3. The delivering word (4:1-5:31)

The introduction (4:1-3) still does not accuse Israel of idolatry, though 5:8 hints at it. The death of Ehud is noted in 4:1 parenthetically. The judge’s death signaled a reversion to evil, limiting Ehud’s death notice to a parenthetical remark. This combined with his eighty-year peace suggests Israel did not revert to evil immediately. The oppression gets detailed treatment, however, and the enemy now comes from within the land, Hazor, a city destroyed by Joshua (Jos 11). Israel’s cry does not lead immediately to the divine elevation of a leader but is followed by more details of the oppression before the introduction of Deborah in 4:4.

Before launching into the story of deliverance, 4:4-10 depicts Deborah’s judicial and prophetic role. Though a judge, she would not be the deliverer. Deborah prophetically summons Barak, who refuses to engage in battle unless Deborah joins him. Deborah’s agreement has a price: the honor will belong to a woman. But again, who? Barak musters the armies and assumes the role of deliverer. Jdg 4:11-24 narrates Barak’s divinely granted victory. Most suppose that Sisera learns of Barak’s advance from Heber, who abandoned his fellow Kenites. One related to Moses' father-in-law now allies with Israel’s oppressors. Jdg 4:17-22 switches to the flight of Sisera to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber, from whom Sisera expects refuge because of his treaty with Heber. By double-crossing Sisera, Jael abrogates an unfaithful alliance. Ehudlike, Jael maneuvers Sisera into lowering his defenses, then spikes his head to the ground. The honor that bypasses Barak and Deborah goes to a non-Israelite woman whose defiance of her husband’s treaty with a Canaanite king wins her a place in Israel’s lore.

This story undercuts the ideal of the lone hero. The prophet instigates and sustains the victorious military leader, who plays a secondary role. The real honor goes to an obscure woman who rejected her husband’s compromise with Canaan. The story dramatizes the catalytic power of Yahweh’s word to elicit daring faithfulness and extols the heroics of an ordinary person choosing the Lord’s side.

In 4:23-5:31 we find Deborah’s song, which fits into the concluding summary (4:23-24; 5:31b). Its themes reinforce the emphases of ch. 4. In 5:2-5 Deborah lauds the leaders and volunteers of Israel, then proclaims to pagan rulers that Yahweh’s coming, not military might, procures Israel’s victory. Jdg 5:6-9 accentuates Deborah’s role in reawakening the volunteer spirit and stresses the paralysis and powerlessness caused by oppression and, possibly, apostasy, if NIV is correct with They chose new gods in the textually difficult 5:8. Jdg 5:10-12 affirms the efficacy of reciting Yahweh’s righteous acts. The roll call of the tribes (5:13-18) praises initiative and daring and castigates Reuben’s indecisiveness, Gilead’s isolation, Asher’s unwillingness to risk its security, and Dan’s complacency. On the latter, NIV’s “Why did [Dan] linger by the ships?” is better translated “Why did he abide at ease?” (Craigie, 84-86). Praise for Zebulun and Naphtali’s willingness to take mortal risk climaxes the list, since they figure in ch. 4. Jdg 5:19-23 celebrates the saving action of Yahweh, not through charismatic deliverers, but through the stars and the river Kishon. That Yahweh is the principal protagonist heightens the urgency of the battle call. To stay away betrayed not humans but Yahweh. Thus the village of Meroz is cursed, and the wife of a Gentile collaborator with the enemy, by helping Israel, becomes most blessed of women (5:24-27). The gutsy faith of Jael contrasts with Sisera’s mother, who callously assumes that Sisera is taking extra time despoiling the Hebrews and molesting their maidens to find her some little curio! The reader already knows that Israel will provide no souvenirs for the oppressors' mantles.

Jdg 5:31a declares the point of the story: To oppose Yahweh is to perish; to love him is to know ever-growing strength. That love is embodied in the faithful and risky choices made by Barak, the volunteers of Israel, and Jael. The divine word, embodied by Deborah, is both catalyst and celebration of that love. No death notice appears. A hero’s influence fades with death. The action of God, the commitment of his people, and the empowering Word transcends all generations.