properly · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
tree
תֹּ֜מֶרTo.mer
H8560
a palm trunk · noun, common masculine singular construct
Deborah
דְּבוֹרָ֗הde.vo.Rah
H1683
Deborah · proper noun, a woman's name
Ramah
הָרָמָ֛הha.ra.Mah
H7414
Ramah · definite article + proper noun, a place name
Beth-el
בֵּֽיתbeit-
H1008
Beth-El · proper noun, a place name
mount
בְּהַ֣רbe.Har
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Ephraim
אֶפְרָ֑יִם'ef.Ra.yim
H669
Ephrajim · proper noun, a man's name
children
בְּנֵ֥יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
up
וַיַּעֲל֥וּvai.ya.'a.Lu
H5927
to ascend · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
judgment
לַמִּשְׁפָּֽטla.mish.Pat
H4941
properly · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
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
Exodus 18:19 Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring…
Genesis 35:8 But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth.
Exodus 18:13 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening.
Deuteronomy 17:8-12 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being…
Joshua 16:2 And goeth out from Beth-el to Luz, and passeth along unto the borders of Archi to Ataroth,
Joshua 18:22 And Beth-arabah, and Zemaraim, and Beth-el,
1 Samuel 1:1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son o…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Judges 4:4-9
The year of the redeemed at length came, when Israel was to be delivered out of the hands of Jabin, and restored again to their liberty, which we may suppose the northern tribes, that lay nearest to the oppressors and felt most the effects of his fury, did in a particular manner cry to God for. For the oppression of the poor, and the sighing of the needy, now will God arise. Now here we have,
I. The preparation of the people for their deliverance, by the prophetic conduct and government of Deborah, Jdg 4:4, Jdg 4:5. Her name signifies a bee; and she answered her name by her industry, sagacity, and great usefulness to the public, her sweetness to her friends and sharpness to her enemies. She…
she dwelt under the palm tree--or, collectively, "palm-grove." It is common still in the East to administer justice in the open air, or under the canopy of an umbrageous tree.
John Gill on Judges 4:5
And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah,.... Her dwelling house was under a palm tree, or rather she sat under one, in the open air, when the people came to her with their cases, and it was called from hence after her name; though some, as Abarbinel observes, think it was so called, because Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, was buried here, and which was near Bethel, one of the places next mentioned, see Genesis 35:8,
between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim; which places were in the tribe of Benjamin in the borders of Ephraim, see Joshua 16:2. The Jews conclude, from the situation of her, that she was a very opulent woman; the Targum is,"she was dwelling in a city in Ataroth, Deborah wa…
At that time the Israelites were judged by Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, who dwelt under the Deborah-palm between Ramah (er Rm: see at Jos 18:25) and Bethel (Beitin: see at Jos 7:2) in the tribe of Benjamin, upon the mountains of Ephraim. Deborah is called נמיאה אשּׁה on account of her prophetic gift, like Miriam in Exo 15:20, and Hulda the wife of Shallum in Kg2 22:14. This gift qualified her to judge the nation (the participle שׁפטה expresses the permanence of the act of judging), i.e., first of all to settle such disputes among the people themselves as the lower courts were unable to decide, and which ought therefore, according to Deu 17:8, to be referred to the supreme jud…
Dictionary and topics
Allon-bachuth — Oak of weeping, a tree near Bethel, at the spot where Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, was buried (Gen. 35:8). Large trees, from their rarity in the plains of Palestine, were frequently designated as…
Appeal — A reference of any case from an inferior to a superior court. Moses established in the wilderness a series of judicatories such that appeals could be made from a lower to a higher (Ex. 18:13-26.)…
Baal — Lord. (1.) The name appropriated to the principal male god of the Phoenicians. It is found in several places in the plural BAALIM (Judg. 2:11; 10:10; 1 Kings 18:18; Jer. 2:23; Hos. 2:17). Baal is…
Baal-tamar — Lord of palm trees, a place in the tribe of Benjamin near Gibeah of Saul (Judg. 20:33). It was one of the sanctuaries or groves of Baal. Probably the palm tree of Deborah (Judg. 4:5) is alluded to in…
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…
Deborah — A bee. (1.) Rebekah’s nurse. She accompanied her mistress when she left her father’s house in Padan-aram to become the wife of Isaac (Gen. 24:59). Many years afterwards she died at Bethel, and was…
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…
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…
Megiddo — Place of troops, originally one of the royal cities of the Canaanites (Josh. 12:21), belonged to the tribe of Manasseh (Judg. 1:27), but does not seem to have been fully occupied by the Israelites…
Ramah — (a hill). This is the name of several places in the holy land.
Under [Devorah's] date tree. She owned date trees in Yericho.
Between Ramah and Beis El, on Mount Ephrayim. From Yonasan's translation4Targum Yonasan renders, “She lived in the city of Ataros. Devorah was financially independent. She owned date trees in Yericho, orchards in Ramah, oil producing olive trees in the wetlands of the Beis Eil plateau, white soil in Tur Malka.” we infer that this passage is not meant literally—that these are not intended to identify her dwelling place. Rather, we learn that she was an affluent woman, with financial interests in these places. She lived in a city named Ataros.
Under [Devorah's] date tree. She owned date trees in Yericho, vineyards in Rama, olive t…
Woman — Was “taken out of man” (Gen. 2:23), and therefore the man has the preeminence. “The head of the woman is the man;” but yet honour is to be shown to the wife, “as unto the weaker vessel” (1 Cor. 11:3,…
Beth-El · By — By
Canaanites · General references — General references
Court · .Un — .Un
Courts Of Justice · Superior court: Presided over by the governor or the high priest — Superior court: Presided over by the governor or the high priest
Deborah · 2. The prophetess, a — 2. The prophetess, a
Palm Tree · General references — General references
Palm Tree, The · Tents often pitched under the shade of — Tents often pitched under the shade of
Samaria · General references — General references
Tents · Were pitched: Under trees — Were pitched: Under trees
Trees · The Jews: Often pitched their tents under — The Jews: Often pitched their tents under
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).
