Judges 5:25

Jdg 5:25 He asked water, [and] she gave [him] milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

Ver. 25. She gave him milk.] See Jdg 4:19.

Butter in a lordly dish.] Butter to eat, as well as milk to drink. Such are the murdering morsels of sin, εχθρων αδωρα δωρα και ιυκ ονησιμα: the giftless gifts of Satan.

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 5:25. He asked water, &c. — The original here is very poetical and elegant, and not badly imitated in our translation of it, if it were placed in hemistics thus:

He asked water, and she gave milk;

She brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

The last clause, however, perhaps had better be rendered, cream in a princely bowl; that is, she brought forth the choicest of her milk in the best dish or bowl she had; not indeed such a one as the luxury of after ages introduced, but such as was agreeable to the simplicity of those times and of this family, and such as the better sort of people then used. Jael, we have observed, on Jdg 4:19, probably at that time intended him no other than kindness, till God, to fulfil Deborah’s prophecy, by an immediate impulse on her mind, directed her to do otherwise.

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

25 He asked water, she gave him milk;

She handed him cream in the dish of nobles.

26 She stretched out her hand to the plug,

And her right hand to the workmen's hammer,

And hammered Sisera, broke his head,

And dashed in pieces and pierced his temples.

27 Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down:

Between her feet he bowed, he fell:

Where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

Assuming that the fact itself is well known, Deborah does not think it necessary to mention Sisera's name in Jdg 5:25. חמאה, which generally signifies thick curdled milk, is used here as synonymous with חלב, in the sense of good superior milk. ספל is only used here and in Jdg 6:38, and signifies a bowl or vessel for holding liquids (see Arab., Chald, and Talm.; also Bochart, Hieroz, i. pp. 625ff., ed. Ros.). The dish of nobles is a fine costly bowl, such as they are accustomed to hand to noble guests. The whole verse is simply intended to express the thought, that Jael had given to her guest Sisera a friendly reception, and treated him honourably and hospitably, simply in order to make him feel secure.

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.)

Some read churned milk in a great cup.

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

butter--curdled milk; a favorite beverage in the East.

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 25. She brought forth butter] As the word חמאה chemah, here translated butter, signifies disturbed, agitated, c., it is probable that buttermilk is intended. The Arabs form their buttermilk by agitating the milk in a leathery bag, and the buttermilk is highly esteemed because of its refreshing and cooling quality but there is no reason why we may not suppose that Jael gave him cream: Sisera was not only thirsty, but was also exhausted with fatigue; and nothing could be better calculated to quench his thirst, and restore his exhausted strength, than a bowl of cream. I am surprised that Mr. Harmer should see any difficulty in this. It is evident that Deborah wishes to convey the idea that Jael was more liberal and kind than Sisera had requested. He asked for water, and she brought him cream; and she brought it to him, not in an ordinary pitcher, but in the most superb dish or bowl which she possessed. See at the end of Jdg 4:24.

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

(25) Butter.—Rather, curdled milk.

In a lordly dish.—Rather, in a dish of the nobles: sephel, a splendid bowl, reserved for great occasions. All this was done to lull his suspicions into a false security.

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

25. The original is more forcible:

Water he asked, milk she gave,

In a bowl fit for nobles she offered him curd.

A bowl of (i.e. fit for) nobles was a large, rich bowl. The word, only here and Jdg_6:38 in Hebr., is mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions as an object of plunder or tribute, e.g. a bowl was brought to Shalmaneser by Jehu (Schrader, COT. i. p. 199). Not butter, which the Bedouin do not use, but curdled milk is meant, a refreshing drink such as would be offered to a guest. Gen_18:8.

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.

