Kings came, -- they fought; Then fought the kings of Canaan; At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; They took no spoil of silver.
Deborah's song turns from the tribes who came and the tribes who stayed home to the battle itself. Canaanite kings fought together on the plain by Megiddo, and the scene closes with one puzzling line about silver.
Megiddo was both a city and the valley around it. One writer gives its location, its other name, and what the "waters" were:
City and valley on the borders of Issachar and Manasseh. Joshua conquered it. Later it appears among the cities from which Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants... The rout of Sisera's army happened in this district, and at Megiddo Josiah fell when he rashly attacked Pharaoh Neco... The valley is also known as "the valley of Jezreel." The "waters of Megiddo" probably refer to the plentiful springs found in that district.
Notice the wording: not one king, but kings. What made the day memorable was not the size of the town but the odds:
It was not that Megiddo was a place of any great size or note. God looks at the principle at stake. Israel was in a low state. The Lord used a prophetess to fill them with courage. Encouraged by her, they won a great victory over their enemies.
Commentators differ over which side the last line describes. One reads it of the Canaanite kings, who marched out to plunder and came away empty. That writer sees the same reversal waiting for the world powers at the end. The quote below keeps the older wording, "no spoil of silver":
Like Jabin the king of Canaan and Sisera his commander in chief, the kings of the last days will take "no spoil of silver." Instead of plundering others, they will be plundered, just as Zechariah 14 prophesies.
Another reads it of Israel's own fighters, who took nothing for the risk they ran. His older wording is "they took no gain of money":
The song names Zebulun and Issachar in particular as Barak's allies, and as the ones who bore the brunt of the fight. It names Zebulun again with Naphtali, as a people who risked their lives. This was not from selfish motives, for "they took no gain of money."
The song describes the battle, but it does not hand the credit to the men who fought:
In verses 19-22 we have another mark of faithfulness. They do not boast in themselves or even think of themselves. They credit the victory to God alone, and proclaim its heavenly character.
Two writers connect this battle with the last gathering of the nations. One is cautious about the name Armageddon, but sure about the place it points to:
There may be doubt about the exact meaning of the word Armageddon, but there is none about the fact that it refers in some way to the valley of Megiddo. This is where God overthrew the most powerful Gentile oppressors, when He rose up to deliver His people... This is clearly a fine picture of the great battle still to come. Then Christ will come down from heaven to deliver His people, destroy His enemies, and set up His glorious rule.
The same plain later saw a day of mourning, when Josiah fell there in battle. One writer explains why the name Armageddon looks back to Deborah's day and not to that grief:
For Megiddo in the day of the Judges was a reminder of joy and triumph to Israel. In the time of Josiah it was a place of gloom; all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah... For this reason I think that Armageddon — that is, the mountain of Megiddo — refers not to the sorrow for Josiah, but to the gathering and defeat of the Gentile kings in Judges.
- Place. Taanach and the waters of Megiddo lie in one valley, also known as the valley of Jezreel. The "waters" are most likely its plentiful springs.
- Odds. Megiddo was no great city. What marks the day is that a people in a low state, stirred by a prophetess, beat a coalition of kings.
- Spoil. Commentators differ on the last line. Some read it of Canaan's kings, who came to plunder and got nothing. Others read it of Israel's fighters, who risked their lives for no pay.
- Credit. The fighters took no money and no glory. They gave the victory to God alone — the mark of faithfulness.
- Echo. The name Armageddon points back to this plain. Megiddo becomes a picture of the last gathering of the nations, where the plunderers are plundered.
From heaven was the fight; The stars from their courses fought with Sisera.
The song of Deborah and Barak looks back on a battle Israel's soldiers fought at the Kishon. Yet here the singers lift their eyes off the battlefield and describe a war fought from the sky, which raises the question: who really won the day?
The part of the song that describes the fighting never praises the fighters. One writer sees this as a mark of faithfulness:
In verses 19-22 we see another mark of faithfulness. They do not boast in themselves, or even think of themselves. They give the credit for the victory to God alone, and declare that it came from heaven.
The song then measures the defeat against the enemy's own strength:
Next comes the battle itself and the defeat of the enemy. Heaven and earth join together against the oppressors of God's people. Above, the stars in their courses fought against them. Below, the Kishon swept them away with its stream. The mighty ones showed what they were by the stamping of their frightened horses. Such is the strength of those who are with God: the mightier the foes, the greater the defeat.
Sisera's army could beat anything on the ground. The verse says he met something else. One writer connects this with the men who once demanded to know by what authority Jesus acted:
When the kings of Canaan fought, they found that the heavens fought against them, and the stars. This points to a spiritual authority higher than anything on earth — an authority Canaan was not ready to meet. It was earthbound men who challenged the authority of the Lord Jesus as He acted for God on earth... In the same way, heaven's authority defeated Sisera and his armies. Without this, Barak and his men could not have gained the victory.
Why call the stars fighters at all? One answer looks past this one battle:
Scripture shows that there is a mighty heavenly host, and rulers and powers in the unseen world. God is the God of them all. He is also God of all the forces of nature, which He has often used to punish His enemies. "From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera."
