Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Deborah and Barak rout Sisera, the commander of King Jabin, on Mount Tabor. Sisera flees, and while sleeping is killed by Jael, who drives a nail through his temples. The fourth Judge of Israel was therefore Barak, whose deeds are recounted here.
Vulgate Text: Judges 4:1-24
1. And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord after the death of Ehud, 2. and the Lord delivered them into the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor: and he had as commander of his army named Sisera; and he himself dwelt in Harosheth of the nations. 3. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for he had nine hundred chariots fitted with scythes, and for twenty years had vehemently oppressed them. 4. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging the people at that time. 5. And she used to sit under a palm tree, which was called by her name, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went up to her for every judgment. 6. She sent and called Barak, son of Abinoem, from Kedesh-Naphtali, and said to him: The Lord God of Israel commands you: Go, and lead an army to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand warriors from the sons of Naphtali and the sons of Zebulun; 7. and I will draw Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, to you at the torrent of Kishon, with his chariots and all his host, and I will deliver them into your hand. 8. And Barak said to her: If you come with me, I will go; if you will not come with me, I will not go. 9. She said to him: I will indeed go with you, but on this occasion the victory will not be credited to you, because Sisera will be delivered into the hand of a woman. So Deborah rose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10. And he, having summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, went up with ten thousand warriors, having Deborah in his company. 11. Now Heber the Kenite had formerly separated from the other Kenites, his brothers, the sons of Hobab, the kinsman of Moses, and had pitched his tents as far as the valley called Sennim, which was near Kedesh. 12. And it was reported to Sisera that Barak, son of Abinoem, had gone up to Mount Tabor: 13. and he gathered nine hundred chariots fitted with scythes and his whole army from Harosheth of the nations to the torrent of Kishon. 14. And Deborah said to Barak: Arise, for this is the day on which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hands; behold, He Himself is your leader. So Barak descended from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand warriors with him. 15. And the Lord terrified Sisera and all his chariots and his whole host at the edge of the sword before Barak; so much so that Sisera, leaping from his chariot, fled on foot, 16. and Barak pursued the fleeing chariots and army as far as Harosheth of the nations, and the entire enemy host fell to the last man. 17. But Sisera, fleeing, arrived at the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18. Jael therefore went out to meet Sisera and said to him: Come in to me, my lord; come in, do not be afraid. And he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. 19. He said to her: Give me, I beg, a little water, for I am very thirsty. She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. 20. And Sisera said to her: Stand before the entrance of the tent; and when anyone comes asking you and saying: Is there anyone here? you shall answer: No one. 21. So Jael, wife of Heber, took a tent peg, and taking also a hammer, went in secretly and silently, placed the peg above his temple, and struck it with the hammer, driving it through his brain into the ground; and he, joining his sleep to death, collapsed and died. 22. And behold, Barak, following Sisera, was coming; and Jael went out to meet him and said: Come, and I will show you the man you seek. And when he entered her tent, he saw Sisera lying dead with the peg fixed in his temple. 23. So God humbled Jabin, king of Canaan, on that day before the children of Israel, 24. who grew stronger daily and with a mighty hand oppressed Jabin, king of Canaan, until they destroyed him.
Verse 2: Jabin king of Canaan and Sisera
Joshua, chapter 11:11, captured and burned Hazor, but the Canaanites soon restored it, and so Jabin reigned there.
SISERA — Josephus calls him Susares and Sisares. Susares in Hebrew means "seeing a horse," for sus is "horse." Sisera means "seeing a moth." Tropologically, Origen says: Sisera is interpreted "Vision of a horse"; for he is a carnal, not a spiritual person, who sees only what is carnal.
Harosheth in Hebrew means "workshop" or "forest." Others think it was so called from craftsmen and manufacture (for charesh means "to forge"), because the nine hundred scythed chariots of Sisera were manufactured there, and he had his armory there.
Verse 3: Nine hundred scythed chariots
About which I spoke on Joshua 17:16.
Verse 4: Deborah the prophetess
Deborah in Hebrew means "bee," because she, like a bee, was chaste, industrious, hard-working, and divine. So of St. Cecilia the Church sings: "Cecilia, Your handmaid, Lord, served You like an industrious bee." Moreover, the bee is a symbol of wisdom.
St. Jerome, Epistle 10 to Furia: "She will be named by us for the fact that she was a prophetess and is reckoned among the Judges. And because she could say: 'How sweet are Your words to my palate! Sweeter than honey to my mouth,' she received the name of 'bee,' fed on the flowers of the Scriptures, imbued with the fragrance of the Holy Spirit, and composing the sweet juices of ambrosia with her prophetic lips."
Deborah was a bee, sweet with honey to her own people, but stinging and lightning-like to enemies, because through Barak she slew them, leaping upon them like a thunderbolt.
A PROPHETESS. — "This affords," says Origen, "consolation to the female sex, that they should not despair of being able to become capable of the grace of prophecy; but they should understand and believe that purity of mind, not diversity of sex, merits this grace." "I believe," says Theodoret, "that Deborah received the gift of prophecy as a reproach to the men. For since no man was found worthy who might merit the Holy Spirit, she obtained the gift of the most holy Spirit."
THE WIFE OF LAPIDOTH. — Lapidoth in Hebrew means lamps, torches, firebrands. Serarius and others judge that Lapidoth was Deborah's husband and a different person from Barak.
