The Book of Judges
Lesson 9 - Chapter 5 Continued
Our subject is Judges chapter 5 known better as the Song of Deborah. We started studying it
in earnest last week and ended with verse 11. We’re going to continue to carefully dissect this
song as there is so much to be gleaned from it, and it has so much to say for our modern lives
and the age in which we live whether as Jews or gentiles. We still won’t finish it today. Further
the era of the Judges explains to us WHY there would then be the era of the Kings to
immediately follow it and this song provides us with some important clues about the progress
of Israel as both a spiritual and national entity.
As a sort of preface to our learning what we can take theologically and as life applications from
the Song of Deborah I stressed that we must first and foremost understand the very nature of
the type of literature called “song” that makes up the entirety of Judges 5. And that nature is
that significant liberties are taken with the words and phrases in order that it makes the
intended impact. Therefore the point of a song (whether it is a song in the bible or just a song
composed for human entertainment like Rock and Roll) isn’t necessarily to impart concise or
terribly accurate information; rather it’s for the authors to pour out their souls or to express
their feelings. Those feelings will center on current events in the culture they are living such as
a war, or a weather calamity, or a few year era of relative peace, or a national mood of
darkness and despair for example. Therefore to understand a song, any song, means by
definition that we must understand the context of the times and society in which it was created.
Because if we try to the take the words of a biblical song fully literally, or we try to hold it above
its era or its culture, we’ll miss the point or worse we’ll create some kind of misguided but far
reaching philosophy or all encompassing doctrine and declare it as universal and rigid.
What I’m getting at is that while the essence of the Song of Deborah is truthful, we need to be
careful not to take every word as an accurate and balanced portrayal of a significant historical
event. The Song of Deborah was made to commemorate and transmit to future generations
the great and joyful (at least to Israel) military victory of the northern tribes of Israel, led by
Deborah’s sidekick Barak, over the Canaanite coalition army led by Sisera on behalf of King
Yavin of Hatzor.
We finished up last time by discussing an important theme in the first third of the Song of
Deborah, which had to do with leadership. And we find that Deborah mostly blames the dire
situation Israel found itself in (under the thumb of some oppressive Canaanites) on the lack of
leadership from Israel’s Tribal chieftains and elders. Thus she also extols the virtues of herself
and a handful of men who rose up to become leaders in order to lead Israel out of their
doldrums and their passivity to fight the good fight to restore their liberties and their proper
relationship with the God of Israel even though it was both dangerous and unpopular.
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It’s important that we understand that while the Lord has authorized the establishment of
human governments, He also requires that those who lead are to lead with a servant’s heart
and for the welfare of the people they govern. But even then it must not be accomplished by
means of enforcing their own ideas of humanitarian ideologies or what to them seems like
decent and good justice. Rather it is the Word of God and the Lord’s direction that the leader
is to fully submit to; and then the result of that obedience will be that the people are properly
cared for and they will receive divine blessing.
We have in our times one the greatest examples of a probably well-meaning but misguided
leader of our own nation. Our President who on the one hand seems to be sincerely connected
to the God of Israel and His son Yeshua, on the other often prefers his own concepts of mercy
and justice to the Lord’s specific commands. Of course the subject I’m referring to is Israel
and this administration’s infamous Roadmap to Peace whereby Israel is being relentlessly
pressured to divide Jerusalem, give up the Temple Mount, and carve off pieces of the
Promised Land that are to be handed over to their enemies. Why would he do this? Because to
his humanistic and geopolitical way of thinking it will bring peace and promote brotherly love; it
is fair and balanced to all parties involved, and therefore it must be the right thing to do.
This kind of leadership was one of the many kinds that were condemned in the bible, because
while it might seem that the actions of such a leader could bring a short-term earthly benefit it
also brings a longer term and inescapable chastisement from Yehoveh. Good intent and
sincerity have never, and will never, trump obedience to the Lord. And such errors in our
leaders can have devastating effects upon their people.
Let’s reread some more of Judges 5.
READ JUDGES 5: 12 – 18
We could probably give this stanza of the song the name of “The Roll Call of the Tribes”
because it begins to speak of each of the tribes’ enthusiastic participation in Israel’s liberation
or their ambivalence and disinterest in joining in the Holy War that the Lord has called for.
Verse 12 has Deborah exhorting herself to awake and do what she must; that is to throw
herself into this great event that she initiated as the Lord’s earthly agent, and now to equally
throw herself into commemorating the event through song. She also calls on Barak to lead
away his prisoners of war.
