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Judges 4:15

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And in front of him the LORD routed with the sword Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.

Commentaries

Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.

Keil-Delitzsch Old Testament Commentaryv. 15

"And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak." ויּהם, as in Exo 14:24 and Jos 10:10, denotes the confounding of the hostile army by a miracle of God, mostly by some miraculous phenomenon of nature: see, besides Exo 14:24; Sa2 22:15; Psa 18:15, and Psa 144:6. The expression ויּהם places the defeat of Sisera and his army in the same category as the miraculous destruction of Pharaoh and of the Canaanites at Gibeon; and the combination of this verb with the expression "with the edge of the sword" is to be taken as constructio praegnans, in the sense: Jehovah threw Sisera and his army into confusion, and, like a terrible champion fighting in front of Israel, smote him without quarter, Sisera sprang from his chariot to save himself, and fled on foot; but Barak pursued the routed foe to Harosheth, and completely destroyed them. "All Sisera's army fell by the edge of the sword; there remained not even to one," i.e., not a single man.

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Matthew Henry Bible Commentaryv. 15

The method of the history of Deborah and Barak (the heroes in this chapter) is the same with that before Here is, I. Israel revolted from God (Jdg 4:1). II. Israel oppressed by Jabin (Jdg 4:2, Jdg 4:3). III. Israel judged by Deborah (Jdg 4:4, Jdg 4:5). IV. Israel rescued out of the hands of Jabin. 1. Their deliverance is concerted between Deborah and Barak (Jdg 4:6, Jdg 4:9). 2. It is accomplished by their joint-agency. Barak takes the field (Jdg 4:10). Sisera, Jabin's general, meets him (Jdg 4:12, Jdg 4:13). Deborah encourages him (Jdg 4:14). And God gives him a complete victory. The army routed (Jdg 4:15, Jdg 4:16). The general forced to flee (Jdg 4:17). And where he expected shelter he had his life stolen from him by Jael while he was asleep (Jdg 4:18-21), which completes Barak's triumph (Jdg 4:22). and Israel's deliverance (Jdg 4:23, Jdg 4:24).

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Original language

The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).

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