And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-Naphtali, and said to him, Hath not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded? Go and draw towards mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun,
Jabin held the north of Israel, and Sisera's chariots made the odds look hopeless. The leader God used was a woman, and her message to Barak was not advice but a reminder: the order had already been given, down to the mountain, the tribes, and the number of men.
Deborah does not offer a plan. She asks a question Barak can only answer one way, and everything rests on who gave the order.
Deborah, true to her name, meets Barak with the Word: "Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you?" How reassuring this is! It ties the battle to the strength of Almighty God. What are "10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun" compared with the huge armies and chariots of Sisera? Ah, if the LORD, the God of Israel, has commanded, the battle is already won.
Barak is not being asked to weigh a plan. He is handed orders, with the result already stated.
There is not a single sign of doubt, uncertainty, or hesitation in this message from Deborah. It is as clear and distinct as it can possibly be. She said, "The LORD has commanded you, Barak, to go with those two tribes, Zebulun and Naphtali. He has even named the exact number to call out of those tribes. You are to go and fight, and the battle is won. The LORD will deliver him into your hand."
Deborah sends; Barak goes. The verse also names his home town, Kedesh, and that name carries its own weight.
It is feeble Deborah who sends and calls for Barak. If the word is to be effective, it must find an instrument, and it is not Deborah but Barak who is to go to war. He comes from Kedesh — one of the cities of refuge, and its name points to where true shelter is found. It means "the sanctuary of the wrestler" — Kedesh-Naphtali — and no wrestler comes out to victory unless his home is in the sanctuary.
A woman was giving the orders. That fact says something about the men of Israel, and her name says something too.
No man in Israel was able to take the place of judge among them, so a woman, Deborah, had taken this responsibility. This was not a normal state of affairs. But if men fail in their responsibility, God does not fail, and He will use a woman to do what He intends. Deborah's name means "the word," reminding us that it is by the word of God that our true deliverance comes.
The meeting place and the two tribes are not chosen at random. The men called up come from the very ground Jabin controlled.
Barak, with Deborah beside him, leads his little army of men from Zebulun and Naphtali to Mount Tabor. This was the territory Jabin mostly controlled. Zebulun suggests the abiding communion, and Naphtali the spirit of true conflict. They are, therefore, fittingly united. The mountain suggests the lifting up of soul that comes from communion. It lets a man look over the whole conflict widely and calmly. The "mount of purpose" is a fitting place to start such a conflict from, for God cannot use someone who wavers.
An order from God brings something with it. Barak did not count on it.
In this light, Barak's unbelief comes out clearly. If the command of God has been given, it is a pledge of His presence. What need then of the feeble instrument through whom that command had been given?
The way this victory came left no man able to claim it.
Clearly, from every side, the victory was entirely to the praise of God. As for the shape it took, man — Israel, the general and all — should have received it as a humiliation.
- Commanded — Deborah's question points back to an order already given. The authority is not hers but God's, and that settles the result before anyone draws a sword.
- Clear — the message names the place, the tribes, the number, and the result. Not one word of it hesitates.
- Called — the word must find an instrument. Deborah sends, Barak goes, and he comes from Kedesh, a city of refuge — no fighter wins unless he lives in the sanctuary.
- Coupled — Zebulun and Naphtali meet at Tabor, communion feeding conflict. The mountain is no place for a man who wavers.
- Credited — a command from God is a pledge of His presence. So the small force and the weak instruments leave all the praise with Him.
and I will draw unto thee, to the torrent Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, and his chariots and his multitude, and I will give him into thy hand.
Deborah brings Barak a message from God, and it is more than an order. God names the enemy, the place, the chariots and the ending, all before a single Israelite moves. That raises a question: if God has already settled the outcome, what remains for the man He calls?
God sends Barak against a force far larger than his own. One writer notes that the numbers stop mattering once you know who gave the order.
Deborah, true to her name, meets Barak with the Word: "Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded?" How reassuring this is! How it links with the strength of Almighty God. What are "ten thousand from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun" compared with Sisera's mighty armies and chariots? Ah, if the LORD God of Israel has commanded, the battle is already won.
In the next verse Barak asks for a companion before he will go. One writer weighs that request against the command.
In this light, Barak's unbelief comes out clearly. If God has given the command, it is a pledge of His presence. What need then of the feeble instrument through whom He gave that command?
God says He will draw Sisera out. Sisera will think he picked the battlefield himself, and the name of that place hints at what waits for him.
The scene of the conflict is at the river Kishon, where, at a later day, Elijah killed the false prophets (1 Kings 18:40). Its name comes from a root meaning to bend, and translators have usually given it as "winding." Other words from the same root are closely connected with it: "a bow" and "to lay a snare." So the name suggests a weapon of war, and the ambush that the trickster himself falls into. Kishon seems to be the place of his own choice for the battle. He falls into the pit he had dug for others. Yet God had foreseen and provided for all of it.
The river itself had a part in the victory. One writer links that back to this promise.
The river Kishon also has a part in this victory (Judges 5:21). God had said He would influence Sisera to come to Kishon (ch. 4:7). It may be that the torrent itself swept many of his army away, perhaps because Israel's army had trapped them.
Why would a man with that promise want company? One writer looks for the motive underneath.
