Judges 8

Judges 8:1 The men of Ephraim asked him, “Why have you done this to us, not calling us when you went to fight against the Midianites?” And they argued violently with him.

Judges 8:2 So he said to them, “What have I done now compared to you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?

Judges 8:3 God handed over to you Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he said this, their breath against him relaxed.

Judges 8:4 Gideon and the three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it. They were exhausted but still chasing them.

Judges 8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give some loaves of bread to the troops under my command. They are exhausted because I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

Judges 8:6 But the princes of Succoth asked, “Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your grasp that we should give bread to your army?”

Judges 8:7 Gideon replied, “Very well, when Yahveh has handed Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will tear your flesh with thorns and briers from the wilderness!”

Judges 8:8 He went from there to Penuel and asked the same thing from them. The men of Penuel answered just as the men of Succoth had answered.

Judges 8:9 He also told the men of Penuel, “When I return safely, I will tear down this tower!”

Judges 8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and with them was their army of about fifteen thousand men, who were all those left of the entire army of the Qedemites. Those who had been killed were one hundred twenty thousand armed men.

Judges 8:11 Gideon traveled on the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked their army while the army felt confident.

Judges 8:12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he chased them. He captured these two kings of Midian and routed the entire army.

Judges 8:13 Gideon, son of Joash, returned from the battle by the Ascent of Heres.

Judges 8:14 He captured a youth from the men of Succoth and interrogated him. The youth wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth.

Judges 8:15 Then he went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. You taunted me about them, saying, ‘Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your power that we should give bread to your exhausted men? ‘”

Judges 8:16 So he took the elders of the city, and he took some thorns and briers from the wilderness, and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them.

Judges 8:17 He also tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

Judges 8:18 He asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” “They were like you,” they said. “Each resembled the son of a king.”

Judges 8:19 So he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother! As Yahveh lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

Judges 8:20 Then he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” The youth did not draw his sword because he was afraid, for he was still a youth.

Judges 8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and strike us down yourself because a man is judged by his strength.” So Gideon got up, killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

Judges 8:22 Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Govern  over us, you as well as your sons and your grandsons, for you rescued us from the power of Midian.”

Judges 8:23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not govern over you, and my son will not govern over you; Yahveh will govern over you.”

Judges 8:24 Then he said to them, “Let me request of you: Everyone give me an earring from his plunder.” Now, the enemy had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.

Judges 8:25 They said, “We agree to give them.” So they spread out a cloak, and everyone threw an earring from his plunder on it.

Judges 8:26 The weight of the gold earrings he requested was 1700 units of gold,  in addition to the crescent ornaments and ear pendants, the purple garments on the kings of Midian, and the chains on the necks of their camels.

Judges 8:27 Gideon made an ephod from all this and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. Then, all of Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

Judges 8:28 So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they were no longer a threat. The land had peace for forty years during Gideon’s reign.

Judges 8:29 Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon), son of Joash, went back to live at his house.

Judges 8:30 Gideon had seventy sons, his offspring, since he had many wives.

Judges 8:31 His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

Judges 8:32 Then Gideon, son of Joash, died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Judges 8:33 When Gideon died, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves by worshiping the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.

Judges 8:34 The Israelites did not remember Yahveh their God who had rescued them from the hand of the enemies around them.

Judges 8:35 They did not show covenant loyalty to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.

Judges 8 quotes:

“he opening of ch. 8 portrays the sort of tensions that arise concerning the distribution of war spoils within decentralized political and military structures. Such disputes are frequent motifs in the bardic-style literary traditions about war. One might draw comparisons, for example, with tales of Achilles and Menelaus. Participants in battle fight with hopes of obtaining a piece of the victory spoils, and the Ephraimites complain that they were not called up sufficiently early in order to partake fully in the conquered goods and the glory. Gideon, able leader that he is, diffuses their anger by use of a proverbial saying.”

Niditch Susan. Judges: A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 103.

Judges 8 links:

organized rebellion
the leader whose slip was showing
where did all the spirits go?

