Judges 5:6
In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.
In the days of Shamgar and Jael the main roads lay deserted as unsafe, and travelers were forced onto back roads and unfrequented side paths for fear of violence. That distress came when Israel separated from God by idolatry and fell under grievous oppression for twenty years, with lives and property in constant danger and Israel left unarmed, until with humiliation and repentance they cried to the Lord for deliverance. The verse stands in Deborah's sublime song celebrating the triumph over Sisera under Jabin, a triumph poem that ascribes all glory for the deliverance to God and bids the people praise Him for His wonderful works. That deliverance was won when Israel trusted God against Sisera's force with its iron chariots, and its song blesses God because leaders took the lead and the people offered themselves willingly. The song's naming of Jael shows God giving a woman a prominent public part in Israel's deliverance, which does not violate the command for women to keep silence in the churches but only corrects disorderly usurping of authority over men, while the battle of Megiddo in those days stands as an object lesson for the final gathering of the nations under the sixth plague.
Historical Setting and Condition
In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath and in the days of Jael, the verse belongs to the account of Israel's oppression by Sisera under Jabin and its deliverance under Deborah and Barak. It is included in the account of Barak's victory over the Canaanites, one of the great battles associated with Megiddo. That victory of Barak and Deborah first gave the Israelites possession of the plain of Jezreel, though the Canaanites retained several of its towns until the time of the kings. It belongs to the composite record of Judges 3 to 17 of backsliding from God followed by suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, and of returning to God followed by forgiveness and deliverance. It displays the perversity and unbelief of Israel against the long-suffering and goodness of God, set amid awful moral surroundings and the demoralizing influences of the tribes Israel permitted to remain in the land of promise.
The verse is part of Deborah's most sublime and impassioned song celebrating Israel's triumph over Sisera, a triumph poem memorializing the victory over Sisera's army. It ascribes to God all the glory of the deliverance and bids the people praise Him for His wonderful works. It calls upon the kings and princes of surrounding nations to hear what God wrought for Israel and to take warning not to harm them, showing that honor and power belong to God and not to men or to their idols. It portrays the awful exhibitions of divine power and majesty displayed at Sinai, sets before Israel their helpless and distressed condition under the oppression of their enemies, and relates in glowing language the history of their deliverance wrought through Jael's part in the victory. It is among the earliest poetry of Israel, which rose among the Galilean hills when Barak of Naphtali triumphed over the Canaanites, and it vindicates the honor of Galilee for the intellectual vigor and mental freshness and force of its people.
Its words and music were composed by Israel to memorialize a great event in the individual and national life of God's chosen people. This shows that the music of ancient Israel was an original expression of its own life, not copied nor borrowed from the nations about them. The verse describes a time of oppression and insecurity in Israel in which the main roads were deserted as unsafe and travelers going from place to place had to use back roads and unfrequented side paths.
That distress came after Israel separated from God by idolatry and fell under grievous oppression by its enemies. Negligence and backsliding among God's professed people gave the heathen opportunity to repossess much of the land and become strongly fortified in different places, and Baalism was re-established in many parts of Palestine. Lives and property were in constant danger, so villages and lonely dwellings were deserted as the people crowded into walled cities for safety. Those who wished to worship the true God were in many cases driven from their homes and lived in constant danger of violence from the foe. Danger met travelers even at places for drawing water, where many were robbed and murdered, and the Israelites were left unarmed. This sad condition grew to its worst and lasted twenty years until Israel turned from idolatry and with humiliation and repentance cried to the Lord for deliverance, when the Lord through Deborah called His people to arise and drive the enemy from their borders.
Lessons Prophecy and Application
The deliverance to which the verse belongs depended on faith, for Sisera's host with its iron chariots was overcome when Israel trusted God. That conflict at Megiddo in the days of Deborah and Barak serves as an object lesson for the final gathering of the nations under the sixth plague.
The verse stands in a song blessing God because the leaders took the lead in Israel and the people offered themselves willingly, with the heart turned toward governors who volunteered among the people. Willing united action under leading officers therefore calls for praise to God. Such action arouses enthusiasm and home missionary zeal in every church and isolated company of believers.
The mention of Jael in the song shows God using a woman publicly to His glory and giving her a prominent part in Israel's deliverance. A woman may therefore bear testimony for Christ, help in His work, and proclaim His truth in womanly, Christian ways. This public part taken by women, exemplified by Deborah the prophetess helping Barak, does not violate the command for women to keep silence in the churches. That command only corrects blameworthy disorder by women out of place in assuming authority to teach and rule in an unwomanly and unscriptural way, so women may serve and speak for God without usurping authority over men.