What was Barak's motive at bottom? He was willing to depend on God, but not without a human and tangible prop as well. There are many such souls in Christendom. On their part there is so little sense of the presence of God, so slight a knowledge of His will, so little decision about the way they live. So, to go on in the path of God, they prefer leaning on another person to depending on Him alone.
God kept His word to give Sisera into Barak's hand — but not in the way Barak would have chosen. Every instrument He used was small and weak.
Again the people fell under the power of their enemies, and Jabin, king of Hazor, enslaved them. Scripture describes his oppression as "mighty."... God used an instrument, especially in the case of Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army: "a nail of the tent" — just an iron spike for holding the ropes. A woman directed Barak. With his ten thousand men he faced Jabin's mighty army and utterly defeated it, though nine hundred chariots of iron strengthened it. To crown the defeat, the great Sisera, the hero of so many victories, fell before a woman and a tent pin! Barak had heard beforehand that the venture he took up so unwillingly and fearfully would not be for his honour; and so it turned out. The very weakness and smallness of the means used made it clear that all the honour and glory was God's.
One writer reads Sisera as a picture of a greater enemy. His name says what that enemy does.
Sisera was the great leader, and his name means "he that binds with chains," and we are well aware that the great captive-maker is Satan himself. In the end something very weak destroyed him — a woman and a tent peg crushed his head and killed him, and Jesus, the woman's Seed, has crushed the serpent's head.
- Command. God's order carries His presence with it; once He has spoken, the battle is already decided.
- Draw. God moves the enemy as well as His own people — Sisera marches to Kishon thinking he picked the ground.
- Snare. Kishon's name suggests a bow and a trap; the schemer falls into the pit he dug, and God had foreseen all of it.
- Prop. Barak believed God, but he still wanted something he could see to lean on. One writer finds the same habit today.
- Glory. God kept His promise through a woman, a tent peg and a river, so no one could mistake whose victory it was.
And Barak said to her, If thou goest with me, then I will go, but if thou goest not with me, I will not go.
God has just given Barak a direct order through Deborah, with a promise: He will hand Sisera over to him. Barak's reply attaches a condition to it. Why would a man holding such a promise still need someone at his side, and what does God do about it?
Deborah did not bring Barak a suggestion. She brought a command that carried God's presence with it. That is why his hesitation stands out.
In this light, Barak's unbelief comes out clearly. If the command of God has been given, it is a pledge of His presence. Why then does he need the weak person through whom that command came? He had said, "I will draw to you ... Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand."
Barak does obey. But he will only go with someone else beside him.
He obeys. But he does not have the faith to go forward as a man who has heard directly from God and so needs no one else. Barak will not go without Deborah. But this lack of faith is nothing to his credit. Men will hold the place that matches the measure of their faith, and God will again be glorified through a woman. Barak has faith enough to obey if someone near him leans straight on God, but not enough to do it himself. This is too often the case. God does not reject him, but He does not honour him.
Barak's condition is not open unbelief. It is dependence on God plus something he can see, and one writer finds the same thing common today.
What was Barak's motive at bottom? He was willing to depend on God, but not without a human and tangible prop as well. There are many such souls in the Christian world. They have so little sense of God's presence, so little knowledge of His will, and so little firmness about how they live, that to keep walking in God's path they would rather lean on another person than depend on Him alone. The counsel of "spiritual directors" guides them, instead of the Lord, His Spirit and His Word. What if the leader they follow is wrong? But God, the Lord, His Spirit, His Word, are never wrong!
Barak's request did more than expose his own weakness. It also changed Deborah's position.
Barak's lack of character made him want to be the woman's helper, when Scripture makes her the helper of the man. He lowered the office God had set him in, and worse, he tried to take Deborah out of her place of dependence as a woman.
God does not cancel the victory. He moves the honour, and His answer matches the terms Barak set.
How slow we are to take in the thoughts of God, and how weak our faith often turns out to be when the hour of testing comes. If Barak will not act on the divine command without the support of a woman, then to a woman will be the chief honour in the hour of victory.
Barak's name appears later in a list of men of faith. One writer notes that its order is not the order of history.
In the book of Judges the names come in the order of history: Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson. In the letter the order follows the rank of faith: Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah. Is this change of order in the perfect word of God without a purpose? Gideon was a man whose heart and conscience had been searched. Barak's faith was so weak that he would not face the enemy without Deborah, and so he lost the honour God offered him.
The verse invites a verdict on Barak. One writer turns the verdict around on the reader.
And this in the face of a plain command! Ah, if we are inclined to blame Barak too harshly, let us include ourselves. How often have we held back, waiting for some weak human helper, some human strength to lean on, when the living God has given us His command.
- Command — God's order to Barak carried His presence with it. He needed nothing more to be sure of winning.
- Condition — Barak added a condition to that command, and so kept the place that matched the measure of his faith.
- Prop — His fault was not refusing God. He wanted God plus something visible to lean on — a human guide instead of the Lord, His Spirit and His Word.
- Consequence — The victory still came, but the chief honour went to a woman; God did not reject Barak, yet He did not honour him.
- Caution — Barak's name still stands on the list of the faithful. Before blaming him, count how often you have held back from a plain command of God.
And she said, I will by all means go with thee, only that it will not be to thine honour upon the way which thou goest, for Jehovah will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
God had given Barak a plain command through Deborah, and Barak answered that he would only go if she came with him. This verse is her reply: she will go, but the glory will not be his.
