And the Lord discomfited Sisera and all [his] chariots, and
all [his] host
Frightened them, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, or disturbed them with a noise and tumult, as the word signifies; with a noise in the heavens, which were in their ears, as Abarbinel observes, like the noise of a large army, as was the case of the Syrians, ( 2 Kings 7:6 ) ; and they saw, he says, horses and chariots of fire, and the like, which terrified them; and all this he supposes was done before Barak descended from the mountain, so that he had nothing to do when he came but to pursue and kill, whereby it plainly appeared it was the Lord's doing. Josephus F9 says there was a great tempest of rain and hail, and the wind blew the rain in their faces, which so blinded their eyes, that their slings and arrows were of no use to them; and they that bore armour were so benumbed, that they could not hold their swords. Something of this kind is intimated by Deborah in her song, ( Judges 5:20 ) ; and this was accompanied or followed by a slaughter
with the edge of the sword before Barak;
the fright and dread they were put into was increased by the appearance of Barak, who fell upon them in their confusion, and cut them to pieces:
so that Sisera lighted down off [his] chariot, and fled away on his
feet;
being very probably swift of foot; and besides thought it safest to quit his chariot, which in the confusion was in danger of being run against by others; as also he might judge he should not be so easily discerned who he was when on foot, as a common soldier, as in his splendid chariot; and this he might do in his fright, not considering his horses were swifter than he: thus Homer represents a Trojan warrior leaping out of his chariot to escape Diomedes, and another as doing the same to get clear of Achilles F11.
The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.