Judges 4:24

Jdg 4:24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Ver. 24. Until they had destroyed Jabin.] So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord. Read the Church’s prayer, Psa 83:9-10; - "Do unto them as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth."

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, went and was strong.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 24. The hand of the children of Israel prospered] ותלך הלוך vattelech haloch, it went, going - they followed up this victory, and the consequence was, they utterly destroyed Jabin and his kingdom.

IT will naturally be expected that something should be said to justify the conduct of Jael: it must be owned that she slew Sisera in circumstances which caused the whole transaction to appear exceedingly questionable. They are the following: -

1. There was peace between her family and the king of Canaan.

2. That peace was no doubt made, as all transactions of the kind were, with a sacrifice and an oath.

3. Sisera, knowing this, came to her tent with the utmost confidence.

4. She met him with the most friendly greetings and assurances of safety.

5. Having asked for water, to show her friendship and respect she gave him cream, and that in a vessel suitable to his dignity.

6. She put him in the secret part of her own tent, and covered him in such a way as to evidence her good faith, and to inspire him with the greater confidence.

7. She agreed to keep watch at the door, and deny his being there to any that might inquire.

8. As she gave him permission to secrete himself with her, and gave him refreshment, she was bound by the rules of Asiatic hospitality to have defended his life, even at the risk of her own.

9. Notwithstanding, she took the advantage of his weariness and deep sleep, and took away his life!

10. She exulted in her deed, met Barak, and showed him in triumph what she had done.

Now do we not find, in all this, bad faith, deceit, deep hypocrisy, lying, breach of treaty, contempt of religious rites, breach of the laws of hospitality, deliberate and unprovoked murder? But what can be said in her justification? All that can be said, and all that has been said is simply this: "She might have been sincere at first, but was afterwards Divinely directed to do what she did." If this was so, she is sufficiently vindicated by the fact; for God has a right to dispose of the lives of his creatures as he pleases: and probably the cup of Sisera's iniquity was full, and his life already forfeited to the justice of God. But does it appear that she received any such direction from God? There is no sufficient evidence of it: it is true that Deborah, a prophetess, declares her blessed above women; and this seems to intimate that her conduct was pleasing to God. If Deborah was inspired on this occasion, her words are a presumptive proof that the act was right; unless we are to understand it as a simple declaration of the reputation she should be held in among her own sex. But we do not find one word from Jael herself, stating how she was led to do an act repugnant to her feelings as a woman, contrary to good faith, and a breach of the rules of hospitality. Nor does the sacred penman say one word to explain the case; as in the case of Ehud, he states the fact, and leaves his readers to form their own opinion.

To say, as has been said in the case of Eglon, that "Sisera was a public enemy, and any of the people whom he oppressed might be justified in taking away his life," is a very dangerous position, as it refers one of the most solemn acts of judgment and justice to the caprice, or prejudice, or enthusiastic feeling of every individual who may persuade himself that he is not only concerned in the business, but authorized by God to take vengeance by his own hand. While justice and law are in the world, God never will, as he never did, abandon cases of this kind to the caprice, prejudice, or party feeling, of any man. The conduct of Ehud and Jael are before the tribunal of God: I will not justify, I dare not absolutely condemn; there I leave them, and entreat my readers to do the like; after referring them to the observations at the end of the preceding chapter, where the subject is considered more at large.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(24) The hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed.—Literally, as in the margin, The hand. . . . going went, and was hard—i.e., “became heavier and heavier in its pressure.” The battle of the Kishon was the beginning of a complete deliverance of Israel from the yoke of the Canaanites.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the hand of the children of Israel, prospered and prevailed against Jabin, the king of Canaan,.... They continued their wars with him, in which they were successful:

until they had destroyed Jabin, king of Canaan; took him, and put him to death, and took his cities, and destroyed the inhabitants of them, and so acted more agreeably to the declared will of God, that they should not spare the Canaanites, but destroy them.

Next: Judges Chapter 5

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

See the margin. The meaning is, that Barak’s great victory was the beginning of a successful resistance to Jabin, by which the Israelites recovered their independence, and finally broke the Canaanite power. Accordingly, we hear no more of Canaanite domination in the Book of Judges.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. Prospered… prevailed… destroyed — Compare marginal reading. “The meaning is, that Barak’s great victory was the beginning of a successful resistance to Jabin, by which the Israelites recovered their independence, and finally broke the Canaanite power. Accordingly we hear no more of Canaanite dominion in the Book of Judges.” — Hervey.