We see two roles explained here: Deborah was the prophet and Barak was the deliverer. As
the prophet Deborah represents God’s presence or at least His voice; Barak was the one who
was to ACT on the instructions of the Lord.
Verse 13 gives us the response of Deborah’s call to Israel for Holy War. We are told that only
a remnant of the noble ones (the new leadership) and just some of the brave of the nation
heeded the call; meaning that many refused to serve. Apathy was the mood in Israel at this
time, and the sense of verses 12 and 13 is that it would fall to the prophetess Deborah to
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shake the people of Israel out of their deep sleep.
Verse 14 throws us a king-sized curveball. It says that Ephraim came to join the battle but that
they were “rooted in Amalek”. Since there is no sense that this is a negative comment, then
we have the problem of figuring out what this means. Obviously Ephraim was not genetically or
nationally rooted in Amalek; Amalek is an age-old enemy of Israel that will only be destroyed
once and for all when Messiah returns. So what is the idea behind saying that the tribe of
Ephraim was rooted in Amalek?
Well, there are a few opinions floating around about how to take this statement. One is that
there was a minor copiest error and that Amalek was accidentally substituted for emek; emek
means valley. Saying that Ephraim was rooted (came from) the valleys is certainly true and it
fits.
But Rashi says that the word translated as “in” (rooted IN Amalek) ought to be more properly
translated as “against” (rooted AGAINST Amalek). Thus we Ephraim properly defined as
being against Amalek.
Kiel says that the translation of “rooted in Amalek” is fine as is, if we understand that Ephraim
took much of their territory away from the Amalekites; in other words the area where Ephraim
now lived was formerly called Amalek thus it could be said they were “rooted”, they lived, in an
area that used to known as Amalek.
The bottom line here is for sure this cannot mean that Ephraim had some sort of national or
genetic connection to Amalek. Ephraim was Joshua’s tribe and it was Deborah’s tribe so its
no wonder it got top billing in this song.
Now the next part of this same verse is that some from the tribe of Benjamin came to fight
once enough people from the tribe of Ephraim committed to the battle. And a few interesting
nuances to this piece of information shouldn’t be ignored. The Rabbis say that this is actually
a prophetic pronouncement with the meaning that after Ephraim fights against these
Canaanites, sometime later so will Benjamin. And that “some time later” turned out to be
about 1020 B.C. when King Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin, fought to claim back more territory
from the Canaanites.
Another line of thought is that since Benjamin’s territory was located south of Ephraim,
Benjamin was physically “behind” Ephraim. I must tell you that my opinion is that we have a lot
of speculation about what is meant to be a very simple statement: Ephraim committed first, it
was probably the largest tribe this time, and thus Benjamin followed suit. Again, this is a song
and we’re off the mark to tear apart every word or phrase trying to find something much
deeper. The words were chosen as much for how well they rhymed as for what they meant.
Next we find that the military commanders of Makhir also decided to supply troops. This
needn’t confuse us; saying “Makhir” is merely referring to the tribe of Manessah, but it was
known by the name of Makhir in Deborah’s day. Manessah, the founder of the tribe, had only
one son; and that son’s name was Makhir. Makhir was at one point the accepted tribal leader
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over Manessah. But in typical Middle Eastern culture it was more usual that a tribal leader
would have many sons, each who would head up his own clan. The firstborn of the tribal
founder would by custom eventually become the new leader over the tribe, although if another
of the tribal founder’s sons headed a clan that became more powerful than the firstborn son’s
clan the more powerful clan leader might become the overall tribal leader instead. The point is
that with a tribal founder having multiple sons that thus produced multiple clans, the
identification of the tribe (Manasseh in this case) would remain the same even as a new tribal
leader took over. BUT, when only one son is produced, he bears a status almost as great as
the original tribal founder. So it was not uncommon for a tribal name to change to bear the
name of that only child, when that only child assumed leadership. Thus we find the tribe of
Manesseh is being called Makhir at this point in history rather than its original name of
Manesseh. Manesseh and Makhir would have been interchangeable terms to a large degree.
Now I’m not trying to turn you into bible historians, but this situation is a terrific example of how
challenging the bible can be unless you do your homework. If you’ll recall, when Moses led
Israel up to the Jordan River, about ½ of the clans that formed the tribe of Manesseh didn’t
want to go into the Promised Land, they wanted to stay on the east bank of the river.
