Judges 5:4-5 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 5:1-5

The former chapter let us know what great things God had done for Israel; in this we have the thankful returns they made to God, that all ages of the church might learn that work of heaven to praise God. I. God is praised by a song, which is, 1. A very natural expression of rejoicing. Isa. any merry? Let him sing; and holy joy is the very soul and root of praise and thanksgiving. God is pleased to reckon himself glorified by our joy in him, and in his wondrous works. His servants? joy is his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 5:4

Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the fields of Edom ,.... Here properly begins the song, what goes before being but a preface to it; and it begins with an apostrophe to the Lord, taking notice of some ancient appearances of God for his people, which were always matter of praise and thankfulness; and the rather are they taken notice of here, because of some likeness between them and what God had now wrought; and this passage refers either to the giving of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 5:5

The mountains melted from before the Lord ,.... The inhabitants of them, through fear, the Lord going before Israel in a pillar of cloud and fire, and delivering mighty kings and their kingdoms into their hand: even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel ; or, "as that Sinai", the note of similitude being wanting; and the sense is, the mountains melted, just as the famous mountain Sinai in a literal sense did, when it trembled and quaked at the presence of God on it; the tokens... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 5:4

When thou wentest out of Seir - Here is an allusion to the giving of the law, and the manifestation of God's power and glory at that time; and as this was the most signal display of his majesty and mercy in behalf of their forefathers, Deborah very properly begins her song with a commemoration of this transaction. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Judges 5:4

Compare Psalms 68:7-9, and Habakkuk 3:3-16. The three passages relate to the same events, and mutually explain each other. The subject of them is the triumphant march of Israel, with the Lord at their head, to take possession of Canaan, and the overthrow of Sihon, Og, and the Midianites. This march commenced from Kadesh, in the immediate neighborhood of Self, and the victories which followed were an exact parallel to the victory of Deborah and Barak, accompanied as it had been with the storm... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 5:4

Judges 5:4. Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir Thus the prophetess, by a sudden apostrophe, addresses him, not as their present deliverer, but as the God who had formerly exerted his miraculous power to bring them into the promised land; leaving her hearers to recollect, that it was the same power which had now subdued the Canaanites, that at first expelled them; the same power which had now restored to the Israelites the free enjoyment of their country, that at first put them in... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 5:5

Judges 5:5. The mountains melted Or flowed with floods of water, poured out of the clouds upon them, and from them flowing down in mighty streams upon the lower grounds, and carrying down part of the mountains with them. Even that Sinai Or rather, As did Sinai itself. The whole verse might be better translated, The mountains flowed down at the presence of Jehovah; as did Sinai itself at the presence of Jehovah, the God of Israel. And Dr. Kennicott supposes that, when the ode was sung,... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Judges 5:1-31

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