EXPOSITION. the not uncommon sense of mme than mean CHAPTER V. ing here louder than. The eh ief dilferen t Ver. 1.-Then sang Deborah, &c. ·fhe senses which emerge are--(1) that of the ode which follows was doubtless the com- A. V. : "Those that can now draw water position of Deborah the prophetess, and was from the wells without being molested bv sung by her (as the gender of the Hebrew the hostile archers shall sing praises to Goel verb indicates), assisted by Barak, who per- in the very spots where they were wont to haps sang the antistrophe (cf. Exod. xv. be attacked." (2) " Far from the noise 1, 21 ). It is a. song of wonderful beauty and tumult of those that divide the spoil 1tnd lyric power, somewhat difficult, as all among the water-troughs, there shall they Hebrew poetry is. sing," &c. (3) "With a louder voice thnn Ver. 2.-Her first feeling was one of patri- that of the shepherds who sing among the otic joy that her countrymen bad been roused water-troughs (while they are watering their to the venture of war, and of gratitude to flocks), them shall they rehearse," &c. Or, ( 4) God that it was so. " For the bold leading combining (2) and (3), "With a voice louder of the leaders of Israel, for the willing fol- (and more exultant) than that of those ,vho lowing of the people, praise ye the Lord." divide the spoil, there shall they rehearse," Ver. 3.-Her song was worthy to be &c. The inhabitants of his villages. Ren- listened to by kings and princes. She calls der his lea.ders, as in ver. 7. Then ahe.11 their attention to the tale she bad to tell of the people .. go down to the gates of tha the great acts of the Lord. cities for judgment, or to the bazaars, as in Vers. 4, 5.-The recent victory recalled old times, without fear of their enemies. the glories of those days when God brought Ver. 12.-Awe.ke, &c. She seems to go up Israel from Egypt into Canaan. She back in tbonght to the moment when she specifies the march from Seir or Hor, and the received the Divine call to her mission of day when Mount Sinai was altogether on a deliverance, and executed it by the voice of smoke, and the whole mount quaked greatly. her stirring prophecies. Then she lashed Ver. 6.-From what misery God had saved her soul into action, and roused Barak from the people ! In the days of her predecessor his lethargy by the promise of spoil and Sbamgar, when the Philistines overran the victory. country, when Heber the Kenite still dwelt Ver, 13.-Tben he gave dominion to a in the south of Judah, all traffic ceased in mere remnant of Israel over the powerful the land. The caravans were stopped, and among the people of Canaan, the Lord ~va travellers slunk into the by-ways. me dominion over the mighty men of Jabin. Ver. 7.-Instea.dof The.inhabitants of the Ver. 14.-Tbey who spring (whose root is) villages ceased, some render the leaders from Ephraim went against Amalek, follow- ceased. Till Deborah a.rose and stirred up ing thee, 0 Benjamin, with thy people ; Barak, there was no one to put himself at from Manasseh (Macbir, son of Manasseh, the head of the people. Gen. l. 23) came down governors (literally, Ver. 8.-Tbe cause of this misery was not lawgivers: cf. ver. 9), and out of Zebulun far to seek; it was the idolatry of the people they that handle the baton of the com- which provoked God to anger. Then their mander, i. e. the military chiefs. enemies were let loose upon them, and they Ver. 15.-Re we.s sent on foot into the dared make no resistance. valley. It was a mark of extraordinary Vor. 9. -What o. contrast with that faint- valour that be rushed down from Mount hearted submission was the recent triumphant Tabor on foot against the 900 iron chariots rising ! Exultation and thanksgiving for in the plain (eh. iv. 14). For the divisions, the devotion of the people break out again, &c. Or, among the water-brooks, i. e. the as in ver. 2. Roubenites, dwelling amidst their flocks Ver. 10.-She appeals to the nobles who among the water-brooks, were much per- ride on white (or roan) o.sses, o.nd sit on rich plexed with doubts whether they shoulu. stay saddle-cloths (not sit in judgment), and to still or join their countrymen. the people who walk by the way, alike to Ver. 17.-In ships. The celebrated har- speak of the great deliverance. bour of Joppa (Jouah i. 3), no,v Jaffn, Wa.'! Ver. 11.-A very difficult verse, and very in the tribe of Dan. Ria breaches. The variously rendered. For archers some give creeks e.nd bays where they kept their fishing- \he interpretation dividers, i. e. MEN SHARING boats. THE BOOTY THEY HAVE TAKEN; or, SINGING Ver. 19.-The kings ea.me and fought IN ALTERNATE VERSES. For they that are (cf. Josh. xi. 1, 2, 5). They took no ge.in delivered from, some render far away from. of money. These words may mean, (I) they Others again take the preposition from in did not stop to pluntler, they were iutent 46 THE BOOK OF JUDGES. [err. v, 1-31.
only upon slaughter; or, (2) they took no of .J nel the Kenite, nnd blesses her for it as T!lnsorn for their enemies' lives ; or, (8) they emphatically as she curses the inhabitants of got nothing by their fighting, for they were l\leroz. all kiUed themselves. Ver. 25.-A lordly dish. A dish fit for Ver. 20.-According to Josephus, a great princes ; perhaps one reserved for the most storm in the face of the Canaanites led to illustrious guests. their utter discomfiture, and also swelled the Ver. 26.-With the hammer. These words Kishon to overflow its banks. are not in the Hebrew, and should be omitted. Ver. 21.-Ancient. The word so rendered She smot,e (not smot,e off), yea, she wownded is only found here. The brook of amcient (Psalm lxviii. 21); she p-ierced through his days, or things, frobably means the brook t-emples. celebrated from o old by the warlike deeds Ver. 80.-Sped, i. e. come across some done on its banks. booty. For the neoks of them that take Ver. 22.-Their mighty ones. Applied ~he sp~il. Literally, for the necks of spoil. It to bulls, Ps. xxii 12, &c. ; and to horses 1s a difficult and obscure expression. The (A. V., h-is strong ones), Jer. viii. 16 ; his spoil may mean the camels, horses, or mules str011g horses, J er. xlvii. 8. taken from the enemy, and the articles de- Ver. 23.-?tleroz, in the time of Jerome scribed may mean the housings and trap- Merrus, a village otherwise unknown, twelve p~~s for their necks. Or the necks of spoil miles from Samaria. The mighty. Not the might mean the necks of the beasts of burden same word as that so rendered in ver. 22, laden with spoil. but that usually rendered a mighty man, or Ver. 81.-A fine application of the whole a -man of war. suhject ! Each such victory was a foretaste Ver. 24. - lllessed above women, &c. of the final victory over sin and death, and "With the selfish indifference of the men of of the glory of the redeemed Church. l\leroz she contrasts the valorous enthusiasm