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library

Judges 7 

Judges 7:1 Jerubbaal (AKA, Gideon) and all the troops who were with him got up early and camped beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 

Judges 7:2 Yahveh said to Gideon, “You have too many troops for me to hand the Midianites over to them, or else Israel might elevate themselves over me and say, ‘My strength rescued me.’

Judges 7:3 Now announce to the troops: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling is allowed to turn back and leave Mount Gilead.'” So twenty-two thousand of the soldiers turned back, but ten thousand stayed.

Judges 7:4 Then Yahveh said to Gideon, “There are still too many troops. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one can go with you,’ he can go. But if I say about anyone, ‘This one cannot go with you,’ he cannot go.”

Judges 7:5 So he brought the troops down to the water, and Yahveh said to Gideon, “Separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue like a dog. Do the same with everyone who kneels to drink.”

Judges 7:6 The number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men, and all the rest of the troops knelt to drink water.

Judges 7:7 Yahveh said to Gideon, “I will rescue you with the three hundred men who lapped and hand the Midianites over to you. But everyone else is to go home.”

Judges 7:8 So Gideon sent all the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred troops, who took the provisions and their trumpets. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

Judges 7:9 That night, Yahveh said to him, “Get up and attack the camp because I have handed it over to you.

Judges 7:10 But if you are afraid to attack the camp, go down with Purah, your servant.

Judges 7:11 Listen to what they say, and then you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah, his servant, to the outpost of the troops who were in the camp.

Judges 7:12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the Qedemites had settled down in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore.

Judges 7:13 When Gideon arrived, he noticed a man telling his associate about a dream. He said, “Notice, I had a dream: a loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp, hit a tent, and it fell. The loaf turned the tent upside down so that it collapsed.”

Judges 7:14 His associate answered: “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, the Israelite. God has handed the entire Midianite camp over to him.”

Judges 7:15 When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to Israel’s camp and said, “Get up because Yahveh has handed the Midianite camp over to you.”

Judges 7:16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each one a trumpet in one hand and a hollow[1] pitcher with a torch inside it in the other hand.

Judges 7:17 “Watch me,” he said to them, “and do what I do. Notice when I come to the outpost of the camp, do as I do.

Judges 7:18 When I and everyone with me blow our trumpets, you are also to blow your trumpets all around the camp. Then you will say, ‘For Yahveh and Gideon! ‘”

Judges 7:19 Gideon and the hundred men who were with him went to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch after the sentries had been stationed. They blew their trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.

Judges 7:20 The three companies blew their trumpets and shattered their pitchers. They held their torches in their left hands, their trumpets in their right hands, and shouted, “A sword for Yahveh and Gideon!”

Judges 7:21 Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army began to run, and they cried out as they fled.

Judges 7:22 When Gideon’s men blew their three hundred trumpets, Yahveh caused the men in the whole army to turn on each associate with their swords. They fled to Acacia House in the direction of Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.

Judges 7:23 Then the men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, and they chased the Midianites.

Judges 7:24 Gideon sent agents throughout the hill country of Ephraim with this message: “Come down to intercept the Midianites and take control of the watercourses ahead of them as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they took control of the watercourses as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.

Judges 7:25 They captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian. While chasing the Midianites, they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.

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[1] רֵיק = hollow. Judges 7:16; 9:4; 11:3.

Judges 7 quotes:

“The outcome of the battle depends not upon Israelite expertise, but upon the prowess and goodwill of the divine warrior, protector of Israel. The fewer the number of human soldiers, the greater the victory of God. Like the exodus, the battle with the Midianites has to do with a manifestation of God’s glory. Thus Yhwh demands that Gideon reduce the size of his fighting force, the episode of the “lappers” being an idiosyncratic means to achieve that end. The battle and Gideon’s own career are framed by an encouraging divinatory experience, while the battle suggests a ritualized view of holy war. In this case, tribes called to participate are Naphtali, Asher, Manasseh, and Ephraim. The battle is narrated in traditional economical style. Lines break up easily into full clauses, which predominate.”

Niditch Susan. Judges : A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 97.

