Chapter 4
Deborah and Barak
4:1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD after Ehud died.
In what is becoming familiar words, we read that once again that the people of Israel did evil in the sight of YHWH after Ehud died. There is no reference to the nature of the sin, but we can assume that the offense was idolatry.
4:2 And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.
God sold (Hebrew yim·kerē’, to sell, to exchange) the people of Israel into the hand of Jabin the king of Canaan. The name Jabin is considered a dynastic name or title, which is why we see it again after reading Joshua’s victory that took place many years earlier (see Joshua 11:1-11). The city of Hazor is approximately nine miles north of the Sea of Galilee. We are introduced to the commander of the king’s army who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim a city next to the Kishon River below Mount Carmel near the Mediterranean Sea. A sizable kingdom had grown since Joshua’s conquest.
4:3 Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.
The people of Israel after being oppressed by Jabin for twenty years call out to YHWH. It is interesting to note that their biggest fear were the vast number of chariots, something that is irrelevant to God, but they finally reached their ‘breaking point’ and called for help.
4:4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment.
Next we are introduced to Deborah who was both a prophetess and a judge (handling disputes, etc.) at this time (concurrent with them being ruled by Jabin). She was married to Lappidoth, this is the first and last time we see his name in the Bible (it is a rabbinic tradition that Lappidoth, which means torches, is another name for Barak, which means lightning, but unfounded Biblically). When judging, she sat under a palm tree apparently named after her, which was located between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim.
4:6 She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. 7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?”
Deborah sent a message to Barak, the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali a city near Hazor in the Galilee region. The message was a question asking him if he received God’s command. The command was for Barak to gather (Hebrew mā·šǎḵ·tā’, implies drawing out slowly, perhaps to not call attention to what they are doing since Kedesh is near Hazor) men from the tribe of Naphtali and men from the tribe of Zebulun at Mount Tabor (southwest of the Sea of Galilee). Then God will draw out the general of Jabin’s army, Sisera, along with his army of chariots and fighting men to a location near the Kishon River where they will meet the Israelites, and God will give Barak victory. It’s almost as if Deborah was asking Barak, “Didn’t you get God’s message?”
4:8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”
Barak is hesitant to go, but why? Many believe that he acted cowardly, and that may be true, but unlikely. He will go into battle if Deborah goes with him, what will that accomplish for him? The Septuagint gives us a hint with this statement appended to this verse, “for I do not know the day in which the Lord will send his angel on a good journey with me.”[1] He was apparently unsure of the proper timing to attack, but if Israel’s judge and a known prophetess of God was with him to tell him when to go, he knew that would assure their victory.
4:9 And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.
Deborah agrees to go with him, but warns him that he will not receive the glory for this conquest, instead Sisera will be defeated by the hand of a woman (not who you think). The two went to Kedesh in Naphtali to gather the men as God instructed and had them assemble together at Mount Tabor.
4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.
Upon first reading of this verse, it may seem out of place, but it is providing background information for an event that will soon follow. In Judges 1:16 we were introduced to the Kenites, the group of Midianites that were “pro Israel” and lived among them in Arad, located in southeast Judah. But Heber was more “pro Canaanite” and moved to the oak in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
4:12 When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera called out all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon.
When Sisera heard about Barak going up to Mount Tabor, he ordered all of his men and the 900 chariots of iron from his headquarters in Harosheth-hagoyim to the Kishon River. The Kishon flows through the Jezreel Valley (also known as the plain of Esdraelon) from Mount Gilboa to the Mediterranean Sea just north of Mount Carmel.
4:14 And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the LORD go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him.
Deborah tells Barak, “Arise! For this is the day on which the LORD has handed Sisera over to you; behold, the LORD has gone out before you.” (Joshua 4:14b, NASB) The time to attack that Sisera wanted to know (see verse eight) was now, so he proceeded to descend Mount Tabor with his men following him.
4:15 And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.
As Barak approached the Canaanites, YHWH routed (Hebrew yā·hǒm, to make a noise, to confuse) Sisera and his men. The New Living Translation renders the first half of this verse, “When Barak attacked, the LORD threw Sisera and all his chariots and warriors into a panic.” (Judges 4:15a, NLT) And Barak and his men were able to pursue the chariots and the men all the way back to Harosheth-hagoyim (see verse two) and everyone from Sisera’s army was killed by the sword. We will read in the next chapter that the Kishon at this time became a torrent (Hebrew nǎ·ḥǎ, a torrential river flood) that swept Sisera’s men and chariots away (see Judges 5:21). But as for Sisera himself, he got away.
4:17 But Sisera fled away 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. 18 And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’ ” 21 But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. 22 And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.
Sisera was able to flee to the oak in Zaanannim (see verse eleven) where Jael, the wife of Heber, brought him into her tent and covered him with a rug. He told her to stand at the opening of the tent and if someone comes looking for him to say that no one else is there. Once Sisera fell asleep, Jael picked up a tent peg and a hammer and softly (Hebrew lāṭ, quietly, stealth) approached him. She then pounded the tent peg through Sisera’s head. Shortly afterwards Barak arrives and Jael greets him by saying, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” The prophecy spoken by Deborah regarding Sisera’s death was fulfilled as he died by the hand of a women (see verse nine).
4:23 So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. 24 And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
On that day God subdued (Hebrew yǎḵ·nǎ‛’, humbled) Jabin by destroying his army and its commander, allowing the people of Israel to push back against Jabin to the point of his destruction as well.
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[1] Pietersma, A., & Wright, B. G., eds. (2007). Judges. In P. E. Satterthwaite (Trans.), A New English Translation of the Septuagint (Primary Texts) (Jdg 4:8). Oxford University Press.