Interestingly it was Makhir, the tribal chieftain of Manesseh, plus some number of other clans
of Manesseh who wanted to make their new roots in the Trans-Jordan. But Makhir was
apparently OK with the idea of some of the other clans of his tribe crossing over the river and
claiming territory there as well. For Makhir the good news was that he would preside over TWO
large territories both under the banner of his tribe, Manesseh. One might think that it wouldn’t
take too long before one of the clan leaders who occupied the western territorial area of
Manesseh would rise up and stake a claim as the “tribal leader” of that group (leaving Makhir
and his successors as the tribal leader of the eastern section of Manesseh). What Deborah’s
song shows us is that not only (after perhaps 150 years) had that scenario not occurred, but
also the use of the tribal name Manesseh actually became inferior to the name of Makhir. Thus
even the western clans of Manesseh went by the name of “Makhir”.
It was these western clans of Makhir that came to fight, because as we’ll soon see those tribes
who had remained on the eastern side of the Jordan River had little interest in assisting their
brethren who lived in the Promised Land.
Next Zevulun is mentioned and he is said to be holding the musterer’s staff, or in some
translations the “marshal’s” staff. If you have a KJV it will say Zevulun is holding the “pen of
the writer”. Let’s face it, not one of these translations is much help to us in figuring out what
was meant. Who are those who hold the musterer’s staff? Who are those who hold “the pen
of the writer”? However I am pretty confident that the KJV is closer to the proper sense of it,
we just have to flesh it out a little more.
What the phrase most literally says is, “the rod of they who handle the pen of the scribe”. Now
a rod is usually a symbol of authority in ancient times, but a scribe was not a royal person with
governing authority. Rather the rod of a scribe is referring to his writing instrument, his pen. His
pen was his rod. Very few people in the age of the Judges could write, so a scribe (whose job it
was to record the kings’ pronouncements) was held in high esteem. However, many ancient
Rabbis say that as used here the phrase is an idiom. In other words saying “the rod of a
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scribe” is merely a lofty or poetic way of saying “men who use a pen”. And of course we are
dealing with a song here, full of lofty words, aren’t we? Further, Zevulun was known to be
heavily involved in trading; they were known as a merchant tribe. Merchants were among the
few outside of actual scribes who used a pen because they had to record their accounts.
However the original Hebrew does NOT say that the men being referred to as coming to do
battle were scribes (sofertim), rather it’s that these particular men USED the instrument that
was the chief tool of a scribe (a pen). Thus what this verse is actually referring to is that even
merchants (men who were trained in buying and selling, not in warfare) rose up in religious
fervor and responded to Deborah’s call to arms.
Verse 15 says that members of the tribe of Issachar volunteered for this battle as well. Then
we get to Reuben. Up to this point in the roll call of the tribes all has been of a positive nature;
with Reuben it changes. And what a lesson for modern Jew and Christian is the tribe of
Reuben’s (and some of the other tribes’) response, and let’s pay close attention so we either
don’t make the same mistakes or (if in our lives as Believers) we’re already doing what they
did we repent and turn back.
What Reuben did was to have long and heartfelt discussions about what to do when the Lord
called them to Holy War. Do they join with their brethren (as they know they should) on the
opposite side of the Jordan as their leaders from the days of Moses promised they’d do if they
were allowed to settle in the Trans-Jordan? Or do they view the battles against Sisera and
Yavin as a foreign conflict that was none of their business because it wasn’t in their own
backyards?
Here we also encounter another translation problem. In the CJB along with several other
versions, it says in the 2nd half of verse 15, “concerning the divisions of Reuben”. The
Hebrew word being translated as “divisions” is pelaggah. Pelaggah is a word that is always
associated with waterways like rivers and streams. It is usually meant to denote a place where
a river divides or branches off into rivulets or what we more commonly today might call brooks.
The Hebrew sages are pretty unanimous that this ought to be translated as “among the brooks
of Reuben they made great resolutions in their hearts”. In other words, the territory occupied
by Reuben was well known as being pretty well watered and it had many brooks and streams
that criss-crossed the land. So the picture is of the leaders and nobles of Reuben sitting
around and discussing the matter in a sort of defeatist or even detached way; and they were
gathering along the many pastoral water courses of their territory and opining why they would
want to leave this for Holy War and risk so much? Answer? They didn’t and wouldn’t.
Instead it says they stayed safe and sound by the many sheepfolds they had erected for their
abundant flocks and they listened to the lovely and enchanting musical notes coming from the
flutes some shepherds would play to pass the time. Are you getting the picture? This is a
derogatory remark about Reuben whereby Deborah is basically bordering on calling them
cowards and traitors. At the least Reuben was essentially disavowing their familial obligation
and the past promises to Moses and God to stand with their fellow Israelites against their
common enemies.
