Judges 5:22

Jdg 5:22 Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones.

Ver. 22. Then were the horse hoofs broken,] viz., With hasty flight; as afterwards it fell out at the battle of Spurs - so the battle of Terwin was called, where Henry VIII routed the French. {a}

{a} Paul. Jov.

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.

Jdg 5:22. Then were the horse-hoofs broken — This verse finely expresses, and gives us the strongest image of, the confusion and rapidity of the flight of Sisera’s captains and great men, as well as of the multitude, from God and Israel; which was such that the very hoofs of their horses were broken by their swift and violent running over the stony ground. Prancings — Or, because of their fierce or swift courses. The word דהר, dahar, here rendered prancings, is used also Nah 3:2, where, from the word it is joined with, says Dr. Dodd, it must mean the clattering of the horse on full speed. The marginal reading, tramplings, or plungings, he thinks preferable to the text, and observes, that the meaning of it cannot perhaps be better expressed than by the well-known line of Virgil:

Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.

“‘They shake with horny hoofs the solid ground.”

Dr. Waterland proposes that אביריו, abiraiv, here rendered their mighty ones, should be translated their mighty horses, an interpretation which the word will easily bear, and which increases the force and beauty of the passage, as they were doubtless “not common horses, but their best and strongest, whose hoofs were broken on this occasion.” The reader will observe that it was not the custom to shoe their horses in these ancient times, and indeed, according to Tavernier, Montfaucon, and others, they have at present excellent horses in Arabia and Tartary which are never shod. See Dodd.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22 Then did the hoofs of the horses stamp

With the hunting, the hunting of his strong ones.

23 Curse ye Meroz, saith the angel of the Lord;

Curse ye, curse ye the inhabitants thereof!

Because they came not to the help of Jehovah,

To the help of Jehovah among the mighty.

24 Blessed before women be Jael,

The wife of Heber the Kenite,

Blessed before women in the tent!

The war-chariots of the enemy hunted away in the wildest flight (Jdg 5:22). The horses stamped the ground with the continuous hunting or galloping away of the warriors. דהרה, the hunting (cf. דּהר, Nah 3:2). The repetition of the word expresses the continuance or incessant duration of the same thing (see Ewald, 313, a.). אבּירים, strong ones, are not the horses, but the warriors in the war-chariots. The suffix refers to סוּס, which is used collectively. The mighty ones on horses are not, however, merely the Canaanitish princes, such as Sisera, as Ewald maintains, but the warriors generally who hunted away upon their war-chariots.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Then were the horse hoofs broken by the means of the prancings--Anciently, as in many parts of the East still, horses were not shod. The breaking of the hoofs denotes the hot haste and heavy irregular tramp of the routed foe.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 22. Then were the horsehoofs broken] In very ancient times horses were not shod; nor are they to the present day in several parts of the East. Sisera had iron chariots when his hosts were routed; the horses that drew these, being strongly urged on by those who drove them, had their hoofs broken by the roughness of the roads; in consequence of which they became lame, and could not carry off their riders. This is marked as one cause of their disaster.

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

(22) By the means of the pransings.—Rather, the stampings. In crossing the Kishon after moderate rains, I had an opportunity of observing by personal experience how easily a horse might be hopelessly disabled in the muddy morass formed by the river. The word is forcibly repeated by the figure known as anadiplosis.

Their mighty ones.—The great lords in their iron chariots, trying to goad their frightened steeds through the flood. There is a scathing taunt in the words. Their “might” was exhibited in valiantly running away. It may, however, mean the strong steeds themselves (comp. Jer_8:15; Jer_51:11). Vandevelde speaks of the Kishon as being the most dangerous river of the land, from its quicksands.

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

22. did … stamp] or hammered (i.e. the earth); the same verb as in Jdg_5:26. In the next line the Hebrew words imitate the gallop of horses in precipitate flight. Cf. Nah_3:2. Their strong ones are the enemy’s steeds; cf. Jer_8:16; Jer_47:3.

Part iii. Jdg_5:23-31 a. The death of Sisera. The four-lined Jdg_5:23 forms a prelude; cf. the opening of Part ii.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then were the horse hoofs broken by means of the pransings,.... Either through the force of the waters of the river, where they pranced and plunged, and could have no standing; or through the swift haste they made to run away, striking the earth so quick, and with such force and vehemence, that their hoofs were broken thereby, especially on stony ground, and so their speed retarded:

the pransings of the mighty ones; either their riders, princes, and great personages, who made them prance, leap, and run with great speed and force; or horses strong and mighty, being such as were selected for this purpose, and trained to war.

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

Probably an allusion to the frantic efforts of the chariot-horses to disengage themselves from the morass (Jdg 4:15 note).

Mighty ones - Applied to bulls Psa 22:12 and horses Jer 8:16; Jer 47:3; Jer 50:11; elsewhere, as probably here, to men.

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

Their horses, in which they put most confidence, had their hoofs, which is their support and strength, broken, either by dreadful hailstones, or rather, by their swift and violent running over the stony grounds, when they fled away with all possible speed from God and from Israel.

By the means of the pransings; or, because of their fierce or swift courses. Of their mighty ones; either, first, Of their strong and valiant riders, who forced their horses to run away as fast as they could. Or, secondly, Of their horses, as this word signifies, Jer 8:16; 47:3; 50:42, i.e. of themselves; the antecedent for the relative.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22. From the galloppings — The rapid and hasty flight of the Canaanitish heroes caused their horses’ hoofs to smite terribly the ground. The frantic steeds struggled to get loose from the chariots, and escape the miry ground, and became more frantic still by the urgency of their strong drivers. The gallopping of his strong ones is to be explained as the galloppings caused by the strong men that urged on their frantic flight. This verse, says Robinson, presents “a most vivid image of hasty and rapid flight and hot pursuit.”

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

Their mighty ones. Applied to bulls, Psa_22:12, etc.; and to horses (A.V, his strong ones), Jer_8:16; his strong horses, Jer_47:3.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Horses hoofs - Their horses, in which they put most confidence, had their hoofs, which are their support and strength, broken, either by dreadful hail-stones, or rather, by their swift and violent running over the stony grounds, when they fled with all possible speed from God and from Israel. Pransings - Or because of their fierce or swift courses. Mighty ones - Of their strong and valiant riders, who forced their horses to run away as fast as they could.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Horses' legs were battered. Their horses' hooves were severed. The heat of the star brought the mud to a boil, severing the hooves, as when legs are scalded in boiling water to detach the hooves. Once the hooves were severed, the legs were battered.

By the prancing, the prancing of their mighty. They pranced their horses in battle, as in "a prancing horse. The word connotes the dancing of a horse.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Then they pounded: It is a passive verb, as if it said, the horses' hoofs were pounded from their great running. And [regarding] that which it states, "his strong ones were galloping gallops": That which a horse strikes the ground with force - when it is running and when it is not running - like a dancer, is called galloping. And likewise (Nachum 3:2), "the galloping horse and dancing chariot." And it stated, "the horses' hoofs," because there is no split in the hoofs. That is why it stated that the horses' hoofs were pounded by the force of the striking of the horse on the ground. And the explanation of "abiriv (his strong ones)," is [that it is] referring to the riders, or referring to the horses.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.