the ground. Our sins are gone, every one of them. The sins over which we have wept are gone and are forgiven!”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Judges 5:1 ‘sang on that day’: “The song (vv. 1-31) was in tribute to God for victory in Judges 4:13-25. Various songs praise God for His help, e.g., Moses’ (Ex. 15), David’s (2 Sam. 23:1-7), and the Lamb’s (Rev. 15:3, 4).”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Judges 5:10 ‘white donkeys’: “Because of this unusual color, they were a prize of kings and the rich.”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Judges 5:11 ‘Far from the noise of the archers, among the watering places’: “The wells were at a little distance from towns in the east, away from the battles and often places for pleasant reflection.”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Judges 5:11 ‘Let us sing our song of deliverance and salvation’: “Deborah sang about the overthrow of Israel’s enemies and the deliverance granted to the tribes. We have a far richer theme for music. We have been delivered from worse enemies and saved by a greater salvation. Let our gratitude be deeper; let our song be more jubilant. We can say that our sins, which were like mighty armies, have been swept away, not by the river Kishon but by streams that flowed from Jesus’s side. Our great enemy has been overcome, and his head is broken. Not Sisera, but Satan has been overthrown—the seed of the woman has struck the serpent’s head forever. We are now ransomed from the oppressive yoke; we walk at liberty through the power of the great liberator, the Lord Jesus. The results that accrued from the conquest achieved by Barak are on a small scale compared to those that come to us through the deliverance worked out by the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who went to draw water at the wells after Barak’s victory were no longer disturbed by the robbers who lurked at the fountains to plunder. Instead of drawing the water by stealth and in hasty fear, the women sang of the mighty acts of God; and the citizens who had been cooped up within the town walls ventured beyond the gates into the open country and transacted their business in security. This is an instructive type of the condition into which our Lord Jesus Christ has brought us through the destruction of our sins and the overthrow of the powers of darkness.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Judges 5:12 ‘Awake! Awake!’: “Many of God’s people live as if their God were dead. Their conduct would be consistent if God were a faithless God, if Christ were not a perfect redeemer, if the Word of God might turn out to be untrue, if he had not power or love enough to hold his people even to the end. Then they might give way to mourning and to despair. But while God is Jehovah, just and true; while his promises stand as fast as the eternal mountains; while the heart of Jesus is true to his spouse; while the arm of God is not paralyzed and his eyes undimmed; while his covenant and his oath are unbroken and unchanged, it is not seemly for the upright to go around mourning all their days. Children of God, refrain from weeping, and make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes
Judges 5:12-18 ‘a willingness to prepare for war’: “The mobilization of the people (5:12-18) begins with a challenge to Israel’s leaders to arise willingly and to prepare for war. The content of this challenge, ‘take captive your captives’ (KJV lead thy captivity captive), is repeated on other occasions and could receive its definition from this context. Here the phrase clearly refers to conquest over one’s oppressors or enemies; and this is likely the significance that should be given to the New Testament allusion to these words (cf. Ps. 68:18; Eph. 4:8).
“The tribes from which people willingly come are Ephraim, Benjamin, Makir, Zebulun, and Issachar (vv. 14—15a). The supposition that Zebulun and Naphtali were the major participants (4:6, 10; 5:18), but were assisted by the other tribes, adequately harmonizes all of the data. The mention of Ephraim’s Amalekite roots (v. 14) exemplifies the fact that the chosen people were related to other peoples in the ancient world (cf. Deut. 26:5). These ‘roots’ may have been through intermarriage, adoption of foreign clans, or close friendships. Tribal life in Israel, even kinship, was generally open to foreigners through various levels of contact.
“Reuben, Gilead, Dan, and Asher (vv. 15b-17) are criticized for not responding. Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin apparently were not involved nor were they expected to be. This fact may reflect the natural tendency of the people to be segregated into northern and southern areas seen both during David’s years at Hebron and in the division of the kingdom at the time of Rehoboam.”
