Judg 5:1-18 · Read 6 min · think and write 20 min
On that day at the river Kishon, “The LORD confused Sisera, all his chariots, and all his army” (Judg 4:15). “So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel on that day” (Judg 4:23). This is in Lesson 2.
“Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day” (v. 1). This lesson reads the first part of their song.
1Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,
2“Because the leaders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly, be blessed, LORD!
3“Hear, you kings! Give ear, you princes! I, even I, will sing to the LORD. I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.
4“LORD, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.
5The mountains quaked at the LORD’s presence, even Sinai at the presence of the LORD, the God of Israel.
6“In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways.
7The rulers ceased in Israel. They ceased until I, Deborah, arose; Until I arose a mother in Israel.
8They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
9My heart is toward the governors of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the LORD!
10“Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way.
11Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, there they will rehearse the LORD’s righteous acts, the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. “Then the LORD’s people went down to the gates.
12‘Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.’
13“Then a remnant of the nobles and the people came down. The LORD came down for me against the mighty.
14Those whose root is in Amalek came out of Ephraim, after you, Benjamin, among your peoples. Governors come down out of Machir. Those who handle the marshal’s staff came out of Zebulun.
15The princes of Issachar were with Deborah. As was Issachar, so was Barak. They rushed into the valley at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben, there were great resolves of heart.
16Why did you sit among the sheepfolds? To hear the whistling for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart.
17Gilead lived beyond the Jordan. Why did Dan remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, and lived by his creeks.
18Zebulun was a people that jeopardized their lives to the death; Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.
A song. “Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day” (v. 1). The battle was over, and what the passage records next is a song.
Willingly. The song begins: “Because the leaders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly, be blessed, LORD!” (v. 2). In verse 9 it comes back to this: “My heart is toward the governors of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the LORD!” (v. 9). Both times, the song speaks first of people offering themselves, and then blesses the LORD.
I will sing to the LORD. “Hear, you kings! Give ear, you princes! I, even I, will sing to the LORD. I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel” (v. 3). Then the song sings of the LORD going out of Seir, when “the earth trembled, the sky also dropped” (v. 4).
The highways were unoccupied. “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways” (v. 6). “They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?” (v. 8). The song looks back on those years.
A mother in Israel. “The rulers ceased in Israel. They ceased until I, Deborah, arose; Until I arose a mother in Israel” (v. 7). This is how she speaks of herself in the song. Verse 12 sings: “Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song!” (v. 12).
Who came down. “Then a remnant of the nobles and the people came down. The LORD came down for me against the mighty” (v. 13). The song names them one by one: Ephraim, Benjamin, Machir, Zebulun (v. 14); “The princes of Issachar were with Deborah” (v. 15); “Zebulun was a people that jeopardized their lives to the death; Naphtali also, on the high places of the field” (v. 18).
What the song asks. The song also sings of Reuben: “Why did you sit among the sheepfolds? To hear the whistling for the flocks?” (v. 16); and of Gilead, Dan, and Asher: “Why did Dan remain in ships?” (v. 17). The song asks; the passage does not record how they answered.
Afterwards. The song goes on to that day: “From the sky the stars fought. From their courses, they fought against Sisera” (v. 20); “The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. My soul, march on with strength” (v. 21). The song ends: “So let all your enemies perish, LORD, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength” (v. 31). “Then the land had rest forty years” (v. 31).
Long before, when Israel had crossed the Red Sea, “Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand” (Exod 15:20), and she answered them: “Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously. He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea” (Exod 15:21).
Readers can see this: after that day at the river Kishon, Deborah sang, “I, even I, will sing to the LORD. I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel” (v. 3).
Perhaps you are living in days when ‘the highways were unoccupied’: a church that has scattered, a home that has gone cold, something that has dragged on for years, and everyone taking the long way round.
This lesson does not say that you too need to give yourself up before you count as a good believer; nor does it say that those who did not come deserve to be blamed. What it shows you is this: the song’s first line sees that “the people offered themselves willingly”, and blesses the LORD (v. 2); the people the song names one by one are those who came down (vv. 13–18); and the song is sung to the LORD (v. 3).
This week: Think of someone who gives themselves willingly for others — at church, perhaps, or at home. This week, thank them in person or in a few written lines, naming one particular thing they have done; and then thank God for them.
Scripture: World English Bible.