What does Judges 4:24 mean?
Jabin, king of Canaan, had cruelly oppressed Israel for twenty years through the overwhelming force of his army and their 900 iron chariots. Now, though, the Lord has given victory to Israel over that army and that army's feared general Sisera. This has all happened in just one day (Judges 4:1–3, 15–16, 23).The chapter ends noting that the Israelites pushed back against Jabin's Canaanite forces until they destroyed him. With his major army and Sisera entirely wiped out, Jabin would have had little hope of resisting the Israelites. Defeat would have only been a matter of time.
Still, the text has been clear that Jabin's defeat came at the hand of God, first and foremost. He made use of Deborah (Judges 4:4–7), Barak (Judges 4:8–10), and Jael (Judges 4:21–22) to accomplish His will. Judges reveals over and again that God is ultimately responsible for Israel's repeated punishment for their wickedness, and their repeated rescue from oppression when they cry to Him for help (Judges 2:14–18).
That pattern will repeat several more times. Before the next cycle begins—through the story of Gideon (Judges 6:11)—Scripture will make use of poetry to tell the story of Deborah and Barak from a different perspective.