- Walter A. Elwell, editor, Baker Commentary on the Bible
Judges 5:17 ‘why did Dan remain on ships?’: “Danites migrated from their territory to Laish north of the Lake of Chinneroth (Sea of Galilee) before the Israelite triumph of Judges 4, though details of it are not given until Judges 18. They became involved with Phoenicians of the northwest in ship commerce (cf. Joppa as a coastal city, Josh. 19:46). As with some other tribes, they failed to make the trek to assist in the battle of Judges 4.”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
Judges 5:20 ‘They fought from heaven’: “ ’Be thou exalted’ (Psalm 21 :13) is the language of victorious spiritual experience. It is a little key to unlock the door to great treasures of grace. It is central in the life of God in the soul. Let the seeking man reach a place where life and lips join to say continually ‘Be thou exalted,’ and a thousand minor problems will be solved at once.
“His Christian life ceases to be the complicated thing it had been before and becomes the very essence of simplicity. By the exercise of his will he has set his course, and on that course he will stay as if guided by an automatic pilot. If blown off course for a moment by some adverse wind, he will surely return again as by a secret bent of the soul.
“The hidden motions of the Spirit are working in his favor, and ‘the stars in their courses’ fight for him. He has met his life problem at its center, and everything else must follow along.”
- A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
Judges 5:20, 24-27, 31 ‘stars … fought.’: “A poetic way to say that God used these heavenly bodies to help Israel. They are bodies representing and synonymous with the heavens, the sky from which He sent a powerful storm and flood (cf. ‘torrent’ of the Kishon River, v. 21) that swept Syrians from their chariots. God also hid the stars by clouds, decreasing Syrian effectiveness due to darkness.
“Though this act was murder and a breach of honor, likely motivated by Jael’s desire for favor with the conquering Israelites, and though it was without regard for God on her part, God’s overruling providence caused great blessing to flow from it. Thus, the words of verses 24-27 are in the victory song.
“The intercessory prayer committed to God’s will ends a song that has other aspects: (1) blessing God (v.2); (2) praise (v. 3); (3) affirming God’s work in tribute (vv. 4, 20); and (4) voicing God’s curse (v. 23).”
- John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)
My Thoughts
The Israelites had been oppressed 20 years on this occasion. Compare this to the eight years before Othniel arose and the 18 years before Ehud arose. So far, the oppression increases before God answers their cries. There are many parallels to the evils of the world today. With some addictions, each time we slip back into poor habits, it might take us even longer to realize what we are doing to ourselves. And the pain and suffering, even after we repent may take longer for a sense of “normal” to return. And with that normal returns, do we take advantage of that normal feeling to let our guard down? ‘A little indiscretion might not hurt…’ Do not believe that for a second. When we feel comfortable, we often think we can control the situation on our own.
It is odd that this Bible Study is being published just after Palm Sunday, and you could bring your troubles to the judge underneath the Palm tree.
In Judges 4:8, Barak makes a reasonable request. He is a simple military leader, going against a more powerful foe with iron chariots. Deborah was the judge. She had the pipeline to God, the Father. If divine intervention were to happen, should not Deborah be there to channel that God-given energy to tip the scales?
But God saw the weakness in Barak’s faith. Jesus often said, “Oh, ye of little faith.” He was not saying no faith, just so little of faith that they cannot realize the great power at their disposal.
Due to Barak’s moment of indecision, wanting Deborah to come along, the ultimate prize in the battle, that of the death of Sisera, would be in the hands of a woman. Thus, Barak is doubly humiliated. In a time that women were not even high enough on the social ladder to be considered second-class citizens, the judge giving Barak orders is a woman, and the woman who kills Sisera is a nomadic Kenite, not even an Israelite woman. The first mention of Kenite is a promise to Abraham that this land of … Kenites … will belong to your descendants (Genesis 15).
The story of Jael reminds me of the Bible study teacher who used the illustration of murderers, robbers, etc. chasing a friend who asks you to hide him in your closet. Once your friend is secure in the closet, the evil people knock on the door and demand for you to reveal where your friend is. Knowing that it is not proper to lie, you tell them that your friend is in the closet. This was the teacher’s illustration for not all falsehoods are necessarily bad, but Jael did not lie. After she killed Sisera, Barak came to the door of the tent and inquired of the location of Sisera. She led Barak to Sisera’s corpse. But then again, Jael made the physical actions equivalent to providing comfort and security for Sisera, but the Bible does not record that Jael agreed when Sisera told her to lie about him hiding there.
