Judges 4:14 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And Deborah said to Barak, "Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him.

NIV: Then Deborah said to Barak, "Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?" So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him.

NASB: Then Deborah said to Barak, 'Arise! For this is the day on which the Lord has handed Sisera over to you; behold, the Lord has gone out before you.' So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

CSB: Then Deborah said to Barak, "Go! This is the day the Lord has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn’t the Lord gone before you?" So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

NLT: Then Deborah said to Barak, 'Get ready! This is the day the Lord will give you victory over Sisera, for the Lord is marching ahead of you.' So Barak led his 10,000 warriors down the slopes of Mount Tabor into battle.

KJV: And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

NKJV: Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

The fearsome Canaanite general Sisera is on his way to battle with his 900 iron chariots (Judges 4:1–3). The Israelite army, led by God's hand-picked deliverer Barak, wait for them on Mount Tabor. Barak had insisted that the prophetess of the Lord come with him to raise the army and to fight (Judges 4:4–10). Now she speaks on behalf of the Lord: an encouraging, commanding word: quwm! This means, "Up!" or "Go!" or "Arise!" depending on the translation. She makes it clear that the time to head into battle against Sisera is right now.

Deborah's insistence might be more than just encouragement. Barak's army is positioned on the high ground of Mount Tabor, yet they "went down" to engage Sisera's army. That might suggest an unexpected advance—the Canaanites would have expected the Israelites to hold that higher position. It also ties to details given later in the book of Judges (Judges 5:21), suggesting that a sudden flood of the River Kishon may have ensnared the Canaanite army. It's possible Deborah is commanding Barak to send his troops at a supernaturally revealed moment which catches the enemy at their most vulnerable.

The prophetess also assures Barak that God has guaranteed his victory. She asks Barak, "Doesn't the Lord go before you?" The implied answer is that, of course, the Lord goes before them. This is the Lord's battle. Barak and his army must simply obey and engage.

And so, they do. Barak's troops follow him down from Mount Tabor to do battle with the Canaanites on the plain. The results are dramatic (Judges 4:15).

Judges 4:11–16 tells how Israel's army, led by the prophetess Deborah and the judge Barak, defeat the Canaanite army of King Jabin. The following chapter implies that an unexpected flood may have disabled the enemy's iron chariots (Judges 5:21–22). The Canaanite commander, Sisera, flees on foot. He alone escapes, as the rest of his men are wiped out.

In response to their sin, God allows Israel to fall into oppression under Jabin, king of the Canaanites. Sisera, commander of Jabin's army, cruelly abuses the Israelites for twenty years. Through His prophetess Deborah, the Lord raises up Barak to lead a massive Israeli army. This force wipes out Canaan's army. Sisera flees on foot and hides in the tent of Heber's wife Jael. Once he is asleep, she kills him and then shows Barak the body. The Israelites soon destroy King Jabin and are freed from Canaanite oppression.

Judges 4 begins with the death of Ehud, the assassin-leader of chapter 3 who freed Israel from the Moabites. After the Israelite people return to wickedness, God submits them to Jabin and the Canaanites. After twenty years, the Lord raises up a deliverer called Barak through His prophetess Deborah. Israel obliterates the enemy army, and the general is slaughtered in his sleep by a woman. Jabin and the Canaanites are defeated. The next chapter poetically retells these events, followed by the introduction of an especially famous judge in chapter 6: Gideon.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).