He asked water, and she gave him milk,.... That is, Sisera asked it of her, as the Targum expresses it, when he turned into her tent:

she brought him fresh butter in a lordly dish; which signifies either the same, the milk with cream on it, for that is meant by butter; or having first taken off the cream, she gave him milk to drink, and then brought the cream in a dish for him to eat, and thereby the more incline him to sleep; and this she brought in a dish fit for any lord or nobleman to eat out of; in such a polite and courteous manner did she use him, so that he could have no suspicion of her having any ill design against him. R. Jonah, as Kimchi notes, interprets this of a dish of the mighty or lordly ones, of the shepherds, the principal of the flock, as they are called in Jer 25:34, out of which they had used to drink their milk, or eat their cream, and such an one was likely enough to be Jael's tent; from this Hebrew word "sepel", here used, seems to come the Latin word "simpucium" or "simpulum", used in things sacred, and which, according to Pliny (t), was an earthen vessel; and so some of the Rabbins, as Kimchi observes, say, this was a new earthen vial; it is very probable it was a broad platter or dish fit for such an use.

(t) Nat. Hist. l. 35. c. 12.

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

Butter - Rather curdled milk, probably a fermented and intoxicating drink. All these marks of respect and friendship would lull Sisera into security.

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

Dish. Hebrew sephel; whence the symplue of the Lydians, Tuscans, and Romans, was probably derived, denoting a bowl or jug with a handle, designed for libations. They were formerly made of potter’s ware, fictilibus prolibatur sympuciis, or sympulis. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xxxv. 13.) "Aut quis---Sympuvium ridere Numæ, nigrumve catinum---Aut vaticanas fragiles de monte patellas---Ausus erat." (Juvenal, Sat. vi.) (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Butter, or, cream, i.e. the choicest of her milk; so the same thing is repeated in differing words.

In a lordly dish; which you are not to understand of such a stately and costly dish as the luxury of after-ages brought in, which is not agreeable to the simplicity, either of this family, or of those ancient times; but of a comely and convenient dish, the best which she had, and such as the better sort of persons then used.

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

25. A bowl of the nobles — A costly bowl, such as only nobles were wont to use.

Curd — Or, curdled milk, a common and favourite beverage in the East. The Septuagint, Vulgate, and English versions erroneously render the word butter.

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

A lordly dish. A dish fit for princes; perhaps one reserved for the most illustrious guests.

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

Butter - Or, cream, that is, the choicest of her milk: so the same thing is repeated in different words. Lordly dish - Which you are not to understand of such a costly dish as the luxury of after ages brought in, which is not agreeable to the simplicity either of this family, or of those ancient times; but of a comely and convenient dish, the best which she had, and such as the better sort of persons then used. Probably Jael at that time intended him no other than kindness, 'till God by an immediate impulse on her mind, directed her to do otherwise.

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

But she gave milk to ascertain whether he was alert enough to differentiate between the taste of water and the taste of milk. This is Yonasan's rendition.

In a cup of the mighty. In a cup used for drinking water, for waters are described as "mighty", as it is said, "in mighty waters."

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.

He requested water, she gave him milk: To make him heavier, in order to quickly bring him to sleep - from the tiredness that he [already] had and the milk that he drank - so that he not notice her striking him. And Yonatan translated [it] (in the Targum), "He requested water from her, Sisera the wicked, etc."

In a bowl of adirim: In a large bowl, from which great ones and noblemen drink. And the sage, Rabbi Yonah, explained, adirim are great shepherds, like (Jeremiah 25:34), "adirei of the sheep." But Yonatan translated [it], "in a pailei of great men, etc." And likewise did he translate (Isaiah 51:17), "the dregs of the cup of reeling," [as] "the pailei cup of curse;" and likewise (Amos 6:6), "They drink from the wine bowls," [as], "They drink from pailei of wine." And in the words of our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, "he would bring an earthenware pailei" (Nazir 38a). And in the Greek language, a cup is, pailei.

She brought curds: Milk curds. And when it mentioned, "milk," it stood in the place of two [words]: And I gave him to drink the milk that is left after the curds for it makes the heart heavy and mixes up the mind. But it is [also] likely to explain it - that she gave him curds to eat after she had him drink. As she gave him to drink with a pouch of milk, as it is stated (Judges 4:19), "and she opened a pouch of milk and gave him to drink." And [then] she brought him curds to eat in a nobleman's bowl.

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.