Another writer reads this as a pattern rather than a one-off:
In the days of Joshua the Lord threw down great stones from heaven on the enemy. In Deborah's time the very stars in their courses fought against Sisera. So it will be in the day to come. His thunderbolts will cause terrible destruction among the enemies of His people (Joshua 10:11; Judges 5:20).
The men who went into that valley on the strength of God's word were not left to manage alone:
Barak and his willing helpers would have been no match for the armies of Jabin. But they went out relying on the word of the Lord... God does not watch the battles of His people as an outsider with no interest in them. At the right moment He steps in with His heavenly resources and wins the victory for His own... And what was true of Israel is true of ourselves: we have never called in vain for the help of the Lord.
Samuel Ridout asks who it is that heaven fights alongside:
Where are those who are willing to lay down their lives for fellow believers, who have only one motive — the glory of Christ in the deliverance of His people? Such men are linked with heaven. In the bold imagery of the song, the stars in their courses fight with them, while on earth the river carries away the slain.
The song names Megiddo two verses earlier. One writer explains what that old battlefield pictures:
This is where the most powerful Gentile oppressors were overthrown, when God rose up to deliver His people... It is easy to see what a striking picture this gives of the great battle still to come. Then Christ will come down from heaven to deliver His people, destroy His enemies, and set up His glorious rule... The name Armageddon probably refers less to the place than to the character of their overthrow, pictured in the great battle "by the waters of Megiddo."
- Heaven fights. The song credits the win to a battle fought from above. The stars fought, and the fighters claimed no glory for themselves.
- Heaven outranks. Sisera's army could face any force on earth. It could not face an authority above the earth — the same authority that silenced the men who questioned Jesus.
- Heaven commands. God rules the unseen host and the forces of nature. He has often turned creation itself against His enemies.
- Heaven engages. He does not watch His people struggle from a distance. He steps in at the right moment with His own resources. No cry for His help has ever gone unanswered.
- Heaven returns. Writers read Megiddo as a preview of a final battle, when Christ descends to deliver His people and set up His rule.
The torrent of Kishon swept them away, That ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. My soul, thou hast trodden down strength!
The song of Deborah and Barak turns from the clash of kings to the ground they fought on. It credits the victory to a stream. What did a seasonal brook have to do with the fall of a powerful army? And why does the singer speak to her own soul?
Kishon was only a brook. Its flooding is what the song describes.
A brook that rises in the mountains of Esdraelon. It runs north-west to the Mediterranean, close to Mount Carmel. It was the scene of the victory of Deborah and Barak over the army of Sisera. The song pictures the river as "sweeping away" the enemy, which well describes the rushing torrent. When there is much water it is in places quite impassable.
God had named the place before the battle.
God had said He would influence Sisera to come to Kishon (ch. 4:7). It may be that the torrent literally swept many of his army away, perhaps because Israel's army had trapped them.
The name of the stream carries its own commentary.
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 people usually translate it as "winding." Other words come from the same root and are closely tied to it: "a bow" and "to lay a snare." So the name suggests a weapon of war, and the ambush that the schemer himself falls into. Kishon seems to be the place of his own choice for the battle. Into the pit which he had dug for others, he falls himself. Yet all had been foreseen and provided by God.
The verse before this one puts the stars in the fight. This verse puts the water in it.
Next we have the actual conflict and overthrow of the enemy. Heaven and earth unite against the oppressors of the people of God. The stars in their courses fought against them from above. The Kishon swept them away with its stream from below. The mighty ones showed themselves such by the stamping of their frightened horses. Such is the strength of those that are with God: the mightier the foes, the mightier only is the overthrow.
Israel's swords started the rout. The flood finished it.
Divine power was at work unseen for Deborah and Barak. But there was more: "The torrent Kishon swept them away." God stepped in and used the forces of nature to complete the defeat of Jabin's powerful army. … All the mighty power of the enemy is trodden beneath the feet of God's servant who trusts in Him. As for us, we should have no fear of our enemies. God has given us His armour so we can stand against every attack. And "the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet" (Rom. 16:20).
The closing line of the verse is addressed inward. The ESV reads it as a call to march on with might. Older translations read it as you have trodden down strength, and the writer quoted below works from that wording. Read that way, it is not a boast.
The honour had passed into the hand of a woman, for Israel was out of order. Wrongdoing had come in with a disturbing force. The remedy, if it was to come at all, had to come from God's own hand. And so it was. So in her magnificent song she sings — "O my soul, you have trodden down strength." It is a confession that the source of her strength and victory was all in God. In the power of the Spirit, and in that alone, she had fought the battle of the Lord and won.
Commentators see the battlefield itself pointing forward.
Judges 5:19-22 describes the great battle. It is a great battle mainly because of what it pictures. It was fought at Megiddo, and it pictures the time of slaughter in store for the nations. They will gather at Armageddon, just before the Lord Jesus sets up His kingdom on earth.
- Drawn — God had already said He would bring Sisera to Kishon; the enemy marched to a place chosen for him.
- Snared — the name comes from a root meaning to bend, linked to words for a bow and a trap. The ground Sisera chose became his own pit.
- Surrounded — the stars fought above and the stream swept below. Heaven and earth closed on the oppressors together.
- Swept — God used the forces of nature to finish what the swords began. So His servants need not fear their foes.
- Sung — Deborah tells her own soul that all the strength was God's. The whole battle previews the gathering of the nations at Armageddon.