Chapter 5.
HOW THE CANAANITES BROUGHT THE ISRAELITES UNDER SLAVERY FOR
TWENTY YEARS; AFTER WHICH THEY WERE DELIVERED BY BARAK AND DEBORAH, WHO
RULED OVER THEM FOR FORTY YEARS.FJAJ 5.56
1. AND now it was that the Israelites, taking no warning by their former
misfortunes to amend their manners, and neither worshipping God nor submitting
to the laws, were brought under slavery by Jabin, the king of the Canaanites,
and that before they had a short breathing time after the slavery under
the Moabites; for this Jabin out of Hazor, a city that was situate over
the Semechonitis, and had in pay three hundred footmen, and ten thousand
horsemen, with fewer than three thousand chariots
Sisera was commander
of all his army, and was the principal person in the king's favor
He so
sorely beat the Israelites when they fought with him, that he ordered them
to pay tribute.FJAJ 5.57
2. So they continued to that hardship for twenty years, as not good
enough of themselves to grow wise by their misfortunes
God was willing
also hereby the more to subdue their obstinacy and ingratitude towards
himself: so when at length they were become penitent, and were so wise
as to learn that their calamities arose from their contempt of the laws,
they besought Deborah, a certain prophetess among them, (which name in
the Hebrew tongue signifies a Bee,) to pray to God to take pity
on them, and not to overlook them, now they were ruined by the Canaanites.
So God granted them deliverance, and chose them a general, Barak, one that
was of the tribe of Naphtali
Now Barak, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies
Lightning.FJAJ 5.58
3. So Deborah sent for Barak, and bade him choose out ten thousand young
men to go against the enemy, because God had said that that number was
sufficient, and promised them victory
But when Barak said that he would
not be the general unless she would also go as a general with him, she
had indignation at what he said 'Thou, O Barak, deliverest up meanly that
authority which God hath given thee into the hand of a woman, and I do
not reject it!" So they collected ten thousand men, and pitched their
camp at Mount Tabor, where, at the king's command, Sisera met them, and
pitched his camp not far from the enemy; whereupon the Israelites, and
Barak himself, were so aftrighted at the multitude of those enemies, that
they were resolved to march off, had not Deborah retained them, and commanded
them to fight the enemy that very day, for that they should conquer them,
and God would be their assistance.FJAJ 5.59
4. So the battle began; and when they were come to a close fight, there
came down from heaven a great storm, with a vast quantity of rain and hail,
and the wind blew the rain in the face of the Canaanites, and so darkened
their eyes, that their arrows and slings were of no advantage to them,
nor would the coldness of the air permit the soldiers to make use of their
swords; while this storm did not so much incommode the Israelites, because
it came in their backs
They also took such courage, upon the apprehension
that God was assisting them, that they fell upon the very midst of their
enemies, and slew a great number of them; so that some of them fell by
the Israelites, some fell by their own horses, which were put into disorder,
and not a few were killed by their own chariots
At last Sisera, as soon
as he saw himself beaten, fled away, and came to a woman whose name was
Jael, a Kenite, who received him, when he desired to be concealed; and
when he asked for somewhat to drink, she gave him sour milk, of which he
drank so unmeasurably that he fell asleep; but when he was asleep, Jael
took an iron nail, and with a hammer drove it through his temples into
the floor; and when Barak came a little afterward, she showed Sisera nailed
to the ground: and thus was this victory gained by a woman, as Deborah
had foretold
Barak also fought with Jabin at Hazor; and when he
met with him, he slew him: and when the general was fallen, Barak overthrew
the city to the foundation, and was the commander of the Israelites for
forty years.FJAJ 5.60