Judges 7 links:

primary allegiance
Prince of What?
The LORD’s turn to test
too many troops

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library

Judges 6

Judges 6:1 The Israelites did what was evil in the eyes of Yahveh. So Yahveh gave them to Midian’s hands seven years,

Judges 6:2 and they overpowered Israel. Because of Midian, the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.

Judges 6:3 Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the Qedemites came and attacked them.

Judges 6:4 They encamped against them and devastated the produce of the land, even as far as Gaza. They left nothing for Israel to eat, not a sheep, ox, or donkey.

Judges 6:5 You see, the Midianites came up with their cattle and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to devastate it.

Judges 6:6 So Israel became poverty-stricken because of Midian, and the Israelites cried out to Yahveh.

Judges 6:7 When the Israelites cried out to Yahveh because of Midian,

Judges 6:8 Yahveh sent a prophet to them. He said to them, “This is what Yahveh God of Israel says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery.

Judges 6:9 I rescued you from the hand of Egypt and the hand of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

Judges 6:10 I said to you: I am Yahveh your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey me.'”

Judges 6:11 The agent of Yahveh came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites.

Judges 6:12 Then Yahveh’s agent appeared to him and said, “Yahveh is with you, capable warrior.”

Judges 6:13 Gideon said to him, “Excuse me, my lord, if Yahveh is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his miracles that our fathers told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t Yahveh brought us out of Egypt? ‘ But now Yahveh has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”

Judges 6:14 Yahveh turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and rescue Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”

Judges 6:15 He said to him, “Excuse me, Lord, how can I rescue Israel? Notice, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.”

Judges 6:16 “But I will be with you,” Yahveh said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”

Judges 6:17 Then he said to him, “If I have found favor with you, give me a sign that it is you who are speaking with me.

Judges 6:18 Please only leave this place once I return to you. Let me bring my gift and place it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.”

Judges 6:19 So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a half bushel of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

Judges 6:20 The agent of God said to him, “Take the meat with the unleavened bread, place it on this stone, and pour the broth on it.” So he did that.

Judges 6:21 The agent of Yahveh extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the agent of Yahveh vanished from his eyes.

Judges 6:22 When Gideon realized that he was the agent of Yahveh, he said, “Oh no, Lord Yahveh! I have seen the agent of Yahveh face to face!”

Judges 6:23 But Yahveh said to him, “Peace to you. Don’t be afraid because you will not die.”

Judges 6:24 So Gideon built an altar to Yahveh there and called it Yahveh Is Peace. It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites today.

Judges 6:25 On that very night Yahveh said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then, tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

Judges 6:26 Build a well-constructed altar to Yahveh your God on the top of this mound. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood from the Asherah pole you cut down.”

Judges 6:27 So Gideon took ten of his male servants and did as Yahveh had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night.

Judges 6:28 When the men of the city got up in the morning, they noticed Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built.

Judges 6:29 They said to each associate,  “Who did this?” After they made a thorough investigation, they said, “Gideon, son of Joash, did it.”

Judges 6:30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die because he tore down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

Judges 6:31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you argue Baal’s case for him? Would you rescue him? Whoever argues his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his case because someone tore down his altar.”

Judges 6:32 That day, he was called Jerubbaal because Joash said, “Let Baal argue with him,” because he tore down his altar.

Judges 6:33 All the Midianites, Amalekites, and Qedemites gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Jezreel Valley.

Judges 6:34 The Breath of Yahveh enveloped Gideon, and he blew the ram’s horn, and the Abiezrites rallied behind him.

Judges 6:35 He sent agents throughout all of Manasseh, who rallied behind him. He also sent agents throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who also came to meet him.

Judges 6:36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will rescue Israel by my hand, as you said,

Judges 6:37 Notice, I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the land is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by my strength, as you said.”

Judges 6:38 And that is what happened. When he got up early in the morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung dew out of it, filling a bowl with water.

Judges 6:39 Gideon then said to God, “Don’t let your nose burn angrily with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the land.”

Judges 6:40 That night, God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the land.