Verse 17 says that Gilead (meaning Gad) lives across the Jordan (next to Reuben); in other
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words it has now been established that ALL the Israelite tribes and their clans who lived
separated from the Promised Land; those tribes who decided so many years earlier that they
preferred the fertility and peacefulness of the Trans-Jordan to the Promised Land offered by
God; these 2 ½ Israelite tribes of the Trans-Jordan had begun the inevitable mental process of
disassociating themselves from the 9 ½ tribes who went forward into that Promised Land and
lived there now. And such a disassociation means that they had no interest in coming to the
aid of their Israelite brothers when they needed them the most and especially when those 2 ½
tribes hoped that those troubles would bypass them.
Then the tribe of Dan is called on the carpet; “why, Dan”, the Song of Deborah asks
rhetorically, “ do you stay by the ships?” Implying of course that the Danites are staying near
their homes by the sea instead of coming to fight at Mt. Tabor alongside several of the other
tribes. Technically Dan was located on the seacoast with a good port at Joppa; however they
didn’t ever control much of the seacoast in their assigned territory for very long. Dan was
known to have forged an alliance with the Phoenicians (who were also seafarers and located a
bit north of Joppa), and likely Dan was already on the move to relocate northwards at the time
of Deborah. In any case Dan certainly had a political problem on their hands of some
proportion; their alliance with the Phoenicians was an important one; it was their bread and
butter and if they helped their brother Israelites to fight against what would have been
Canaanite allies of Phoenicia…..well….you see the bind Dan found themselves in. It was the
classic case of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t to their minds. Of course, they were
wrong. Their duty before God was to fight for their brothers, not to feather their nests with twigs
from the world.
Asher who also were sea merchants living along the Mediterranean, had alliances too. Being
merchants along the seacoast was big business and by definition their trading partners would
have been gentiles that often had alliances many of the same Canaanite kings, as did Dan and
the Phoenicians. It was a delicate situation so Asher along with Dan decided not to risk their
tribal economic advantage by fighting alongside their brethren.
This stanza of the song ends the role call of the tribes in verse 18 by explaining that as
opposed to the wrong-minded decisions by Reuben, Gad, and the Trans-Jordan portion of
Manessah along with Dan and Asher, the tribes of Zevulun and Naphtali put their lives and
their families’ lives and livelihoods on the line to answer YHWH’s call through His prophet
Deborah.
If we were a smaller group I might stop at this point and ask each of you individually what you
are thinking right about now after hearing this lesson. Here in Judges 5 we have the Lord
wanting to continue His Holy War to both liberate Israel from their enemies and to continue to
establish His Holy Kingdom on earth in the Promised Land; Deborah and Barak were his
vehicles (for the moment) to this end. Many from several of the 12 tribes answered that call,
and some entire tribes sat on their hands and pretended not to notice. Interestingly there is no
mention at all of Judah or Simeon. I demonstrated in earlier lessons that already there had
been established a north versus south mentality among the 12 tribes; Judah and Simeon (at
this time) were the south, Benjamin vacillated in their loyalties back and forth between the
north and the south (due to their geographical location), and the remaining tribes (including the
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ones in this story) were generally considered part of the north. However here we see that in
addition to the north-south alignment an east-west division had also arisen. Those 2 ½ tribes
on the eastern side of the Jordan River (the Trans-Jordan) really didn’t see that they had any
solid attachment or obligation to those 9 ½ tribes located on the western side of the river.
Things change; about a century earlier the tribes in the Trans-Jordan were terribly concerned
that they would be excluded from the commonwealth of Israel by the 9 ½ tribes who went into
Canaan; now they were separating themselves away.
What we have here is the description of a terribly fractured Israel at the time of the Judges just
like we have a terribly fractured Christianity and an equally fractured Judaism today (and I can
also tell you that the reborn nation of Israel is also very divided). Each group, denomination,
sect, clan, and tribe cares only for they’re own interests. Oh, as like with Reuben, some of the
other tribes had endless handwringing sessions about what their obligations ought to be to
their brethren. You can bet there were those Levite priests and elders who tried with all their
might to remind the various Hebrew clan leaders of Moses’ and Joshua’s instructions to stay
true to God and to His commandments, and that meant they were to work together to continue
to fight for the establishment of God’s Kingdom in the Promised Land. But the attitude for
many of the people was, “let somebody else do it”. It seemed dangerous to their personal
wealth and power; dangerous to their economy; and dangerous to their mortal lives. For some
it was simply an interruption in their everyday comforts that they didn’t want.
