Judges 5:28

"Through the window she looked forth and cried,

The mother of Sisera cried through the lattice,

Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why tarriest the wheels of his chariots?

Her wise ladies answered her,

Yea, she returned answer to herself.

Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil?

A damsel, two damsels, for every man;

To Sisera a spoil of dyed garments,

A spoil of dyed garments embroidered,

Of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the spoil."

This portion of Deborah's song is beautiful beyond description, exhibiting an imaginative picture of Sisera's mother looking through the windows of Sisera's residence and growing apprehensive at the delay in his return from the battle. We must correct the scholars who call that residence "the palace," and refer to Sisera's mother as, "the queen mother." Nothing of that kind is in this passage. While true enough that Sisera was, in all probability, one of the many "kings of Canaan," there is not a word in Deborah's song that mentions any such possibility, and for critics to allege a contradiction with Judges 4, alleging that Jabin is "the king" there, and that Sisera is "the king here" is nothing but critical imagination!

There was no need whatever for Deborah to have dragged Jabin into this ode; he had nothing whatever to do with the battle that Deborah's song so beautifully extolls.

"Yea, she returned answers to herself" (Judges 5:29). Some "wise ladies" indeed were those who tried to allay the fears of Sisera's mother. The marginal reading in the ASV here has: "Yet, she repeated her words unto herself."

"A damsel, two damsels, for every man" (Judges 5:30). A very disrespectful word for "damsel" is in the original here. Moore renders it: "A wench or a couple of them for each man."[39] According to the customs of ancient warfare, "It is clear that these unfortunate captives would be used to gratify the lusts of their captors."[40] This type of wickedness was specifically forbidden by the Lord in His commandments to Israel (Deuteronomy 21:10-14). "This contemptuous word for `woman' is found on the Moabite Stone (circa 850 B.C.), where it is used in the same contemptuous sense of `wench.'"[41]