John Gill Commentary Judges 4

And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the
Lord
Which was the fruit and effect of the long rest and peace they enjoyed; and which is often the case of a people favoured with peace, plenty, and prosperity, who are apt to abuse their mercies, and forget God, the author and giver of them; and the principal evil, though not expressed, was idolatry, worshipping Baalim, the gods of the nations about them; though it is highly probable they were guilty of other sins, which they indulged in the times of their peace and prosperity:

when Ehud was dead ;
Shamgar is not mentioned, because his time of judging Israel was short, and the people were not reformed in his time, but fell into sin as soon as Ehud was dead, and continued. Some choose to render the words, "for Ehud was dead" ^F20 , who had been, the instrument of reforming them, and of preserving them from idolatry, but he being dead, they fell into it again; and the particle "vau" is often to be taken in this sense, of which Noldius ^F21 gives many instances.

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: (dwhaw) "enim, vel quia Ehud", Bonfrerius; so Patrick.
• F21: Concord. Ebr. part. p. 285, 295.

And the Lord sold them
Delivered them into a state of bondage and slavery, where they were like men sold for slaves, see (Judges 3:8);

into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor ;
there was a city of this name, and a king of it of the same name, as here, in the times of Joshua, which city was taken and burnt by him, and its king slain, (Joshua 11:1Joshua 11:10Joshua 11:11) ; and either the country about it is here meant, as Jericho in the preceding chapter is put for the country adjacent to it; or this city had been rebuilt, over which reigned one of the posterity of the ancient kings of it, and of the same name; or Jabin was a name common to the kings of Canaan, as Pharaoh to the Egyptian kings; and by Canaan is meant, not the land of Canaan in general, but a particular part of it inhabited by that, or some of that nation or tribe, which was peculiarly so called:

the captain of whose host [was] Sisera ;
Jabin maintained a standing army to keep the people of Israel in subjection, the general of which was Sisera, of whom many things are after said:

which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles ; not Jabin, as many understand it, for he had his royal seat and residence in Hazor; but Sisera his general, and where the army under his command was. This place had its name either because it was built by some of various nations, or inhabited by workmen of different countries; or rather it was a wood originally, as the name signifies, to which many of the seven nations of the Canaanites fled from before Joshua, and hid and sheltered themselves, and in process of time built strong towers and fortresses in it, and became numerous and powerful;

and so the Targum paraphrases the words, ``and he dwelt in the strength of the towers of the people;'' and in other times, as Strabo relates ^F23 , the northern parts of the land of Canaan, as those were where Hazor and Harosheth were, were inhabited by a mixed people, Egyptians, Arabians, and Phoenicians; such were they, he says, that held Galilee, Jericho, Philadelphia, and Samaria.

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: Geograph. l. 16. p. 525.

And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord
Because of their hard bondage, and begged deliverance from it, being brought to a sense of their sins, andhumbled for them:

for he had nine hundred chariots of iron ;
the same with the (armata) (to drepanhfora) ,chariots which carried scythes at the side of them, fastened to the orbs of the wheels ^F24 , andwere on both sides; and in some stood out ten cubits ^F25.

These running furiously among the infantry, cut them to pieces in a terrible manner; of which Cyrus had in his army at first but an hundred,afterwards increased to three hundred ^F26 ; and yet here a petty prince of Canaan had nine hundredof them; and which Josephus ^F1 has increased, beyond all belief, to the number of three thousand;which struck great terror into the Israelites, and who therefore durst not attempt to shake off his yoke, butcried to the Lord for help:

and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel ;
as they increased their sins, and repeated their revolts, the Lord increased their oppressions, and continuedthem the longer; the first was only eight years, the next eighteen, and this twenty, and which was a veryheavy one; the other being foreign princes that oppressed them, but this a Canaanitish king, an implacableenemy, and who doubtless used them the more severely for what they had done to his ancestors, killed hisfather or grandfather, burnt the city of Hazor, and destroyed the inhabitants of it in Joshua's time;

and theservitude was the harder, and the more intolerable to the Israelites, that they were under a people whoseland had been given them to possess, and whom they had expelled, and now were become subject to them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: Vid. Suidam in voce (drepanhfora) .
• F25: Curtius, l. 4. c. 9, 12, 15. Liv. Hist. l. 37. c. 41.
• F26: Xenophon. Cyropaedia, l. 6. c. 13.
• F1: Antiqu. l. 5. c. 5. sect. 1.

And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth
Deborah was a name common to women with the eastern people, see (Genesis 35:8); as Melissa, which is of the same signification with the Greeks, and both signify a "bee"; and to which Deborah answered in her industry, sagacity, and sweetness of temper to her friends, and sharpness to her enemies: she was a "prophetess", and foretold things to come, as the drawing of Sisera and his army to a certain place named by her, the victory that should be gained over him, and the delivery of him into the hands of a woman. Who Lapidoth was, or what is meant by the name, is not certain; most take it to be the name of her husband, which seems best, but who he was is not known; the Jews will have him to be the same with Barak, there being, as they think, some agreement in the names, Barak signifying lightning, and Lapidoth, lamps; but the whole context shows the contrary, that he was not her husband. Some render the words, "a woman of Lapidoth", taking it for the name of her native place on habitation; but where there was a place of this name no account can be given: some say she was so called from her employment before she was a prophetess and judge, making wicks for the lamps in the sanctuary, as Jarchi relates; and others take it to be expressive of her excellencies and virtues, which shone in her as lamps; the first sense is best:

she judged Israel at that time ;
toward the close of the twenty years' oppression under Jabin, being raised up of God as other judges were, and eminently endowed with gifts and grace; she endeavoured to convince the people of their sins, exhorted them to repentance, and was a means of reforming them, and administering justice and judgment in all cases brought before her; and which Jabin might admit of, connive at, or take no notice of, she being a woman, of whose growing power and interest he had no jealousy.

And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah Her dwelling house was under a palm tree, or rather she sat under one, in the open air, when the people came to her with their cases, and it was called from hence after her name; though some, as Abarbinel observes, think it was so called, because Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, was buried here, and which was near Bethel, one of the places next mentioned, see (Genesis 35:8) .

between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim which places were in the tribe of Benjamin in the borders of Ephraim, see (Joshua 16:2) (Joshua 18:22Joshua 18:25) . The Jews conclude, from the situation of her, that she was a very opulent woman; the Targum is, ``she was dwelling in a city in Ataroth, Deborah was supported of her own; she had palm trees in Jericho, orchards in Ramah, olives producing oil in the valley, a place of watering in Bethel, and white dust in the kings mountain:''

and the children of Israel came up to her from all parts of the land to the mount of Ephraim:

for judgment to have her advice and counsel in matters of difficulty, and to have causes between contending parties heard and decided by her, so that she might be truly reckoned among the judges.