Today I would ask you: if you are a Jew, why are you not making plans to migrate to Israel to
the Promised Land set apart just for you? If you are a gentile Christian, why are you not
standing up for Yeshua, standing with Israel, and boldly professing the universal sovereignty of
the God of Israel or are you content to leave that to others? Whether Jew or gentile Christian
what are you actively doing to help Israel to fight to keep the Holy Land that our God gave to
them? The same Holy Land that is not only the birthplace of our Savior but to which He is soon
going to return. What are you doing beyond experiencing simple emotion (or maybe guilt)
about hanging back from going to visit God’s people, or speaking out to an uniformed church
on behalf of God’s people, or spending some of your resources (even sacrificially) to directly
comfort God’s people?
Reuben discussed this and more among themselves, wrestled with it earnestly in their hearts,
but also turned their eyes away and determined better to simply leave it at feeling badly than to
disrupt their own lives. Asher and Dan had valuable friendships and business partnerships with
those who worshipped other gods; and those friendships were economically beneficial to them
so they refused to get involved. Gad and the portion of Manesseh that lived across a
geographical boundary that served to separate them physically from their brethren didn’t want
to suffer their brothers’ troubles, yet they also didn’t want to give up their common identity as
Hebrews and Israel; so kept their distance hoping they would be left alone by the enemy and
that everything would just work out.
It’s kind of interesting how it all turned out. Those Israelites on the east side of the Jordan
River who sought to appease the enemy and fly under the radar and avoid the fate of their
brethren were the first to be scattered and assimilated by Israel’s enemies in later times.
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Dan gave up and vacated their allotted territory in the Promised Land altogether and moved far
north where they also gave up their God and set up pagan calf worship, and a remnant
eventually wound up in Northern Africa.
With the recent rediscovery of substantial remnants of each of the 10 lost tribes of Israel in the
last decade, the only tribe not yet found is Asher, who refused to get involved in the fight and
rather chose to throw in their lot with their gentile business partners. Asher preferred their
profitable ports and their serene beaches to the battlefields of God.
Let’s read a little more.
READ JUDGES 5: 19 –22
Verse 19 tells us about the Canaanite coalition army. Where it says that “they took no spoil of
silver”, it means that these were not mercenary soldiers but rather they were loyal nationalist
troops; they were Canaanites bent on ejecting or subjugating Israel.
Verse 20 is difficult to deal with because it’s hard to tell if the reference to the stars is meant to
be spiritual or natural. That is, stars in heaven are often a metaphor for angels. Lucifer, the
devil, is called the brightest and most beautiful star. Thus this could mean that Deborah is
saying that in parallel with the human battle on the ground, there was a spiritual battle in the
heavenlies for Israel. That would certainly fall in line with Hebrew and biblical thinking in
general.
On the other hand it could be referring to the weather, which favorably and unexpectedly
altered the battle for Israel’s sake. Either way, it is referring to something supernatural and
divine.
Verse 21 explains the involvement of the Kishon River in the war. That is, while it identifies the
PLACE where it all happened it also explains that the river itself became the Lord’s vehicle for
giving victory to Israel. The river, we’re told, “swept them away” (meaning the Canaanite
forces). In other words something caused a trickle of water that would have barely qualified as
a brook in the summer that this battle occurred to become a raging torrent that overflowed the
Kishon’s banks and muddied the surrounding fields in every direction thus rendering the
fearsome chariots of the Canaanites useless. The River is spoken of as “that ancient river”,
meaning that indeed it was a very well known place that had seen countless generations and
races of people live upon its banks and water their fields with its flow.
What we’re undoubtedly witnessing is a flash flood. This is not an uncommon occurrence in
Israel in the summer months but what makes it so notable is the timing; it occurred at the
Lord’s command and it was supernatural in it’s ferocity.
In poetic fashion verse 22 speaks of the horses stamping as they slip and slide in the mud, and
rearing in panic as they pulled in vein on the heavy iron chariots they are attached to as they
become as anchors sinking into the muck. Thus an army based on now immobilized chariots is
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easy pray for an army based on foot soldiers. In chapter 4 we read how some of the chariots
were able to escape, but many more were abandoned and the Canaanite soldiers along with
the leader Sisra ran off on foot to try and escape. Israel chased them down and slaughtered
them. The victory of the great divine warrior leader YHWH was lopsided and complete on that
auspicious day.
We’ll finish this up next week and move on in to Judges chapter 6.
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