Barak continued to press the attack until the enemy was thoroughly defeated. He showed cowardice, or at least indecision, at first, losing honor in the long run, but Barak, with reassurance that God was on his side, was an adequate leader of men. I have been a military leader, but not in war time. Most of my adult life, I have wondered if I would be a Barak, hesitant unless I knew God had already defeated the enemy, or would I be a Stonewall Jackson who charged ahead to ensure a tactical advantage over the opposing army, continuously pressing the attack when allowed to do so. While God read Barak’s indecision, God still reigned, and the enemy was defeated.
Let’s not get too sexist here regarding Judges 5. While Deborah is the only female judge and the only female songwriter in the book of Judges, let us not think that writing a song after a victory is a woman’s reaction to the situation. We’d have to negate much of the Psalms. King David did the same thing. And yes, I have heard people make that comment. Prejudice is not restricted to skin color, and like a friend of mine once said, the person who thinks that he is not prejudiced is the most dangerous, for everyone, of all colors, ethnicities, genders, body shapes, etc. is prejudiced in one way or another.
Judges 5:12 talks about taking captive your captives. While the Baker Commentary speaks of this expression being mentioned throughout the Bible and referring to the conquest of enemies, I want to look at the words literally. God has already secured the victory before the battle begins. The enemy is already considered “captives.” They just do not know it yet. So, military commander, you are facing a defeated foe. Go corral them into pens. In other words, Barak may be the commander of the army, but God has defeated the enemy and Barak is simply the policeman who has the only set of handcuffs. As Deborah sings in Judges 5:20, the battle was not secured by Barak’s army. The stars fought, in other words, God’s Angel Army.
Now, if there was a woman’s touch in this song, it is Judges 5:28-30. It illustrates that every defeated enemy has someone back home that suffers. Deborah, in a moment of compassion perhaps, looks at Sisera’s mother and knows that she is awaiting her son’s victorious return, and ‘oh, what nice things did you pick up for me in your spoils of war?’ But, alas, Sisera’s mother would never see her son again in this life.
But note a comparison to today. We hate and avoid war for that same sentimentality. But sometimes war, in all its ugliness, may be necessary to rid the land of evil. Deborah had this compassion for the enemy’s mother, expressed in the song, but she did not lift her hand to stop the battle until the enemy was thoroughly defeated.
And even within the same breath that Deborah spoke of having compassion for the enemy’s mother, Deborah ends the song with an imprecatory statement that all God’s enemies should meet a similar fate. I wrote in one of my earliest posts that imprecatory psalms were just as God-inspired as the rest of Scripture. We are to hate evil, and we must desire that evil be thoroughly destroyed. But… When we see a face instead of the evil monster, we are to love them as Jesus taught us to love our enemy. Can we not make that distinction? It seems the world has become soft on this point. God commands us. We are to continue to fight evil, while loving our enemies. Those concepts will often create conflict within our hearts. Let it not produce indecision in battle or the enemy will have won, and it will be our mothers in mourning.
Some Serendipitous Reflections
“Deborah and Barak, Judges 4: 1. Share a time in your life when you may have had a keen sense of God’s timing (as does Deborah). How does such foresight differ from the gift of prophecy?
“2. Where in your life do you wish you possessed Deborah‘s certainty and confidence? If God were to tell you something specific about the future, what one thing would you like him to tell you?
“3. When have you been under the leadership of a woman who called you forth to undertake new paths of ministry? Did you follow her lead? Or hold back? Why?
“Deborah’s Song, Judges 5: 1. Deborah was a prophet, a leader, and a songwriter. If you (or your parents) had to describe yourself in three words, which three would you choose? What is the story behind those words?
“2. Some tribes pitched in to help Deborah, while others did not. In your life, are people pitching in to help? How so? Where are you feeling somewhat abandoned?
“3. Other than for God, for whom would you likely compose a song of praise?
“4. What aspect of Deborah’s song would best fit your group’s experience? Try composing a song about God’s victory in your life. Is it singable?”
- Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups
There is one set of questions for each chapter. Both chapters are about Deborah as judge.
Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.
The second half of the first question 2 may tell us more about ourselves than we choose to admit. A follow up would be why do we want to know that?
The first question 3 could be work related rather than Christian service related. Even in a family, there are sometimes when the wife takes the lead.
A follow up to the second question 2 is: How did it work out delegating work to those who arrived to help? If, as in my experience, the ‘helpers’ sabotaged the project (unwittingly or on purpose?!?!), could you ever again trust people who ‘come to help?’ In not trusting your fellow man, how does that affect your trust in Jesus? And if so, in what way?
If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
Leave a Reply