Judges 4:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Judges 4:11
Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
a Kenite or member of the tribe of Kajin · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
children
מִבְּנֵ֥יmi.be.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Hobab
חֹבָ֖בcho.Vav
H2246
Chobab · proper noun, a man's name
law
חֹתֵ֣ןcho.Ten
H2859
to give (a daughter) away in marriage · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct
Moses
מֹשֶׁ֑הmo.Sheh
H4872
Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
severed
נִפְרָ֣דnif.Rad
H6504
to break through · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Kenites
קֵינִיQêynîy
H7017
a Kenite or member of the tribe of Kajin
pitched
וַיֵּ֣טvai.Yet
H5186
to stretch or spread out · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
tent
אָהֳל֔וֹ'o.ho.Lo
H168
a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
plain
אֵל֥וֹן'e.Lon
H436
an oak or other strong tree · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Zaanaim
בְּצַעֲנַנִּ֖יםbatz.'a.nim
H6815
Tsaanannim or Tsaanajim · preposition + proper noun, a place name
Kedesh
קֶֽדֶשׁKe.desh
H6943
Kedesh · proper noun, a place name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Numbers 10:29 And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I…
Joshua 19:33 And their coast was from Heleph, from Allon to Zaanannim, and Adami, Nekeb, and Jabneel, unto Lakum; and the outgoings thereof were at Jorda…
Judges 1:16 And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness o…
Exodus 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to…
Exodus 2:18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?
Exodus 18:1 When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father in law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that the L…
Numbers 24:21 And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwellingplace, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Judges 4:10-16
Here, I. Barak beats up for volunteers, and soon has his quota of men ready, Jdg 4:10. Deborah had appointed him to raise an army of 10,000 men (Jdg 4:6), and so many he has presently at his feet, following him, and subject to his command. God is said to call us to his feet (Isa 41:2), that is, into obedience to him. Some think it intimates that they were all footmen, and so the armies of the Jews generally were, which made the disproportion of strength between them and the enemy (who had horses and chariots) very great, and the victory the more illustrious; but the presence of God and his prophetess was abundantly sufficient to balance that disproportion. Barak had his men at his feet, whic…
Now Heber the Kenite . . . pitched his tent--It is not uncommon, even in the present day, for pastoral tribes to feed their flocks on the extensive commons that lie in the heart of inhabited countries in the East (see on Jdg 1:16).
plain of Zaanaim--This is a mistranslation for "the oaks of the wanderers." The site of the encampment was under a grove of oaks, or terebinths, in the upland valley of Kedesh.
John Gill on Judges 4:11
Now Heber the Kenite,.... A descendant of Kain, a principal man among the Midianites; the Targum calls him the Salmaean:
which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses; who came along with the children of Israel through the wilderness into the land of Canaan, and first settled about Jericho, and then removed into the wilderness of Judah, Judges 1:16,
had severed himself from the Kenites; which dwelt in the said wilderness; to whom he belonged when this separation was made, and on what account is not certain. Abarbinel thinks that it was done now, and with a design to help Israel, that hearing Barak was gone up to Mount Tabor, and seeing Sisera prepared to fight with him, he…
Barak — Lightning, the son of Abinoam (Judg. 4:6). At the summons of Deborah he made war against Jabin. She accompanied him into the battle, and gave the signal for the little army to make the attack; in…
Harosheth of the Gentiles — (Judg. 4:2) or nations, a city near Hazor in Galilee of the Gentiles, or Upper Galilee, in the north of Palestine. It was here that Jabin’s great army was marshalled before it went forth into the…
Heber — Passing over. (1.) Son of Beriah and grandson of Asher (Gen. 46:17; 1 Chr. 7:31, 32). (2.) The Kenite (Judg. 4:11, 17; 5:24), a descendant of Hobab. His wife Jael received Sisera (q.v.) into her tent…
Hobab — Beloved, the Kenite, has been usually identified with Jethro (q.v.), Ex. 18:5, 27; comp. Num. 10:29, 30. In Judg. 4:11, the word rendered “father-in-law” means properly any male relative by marriage…
Jabin — Discerner; the wise. (1.) A king of Hazor, at the time of the entrance of Israel into Canaan (Josh. 11:1-14), whose overthrow and that of the northern chief with whom he had entered into a…
Jehonadab — Jehovah is liberal; or, whom Jehovah impels. (1.) A son of Shimeah, and nephew of David. It was he who gave the fatal wicked advice to Amnon, the heir to the throne (2 Sam. 13:3-6). He was very…
Kenite, The — and Ken’ites (smiths), The, inhabited the rocky and desert region between southern Palestine and the mountains of Sinai, east of the Gulf of Akabah. They were a branch of the larger nation of…
Kenites — Smiths, the name of a tribe inhabiting the desert lying between southern Palestine and the mountains of Sinai. Jethro was of this tribe (Judg. 1:16). He is called a “Midianite” (Num. 10:29), and…
Kishon — Winding, a winter torrent of Central Palestine, which rises about the roots of Tabor and Gilboa, and passing in a northerly direction through the plains of Esdraelon and Acre, falls into the…
Oak — There are six Hebrew words rendered “oak.” (1.) ‘El occurs only in the word El-paran (Gen. 14:6). The LXX. renders by “terebinth.” In the plural form this word occurs in Isa. 1:29; 57:5 (A.V. marg.…
Barak replied that he would not go unless she would go with him - certainly not for the reason suggested by Bertheau, viz., that he distrusted the divine promise given to him by Deborah, but because his mistrust of his own strength was such that he felt too weak to carry out the command of God. He wanted divine enthusiasm for the conflict, and this the presence of the prophetess was to infuse into both Barak and the army that was to be gathered round him. Deborah promised to accompany him, but announced to him as the punishment for this want of confidence in the success of his undertaking, that the prize of victory - namely, the defeat of the hostile general - should be taken out of his hand…
Elon Betza'anayim. The marshland plain.8This is Targum Yonasan’s rendition. A plateau area with marshes, "mariscum", "morass" in old French. This is called אַגָנַיָא—pools, similar to ditches where water settles, "entitled 'the earth's flasks.'"9Kiddushin, 61:a, notes that water filed ditches are entitled אַגׇּנֵי דּֽאַרְעָא, “the earth’s flasks.” Thus, אַגָנַיׇא, “flasks,” refer to the marshland pools.
Plains — This one term does duty in the Authorized Version for no less than seven distinct Hebrew words.
Tabor — A height. (1.) Now Jebel et-Tur, a cone-like prominent mountain, 11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee. It is about 1,843 feet high. The view from the summit of it is said to be singularly extensive…
Zaanaim — Wanderings; the unloading of tents, so called probably from the fact of nomads in tents encamping amid the cities and villages of that region, a place in the north-west of Lake Merom, near Kedesh, in…
Canaanites · General references — General references
Deborah · .Inspires Barak to — .Inspires Barak to
Heber · 4. Husband of Jael — 4. Husband of Jael
Hobab · General references — General references
Kedesh · .Home of Barak and Heber — .Home of Barak and Heber
Kenites · .Join the Israelites and live at — .Join the Israelites and live at
Kenites, The · Connected with the Midianites — Connected with the Midianites
Zaanaim · A plain near Ke — A plain near Ke
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
