Judges 5:4

• In the poem, the Lord marches from his home in the mountains of Edom (compare Habakkuk 3:3) or Mount Sinai. One tradition places Sinai east of the Jordan Valley, in Edom (compare Galatians 4:25). The fire and earthquake that terrified Israel during the giving of the law (see Exodus 19:18) symbolize God's power and anger on the battlefield against his enemies.

• Torrential rain would have turned the ground into mud, making Sisera’s chariots a problem instead of an advantage (see Judges 4:15–16).

This song, a victory hymn usually credited to Deborah, offers a poetic version of the battle, adding details to the prose account. It is one of the oldest Hebrew poems. It praises the Lord, the tribes who joined the fight, and Jael. It curses those who stayed home, Sisera, and his mother's followers. It contrasts life before Barak's victory, when the Lord's curse was on the land, with the blessings after the warriors' righteous acts. It ends with a prayer that the Lord's enemies will perish like Sisera (Judges 5:31).

The story of Deborah and Barak, found in both prose (Judges 4) and poetry (Judges 5), describes a major military operation against a significant Canaanite enemy after the initial conquest. Another king named Jabin, who also ruled in Hazor, was defeated earlier by Joshua along with a large northern alliance, and Hazor was burned (see Joshua 11:1–15). Although Joshua 11 and Judges 4–5 are often compared, they have too many differences to be considered accounts of the same battle. Instead, Jabin is likely a dynastic name; it appears in the Mari texts for an even earlier king of Hazor, around 1800 BC.