Barak had a plain command from God. He still would not move without a person at his side.
If God has given the command, it is a pledge of His presence. What need is there then of the weak instrument through whom that command came?… Barak clearly did not fully grasp this. He says to Deborah, "If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go." And this in the face of a plain command! If we are inclined to blame Barak too harshly, let us include ourselves. How often have we held back and waited for some weak instrument of nature, some human arm! And the living God had already given us His command.
The motive under Barak's condition is a common one.
What was Barak's motive at bottom? He was willing to depend on God, but not without a human and visible support as well. There are many such souls in the Christian world. They have so little sense of God's presence, so slight a knowledge of His will, and so little firmness about their own walk. So to keep going in God's path, they prefer leaning on another to depending on Him alone. What if the leader they follow is mistaken? But God, the Lord, His Spirit and His Word are infallible!
Deborah does not refuse him. God does not drop him from the work either. What changes is the share of credit he will carry away.
Barak will not go without Deborah. But this lack of faith is not to his credit. Men will keep the place that matches the measure of their faith; and God will again be glorified through a woman. Barak has faith enough to obey if he has someone near who can lean directly on God, but not enough to do so himself. This is too often the case. God does not reject him, but He does not honour him. In fact, it is by no means the same faith in God. And it is by faith that God is honoured.
Her words are not a bid for the leading role. She names the shame of the situation and still refuses to take a place that is not hers.
She sees that it would be to the shame of the leaders in Israel that God should give a post of public activity to a woman among them… But Deborah keeps the place God's Word assigns to woman. She does so in all her exercise of authority for God, to the confusion of this people made weak by sin. And her circumstances might have proved a great snare to her. Otherwise she would not have been a woman of faith. This chapter gives us the history of two women of faith, Deborah and Jael.
The prophecy is precise, yet Deborah herself is not filling in the details. Commentators note that she is not pointing at anyone in particular when she says it.
However, Deborah agreed to go, but not without rebuking his timidity, telling him that the glory of the victory would not be his, for she assured him, "the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman" (v. 9). This was a true prophecy, though Deborah was probably not thinking of Jael (vv. 17–21) when she spoke it.
The word "woman" lands twice in the story — first in Deborah, then in Jael, who kills Sisera in her tent.
"Another woman!" So on every side, the victory clearly belonged to the praise of God alone. In the shape it took, man — Israel, the general and all — should have received it as a humiliation.
The end of the battle matched Deborah's warning.
To crown the defeat, the great Sisera, the hero of so many victories, fell before a woman and a tent peg! Barak had been told beforehand that this venture would not be for his honour. He took it up reluctantly and timidly, and so it turned out. The very weakness and smallness of the means used made it clear that all the honour and glory was God's.
Barak lost the chief honour. That is not the last word on him.
Barak's faith is like that of many who can follow if someone else will lead, though they cannot take first place. It is very gracious of God to mention Barak in Hebrews 11:32. He puts him in the cloud of witnesses who had become victorious by their faith.
- Command. God's word to Barak was plain. Asking Deborah to come with him was hesitation in the face of a clear command.
- Condition. He had faith enough to obey if someone near him leaned on God, but not enough to lean there himself.
- Consequence. God did not reject him, but He did not honour him. A man keeps the place that matches the measure of his faith.
- Crown. Barak's condition moved the honour elsewhere. Sisera fell to a woman and a tent peg, and the small means made the glory God's alone.
- Grace. The story still names Barak among those who conquered by faith. God graciously remembers a man who could follow but could not lead.
And Barak called together Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and there went up at his feet ten thousand men; and Deborah went up with him.
Barak obeys. He calls two tribes to Kedesh, ten thousand men follow him, and Deborah goes up with them. Two questions sit inside the verse. Where did such a force come from? And why did a commander with a command from God still want a woman at his side?
One writer traces the willingness of those ten thousand men back to the same source as the order itself:
Since the Lord had given the command, He also moved the 10,000 men to respond to the call of Barak to arms (v. 10).
Set beside Sisera's armies and chariots, ten thousand men look few:
Deborah, true to her name, meets Barak with the Word: "Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded?" How reassuring this is! It links them to the strength of the Almighty. What are ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun next to the huge armies and chariots of Sisera? If the Lord God of Israel has commanded, the battle is already won.
Barak's home town matters. Kedesh was a city of refuge, a place people fled to for safety, and its name points to a sanctuary:
If the word is to have effect, it must find an instrument, and it is not Deborah but Barak who is to go to war. He comes from Kedesh — one of the cities of refuge. Its name points to where true shelter is found. Kedesh-Naphtali means "the sanctuary of the wrestler," and no wrestler can go out to victory unless his home is in the sanctuary.
Commentators differ on where the men actually gathered:
Some think Barak gathered his army not at Kedesh in Naphtali. They place it nearer to Mount Tabor and the river Kishon, where Sisera had his troops.
One writer reads the two tribe names, and the mountain they climbed, as a picture of what a believer needs before a fight:
Barak leads his little army of men from Zebulun and Naphtali to Mount Tabor, with Deborah beside him. This was the region where Jabin's power was strongest. Zebulun suggests abiding communion, and Naphtali the spirit of true conflict. So the two belong together. The mountain suggests that lifting up of soul which comes from communion. It lets a person take a wide and calm view of the whole conflict… The "mount of purpose" is the right place to begin such a conflict, for God cannot use one who wavers.
