References (17)
And the Lord
(Yahweh) delivered them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in
Chatsor [in Upper Galilee, north of the Sea of Galilee]. The commander of his army was
Sisera, who lived in Charoshet-Hagojim
("the forest land of the Gentiles").
[The name Sisera is not found in the Middle East, which means that it may originate from the city of Sassari in Sardinia. He may have been part of the seafaring people who came from the Greek islands (). In terms of meaning, the name is composed of horse (Hebr. sus) and to see (Hebr. raa), which gives the meaning of someone who is fast and sees.
Charoshet means "forest land" and ha-gojim is "the Gentiles." The compound name Charoshet-Hagojim may be a city or the area that was under Sisera's control. No archaeological finds have yet been made that link any place to this name. This may indicate that the name refers to a forest area, probably around the Carmel mountain range in the western Jezreel Valley. The Kishon stream, which flows through the Jezreel Valley and empties into present-day Haifa, is mentioned in connection with the name, see .]For I will go out with you to the Kishon Brook. Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army with his chariots and his troops, I will deliver into your hand."
And she said [her second speech], "I will surely go with you, but the journey you are about to undertake will not be for your glory, for the Lord (Yahweh) will deliver Sisera into the hand of a woman."
And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
And they told Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor.
And Sisera gathered all his chariots, 900 iron chariots, and all his people who were with him from Harosheth-Hagoyim ("the forest land of the Gentiles") to the brook Kishon [which flows through the plain of Jezreel and empties into present-day Haifa].
And Deborah said to Barak [third speech]: "Rev! This is the day that the Lord (Yahweh) has delivered Sisera into your hand; has not the Lord (Yahweh) gone out before you?"
And the Lord (Yahweh) sent confusion (caused panic, tumult – Hebr. hamam) upon Sisera and all his chariots and his entire army with the edge of the sword before Barak, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. [This is a key verse; it was not the 10,000 Israelites who put Sisera's entire army to flight, but God's intervention, cf. .]
But Barak pursued the chariots and the entire army to Charoshet-Hagojim ("the forest land of the heathen peoples"), and Sisera's entire army fell by the sword; not a single man was left (survived).
However, Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite.
And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Come in, my lord, come in to me, do not be afraid." And he went in to her in her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
And behold, while Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man you are looking for." And he came to her, and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was (still) in his temple.
They fight from the heavens, the stars
from their courses fight against Sisera.
She put her hand on the tent peg
and her right hand on the craftsman's hammer,
and with the hammer she struck Sisera, she struck through his head,
yes, she pierced and struck through his temple.
Through the window she looked out and peered, Sisera's mother,
through the lattice:
"Why is his chariot so late in coming?
Why are the steps [the sound of the horses' hooves] from his chariot delayed?"
"They have surely found prey, and now they are dividing the spoils.
One womb (mother's womb), two wombs for each warrior,
to Sisera a spoil of colored clothes, a spoil of colored, embroidered clothes,
two colored embroidered garments for the neck of each plunderer."
[Sexual assault was not uncommon in war, but Sisera's mother's objectifying, almost vulgar expression stands out and shocks the reader.]
But they forgot the Lord (Yahweh), their God (Elohim), and he gave them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of Hazor [in northern Galilee, see ], and into the hand of the Philistines [], and into the hand of the king of Moab [east of the Dead Sea, see ], and they fought against them.
who was destroyed at Ein-Dor [; ],
they became dung on the ground.
