Judges 5:14 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Judges 5:14
Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.
a people (as a congregated unit) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Machir
מָכִ֗ירma.Khir
H4353
Makir · proper noun, a man's name
down
יָֽרְדוּ֙ya.re.Du
H3381
to descend (literally · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
governors
מְחֹ֣קְקִ֔יםme.Cho.ke.Kim
H2710
properly · verb, piel active participle, masculine plural absolute
Zebulun
וּמִ֨זְּבוּלֻ֔ןu.Mi.ze.vu.Lun
H2074
Zebulon · conjunction + preposition + proper noun, a man's name
handle
מֹשְׁכִ֖יםmo.she.Khim
H4900
to draw · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
pen
בְּשֵׁ֥בֶטbe.She.vet
H7626
a scion · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
writer
סֹפֵֽרso.Fer
H5608
properly · 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
Numbers 32:39-40 And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorite which was in it.
Judges 3:13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.
Judges 3:27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from…
Judges 12:15 And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.
Exodus 17:8-16 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
Judges 4:5-6 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgm…
Judges 4:10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
Judges 4:14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out befor…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Judges 5:12-23
Here, I. Deborah stirs up herself and Barak to celebrate this victory in the most solemn manner, to the glory of God and the honour of Israel, for the encouragement of their friends and the greater confusion of their enemies, Jdg 5:12. 1. Deborah, as a prophetess, must do it by a song, to compose and sing which she excites herself: Awake, awake, and again, awake, awake, which intimates the sense she had of the excellency and difficulty of the work; it needed and well deserved the utmost liveliness and vigour of soul in the performance of it; all the powers and faculties of the soul in their closest intensity and application ought to be employed in it. Thus too she expresses the sense she had…
The wells which are at a little distance from towns in the East, are, in unsettled times, places of danger. But in peace they are scenes of pleasant and joyous resort. The poetess anticipates that this song may be sung, and the righteous acts of the Lord rehearsed at these now tranquil "places of drawing water." Deborah now rouses herself to describe, in terms suitable to the occasion, the preparation and the contest, and calls in a flight of poetic enthusiasm on Barak to parade his prisoners in triumphal procession. Then follows a eulogistic enumeration of the tribes which raised the commanded levy, or volunteered their services--the soldiers of Ephraim who dwelt near the mount of the Amale…
Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek,.... In this and some following verses, Deborah makes mention of the tribes that were siding and assisting in this war, and of those that were not; and begins with Ephraim, where she herself dwelt, Judges 4:5 who was the root, foundation, and source of this expedition, that under a divine influence directed, animated, and encouraged to it; and by whom, and from whence, a detachment was sent against the Amalekites, who upon all occasions were ready to assist the Canaanites, and now were about to do it; and to prevent their junction, a party was sent from Ephraim, and by the Ehpraimites; though the Targum, and the Jewish commentators in ge…
The Church Fathers
(Judges 5:14a) From Ephraim, he destroyed them in Amalek, that is, Joshua, who was from the tribe of Ephraim, destroyed the strong ones, that is, the enemies of Israel, in Amalek, as it is read in the book of Exodus: 'And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword, etc.' (Exodus 17:13). And that the same Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim is shown in the book of Numbers, where it is said: 'From the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun' (Numbers 13:9), whom Joshua also calls in the following passages, saying: 'Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.' And after him, that is, Joshua, rising from the tribe of Benjamin, Saul destroyed the people of Amalek, as commanded by the Lord, which Deborah prophesied about Saul in the spirit of prophecy. And this is said according to the figure of speech called prolepsis, that he himself would destroy Amalek, as you have in the Book of Samuel (1 Samuel 14:48). But the phrase 'O Amalek' is not found in the Hebrew text, but the Latin interpreter added it for the sake of clarity. (Judges 5:14b) From Machir, the leaders descended, and from Zebulun, those who led the army to fight. In Hebrew, it is written: From Machir, the leaders descended, and it is understood, to fight, that is, to overthrow the prince Sisera. And from Zebulun, it is understood, they descended, who led the army. And from the tribe of Levi, and from the tribe of Issachar, it is understood, to fight, that is, to praise and humbly beseech the Lord. Of which, it follows.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
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…
Machir — Sold. (1.) Manasseh’s oldest son (Josh. 17:1), or probably his only son (see 1 Chr. 7:14, 15; comp. Num. 26:29-33; Josh. 13:31). His descendants are referred to under the name of Machirites, being…
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Scribes — Anciently held various important offices in the public affairs of the nation. The Hebrew word so rendered (sopher) is first used to designate the holder of some military office (Judg. 5:14; A.V.,…
Songs — Of Moses (Ex. 15; Num. 21:17; Deut. 32; Rev. 15:3), Deborah (Judg. 5), Hannah (1 Sam. 2), David (2 Sam. 22, and Psalms), Mary (Luke 1:46-55), Zacharias (Luke 1:68-79), the angels (Luke 2:13), Simeon…
Succoth — Booths. (1.) The first encampment of the Israelites after leaving Ramesses (Ex. 12:37); the civil name of Pithom (q.v.). (2.) A city on the east of Jordan, identified with Tell Dar’ala, a high mound,…
Women — The position of women in the Hebrew commonwealth contrasts favorably with that which in the present day is assigned to them generally in eastern countries. The most salient point of contrast in the…
Zebulun, Tribe of — Numbered at Sinai (Num. 1:31) and before entering Canaan (26:27). It was one of the tribes which did not drive out the Canaanites, but only made them tributary (Judg. 1:30). It took little interest…
Amalekites, The · Part of their possessions taken by Ephraim
"From (מנּי, poetical for מן) Ephraim," sc., there came fighting men; not the whole tribe, but only nobles or brave men, and indeed those whose roots were in Amalek, i.e., those who were rooted or had taken root, i.e., had settled and spread themselves out upon the tribe-territory of Ephraim, which had formerly been inhabited by Amalekites, the mount of the Amalekites, mentioned in Jdg 12:15 (for the figure itself, see Isa 27:6; Psa 80:10, and Job 5:3). "Behind thee," i.e., behind Ephraim, there followed Benjamin among thy (Ephraim's) people (עממים, a poetical form for עמּים, in the sense of hosts). Benjamin lived farther south than Ephraim, and therefore, when looked at from the stand-point…
In Ephraim. From Ephraim emerged the root of Yehoshua bin Nun's dominance over Amaleik23 Yehoshua was descended from Ephraim, son of Yoseif, and Amaleik was a descendant of Eisov. Scripture states, “The house of Yaakov shall be fire, the house of Yoseif flame, the house of Eisov chaff” [Ovadiah, 18], teaching that the descendants of Yoseif shall devour the descendants of Eisov as flame consumes chaff. (Yalkut, 51. Cf. Rashi to Bereishis, 30:25) when he debilitated them with the sword.24Shemos, 17:13. This passage is related to the preceding one, as it explains "Adonoy empowered me over the mighty" by establishing Yehoshua's dominance over Amaleik.
Your successor shall arise from the tribe o…
Benjamin, Tribe Of · Assisted against Sisera — Assisted against Sisera
Country · LOVE OF — LOVE OF
Ephraim, Tribe Of · Assisted: Deborah and Barak against Sisera — Assisted: Deborah and Barak against Sisera
Patriotism · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Pen · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Scribes · Antiquity of — Antiquity of
Zebulun · .With Barak against Sisera — .With Barak against Sisera
Zebulun, The Tribe Of · Furnished scribes or writers to Israel — Furnished scribes or writers to Israel
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).