Her going was not wrong; his reason for wanting it was. One writer sees in Barak a man who believed God, but wanted something he could see as well:
He was willing to depend on God, but he also wanted a human support he could see and touch. There are many such people in the Christian world. They have so little sense of the presence of God, so slight a knowledge of His will, so little decision about their walk. So, to keep going in the path of God, they prefer leaning on another person to depending on Him alone.
The way this victory came left no room for anyone to boast:
At first sight you would not think it likely that a woman should be called out not only to direct men, but to direct them in a campaign — to direct the leader or general of the Lord's armies. So there must have been a clear and necessary reason why God arranged it this way… On every side, then, the victory was entirely to the praise of God. As for the way it came, man — Israel, the general and all — should have taken it as a humbling.
Yet the man who hesitated is not written off:
It is interesting that when we turn to Hebrews 11, it is Barak who is commended for his faith (v. 32). We cannot question the inspired word of God. Perhaps, if we had written it, we would have said Deborah deserved this praise for faith. But I think Barak was credited with it too, because in chapter 5 Deborah and Barak sang the song together.
- Command — the order came from God through Deborah, and a command from Him is already a pledge of the outcome.
- Response — the God who gave the command also moved ten thousand men to answer it. Obedience never has to raise its own army.
- Refuge — Barak gathered at Kedesh, a city of shelter; no one wins the fight whose home is not first in the sanctuary.
- Prop — Barak leaned on a helper he could see instead of on God alone; the victory still came, but not to his credit.
- Praise — a hesitant general and a small force left no room for boasting. The credit went to God, and Barak is still named among the faithful.
(Now Heber the Kenite had severed himself from the Kenites, from the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak of Zaannaim, which is by Kedesh.)
Judges 4 races toward a battle, then stops for one line about a family and a place. Heber had moved away from his relatives and pitched his tent near Kedesh. The detail looks small. Yet commentators read this move in opposite ways: was it a step toward God's people, or away from them?
Heber's roots lie in Midian, among the people Moses married into. That family had to decide what to do about Israel, and they did not all answer the same way.
This family came out of Midian and had ties to Moses. Its history is full of interest. Jethro visited Israel in the desert, then returned to his own land. Moses asked his son Hobab to be eyes for the children of Israel, and to guide them where they camped in the wilderness. Hobab refused. Yet his sons, like Caleb, faithfully followed in the steps of the people of God. Like Rahab, these children of a stranger among the nations went up out of Jericho, the city of palm trees, to cast in their lot with Israel. They stayed with Judah for good, as Ruth did.
The name of this spot has been read in two ways, and no one can now point to it on a map.
Instead of "the Plain of Zaanaim," a better translation is the "oak of Zaanaim." Judges 4:11. It is the same place as Zaanannim in Joshua 19:33. All we know is that it lay somewhere near Kedesh in Naphtali.
The note breaks into the account of Barak's ten thousand men. Heber's people were not Canaanites, and they were not Israelites. So where did this move place him?
The Lord had given the command, and He also moved the 10,000 men to answer Barak's call to arms (v. 10). At this point the report of verse 11 breaks in. Heber the Kenite came from the descendants of Moses' father-in-law. He had separated himself from the Kenites, and was now living near Kadesh. The Kenites did not belong to the peoples of Canaan, though they were not Israelites either. But Heber evidently decided to identify himself with Israel, and no longer with the Kenites.
Another writer looks at what the move saved Heber: quiet, while his people suffered.
Heber's act does not seem to have been one of faith. He separated himself from the people while they were low, so that he would not have to carry the burden of Israel's sad condition. On top of that, he was at peace with the open enemy of his people; and he had managed things so that Jabin never troubled him. But a weak woman lived under Heber's tent. She refused safety at such a price, and did not acknowledge an alliance with the enemy of her nation. Israel had undivided possession of her heart.
Others read the same move the other way. They weigh what the names mean, and they note that Heber was a foreigner, not bound by Israel's duties.
Heber's name means "companion." Yet he separates from his relatives and finds a refuge in Naphtali, close to Kedesh, which means "the sanctuary." So he suggests the opposite of what we saw in his relatives. He was a foreigner, so peace with Jabin did not lay him open to the charge of failure, as it would for an Israelite. But there is no guilty partnership with the commander of Jabin's army.
So what did Heber leave behind? His relatives had settled among God's people, but on their own terms.
They are the Midianite tribe out of which Moses' wife had come... and who, at Moses' invitation, had accompanied them into the land. But they never join themselves to the people of God, even though they settle among them. Balaam's prophecy views them as separate right to the end. The play on the name there — "you put your nest (ken) in the rock" — shows what it means. They are Midianites, men of the world, but not at war with Israel... they make a nest for themselves among them, and it is for the nest that they are there... All this describes only too well the state of many who attach themselves to the people of God in every age, yet are not of them.
- Kinship. Heber came from Hobab's family, outsiders from Midian. They left Jericho and threw in their lot with Israel, like Rahab and Ruth.
- Tent. The verse pauses the battle to record where one man pitched: away from his relatives, at the oak of Zaanannim near Kedesh, "the sanctuary."
