Judges 4:22 Komentář

The method of the history of Deborah and Barak (the heroes in this chapter) is the same with that before Here is, I. Israel revolted from God (Jdg 4:1). II. Israel oppressed by Jabin (Jdg 4:2, Jdg 4:3). III. Israel judged by Deborah (Jdg 4:4, Jdg 4:5). IV. Israel rescued out of the hands of Jabin. 1. Their deliverance is concerted between Deborah and Barak (Jdg 4:6, Jdg 4:9). 2. It is accomplished by their joint-agency. Barak takes the field (Jdg 4:10). Sisera, Jabin's general, meets him (Jdg 4:12, Jdg 4:13). Deborah encourages him (Jdg 4:14). And God gives him a complete victory. The army routed (Jdg 4:15, Jdg 4:16). The general forced to flee (Jdg 4:17). And where he expected shelter he had his life stolen from him by Jael while he was asleep (Jdg 4:18-21), which completes Barak's triumph (Jdg 4:22). and Israel's deliverance (Jdg 4:23, Jdg 4:24).

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, Jdg 4:1; and that Deborah and Barak consulted together about their deliverance, Jdg 4:4; 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, Jdg 4:10; 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, Jdg 4:16; which issued in a complete deliverance of the children of Israel, Jdg 4:23.

And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera,.... Knowing the way he took, at least as he supposed: Jael came out to meet him; as she did Sisera, but with greater pleasure: and said unto him, come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest; for she full well knew whom he was in pursuit of: and when he came into her tent; at her invitation: behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples: which she did not attempt to draw out, but left it there, that it might be seen in what way she had dispatched him.

So, then, Deborah foretold the event of the battle. Barak, as he was bidden, led forth the army; Jael carried off the triumph, for the prophecy of Deborah fought for her, who in a mystery revealed to us the rising of the church from among the Gentiles, for whom should be found a triumph over Sisera, that is, over the powers opposed to her. For us, then, the oracles of the prophets fought, for us those judgments and arms of the prophets won the victory. And for this reason it was not the people of the Jews but Jael who gained the victory over the enemy. Unhappy, then, was that people which could not follow up by the virtue of faith the enemy, whom it had put to flight. And so by their fault salvation came to the Gentiles; by Jewish sluggishness the victory was reserved for us.Jael then destroyed Sisera, whom however the band of Jewish veterans had put to flight under their brilliant leader, for this is the interpretation of the name of Barak; for often, as we read, the sayings and merits of the prophets procured heavenly aid for the fathers. But even at that time was victory being prepared over spiritual wickedness for those to whom it is said in the Gospel: “Come, you who are blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” So the commencement of the victory was from the fathers, its conclusion is in the church. But the church does not overcome the powers of the enemy with weapons of this world but with spiritual arms, “which are mighty through God to the destruction of strongholds and the high places of spiritual wickedness.” And Sisera’s thirst was quenched with a bowl of milk, because he was overcome by wisdom, for what is healthful for us as food is deadly and weakening to the power of the enemy. The weapons of the church are faith, the weapons of the church are prayer, which overcomes the enemy. And so according to this history a woman, that the minds of women might be stirred up, became a judge, a woman set all in order, a woman prophesied, a woman triumphed, and joining in the battle array taught men to war under a woman’s lead. But in a mystery it is the battle of faith and the victory of the church.

We read that when God wished it clearly understood that great deeds were done by him, they were done through a few or through the lowliest, lest the work of his heavenly hand be attributed to human strength. In this way the leader Sisera, before whom the Hebrew army trembled, was laid low by a woman.

DEBORAH AND BARAK DELIVER ISRAEL FROM JABIN AND SISERA. (Jdg. 4:1-17) The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead--The removal of the zealous judge Ehud again left his infatuated countrymen without the restraint of religion.

Oppression of Israel by Jabin, and Deliverance by Deborah and Barak - Judges 4-5 This fresh oppression of the Israelites, and the glorious victory which they obtained over Sisera, Jabin's general, through the judge Deborah and the heroic warrior Barak, are so fully described in Deborah's triumphal song in Judg 5, that this song may be regarded as a poetical commentary upon that event. It by no means follows from this fact, however, that the historical account in Judg 4 was first of all founded upon the ode, and was merely intended to furnish an explanation of the song itself. Any such assumption is overthrown by the fact that the prose account in Judg 4, contains, as even Bertheau acknowledges, some historical details which we look for in vain in the song, and which are of great assistance in the interpretation of it. All that we can infer with any probability from the internal connection between the historical narrative and the Song of Deborah is, that the author of our book took both of them from one common source; though the few expressions and words which they contain, such as שׂמיכה in Jdg 4:18, תּצנח in Jdg 4:21, משׁכתּ in Jdg 4:6, and ויּהם in Jdg 4:15, do not throw any light upon the source from which they were derived. For, with the exception of the first, which is not met with again, the whole of them occur in other passages-the second in Jdg 1:14 and Jos 15:18, the third in the same sense in Jdg 20:37, and the fourth in Exo 14:24 and Jos 10:10. And it by no means follows, that because in the passages referred to, "yaahom is found in close association with songs or poetical passages" (Bertheau), the word itself must be borrowed from the same source as the songs, viz., from the book of Jasher (Jos 10:13). For המם is found in the same signification in Sa1 7:10; Exo 23:27, and Deu 2:15, where we look in vain for any songs; whilst it always occurs in connection with the account of a miraculous overthrow of the foe by the omnipotent power of God.