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The Defeat and Death of Sisera
v. 19. The kings came and fought, said figuratively of the leaders of Jabin's army; then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, for the two cities are barely three miles apart, and the plain is watered by several small tributaries of the Kishon. They took no gain of money, they did not get so much as one piece of silver as booty nor one ounce of money to buy them off.
v. 20. They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera, literally, "From heaven fought the stars, from their courses they fought against Sisera"; by an extraordinary phenomenon the Lord sent confusion into the ranks of the enemy.
v. 21. The river of Kishon swept them away, snatched them away, as they attempted to cross it in their headlong flight, that ancient river, the river Kishon; the very brook was an instrument of help against the foe. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength, or, "Step forth with strength," as Deborah urges herself onward in singing of the mighty defeat.
v. 22. Then were the horse-hoofs broken by the means of the prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones, or, "Then stamped the hoofs of the horses from the rushing, the rushing of his champions," as the foe, panic-stricken before Israel, dashed away in furious flight.
v. 23. Curse ye: Meroz, said the Angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. When they could have been of assistance to the army of Barak, in destroying the fleeing foes, they refused to help.
v. 24. Blessed above women shall Jael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite, be; blessed shall she be above women in the tent. People of Meroz, members of the nation of Israel, refused to help, but Jael, though only a woman, though a mere dweller in tents and not of the descendants of Jacob, made use of the opportunity offered her.
v. 25. He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter, the very thickest, the most excellent cream, in a lordly dish, in a show-bowl, the finest vessel in the tent.
v. 26. She put her hand to the nail, the tent-pin, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. The very fierce and vivid description may be rendered: She swung it upon Sisera, she pierces his head, and she crashes and pounds through his temples.
v. 27. At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down; at her feet he bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell down dead. So the smitten chieftain drew himself together after the first blow was struck, sought to rise, and fell back. Twice more he writhed convulsively and then died. And now the last scene is pictured.
v. 28. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, full of uneasiness and impatience over the delay of her son, otherwise so quick in returning with rich booty, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariots? If he himself is delayed, why does he not at least send word of the success of his enterprise?
v. 29. Her wise ladies answered her, with the wisdom of pride that cannot conceive of a defeat for Sisera; yea, she returned answer to herself,
v. 30. Have they not sped? Have they not divided the prey, thereby being detained so long; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colors, beautiful colored or purple robes, a prey of divers colors of needlework, of divers colors of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil, color-embroidered vestments, two for his neck as booty? "The glowing heat of her prophetic enthusiasm shines through the irony with which she places the vain pride of unbelieving enemies over against the almighty power of God. It is not an irony of hatred, disfiguring the face with scornful smiles, but such as springs from the consciousness that God's wisdom and power are superior to all heroes and heathen. " (Lange. )
v. 31. So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord, fallen and brought to naught like Sisera; but let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. The rising of the sun in his full strength is a fitting picture of the rising of Israel to an ever more glorious manifestation of power, according to the intention of the Lord. And the land had rest forty years.