- Dispute. Commentators differ. One sees Heber choosing Israel and finding refuge near the sanctuary. Another sees him dodging the burden of Israel's low condition.
- Price. Jabin never troubled Heber, because his house was at peace with Israel's enemy. That is safety bought by staying neutral.
- Verdict. Under that same tent lived a woman who refused safety at that price. Israel had all of her heart.
And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to mount Tabor.
One report reaches the enemy camp, and the armies begin to move. It reads like military intelligence, but commentators see a trap closing on the man who thinks he is setting it.
Sisera answers a small threat with his whole army. One writer traces the meaning hidden in the name of the river he picked for the fight:
Sisera, in his pride, hears of this gathering, and collects his mighty army to crush the feeble effort. The place of the conflict is the river Kishon, where Elijah later killed the false prophets (1 Kings 18:40). Its name comes from a root meaning "to bend," and people have usually taken it as "winding." Other words from the same root stand close to it — "a bow" and "to lay a snare." So the name suggests the weapon of war, and the ambush into which the schemer himself falls. Kishon seems to be the place of his own choice for the battle. He falls into the pit he had dug for others. Yet all had been foreseen and provided by God.
The report carries one detail: where Barak went. The same writer draws out what that mountain, and the two tribes who climbed it, stand for:
Barak, with Deborah, leads his little army from Zebulun and Naphtali up to Mount Tabor. This was the territory where Jabin mainly held power. Zebulun suggests abiding communion, and Naphtali the spirit of true conflict. So the two belong together. The mountain suggests that lifting up of soul which comes from communion. It lets a man take a wide and calm view of the whole conflict… Some have given its meaning as "purpose," and that would fit its spiritual sense well. The "mount of purpose" is a fitting place to begin such a conflict, for God cannot use one who wavers.
Sisera thinks he is the one reacting. Another writer turns that around: it was God who drew him down to the water, and Sisera's end was already assigned:
Here God draws Sisera to the stream Kishon which is to sweep his army away. Sisera himself is reserved to fall by the hand of the woman.
On paper the report gives Sisera every advantage. One writer weighs those chariots against the God of Israel:
Sisera heard that Barak and his men were on the move. He was well prepared, with an army that included 900 chariots of iron (vv. 12-13). But this was nothing to the God of Israel, and Deborah's faith did not flinch. Her words to Barak were firm and clear. She told him to act at once, for this was the day the Lord had given Sisera into Barak's hand. "Does not the Lord go out before you?" — these words gave Barak strong encouragement (v. 14).
The report names the man: "Barak the son of Abinoam." Scripture is kind to that name:
Barak's faith is like that of many who can follow if someone else will lead, though they cannot take first place. God is very gracious to name Barak in Hebrews 11:32. He stands there in the cloud of witnesses who won their victory by faith.
The report set a huge army marching. One writer describes what met it, and who took the credit:
A woman gave the direction, and Barak and his ten thousand men faced Jabin's mighty army and completely defeated it, though it had nine hundred chariots of iron… To crown the defeat, the great Sisera, the hero of so many victories, fell before a woman and a tent pin! Barak had been told in advance that this task, which he took up so unwillingly and fearfully, would not be for his honour. And so it turned out. The means God used were weak and small, and that made it plain that all the honour and glory was God's.
- Told — one report about Tabor set Sisera's whole force moving. He thought he was the hunter: "He falls into the pit he had dug for others."
- Drawn — the march to Kishon was God's, not Sisera's: "Here God draws Sisera to the stream Kishon which is to sweep his army away."
- Elevated — commentators read Tabor as "the mount of purpose," a place of calm view over the battlefield, "for God cannot use one who wavers."
- Outnumbered — nine hundred iron chariots "was nothing to the God of Israel." Deborah's question steadied Barak: "Does not the Lord go out before you?"
- Outshone — Barak could follow but not lead. God named him among the faithful anyway, and won the battle by means so slight that "all the honour and glory was God's."
Then Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth-Goim to the torrent Kishon.
Sisera hears that Barak is on the move. His answer is to empty Harosheth-hagoyim of every fighting man and every chariot he owns, and march them down to the Kishon. The verse raises two questions the rest of the chapter answers. What can ten thousand men with no weapons do against nine hundred iron chariots? And who really chose the battlefield?
Sisera moves fast and holds nothing back. One writer sets that muster beside the answer Deborah gave it.
Sisera heard of the movement of Barak and his men. He was well prepared, with an army that included 900 chariots of iron (vv. 12-13). But this was nothing to the God of Israel, and Deborah's faith was undaunted. Her words to Barak were firm and decided. She told him to act at once, for this was the day the Lord had delivered Sisera into Barak's hand.
The contrast is sharper than a headcount suggests. On one side, chariots of iron; on the other, a nation stripped of arms and leadership.
It was a day of great weakness. The song of Deborah shows it, when she said, "Was shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel?" Besides, a woman judged Israel — "Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth." When rule is in a woman's hand, it is evidence that the man has failed.
The name of Sisera's base carries a meaning of its own.
Barak comes from Kedesh, the sanctuary. In sharp contrast stands the home of the warlike Sisera — Harosheth of the Gentiles, "Artifice of the Gentiles." The word may still hold the thought of cutting out, or doing a craftsman's work. But it also seems to carry the suggestion of deceit, so common in the building of human systems of thought — "by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes" (Eph. 4:14). Anyone outside the sanctuary lies open to all this artifice.
