Deborah and Barak
1 ① After Ehud died, the Israelites again treated Yahweh badly, 2so he left them in the power of Yabin, king of Canaan. Yabin reigned in Hazor, and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoiim.
3Then the Israelites cried to Yahweh, for Yabin had nine hundred chariots of war, and had kept the Israelites oppressed for twenty years.
4At that time, Deborah, a prophetess and wife of Lappidoth, became judge. 5She used to sit under what was called the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel, in the land of Ephraim. There she resolved the complaints that the Israelites presented to her. 6And she sent and called for Barak, the son of Abinoam, who was from the town of Kedesh of Naphtali. She said to him, “This is the order of Yahweh: Go, gather the people on Mount Tabor and take with you ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun, 7for I am going to bring Sisera to you at the river Kishon with his chariots and men, and I will give him into your hands.”
8Barak answered her, “If you will go, then I shall go, too; but if you do not go, I shall not go.” 9Deborah answered, “I will go with you, but if you do it that way the honor of the victory will not be yours, for Sisera will be killed by a woman.”
In this way Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10Barak summoned men from Zebulun and Naphtali and ten thousand followed him. Deborah also went up with him. 11At that moment, Heber the Kenite was encamped by the oak of Zaan-nannim, near Kedesh, after separating from the other Kenite descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. 12When Sisera came to know that Barak had climbed Mount Tabor, 13he gathered all his chariots — nine hundred chariots of war in all — and all his men, and they set out from Harosheth-ha-goiim to the river Kishon.
14Then Deborah said to Barak, “Rise, for this is the day in which Yahweh shall give Sisera into your hands. Today, Yahweh goes before you.”
So, Barak went down from Mount Tabor with his ten thousand men. 15Yahweh made him win over Sisera and his chariots and all his army. Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled, 16while Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-ha-goiim. All of Sisera’s army perished. Nobody was spared.
17There Sisera took refuge, and came running to the tent of Yael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Peace reigned between the Kenite tribe and the Canaanites of Yabin, king of Hazor.
18Yael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come this way, my lord, have no fear.” Sisera entered and Yael hid him under a blanket. 19He asked her for a little water to quench his thirst. The woman opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again with the blanket. 20And he said to her, “Stand at the entrance; and if anyone comes and asks you, tell him there is no one with you.” 21Sisera was very tired, so he slept. Then the woman took a hammer and a tent peg, went quietly to him and drove the peg into his temple till it was fixed into the ground. 22When Barak arrived, Yael came out to meet him and said, “Come in, and I will show you the man you are looking for.” He entered and saw Sisera dead with a tent peg through his temple.
23On that day Yahweh humbled Yabin before the Israelites. 24The Israelites did not rest until they destroyed all the Canaanites.
- Jdg 4,1 Yabin, king of Canaan, was, in reality, king of the plain of Northern Canaan, called Jezrael. It was here that a great victory was won at the time of the Judges. A woman, Deborah, is judge of Israel, i.e., she administers justice in the name of Yahweh. This is an exceptional case among a people where men hold all the positions of social and religious responsibility. She sends for Barak from the north. He refuses to go alone, and seeks the cooperation of the tribes of Ephraim and Benjamin among whom Deborah is installed. Barak will be the technician of victory, and nothing more, since the word of God was not enough for him to commit himself totally. The Bible held Deborah in higher regard who inspired the uprising.
