Judges 4:8

8 And Barak said to her, If thou comest with me, I shall go; if thou wilt not come with me, I shall not go.

Judges 4:8 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 4:8

And Barak said unto her
To Deborah, after she had delivered the words of the Lord unto him:

if thou wilt go with me, then I will go;
which showed faith hi the word of the Lord, for which he is commended, and a readiness to do the will of God, and courage to engage in such a work with a powerful adversary, and is therefore reckoned among the heroes for faith, ( Hebrews 11:32 ) ;

but if thou wilt not go with me, [then] I will not go;
which though it might discover some weakness in him, yet showed the high opinion he had of Deborah as a judge of Israel, and prophetess of the Lord; being desirous that he might have her with him to pray to God for him, to give him advice and counsel on any emergency, she being as the oracle God; and whereby he testified his regard to the Lord, and to his presence, which he concluded he should have, the prophetess being with him; and more especially his reason for insisting on her going with him might be to prevail upon the inhabitants of Naphtali and Zebulun to go with him, who he might fear would not believe him, or pay any regard to his words, and be in dread of engaging with the enemy, unless she was present; which he supposed would satisfy them as to the mind of God in it, and animate them, and give them heart and spirit.

Judges 4:8 In-Context

6 And she sent, and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, of Kedesh of Naphtali, and she said to him, The Lord God of Israel commanded to thee, (and said,) Go thou, and lead an host into the hill of Tabor, and thou shalt take with thee ten thousand of fighters of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun. (And she sent, and called for Barak, the son of Abinoam, of Kedesh of Naphtali, and she said to him, The Lord God of Israel commanded to thee, and said, Go thou, and lead an army to Mount Tabor, and thou shalt take with thee ten thousand fighting men of the Naphtalites and of the Zebulunites.)

7 And I shall bring to thee, in the place of the strand of Kishon, Sisera, the prince of Jabin's host, and his chariots, and all the multitude; and I shall betake them in thine hand. (And I shall bring to thee, at the Kishon River, Sisera, the leader of Jabin's army, and his chariots, and all the multitude; and I shall deliver them into thy hands.)

8 And Barak said to her, If thou comest with me, I shall go; if thou wilt not come with me, I shall not go.

9 And she said to him, Soothly I shall go with thee; but in this time the victory shall not be areckoned to thee; for Sisera shall be betaken into the hand of a woman (for Sisera shall be delivered into the hand of a woman). And so Deborah rose, and went with Barak into Kedesh.

10 And when Zebulun and Naphtali were called, Barak ascended with ten thousand of fighters (Barak went up with ten thousand fighting men), and had Deborah in his fellowship.