Sisera picked the battlefield himself. The name of the river tells what came of it.
Sisera, in his pride, hears of Barak's gathering, and collects his mighty host to crush the feeble effort. The place of the battle is the river Kishon. Its name comes from a root meaning to bend, and most render it "winding." Other words from the same root are closely connected with it: "a bow" and "to lay a snare." So the name suggests a weapon of war, and the ambush into which the man of cunning himself falls. Kishon seems to be the place of his own choice for the battle. He falls into the pit he had dug for others. Yet all had been foreseen and provided by God.
One writer reads the whole scene as a picture of a greater captor broken. Sisera's name and the way he died both carry the point.
Sisera was the great leader, and his name means "he that binds with chains," and we are well aware that the great captive-maker is Satan himself. In the end something very weak destroyed him. A woman and a tent peg crushed his head, even to death. And JESUS, the woman's Seed, has bruised the serpent's head.
The mismatch was not an accident of history. It was the point.
A woman directed them. Barak and his ten thousand men faced Jabin's mighty host and defeated it completely, though nine hundred chariots of iron strengthened that host. "All the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left" is the brief record of Scripture. To crown the defeat, the great Sisera, the hero of so many victories, fell before a woman and a tent pin! Barak had been told beforehand: the task he began so reluctantly and timidly would not bring him honour. And so it turned out. The very weakness and smallness of the means used made it clear that all the honour and glory was God's.
- Drawn out. Sisera gathers all nine hundred chariots and all his people, yet the move only brings him to the battlefield God had foreseen and provided.
- Drawn down. He chose the Kishon himself. Its name is tied to bending and to laying a snare, and he fell into the pit he dug for others.
- Drawn from Harosheth. His base, "Artifice of the Gentiles," marks him as a power of craft and deceit, and anyone outside the sanctuary lies open to it.
- Drawn against nothing. Israel had no shield or spear among forty thousand. So the contest was never army against army. It was iron against the God of Israel.
- Drawn to one conclusion. The smallness of the means — ten thousand men, a woman, a tent peg — left all the honour and glory God's.
And Deborah said to Barak, Up; for this is the day in which Jehovah hath given Sisera into thy hand! Is not Jehovah gone out before thee? And Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
Sisera had massed nine hundred iron chariots at the foot of the hill, and Barak had ten thousand men on foot. Deborah names the day and gives Barak a question instead of a battle plan, and that question points to Someone already in the field ahead of them.
Deborah did not weigh the odds before speaking. The chariots counted for nothing against the word she carried:
Sisera, hearing of the movement of Barak and his men, was well prepared with an army including 900 chariots of iron (vv. 12-13). But this was nothing to the God of Israel, and Deborah's faith did not waver. She spoke to Barak firmly and clearly, telling him to act at once, for this was the day the Lord had handed Sisera over to him.
The verse speaks of Sisera as already given over, before a blow falls:
How reassuring this is! It ties them to the strength of Almighty God. What are ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun next to the huge armies and chariots of Sisera? Ah, if the Lord God of Israel has commanded, the battle is already won.
God did not send them out alone. One writer sets Deborah's words in a long line of times when God took the field with His people:
When they were in the Egyptian furnace, He was in the burning bush. When they travelled through the desert, He was in the chariot of cloud. When they camped outside the hostile walls of Jericho, He was the captain of their army. Later He was in the field with the judges, the deliverers of Israel. So Deborah encourages Barak: "Up! Does not the LORD go out before you?" Here is sympathy.
Barak had refused to move unless Deborah came with him. Commentators call that a failure to trust the command he already had:
If the command of God has been given, it is a pledge of His presence. Why then did he need the weak person who brought him that command? He had said, "I will draw to you… Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand."
The same writer turns the point on his readers:
If we feel ready to blame Barak too harshly, let us include ourselves. How often have we held back for some feeble instrument of nature, some arm of flesh, when the living God has given us His command.
Barak had to leave the high ground for the valley where the chariots waited. His men came from the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, and one writer finds meaning in both the tribes and the mountain:
Zebulun suggests the abiding communion, and Naphtali the spirit of true conflict. They are, therefore, fittingly united. The mountain suggests the lift of soul that comes from communion with God. From there a person can survey the whole conflict widely and calmly… The "mount of purpose" is a fitting place to enter a conflict like this, for God cannot use someone who wavers.
Sisera chose the Kishon valley as ideal chariot country. The name itself carries a warning:
Its name comes from a root meaning to bend, and people usually translate it as "winding." Other words from the same root stand close to it — "a bow" and "to lay a snare." So the name points to the weapon of war, and to the ambush that the trickster himself falls into. Into the pit which he had dug for others, he falls himself. Yet all had been foreseen and provided by God.
Barak hesitated, so the final blow would fall to a woman. Commentators see God's design in that:
Another woman! So on every side the victory went wholly to the praise of God. And as far as its form went, man, Israel, the general and all should have taken it as a humbling.
One writer reads the whole battle as a picture of a greater defeat:
Sisera was the great leader, and his name means "he that binds with chains," and we are well aware that the great captive-maker is Satan himself. In the end something very weak destroyed him. A woman and a tent peg bruised his head and killed him. And Jesus, the woman's Seed, has bruised the serpent's head.
