Judges 5:11
They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.
They that were set free gather where water is drawn to praise and celebrate the righteous deeds the Lord has done for His villages in Israel. It is the triumphant song of Deborah and Barak after the Lord delivered Israel from Jabin king of Canaan and the army of Sisera after twenty years of oppression, subduing the Canaanites and giving the land rest for forty years. The song recounts that deliverance as God's own work and calls His people and the kings and princes round about to hear, to give Him all the glory and honor for His wonderful works, and to take warning not to harm His people. That battle at Megiddo stands as an object lesson connected with Armageddon and the sixth and seventh plagues. The song also shows God using a woman publicly to bear testimony, help His work, and proclaim His truth without usurping authority over men.
Language and Historical Setting
The Hebrew verb behind the verse means to praise, rehearse, and celebrate, and the rendering rehearse gives its true sense. The verse stands in Judges 3-17 as part of one composite record of backsliding from God, consequent suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, and returning to God with forgiveness and deliverance. It belongs to the song about the battle of Megiddo in the days of Deborah and Barak. It is part of the account of Barak's victory over the Canaanites, one of the great victories associated with Megiddo, the Old Testament battlefield where Israel fought the enemies of God's people.
The song arose after negligence and backsliding by God's professed people let the heathen repossess much of the land, become strongly fortified, re-establish Baalism in many parts of Palestine, bring Israel into great distress, drive those who wished to worship the true God from their homes, and leave them in constant danger of violence. It celebrates the Lord calling His people through Deborah to arise and drive out Jabin the heathen king of Canaan and Sisera his captain from their borders. Barak of Kedesh in Naphtali led only ten thousand armed men of Zebulun and Naphtali while forty thousand had neither sword nor spear against nine hundred chariots of iron. Barak ascended Mount Tabor from the north and Sisera came up the Kishon valley to the foothills south and west of Tabor where the ground made the chariots an encumbrance, the action beginning on territory belonging to Issachar, then retreating down the Kishon valley, pursued by Barak unto Harosheth of the Gentiles until all the host fell on the edge of the sword and not a man was left, and Sisera fleeing on foot over or around Tabor and perishing in the tent of Jael the wife of Heber by a nail.
It is the triumphant song of Deborah and Barak celebrating Israel's deliverance from Jabin, king of Canaan, after twenty years of oppression and recounting Jael's part in that deliverance. It is a triumph poem over Sisera's army, a victory song celebrating Israel's victory over Sisera's forces. The destruction of Sisera and his forces effectually subdued the Canaanites and gave the land peace forty years. The Song of Deborah in Judges 5:1-31 was composed in both words and music to memorialize a great event in the national life of God's chosen people. This shows that the music of ancient Israel was an original expression of individual and national life, not copied or borrowed from the surrounding nations. As the earliest poetry of Israel rising among the Galilean hills when Barak of Naphtali had triumphed over the Canaanites, it shows the intellectual vigor and mental freshness and force of the Galilean people.
Song's Praise and Prophecy
The poem recalls the victory under Deborah and Barak as God's own work. It calls Israel to rise and join the struggle, to pray, and to trust that God will bring victory. It does not dwell on the details of archers, places of drawing water, or the rehearsing of the Lord's righteous acts. The rehearsing of the righteous acts of the Lord there belongs to a history showing the triumphs God wrought for His people. It recounts Israel's deliverance and praises the Lord's righteous acts.
Deborah's song celebrates Israel's triumph over Sisera by giving all the glory for deliverance to God. It calls the people to praise Him for His wonderful works, and calls the kings and princes of the surrounding nations to hear what God had wrought for Israel and to take warning not to harm them. It declares that honor and power belong to God and not to men or their idols, and recalls the awful exhibitions of divine power and majesty at Sinai. It sets before Israel their helpless and distressed condition under oppression and relates the history of their deliverance, whose destruction of Sisera and his forces effectually subdued the Canaanites and gave the land rest forty years. Yet prosperity did not bring Israel nearer to God.
The song belongs to the battle of Megiddo in the days of Deborah and Barak. That battle serves as an object lesson connected with Armageddon and the sixth and seventh plagues. It is part of the account of Barak's victory over the Canaanites, one of the great victories associated with Megiddo, the Old Testament battlefield where Israel fought the enemies of God's people.
Women's Public Service
Judges 5:11 belongs to Deborah's song, which recounts Israel's deliverance and praises the righteous acts of the Lord. The chapter is an example of God using a woman publicly to serve and honor Him. That example is seen in the account of Deborah helping Barak. The song shows a woman bearing testimony for Christ and helping in His work. It shows her proclaiming His truth in a womanly, Christian way.
The command for women to keep silence in the churches does not forbid such public testimony and service. It only corrects women who are out of place in assuming authority to teach and rule. Women could speak and serve publicly for God without usurping authority over men.