Judges 6 quotes:

“Introduced with the recurring frame that describes Israel’s rise and fall in covenantal terms (vv. 1-7), the cycle of stories about Gideon, like tales of Ehud, Deborah, and the other judges, describes Israel’s oppression, in this case by Midianite enemies, Israel’s resistance, and the underdogs’ victory with the help of a protective God. Chapter 6 describes the initiation of the hero in a theophany that shares much with the encounter between Samson’s parents and a divine messenger. The initiation is followed by Gideon’s bold act of subversion. This act leads to his gaining a new heroic name and is followed by “the sign of the fleece,” the divinely sent sign—another traditional motif in the biography of biblical heroes.”

Niditch Susan. Judges : A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 89.

Judges 6 links:

Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, July 5, 2023
putting out the fleece
where did all the spirits go?

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library

Judges 5 

Judges 5:1 On that day, Deborah (and Barak, son of Abinoam) sang:

Judges 5:2 When the leaders lead in Israel, when the people volunteer,[1] bless[2] Yahveh.

Judges 5:3 Listen, kings! Pay attention, princes! I will sing to Yahveh; I will sing praise to Yahveh God of Israel.

Judges 5:4 Yahveh, when you came from Seir, when you marched from the fields of Edom, the land trembled, the skies poured rain, and the clouds poured water.

Judges 5:5 The mountains melted before Yahveh, even Sinai, before Yahveh, the God of Israel.

Judges 5:6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the main roads were deserted because travelers kept to the side roads.

Judges 5:7 Villages were deserted in Israel until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.

Judges 5:8 Israel tried out[3] new gods, then there was war in the city gates. Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.

Judges 5:9 My heart is with the leaders of Israel, with the volunteers of the people. Blessed be Yahveh!

Judges 5:10 You who ride on white donkeys, who sit on saddle blankets, and who travel on the road, give praise!

Judges 5:11 Let them tell the righteous acts of Yahveh, the righteous deeds of his warriors in Israel, with the voices of the singers at the watering places. Then Yahveh’s people went down to the city gates.

Judges 5:12 “Wake up! Wake up, Deborah! Wake up! Wake up, sing a song! Get up, Barak, and take your prisoners, son of Abinoam!”

Judges 5:13 Then the survivors came down to the nobles; Yahveh’s people came down to me with the warriors.

Judges 5:14 Those with their roots in Amalek came from Ephraim; Benjamin came with your people after you. The leaders came down from Machir, and those who carry a marshal’s staff came from Zebulun.

Judges 5:15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; Issachar was with Barak; they were under his leadership in the valley. There was great searching of heart among the clans of Reuben.

Judges 5:16 Why did you sit among the sheep pens listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks? There was great searching of heart among the clans of Reuben.

Judges 5:17 Gilead remained beyond the Jordan. Dan, why did you stay rowing the ships? Asher remained at the seashore and stayed in his harbors.

Judges 5:18 The people of Zebulun didn’t care about their throats, even if they died. Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.

Judges 5:19 Kings came and fought. Then, the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo, but they did not plunder the silver.

Judges 5:20 The stars fought from the sky; the stars fought with Sisera from their paths.

Judges 5:21 The river Kishon swept them away, the ancient river, the river Kishon. March on, my throat, in strength!

Judges 5:22 The horses’ hooves then hammered – the galloping, galloping of his stallions.

Judges 5:23 “Curse Meroz,” says the agent of Yahveh, “Bitterly curse her inhabitants, because they did not come to help Yahveh, to help Yahveh with the warriors.”

Judges 5:24 Jael is the most empowered of women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; she is most empowered among tent-dwelling women.

Judges 5:25 He asked for water; she gave him milk. She brought him cream in a majestic bowl.

Judges 5:26 She reached for a tent peg, her right hand, for a workman’s hammer. Then she hammered Sisera – she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple.

Judges 5:27 He collapsed, he fell, he lay down between her feet; he collapsed, he fell between her feet; where he collapsed, there he fell – dead.

Judges 5:28 Sisera’s mother looked through the window; she peered through the lattice, crying out: “Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why don’t I hear the hoof-beats of his horses?”

Judges 5:29 Her wisest princesses answer her; she even answers herself:

Judges 5:30 “They must be finding and dividing the loot – a girl or two for each warrior, the loot of colored garments for Sisera, the spoil of an embroidered garment or two for my neck?”