- Command. God's order is not a call for volunteers to try their luck. When He has commanded, the battle is already won.
- Presence. The command is a pledge of His presence; He goes out ahead, in the field with His people, not watching from a distance.
- Descent. Faith leaves the safe height. From the mount of settled purpose it goes down into the valley where the chariots wait.
- Trap. Sisera chose Kishon himself and fell into the pit he had dug for others — all of it foreseen and provided by God.
- Praise. Barak leaned on a person instead of the word, so the honour went elsewhere. God shaped the victory so that all the praise went to Him.
And Jehovah discomfited Sisera, and all the chariots, and all the army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera got down from [his] chariot, and fled on foot.
Ten thousand Israelites faced a trained army with nine hundred iron chariots at the river Kishon. This verse gives the result in one stroke: the Lord won the battle, and the enemy commander ended the day on foot.
The verse names the Lord as the one who routed Sisera. It also says the rout came "by the edge of the sword," and that it happened "before Barak." Both are true at once. God won the day, and the swords of Israel were His tool. One writer adds the weather to the picture.
The Lord routed Sisera and his chariots and his army by the swords of the Israelites. It seems a severe storm and the flooding of the river Kishon completed the overthrow (Judges 4:6–17; Judges 5:20–21).
Deborah's song looks higher than the two armies. It puts the stars above and the river below on Israel's side.
Heaven and earth unite against the oppressors of the people of God. The stars from their courses fought against them above; the Kishon swept them away with its stream below... Such is the strength of those who are with God: the mightier the foes, the mightier only is the overthrow.
On paper, the numbers settled the matter before the fighting began.
The Canaanite army is enormous, nine hundred war chariots in front... but, as Alaric said to the Romans, "The thicker the grass, the easier it is mown." God was not "on the side of the big battalions" that day... The brave warriors of Zebulun and Naphtali break the line of iron chariots. Sisera leaps down and runs.
The name of the river hints at what Sisera's choice of battlefield would cost him.
Its name comes from a root meaning to bend, and is usually translated "winding." Other words from the same root are closely tied to it — "a bow" and "to lay a snare." So the name suggests a weapon of war, and the trap into which the schemer himself falls. Kishon seems to be the place he chose himself for the battle. He falls into the pit he had dug for others. Yet God had foreseen and provided it all.
The verse leaves us with a picture of human strength collapsing: the man with the chariots leaves the field on foot.
When the feeble are with God, what a mighty victory they win over the power of reason and the strife of tongues! Man's arrogant pride is humbled, Sisera the leader flees away on foot. Barak and his men chase the fleeing hosts and destroy them all, not leaving one. Where is all the proud strength, the boasted resources of the mind of man?
Look at what God used to break Jabin's mighty army.
Directed by a woman, Barak and his ten thousand men faced Jabin's mighty host and crushed it, even though nine hundred chariots of iron strengthened it. "All the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left" is the terse record of Scripture. To crown the defeat, the great Sisera, the hero of so many victories, fell before a woman and a tent peg!... The very weakness and insignificance of the means used made it clear that all the honour and glory was God's.
- The Lord routed. Scripture gives the victory to God, though it came by the sword — Israel's soldiers were His tool, not the cause.
- The Lord commands all. Heaven and earth joined against the oppressors of His people — the stars above, the river Kishon below.
- The Lord outmatches. Nine hundred iron chariots gave Sisera no advantage — the mightier the foe, the mightier the overthrow.
- The Lord traps. Sisera chose Kishon himself and fell into the pit he had dug for others — his own planning served God's foreseen purpose.
- The Lord keeps the glory. A woman leading, ten thousand men, a tent peg at the end — the means were so weak that the honour could belong to no one but God.
And Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth-Goim; and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not one was left.
Barak's men chase the beaten chariots back to the city they came from, and not one of Sisera's soldiers survives. Two questions follow: why was the defeat so total, and why is the one name everyone remembers missing from the dead?
Sisera came out with every soldier he could raise. It made no difference to the result:
The conflict begins at once. The free and independent movement of the Spirit of God alarms the enemy at once. Sisera gathers all his forces against Israel. But the battle is the Lord's, and the outcome was never in doubt. The host is routed and wiped out, and Sisera flees away alone to the tent of Jael.
Harosheth was not a random place to stop. It was Sisera's home base, the town he had ruled from during the twenty years of oppression:
The city where Sisera lived. At his defeat Barak pursued the enemy to this city.
The name itself is read as a description of what Sisera stood for, and as the opposite of Kedesh, the "sanctuary" town Barak's men had mustered from:
What a contrast is the home of the warlike Sisera — Harosheth of the Gentiles, "Artifice of the Gentiles." This may not rule out the idea of carving or of a craftsman's work, but the word also seems to suggest deceit. Such deceit is common in the building of human systems of thought — "human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes" (Ephesians 4:14). If someone is outside the sanctuary, he is exposed to all this scheming.
The verse says the army was wiped out. It does not say the same about the man who led it:
With the Lord going before them, the victory was certain and decisive. Sisera, his chariots and his whole army were totally routed (v. 15). Sisera himself left his chariot and fled on foot. He seems to have escaped Israel's notice, but apart from him "not a man was left" of the entire Canaanite army (v. 16).
