Judges 4:2-13

2 So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim.

3 Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help.

4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading^[a] Israel at that time.

5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided.

6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor.

7 I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’ ”

8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

9 “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.

10 There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law,^[b] and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.

12 When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,

13 Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.

Judges 4:2-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 4

This chapter shows how that Israel sinning was delivered into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, by whom they were oppressed twenty years, Jud 4:1-3; and that Deborah and Barak consulted together about their deliverance, Jud 4:4-9; and that Barak, encouraged by Deborah, gathered some forces and fought Sisera the captain of Jabin's army, whom he met, and obtained a victory over, Jud 4:10-15; who fleeing on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, was received into it, and slain by her while asleep in it, Jud 4:16-22; which issued in a complete deliverance of the children of Israel, Jud 4:23,24.

Cross References

• 1. S Deuteronomy 32:30
• 2. S Joshua 11:1
• 3. ver 13,16; 1 Samuel 12:9; Psalms 83:9
• 4. S Joshua 17:16; Judges 1:19
• 5. Judges 10:12; Psalms 106:42
• 6. Jdg 5:1,7,12,15
• 7. S Exodus 15:20
• 8. 1 Samuel 14:2; 1 Samuel 22:6
• 9. S Joshua 18:25
• 10. S Joshua 12:9; Genesis 35:8
• 11. Jdg 5:1,12,15; 1 Samuel 12:11; Hebrews 11:32
• 12. S Joshua 12:22
• 13. S Genesis 30:8
• 14. Judges 5:18; Judges 6:35
• 15. S Joshua 19:22
• 16. S Joshua 11:1
• 17. ver 13; Judges 5:21; 1 Kings 18:40; Psalms 83:9
• 18. S Judges 1:2
• 19. S Joshua 12:22; ver 21; Judges 2:14
• 20. 2 Chronicles 36:23; Ezra 1:2; Isaiah 41:2; Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 45:3; Isaiah 46:11; Isaiah 48:15; ver 14; Judges 5:15,18
• 21. S Genesis 15:19; Judges 1:16
• 22. Numbers 10:29
• 23. Joshua 24:26; Judges 9:6
• 24. Joshua 19:33
• 25. S Joshua 19:22
• 26. S Joshua 17:16; ver 3
• 27. S ver 7; Judges 5:19

Footnotes

• [a] Traditionally "judging"
• [b] Or "father-in-law"