1 When Ehud was dead, athe children of Israel again did bevil in the sight of the Lord.
2 So the Lordasold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in bHazor. The commander of his army wascSisera, who dwelt in dHarosheth Hagoyim.
3 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred achariots of iron, and for twenty years bhe had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.
4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
5aAnd she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6 Then she sent and called for aBarak the son of Abinoam from bKedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and1 deploy troops at Mount cTabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun;
7 and against you aI will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the bRiver Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”
8 And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”
9 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will asell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 And Barak called aZebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men bunder his command, and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber athe Kenite, of the children of bHobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, cwhich is beside Kedesh.
12 And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13 So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. aHas not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
15 And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot.
See Joshua 11:1 note. Since the events there narrated, Hazor must have been rebuilt, and have resumed its position as the metropolis of the northern Canaanites; the other cities must also have resumed their independence, and restored the fallen dynasties.
Harosheth (identified by Conder with El Harathlyeh, see Judges 4:6) is marked by the addition of the Gentiles, as in Galilee of the nations Genesis 14:1; Isaiah 9:1. The name Harosheth signifies workmanship, cutting and carving, whether in stone or wood Exodus 31:5, and hence, might be applied to the place where such works are carried on. It has been conjectured that this being a great timber district, rich in cedars and fir-trees, and near Great Zidon Joshua 11:8, Jabin kept a large number of oppressed Israelites at work in hewing wood, and preparing it at Harosheth for transport to Zidon; and that these woodcutters, armed with axes and hatchets, formed the soldiers of Barak' s army.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Judges 4:2:
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