WHO WAS JUDGING THE PEOPLE. — More correctly, Abulensis, Arias, Serarius, and the Rabbis judge that she is called a judge only loosely, but was not one properly speaking. She administered justice without jurisdiction, but only from prophecy and the authority which this gave her. "Among the Hebrews," says St. Augustine, "the woman Deborah judged; but the Spirit of God was acting through her, for she was also a prophetess." The Judge, therefore, was made by God's command through Deborah, namely Barak, and not Deborah herself.
Verse 5: Under the palm tree
The Palm of Deborah. Fittingly, because she wove the palm of victory over Sisera for Barak and the Hebrews by her oracles; and because "the just shall flourish like a palm tree," says Origen.
"Ramah," says Origen, "is interpreted 'heights'; Bethel, 'house of God.' See in what places prophecy is said to reside: between the heights and the house of God. For nothing lowly, nothing abject can be found around the seat of prophecy."
Verse 6: Barak son of Abinoem — Mount Tabor
Barak in Hebrew means "lightning," because he, leaping like a thunderbolt, by heavenly power overthrew Sisera and his most powerful camp, according to what was said of both Scipios: "Two thunderbolts of war, the Scipios."
Tabor is a most high and most beautiful mountain on which Christ was transfigured, of whom Barak, that is, "lightning," was a type; for then Christ's face was seen to be like lightning and His garment shining. In Greek exastrapton, "flashing like lightning," says Luke 9:29. Hence Tabor in Hebrew means "purity," or "the advent of light."
Verse 8: If you come with me, I will go
Barak was at first, hearing that so great and arduous a task was imposed on him by God, slow in believing and obeying; hence he demanded Deborah as his companion. But soon, recovering his courage and strengthened by Deborah, he undertook the matter with great faith and hope and successfully accomplished it; hence the Apostle celebrates his faith, Hebrews 11:32.
Verse 9: The victory will not be credited to you
Because you did not believe immediately, nor obey God, but trembled like a woman, God will transfer the glory of the future victory from you, and will cause not you but Jael, a woman, to kill Sisera. See how swiftly and firmly God wills to be obeyed, even in arduous matters that surpass nature.
St. Ambrose, Book On Widows: Deborah "instructed the general Barak as a mother, proposed the plan as a judge, equipped him as one who is strong, and sent him forth as a prophetess certain of victory."
Verse 14: He Himself is your leader
The Chaldean: Is not the angel of the Lord going forth to prosper before you? The Septuagint: Will not the Lord go before you? So an angel preceded Judas Maccabeus and made him victorious.
Verse 15: The Lord terrified Sisera
Josephus asserts there were three hundred thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry. Josephus adds that part of them were slain by the weapons of the Israelites, part were crushed by panic terror sent by God, and part were struck down by God with storms, thunder, and lightning, so that not even one man survived the disaster. This is what is said in the next chapter, verse 20: "From heaven war was waged against them; the stars remaining in their order and course fought against Sisera."
In a similar way, God struck Pharaoh with storms and lightning in the Red Sea (Exodus 14:24), and the Canaanites (Joshua 10:10), and the Philistines under Samuel (I Kings 7:10). So when the army of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius was surrounded, the Christian soldiers by their prayer obtained from God rain, lightning, and thunder, by which the enemies were put to flight. Hence that legion was called the Thunderbolt Legion.
Verse 17: Jael and the peace with Jabin
"For there was peace" — either compelled by fear, or a peace not concluded by a fixed pact, but because King Jabin allowed the Kenites to live in peace since they abstained from wars and gave themselves to prayer and contemplation. God did this so that the Hebrews might learn how much piety avails.
Jael could justly kill Sisera because God through Deborah had commanded the war; and the Kenites, though not Hebrews by blood, were related by marriage and had joined the Hebrew commonwealth and religion. She was therefore able — indeed obligated — as a member of the Hebrew commonwealth, to destroy Sisera as the common and public enemy. There is no doubt that Jael was moved by a hidden divine prompting to dare so great a deed.
Verse 19: She gave him milk
Jael offered milk instead of water, both out of courtesy and so that Sisera might more easily fall asleep, and thus be secretly killed. For milk, if drunk copiously by one who is thirsty, produces vapors which induce heaviness and sleep. Hence Josephus says: "When Sisera had greedily gulped down the milk, he sank into sleep." Perhaps she also mixed opium, mandrake, or some other soporific into the milk.
Verse 21: She drove a nail through his temples
She took one of the iron stakes by which the tent is fixed in the ground, and drove it with a hammer through the temples and brain of Sisera, killing him while he slept. For in the temples and brain reside the vitality of sensation and movement; therefore if these are pierced through, a person immediately dies. Truly St. Ambrose says: "Deborah prophesied the outcome of the battle, the just Barak led forth the army, Jael won the triumph."
Why did Jael kill Sisera with her own hand, and not wait for Barak? Because there was danger in delay, lest Sisera might wake and flee and renew the war. "Often in war," says Caesar, "great consequences hinge on small moments."
Allegorically, Deborah and Jael represent God's Church; Barak the Synagogue; Sisera the devil; milk represents prayer, by which the devil is lulled to sleep and weakened. St. Ambrose: "The weapons of the Church are faith, the weapons of the Church are prayer, which conquers the adversary." And St. Augustine: "Who is that woman full of confidence, piercing the enemy's temples with wood, if not the faith of the Church destroying the kingdoms of the devil by the cross of Christ?"
Finally, Jael was a type of the Blessed Virgin. St. Bernard: "To whom was this victory reserved, if not to Mary? She without doubt crushed the venomous head."