Sisera's escape kept the full victory out of Barak's hands. One writer explains why:
So the full victory will not be his; Sisera will fall by the hand of Jael, a weak woman. How our blessed God would check, with a holy jealousy, every attempt to take His place — even by the instrument He is pleased to use.
Ten thousand foot soldiers faced nine hundred iron chariots, and a woman gave the orders:
Directed by a woman, Barak and his ten thousand men faced Jabin's mighty army and crushed them, though nine hundred iron chariots strengthened that army. "All the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left" is Scripture's brief record. To crown the defeat, the great Sisera, the hero of so many victories, fell to a woman and a tent peg! Barak had been told beforehand that this venture would not be for his honour. He took it up with reluctance and fear, and so it turned out. The very weakness and smallness of the means used made it clear that all the honour and glory belonged to God.
The destruction of a proud army is drawn out as a lesson about human strength, not just a piece of military history:
When the weak are with God, what a mighty victory is won over the power of reason and the strife of tongues! Man's arrogant pride is humbled, and Sisera the leader flees away on foot. Barak and his men chase the fleeing armies and destroy them all, leaving not one. Where now is all the proud strength, all the boasted resources of the mind of man?
One writer reads the whole episode as a picture of a larger defeat:
The Canaanites, with Sisera as captain of their armies, picture the devil and his power, and in the victory of Deborah and Barak we shall see the way the devil has been, and still may be, a defeated foe.
- Certain — The battle belonged to the Lord. The result was settled before the armies met.
- Pursued — Barak chased the chariots back to Harosheth, Sisera's own city. Its name speaks of craft and deceit.
- Complete — Not a man of the army was left. The power that had oppressed Israel fell in one day, and man's proud strength with it.
- Excepted — One man slipped away. Barak had been told the honour of that day would not be his, and it fell to Jael instead.
- Credited — A reluctant leader, a woman's direction, and a tent peg: the means were so weak that the glory could only be God's.
And Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Judges 4 ends with a beaten general on foot. Verse 17 turns from the battlefield to a private tent, and to a household that had stayed out of the war. The peace between Jabin and Heber's house is what sends Sisera walking toward Jael.
Heber's household had a standing peace with the king Sisera served. So the tent looked like the safest door in the country.
Israel crushed Sisera, the commander of the Canaanites. He managed to escape alone and find the tent of Heber the Kenite (v. 17). He thought Heber was friendly to him, because at that time there was no conflict between Heber and Jabin.
Heber had moved away from his own people and settled in the north. One writer reads the treaty as the price he paid for a quiet life.
Heber's act does not look like an act of faith. He separated himself from the people while they were brought low, so that he would not carry the responsibility for Israel's sad condition. What is more, he was at peace with the open enemy of his people, and he had arranged things so that Jabin left him alone. But a weak woman lived in Heber's tent. She refused safety at such a price, and she would not acknowledge any alliance with the enemy of her nation. Israel had her whole heart.
Commentators differ here. Another writer answers that Heber was not an Israelite. A treaty with Jabin did not make him guilty the way it would have made Israel guilty.
Heber's name means "companion," yet he separates from his own relatives and finds a refuge in Naphtali, close to Kedesh, which means "the sanctuary." So he pictures the opposite of what we saw in his relatives. As a foreigner, he could be at peace with Jabin without opening himself to the charge of failure, as it would have been for Israel. But there is no guilty partnership with the commander of Jabin's army.
Whatever the treaty meant, God used the person with no standing and no army. One writer sets her beside Rahab, the woman of Jericho who hid Israel's spies.
God used Heber's wife Jael, and not Heber himself. Her faith ties her to the people of God and makes their enemies her own. Like Rahab, she sees where God's truth is and acts on it — though, like Rahab, her faith may be so weak that it shows itself in deception. Notice the lesson repeated all through this book: the way to power runs through weakness, and God will only use the instrument weak enough to hand itself over to Him.
The verse sends Sisera to a tent, not a house. One writer reads that detail as a picture of how God's people live.
Jael is a woman, and she kills Sisera with her tent peg. The tent speaks of a pilgrim life, and a tent is a good house to live in while the Lord is not yet here. It is the only place for a pilgrim to live. A tent means being outside the way things are set up here. People want everything to speak of solidity and permanence — the exact opposite of living in a tent.
Jael later killed the man who took shelter in her tent. Writers judge that act differently. One says the time of war justifies her.
If she had acted from selfish motives, this would have been murder. But Sisera was an oppressor of the people of God, and it was a time of war. So the Lord approved of her killing this enemy of God.
Another accepts the faith behind the act while refusing to sign off on the act itself.
We must beware of giving divine approval and endorsement to what was done here, and above all to Jael's deed in its detail. It was an act of courage and of faith. Faith moved her, and that faith led her to kill Sisera, the enemy of Israel.
- Flight — Sisera arrives on foot and alone. He heads for the one household in the north with no quarrel with his king.
- Treaty — the peace between Jabin and Heber is the hinge of the verse. One writer calls it an escape from responsibility. Another says a non-Israelite could hold it without blame.
- Tent — the shelter Sisera trusted was a pilgrim's home. It stands outside the settled order that people build for permanence.
- Weakness — the husband had the treaty; the wife had the faith. God used the instrument weak enough to leave itself in His hands.
- Verdict — commentators divide over the killing. One says the Lord approved it in a time of war. Another says her faith was real, but warns us not to endorse the deed in its detail.