Exploring the Meaning of Judges 5
By New Christian Bible Study Staff, Julian Duckworth
Judges 5: The Song of Deborah.
This chapter is a song of victory, describing the events of Judges 4 in poetic and exuberant language. Throughout, there is a sense of exhorting the people to turn to the Lord and praise Him for the victory. Singing this kind of song was a customary way for Israel to rejoice after a major victory.
The spiritual meaning of singing has to do with our overall joy and affection for spiritual things: joy for what is true, for the Word, and for everything about the Lord. Affection is not merely knowing spiritual truths; it is our heart’s response to them, which goes far beyond words.
This is why the lyrics of sacred songs such as Judges Chapter 5 are very eloquent and passionate. They are not simply an account of what took place, but more an outburst of praise and gratitude in recounting the story. We experience the same inner ‘music’ when our heart feels a deep spiritual affection, and is stirred up with praise to the Lord. Just as Deborah and Barak sang after a battle, our songs of gratitude will generally be felt after the Lord delivers us from a period of temptation during regeneration (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 8265).
The song itself frequently acknowledges the Lord’s part in Israel’s victory:
In verse 4: “Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the field of Edom.”
In verse 11: “There they shall recount the righteous acts of the Lord for his villagers in Israel.”
And in verse 13: “Then the Lord came down for me against the mighty.”
These references serve to remind us that everything is the Lord’s doing. We must do what is good as though our actions make the difference, but we are to affirm that the Lord brings about all that is good. This acknowledgement allows us to act from free will, while still understanding the spiritual truth that all goodness comes from the Lord (Arcana Caelestia 9193).
This is emphasized through the song whenever Deborah praises her own actions, as well as those of Barak and Jael. For example:
In verse 7: “Village life ceased in Israel until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.”
In verse 12: “Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, O son of Abinoam!”
And in verses 24-27, when Jael receives full praise for her actions.
Another theme in the song is a lament over those tribes which did not come to the aid of Israel, although only Issachar and Zebulun were called to battle. A town called Meroz is roundly cursed for failing to help. The name ‘Meroz’ comes from a verb meaning “to withdraw” or “to hide” (see Swedenborg’s work, Heaven and Hell 18). This lament reminds us that our intentions to serve the Lord and to fight our spiritual battles can be hindered by our own divided wills.
Deuteronomy 7
1
When Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you;
2
and when Yahweh your God shall deliver them up before you, and you shall strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them: you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them;
3
neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.
4
For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so the anger of Yahweh would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.
5
But you shall deal with them like this: you shall break down their altars, and dash their pillars in pieces, and cut down their Asherim, and burn their engraved images with fire.
6
For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God: Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
7
Yahweh didn't set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples:
8
but because Yahweh loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, has Yahweh brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9
Know therefore that Yahweh your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,
10
and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him who hates him, he will repay him to his face.
11
You shall therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them.
12
It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers:
13
and he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you.
14
You shall be blessed above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock.
15
Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, he will put on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you.
16
You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that will be a snare to you.
17
If you shall say in your heart, "These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?"
18
you shall not be afraid of them: you shall well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt;
19
the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which Yahweh your God brought you out: so shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
20
Moreover Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you.
21
You shall not be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is in the midst of you, a great and awesome God.
22
Yahweh your God will cast out those nations before you by little and little: you may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you.
23
But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they be destroyed.
24
He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name to perish from under the sky: no man shall be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them.
25
You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
26
You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
