Judges 5:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan; and Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher sat still at the coast of the sea, staying by his landings.

NIV: Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he linger by the ships? Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves.

NASB: Gilead remained across the Jordan; And why did Dan stay on ships? Asher sat at the seashore, And remained by its landings.

CSB: Gilead remained beyond the Jordan. Dan, why did you linger at the ships? Asher remained at the seashore and stayed in his harbors.

NLT: Gilead remained east of the Jordan. And why did Dan stay home? Asher sat unmoved at the seashore, remaining in his harbors.

KJV: Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.

NKJV: Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan, And why did Dan remain on ships? Asher continued at the seashore, And stayed by his inlets.

After a glorious defeat of Canaanite oppressors (Judges 4:14–16), the prophetess Deborah sings a song of praise to God (Judges 5:1). As part of the celebration, she praised tribes that participated in the battle (Judges 5:13–15), then moved to chastise those who failed to send any fighters, at all (Judges 5:16). The tribe of Reuben—predicted to be wavering as water (Genesis 49:3–4)—was scolded for sitting idly by like men among the sheep ignoring a call to action.

Now Deborah asks why the men of Gilead, a group including parts of the tribes of Gad and Manasseh, did not cross over the Jordan River from the east to come and help. Why did the people of Dan remain on the west coast with their ships and, presumably, their shipping business? Why did the people of Asher sit still by the Mediterranean coast near their landings?

To be clear, these tribes were far away from the battlefield. They were not nearly so close to the trouble as the other tribes. Yet Deborah's song offers no excuse. The people of the Lord were fighting at the Lord's command against the Lord's oppressors, but these tribes remained engaged in their businesses and other occupations. Hundreds of generations later, Deborah's song is still chastising them for their decision not to participate in God's promised victory.

Judges 5:12–18 describes Deborah's rise to power and her appeal for Israel to fight against their Canaanite oppressors (Judges 4:1–3). This passage includes praise for the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Issachar, Naphtali, and parts of Manasseh. These tribes answered the call and joined the battle. Reuben, Gad, Dan, Asher, and other portions of Manasseh are criticized for failing to respond.

Deborah and Barak sing a victory song she has written. This celebrates all the Lord accomplished through Israel's victory in battle over Sisera and Canaan. She praises God for willing volunteers and calls for everyone to pass along the story. She tells of the torrent of water that flowed down the Kishon River and swept away the enemy. She describes in detail the death of Sisera at the hands of a woman and even shows his mother crying for his return. Her song emphasizes that credit for success goes to the Lord.

Judges 5 follows the narrative-style account of the battle between Sisera and Barak, as instigated by the prophetess Deborah in chapter 4. This chapter is a song, poetically depicting the same series of events. Deborah describes Sisera's defeat in battle, Jael's bold killing of the cruel general Sisera, and the tears of his mother as she waits for him at home. The following chapter shows that Israel—once again—responds to this hard-won peace with another cycle of idolatry, sin, and oppression (Judges 6:1).

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).