Judges 4:3 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 4:1-3

Here is, I. Israel backsliding from God: They again did evil in his sight, forsook his service, and worshipped idols; for this was the sin which now most easily beset them, Jdg. 4:1. See in this, 1. The strange strength of corruption, which hurries men into sin notwithstanding the most frequent experience of its fatal consequences. The bent to backslide is with great difficulty restrained. 2. The common ill effects of a long peace. The land had rest eighty years, which should have confirmed... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 4:3

And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord ,.... Because of their hard bondage, and begged deliverance from it, being brought to a sense of their sins, and humbled for them: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron ; the same with the αρματα το δρεπανηφορα , chariots which carried scythes at the side of them, fastened to the orbs of the wheels F24 Vid. Suidam in voce δρεπανηφορα . , and were on both sides; and in some stood out ten cubits F25 Curtius, l. 4. c.... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 4:3

Nine hundred chariots of iron - Chariots armed with iron scythes, as is generally supposed; they could not have been made all of iron, but they might have been shod with iron, or had iron scythes projecting from the axle on each side, by which infantry might be easily cut down or thrown into confusion. The ancient Britons are said to have had such chariots. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Judges 4:3

Oppressed - The same word is used Exodus 3:9 of the oppression of Israel by the Egyptians. If they were put to task-work in hewing timber, their condition was very like that of their ancestors making bricks. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 4:3

Judges 4:3. Mightily oppressed More than former tyrants, from his malice and hatred against the Israelites, and from God’s just judgment, the growing punishment being suitable to their aggravated wickedness. read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Judges 4:1-24

Deliverance under Deborah (4:1-5:31)Hazor, chief city of the north, had been conquered and burnt by Joshua (Joshua 11:10-13). However, not all the people had been destroyed. Having rebuilt Hazor, they now took revenge on the northern tribes, especially Zebulun and Naphtali, and ruled them cruelly for twenty years (4:1-3). (To understand fully how God saved Israel at this time, we must read the historical outline in Chapter 4 together with the song of victory in Chapter 5.)Israel’s deliverer on... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Judges 4:3

twenty years. A long time to wait for deliverance. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Judges 4:1-3

As long as Ehud lived he kept Israel faithful to God (Judges 4:1). However after he died, God’s people again turned from the Lord. In discipline God allowed the Canaanites in the North to gain strength and dominate the Israelites for 20 years. Hazor, one of the largest cities in the Promised Land, again became the center of Canaanite power in this area (cf. Joshua 11:1; Joshua 11:10). [Note: See Piotr Bienkowski, "The Role of Hazor in the Late Bronze Age," Palestine Exploration Quarterly 119:1... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Judges 4:1-24

1. The victory over Jabin and Sisera ch. 4 read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 4:1-24

Deborah and BarakThis deliverance is described a second time in the early poem in Judges 5 (see on Judges 5:1). No other narrative describes more clearly the religious gathering of the clans, and the prowess of the hardy mountaineers when united. The plain of Esdraelon (see Intro. § 5) is one of the famous battle-fields of history. It drives like a wedge from the coast within 10m. of the Jordan; but it is dominated by hills on all sides, and is almost closed by them at its western end. In... read more