The morality of Jael’s deed has been, of course, the subject of many a dissertation. The enemies of the Bible would fain use it to throw reproach on the sacred history; and as both Jael and her deed are evidently praised by an inspired poetess, in Jdg_5:24-27, the friends of truth have sought in various ways to show how such praise might be compatible with the apparent wickedness of Jael’s act. It is claimed that her deed violated all the proper usages of war. A fugitive chieftain, an ally of her husband, defeated and almost exhausted, sought protection in her tent, and received from her more than the common tokens of security. But, in violation of the sacred rites of hospitality, she murdered in his sleep her confiding and unprotected guest. This surely makes up a dark picture; but it is one sided, and overdrawn by magnifying certain points at the expense of others which are equally prominent in the sacred history. The whole subject may be relieved of difficulty by attention to the following considerations.

1. Though Heber was at peace with Jabin, and neutral in this war, there were circumstances in view of which Jael might not have felt herself bound to observe at this time the treaty of her husband. She was, perhaps, an Israelitess; but if not, her husband’s family were historically identified with the interests of Israel. She had before her eyes abundant evidence that Jabin’s power was utterly broken and annihilated in all that region where Heber had his home. She could not but feel, therefore, that her husband’s alliance with Jabin was no longer binding. “Israel’s freedom is her freedom; Israel’s glory her glory. Shall she be idle when the tyrant gives himself up into her hands? What if she saves him? Will it not be treason on her part against the ancient covenant with Israel? The conflict in which she finds herself is great, and none but a great and powerful soul could end it as she does. She scorns the reward which Sisera’s safety might, perhaps, have brought her. She takes the nobler object into consideration — the freedom of a kindred nation — and the older right preponderates. A ruthless warrior is before her, the violator of a thousand laws of right, and all hesitation vanishes.” — Cassel.

2. The prophecy of Deborah, that Sisera was to fall by a woman’s hand, (Jdg_4:9,) was probably known to Jael. She had not been personally designated as that woman, but when she saw Sisera flying on foot and alone, and coming towards her tent, the thought might naturally have flashed upon her mind that she herself was the divinely appointed instrument.

3. In Jdg_4:19 we are expressly told that Jael went out to meet Sisera, and urged him to come in. Now suppose that upon his approach she had not gone forth to meet him, but, like the woman of Thebez who killed Abimelech, (Jdg_9:53,) had broken his skull with a stone, or even had suddenly rushed forth and thrust a dagger to his heart, who would have charged her with gross wickedness? But if it was her purpose, from the moment she first saw him running towards her, to destroy him, then where appears so much guilt and wickedness as is pretended, merely in the means she used? She probably knew no other way to ensure his destruction by her own hand. Her tent afforded no height from which to crush him with a stone, and to rush forth and attack him in single combat would have been to expose herself to needless danger, if not to certain death. She therefore strategically drew him as into a snare and killed him. Once grant that his destruction was her settled purpose from the beginning, based on her knowledge of Deborah’s prophecy, and the measures she used were but the stratagems of battle. Her deed receives all its glory and significance from the war, with which it is ever to be associated; and what are artifice and stratagem but legitimate parts of war? Who blames the artifice by which Ai was taken when once he sees that its destruction was the will of God? The ability of the greatest generals is often seen more in their skill to deceive and entrap the foe than in their prowess in battle; and, in Jdg_4:20, Sisera orders her to lie, and thus deceive his pursuers.

4. As for Deborah’s praise of Jael’s deed, a clew is furnished in the closing verse of her song, (Jdg_5:31,) “So perish all thy enemies, Jehovah.” It is to be explained, like the vindictive Psalms, from the standpoint of the Divine administration. “It is not the poetess, who utters a private wish of her own,” says Bachmann, “but the prophetess, who utters a truth deeply grounded in the very essence of God — a weighty law of divine righteousness for all after ages to observe. Sisera’s fall is regarded by her as a righteous judgment of Heaven upon one who was a foe to the name and kingdom of God.” The same Spirit that could justly curse Meroz for neglect to intercept the flying the (Jdg_5:23) might well bless Jael’s deed, but might as justly have cursed her had she been guilty of similar neglect. And so the whole song of Deborah breathes the noblest theocratic spirit of her age and people.

There is no need, therefore, of supposing that Deborah speaks only as the poetess, or the patriotic woman in sympathy with the fortunes of Israel; and we reject the notion of Farrar, (in Smith’s Bible Dictionary,) and all similar views, that an inspired prophetess uttered this blessing “in the passionate moment of patriotic triumph,” without pausing “to scrutinize the moral bearings of an act which had been so splendid a benefit to herself and her people.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.