Judges 5:30
Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?
In Deborah and Barak's triumphant song giving God the glory for Israel's deliverance, the verse pictures Sisera's household imagining the division of captive women and richly embroidered garments as spoil, in contrast to Israel's actual victory over his forces. It belongs to the account of Israel's deliverance from twenty years of oppression under Jabin king of Canaan, when Sisera's army with its iron chariots was defeated and Sisera himself was slain, with Jael having a part in his death. That victory on the battlefield of Megiddo stands as an object lesson connected with the gathering of the nations at Har-Magedon under the sixth plague. It shows that Israel could overcome its enemies when it had faith. It also shows that God has used women in public testimony for His glory in all ages, and that the command for women to keep silence in the churches does not forbid such womanly Christian testimony but was given to correct disorderly assumption of authority to teach and rule.
Setting and Meaning of Verse
The verse stands in the record of Israel's backsliding, of suffering under oppression, and of return to God through forgiveness and deliverance. It belongs to the account of Israel's victory over Sisera and his iron chariots under Deborah and Barak. That victory delivered Israel from Jabin king of Canaan after twenty years of oppression, when Sisera's army was defeated and Sisera was killed. Jael had a part in that deliverance, when Barak of Naphtali triumphed over the Canaanites.
It is part of Deborah's song in Judges 5:1-31, the triumphant song of Deborah and Barak celebrating Israel's deliverance and victory. The song celebrates deliverance from Sisera and his forces and gives God the glory for that deliverance, recounting how the enemy's power was broken. Its appeal to Israel's tribes to join the battle and its picture of the enemy fleeing point to that victory. It is Deborah's victory song after Sisera's army was defeated and Sisera was killed, and Deborah's triumph song celebrating Israel's victory over Sisera's army.
The song is the earliest poetry of Israel, risen among the hills of Galilee when Barak of Naphtali had triumphed over the Canaanites. Both words and music were composed by Israel itself to memorialize a great event in the national life. It is an expression of the individual and national life of God's chosen people, not copied or borrowed from the surrounding nations. It stands with the Song of the Red Sea as an example of Israel's original memorial music.
The verse portrays the defeated Canaanites' expected distribution of Israelite women and richly embroidered garments as spoil. To every man a damsel or two, and to Sisera divers-coloured needlework for the necks of them that take the spoil, is the imagined plunder set against Israel's victory over Sisera's forces. It is an image of Sisera's household expecting captured goods that the poem does not explain.
Prophetic Doctrinal and Practical Lessons
The triumph commemorated in the song was won at Megiddo, where the forces of Sisera were defeated. That battlefield is identified with Har-Magedon, and Barak's victory over the Canaanites there stands as one of the two great victories associated with it. The battle serves as an object lesson connected with the gathering of the nations at Armageddon under the sixth plague.
The account of Israel's victory over Sisera and his iron chariots under Deborah and Barak shows that Israel could overcome its enemies when it had faith. The song in Judges 5:1-31 shows that God has used women in a public capacity in all ages to His glory. The chapter presents a woman bearing testimony for Christ, helping in His work, and proclaiming His truth in a womanly, Christian way.
The command for women to keep silence in the churches does not forbid such public testimony. That command was given to correct blameworthy disorders of women out of place in assuming authority to teach and rule. As the earliest poetry of Israel, risen among the hills of Galilee when Barak of Naphtali had triumphed over the Canaanites, the song vindicates the honor of Galilee for the intellectual vigor and mental freshness and force of its people.