Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 5:10

"Tell [of it], ye that ride on white asses, Ye that sit on rich carpets, And ye that walk by the way." — Judges 5:10 (ASV)

Speak. — Rather, Think of it, or, perhaps, “Meditate the song.” It is placed in the original in a far more forcible position at the end of the verse.

You who ride on white asses. — That is, nobles and wealthy (Judges 10:4; Judges 12:14). The word can hardly mean “white,” because there are no such things as white asses. It means rather “bright-colored” (Ezekiel 27:18), “glossy-skinned,” or “dappled” (super nitentes asinos, Vulgate). These were the more valuable kind of asses, and were used by the rich and great.

It is only because this was not understood among the Greeks and Romans, who despised the ass, that the Septuagint and Josephus so often disguise the word when writing for Gentiles, using pôlon, “steed,” or the general word hupozugion, “beast of burden,” instead.

No incident was more derided among the Gentiles than the riding to Zion of her king, meek and sitting upon an ass (Zechariah 9:9) (see the Life of Christ, 2:197).

Here, though the Alexandrine manuscript of the LXX has “on female asses of the South”—i.e., of Ethiopia—we find in other MSS. “on beasts of burden.”

You who sit in judgment. — Rather, you who sit on rich divans, though our version follows the Vatican manuscript of the Septuagint, the Chaldee, and the Vulgate.

The Hebrew is, “You who sit on middin,” and some Jews understood it to mean “at Middin”—i.e., you inhabitants of the town Middin (which is mentioned in Joshua 15:61, and which they suppose may have been peculiarly oppressed and insulted by the enemy).

Others, again, suppose that middin is saddle-cloths . The Alexandrine manuscript of the Septuagint has epi lampênôm — i.e., on sedans or covered chariots.

There can be little doubt that it means “bright carpets” (compare mad in Psalms 109:18).

And walk by the way. — Rather, you who walk in the way. Deborah appeals to the following to join in the thought and song of praise:

1. The wealthy, riding through the safe highways.
2. Those of all classes who now sit at ease on divans, bright with carpets, of which Easterners are so fond.
3. Foot-passengers in ordinary life.

Regarding the phrases “sitting at home” and “walking on the roads” to describe the ordinary activities of life, see Deuteronomy 6:7: When thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way.