Judges 5:1 - Meaning and Application

The previous chapter showed the great things God had done for Israel. In this chapter we hear Israel’s thankful reply, so that every age of the church may learn this work of heaven, praise to God.

God is praised here in a song, and that is a very natural way to show joy. If anyone is cheerful, let him sing. Holy joy is the very heart and root of praise and thanksgiving. God is pleased to count himself honored when we find our joy in him and in his wonderful works. His servants’ joy delights him, and their songs are music to him.

A song is also a good way to spread knowledge and keep great events in memory. Neighbors would learn this song from one another, and children from their parents. In that way, even those who had no books, or could not read, would learn what God had done. So one generation would praise God’s works to another and tell of his mighty acts (Psalm 145:4).

Deborah, the prophetess and judge of Israel, wrote this song herself, as is clear from Judges 5:7, “Till I, Deborah, arose.” The opening words should read, “Then Deborah sang.” She used her gift as a prophetess in composing it, and the whole song is noble and beautiful. The images are vivid, the language is elegant, and it mixes sweetness with grandeur in a wonderful way. No poetry matches the sacred poetry of Scripture.

She also likely used her authority as a ruler to have the victorious army of Israel learn and sing this song. She did not ask them to celebrate her own praise or lift her up. Instead, she led them to join her in praising God and honoring him. She had been the first in the action, and now she is first in thanksgiving.

The song was sung that same day, or soon after, when a day of thanks could be arranged. When we receive mercy from God, we should respond quickly with praise, while the mercy is still fresh in our minds. It is like a debt that should be paid on the due day.

She begins with a general call to praise the Lord (Judges 5:2). That is the purpose of the whole song, so it comes first and gives shape to everything that follows, much like “Hallowed be your name” comes first in the Lord’s Prayer. God is praised here for two things. First, he judged Israel’s enemies and paid back the proud, cruel oppressors for all the harm they had done to his people. The Lord is known as a righteous God, and he is the God to whom vengeance belongs, because he carries out judgment. Second, he gave grace to Israel’s friends, when the people freely offered themselves for this war. God must have the glory for every good service done for us, and the more willingly it is done, the more we should notice the grace that works both the desire and the action.

For these reasons, Deborah says she will leave this song as a lasting record, for the honor of the everlasting God (Judges 5:3). “I, even I, will sing to the Lord, to Jehovah,” the God whose rule cannot be challenged and whose power cannot be resisted, “to the Lord God of Israel,” who governs all things for the good of his church.

She then calls on the great men of the world, those who sit at the highest places, to listen to her song and notice its subject: “Hear, you kings! Listen, you princes!” She wants them to know that, however high they are, there is One above them, and it is foolish to fight against him. It is also in their own interest to submit to him, because horses and chariots cannot give true safety.

She also wants them to join her in praising the God of Israel, instead of worshiping false gods, as Belshazzar did when he praised gods of gold and silver (Daniel 5:4). She speaks to them as the psalmist does: “Now therefore, be wise, you kings; serve the Lord with fear” (Psalm 2:10-11). And she wants them to learn from Sisera’s downfall, and never dare to harm God’s people, because God will surely defend their cause in his jealousy.

Then she looks back at God’s earlier works and compares them with this one, so that the glory of this great rescue shines even more clearly. What God is doing now should remind us of what he has done before, because he is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Judges 5:4). “Lord, when you went out from Seir” can be understood in two ways. It may describe God’s power and justice shown against Israel’s enemies, and Habakkuk 3:3-4 speaks in a similar way about the ruin of the church’s enemies. When God led Israel out from Edom, he brought down Sihon and Og under their feet, and struck their armies with such fear that it seemed as if heaven and earth were coming together. Their hearts melted, as if the whole world were melting around them.

Or it may point to God’s glorious display of majesty to Israel when he gave them his law at Mount Sinai. Then it was literally true that the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, and the mountains quaked. Compare Deuteronomy 33:2 and Psalm 68:7-8. Let all kings and princes know that this is the God Deborah praises, not weak and helpless idols like the ones they worshiped. The Chaldee paraphrase takes it as a reference to the giving of the law, but it adds a strange thought about the mountains melting. Tabor, Hermon, and Carmel were said to contend for the honor of having God’s presence rest on them, but God chose Mount Sinai instead, the lowest and least of them all. I think that means the least valuable, because it was barren and rocky.