Judges 5:31 Yahveh, may all your enemies perish like Sisera did. But may those who love him be like the rising of the sun in its strength. And the land had peace for forty years.

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[1] נָדָב = volunteer. Judges 5:2, 9.

[2] בָּרָךְ = bless (of God), empower (from God). Judges 5:2, 9, 24; 13:24; 17:2.

[3] בחר = try out, tested. Judges 5:8; 10:14; 20:15, 16, 34.

Judges 5 quotes:

“A beautiful and moving example of the traditional type of the woman’s victory song, the “Song of Deborah” may be one of the most ancient works of the Hebrew Bible. As in Exodus 15, the divine warrior displays his military power and prowess on behalf of the people Israel; but in contrast to that victory song, here human heroes play an even greater role on their own behalf, as divine intervention alternates with human initiative. Central in the victory are women warriors: Deborah the poet-prophet, charismatic leader, and “mother in Israel”; Jael, a guerrilla warrior and archetypal seducer-killer who exemplifies the folk motif of the iron first in the velvet glove. The author, whether male or female, assumes the voice and perspective of a woman, visualizing not only female Israelite victors but also the women of the Canaanite enemy, waiting for their heroes to return from battle, successful.”

Niditch Susan. Judges : A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 76.

Judges 5 links:

a hammer in her hand
cooperation
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, July 4, 2023
no junk
she fights
those yet unconvinced
throats on the battlefield

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library

Judges 4 

Judges 4:1 The Israelites added to the wrong they did in the eyes of Yahveh after Ehud had died.

Judges 4:2 So Yahveh sold them to King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Nations.

Judges 4:3 Then the Israelites cried out to Yahveh, because Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them twenty years.

Judges 4:4 Deborah, a prophetess and the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

Judges 4:5 She would sit under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go up to her to settle disputes.

Judges 4:6 She called on Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t Yahveh, the God of Israel, commanded you: ‘Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the Naphtalites and Zebulunites?

Judges 4:7 Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his infantry at the Wadi Kishon to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.'”

Judges 4:8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

Judges 4:9 “I will gladly go with you,” she said, “but you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because Yahveh will sell Sisera to a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Judges 4:10 Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to arms at Kedesh; ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

Judges 4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the sons of Hobab, Moses’s father-in-law, and pitched his tent beside the oak tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.

Judges 4:12 It was reported to Sisera that Barak, son of Abinoam, had gone up Mount Tabor.

Judges 4:13 Sisera called to arms all his nine hundred iron chariots and all the troops who were with him from Harosheth of the Nations to the Wadi Kishon.

Judges 4:14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day Yahveh has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn’t Yahveh gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

Judges 4:15 Yahveh threw Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army into confusion before Barak’s assault. Sisera left his chariot and fled on foot.

Judges 4:16 Barak chased the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth of the Nations, and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left.

Judges 4:17 Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.

Judges 4:18 Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

Judges 4:19 He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again.

Judges 4:20 Then he said to her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent. If a man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here? ‘ say, ‘No.'”

Judges 4:21 While he was sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She hammered the peg into his temple and drove it into the ground, and he died.

Judges 4:22 When Barak arrived chasing after Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went in with her and noticed Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!

Judges 4:23 That day, God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites.

Judges 4:24 The Israelites’ power continued to increase against King Jabin of Canaan until they cut him down.

Judges 4 quotes:

“The action in Judges 4 focuses on a battle between Deborah and Barak’s forces and the army of Jabin of Canaan. The battle, in turn, frames an exquisite cameo concerning the assassination of the Canaanite general Sisera by a woman, Jael, a tale told a second time in the following chapter. The tale of Jael partakes of the traditional motif of the “iron fist in the velvet glove” and subversively echoes and reverses similar encounters between vulnerable men and strong, resourceful women in the Hebrew Bible. The attitudes of “us versus them,” the equation between battle and sex, and gender-related themes are all at play in this passage.”

Niditch Susan. Judges : A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 64.

Judges 4 links:

courageous women
Gender Equality in Ministry
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, July 2, 2019
she fights

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library