Comments on Judges 4 In general, this is one of the great men versus women chapters in the Bible, with the women winning. In this case, the women are cast as righteous and inspired and the main antagonist as a male who is an abuser of women and the male military leader of Israel as faithless. v1 The idea of this verse starts with v. 30-31 of the preceding chapter, "the land had rest fourscore years...and the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord". This formula appears repeatedly throughout the book of Judges, and the time span typically covers a generation or two (depending on how long you count a generation, typically 20 years is the standard short generation). So, it goes back to the thesis of 2:1-10 where those who know the lord through trials and affliction repent when verbally admonished, but when that generation passes the next one does not know the Lord. v2-3 The matter of Israel's captivity is presented as patently of divine engineering. The Lord is responding to Israel's rebellion with a classical covenant curse. v3 "chariots of iron", cp. 1:16, in the ancient times chariots were the tanks of the battlefield. Whoever had more chariots was simply at an overwhelming military advantage. And if those chariots were shod with iron (i.e., iron covered wheels and so forth, the chariots could not have been solid iron, but were strategically covered with beaten iron) they were nearly impossible to stop as the horses stampeded through the opposing infantry. Chariots were also very fast compared to infantry, and therefore offered considerable tactical advantage as well. Chariots typically mounted a driver and a bowman who would fire arrows at the opposition until wading into the melee and then would use sword or lance. Even without wading directly into battle, thereby avoiding endangering the horses, having a mobile force of bowmen out of the reach of the opposition's infantry presented a serious military advantage as they could flank infantry with great speed. Thus we see why Israel was unable to escape the grasp of Hazor, without Providence. v4 "Deborah, a prophetess", a "prophet" or "prophetess" is one who gives inspired, therefore implicitly authorized and vicarious, speech. One need not have the Priesthood to have inspired speech, cp. 2 Ne. 32:2, Alma 32:23. Miriam was likewise a prophetess, cp. Num. 12:2. "She judged Israel at that time", as mentioned above, the Hebrew would be better rendered "she led Israel at that time". Obviously she wasn't the military leader as Barak was, but she was Israel's spiritual leader per v. 5. v6-7 Deborah receives revelation pertaining to military action which will lead to Israel's deliverance from their enemies, cp. Alma 16:5-6, 3 Ne. 3:19. v8-9 The KJV does not well represent what is going on here. The JPS does a better job: 6 She summoned Barak son of Abinoam, of Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, "The Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded: Go, march up to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun. 7 And I will draw Sisera, Jabin's army commander, with his chariots and his troops, toward you up to the Wadi Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hands." 8 But Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, I will go; if not, I will not go." 9"Very well, I will go with you," she answered. "However, there will be no glory for you in the course you are taking, for then the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. Notice the "But" in v. 8 and the "Very well" in v. 9. Barak doesn't trust/believe what Deborah is saying so he insists that she go up with him as a test of her own veracity. Its not hard to see why a presumably hard-bitten military commander would be skeptical about being able to beat an army with such an overwhelming military advantage. Obviously, he lacks faith. She agrees to go up with him, but she then informs him, almost as a curse in response to his lack of belief, that he will not have the honor of victory. Rather, Sisera will be delivered (the KJV uses "sell", but "delivered" is a better translation) into the hands of a woman. That Sisera is delivered into the hands of a woman is ironic. In fact, he is delivered twice over, first in war by Deborah, and then later his life by Jael. It is ironic because usually it is the women who are delivered into the hands of Sisera, as is indicated by 5:30. Sisera is the kind of military leader who takes and ravishes women after his conquests, and as such is cursed of the Lord (cf. 5:31). v11 is a parenthetical comment explaining how it came to be that Jael and her husband were in the vicinity of where the upcoming war between Canaan and the Israelites was. Heber the Kenite and Jael hiw wife were far from the rest of the Kenites, but were close at hand to the imminent conflict. This sets up v. 17-22. Another interesting point we can take away from this verse is that it refers to Moses' father-in-law as Hobab who was a Kenite. Now, we know that this is not Zipporah's father as they were Midianites and he is positively identified as Jethro. The only other marriage that Moses is identified as having is that of Num. 12:1, to a Cushite (i.e. black) woman. While it is possible that Moses had additional wives beyond these two, which may or may not have been polygamous (it is impossible to determine because Zipporah's death is not accounted for in the text), the text never suggests this so one would have to assume that this Cushite woman was the daughter of Hobab the Kenite. And Kenites are traditionally considered the lineage of Cain. This syllogism would then conclude with the descendants of Cain being black. The problem here is the "Kenites" in Hebrew are "qaniy" and "Cain" is "qayin". The Hebrew "qaniy" also has the meaning of "blacksmith" as in one who forges metal. So, the title "Kenite" may well have nothing to do with lineage at all, but rather vocation despite the traditional assumption that Kenite=Cain's posterity. Additionally, if we take Noah's flood account literally, as the text suggests we do, the lineage of Cain would have been annihilated, leaving no descendants. Now, the typical Mormon response to this is that Ham married a woman who was lineage of Cain and they cite Abr. 1:23-24 as a proof text. However, this alleged proof text is acontextual as there is not the slightest hint of the curse being in reference to Cain, no matter how popular it is to interpret it as such. It is contextual to associate the curse with that of Ham, which curse would be that imposed upon him by Noah in Gen. 9, as the passage is referring to Ham and not Cain. The result is it is safest to simply assume that Hobab the "Kenite" in this case was a blacksmith who was black-skinned, and Moses married his daughter as is documented in Num. 12:2. v12-16 As indicated in v. 10, Barak gathers an army of ten thousand. When Sisera gets wind of it he gathers his chariots and infantry and heads for battle (v. 12-13). Deborah announces to Barak that the Lord has determined to destroy Sisera that day, so Barak takes his forces and goes to war (v. 14). The Lord then routes Sisera with the edge of the sword which Barak wields (v. 15), and they pursue and destroy the army to the point of utter annihilation (v. 16). Note the way in which v. 15 presents it as the Lord destroying Sisera and not Barak. This necessarily implies some kind of miraculous intervention with Providence being preeminent, unfortunately it is not more detailed. The text suggests infantry has beaten mobile armored cavalry, a miracle indeed. Not something a military commander would predict. v17-22 Herein we find Deborah's prediction from v. 9 literally fulfilled as Jael kills Sisera. We are informed in v. 17 that Jael's house was on friendly terms with Sisera's house, so we may safely conclude that Jael at least knew of Sisera's reputation as the chief military commander if she didn't know him personally. That Jael's actions were justified is indicated in 5:24-27 wherein Deborah pronounces her blessed among women. What were Sisera's sins such that they merited such an execution? Slaughter, plunder, and rape (cf. 5:30). v23-24 With the destruction of his military forces, the king of the Canaanites is ultimately ousted and Israel is delivered from oppression once again. Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.