What does Challoner say the passage about Ephraim, Benjamin and Amalec may mean?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He gives two readings: fleeing enemies are destroyed across Ephraim and Benjamin to Amalec’s borders, or the passage recalls earlier victories, especially Aod’s defeat of Moab and its Amalecite allies. The note keeps these as alternatives within Debbora and Barac’s victory song.

Chapter breakdown

That day Debbora and Barac son of Abinoem sing. They call on Israelites who willingly risked their lives to bless the Lord, and on kings and princes to hear the song to the Lord God of Israel. The song describes the Lord going from Seir through Edom’s regions: the earth trembles, heavens and clouds drop water, and mountains, including Sinai, melt before him. In Samgar son of Anath’s and Jahel’s days, paths rest and travelers use byways. Challoner separately explains that roads to God’s sanctuary are unfrequented and people walk in the byways of error and sin. Valiant men cease until Debbora arises as a mother in Israel. The Lord chooses new wars and overthrows the enemy gates; a shield and spear are not seen among forty thousand Israelites.

The singer loves Israel’s princes and again calls willing volunteers to bless the Lord. Those riding fair asses, sitting in judgment and walking in the way are called to speak. Where chariots collide and the enemy army is choked, the Lord’s just deeds and mercy toward Israel’s brave men are to be told. His people go down to the gates and gain rule. The song repeatedly calls Debbora to arise and sing, and Barac son of Abinoem to arise and take his captives. The remnants of the people are saved, and the Lord fights among the valiant.

The song speaks of enemies destroyed from Ephraim into Amalec and then from Benjamin into Amalec’s people, of princes coming down from Machir, and of Zabulon’s army leaders. Challoner separately explains that fleeing, scattered enemies are destroyed as they run through Ephraim, then Benjamin beyond it, to Amalec’s borders. Or, he says, it refers to earlier victories of God’s people, especially the recent memory of Ephraim and Benjamin under Aod overthrowing the Moabites and their Amalecite allies; he points to chapter 3. His same note identifies Machir as Manasses’s tribe, Machir being Manasses’s eldest son.

Issachar’s captains are with Debbora and follow Barac, who exposes himself to danger like one rushing headlong into a pit. Ruben is divided against himself, with strife among courageous men. Challoner separately says it seems Ruben’s valiant men disagree about this war, keeping them home within their borders to hear their flocks bleat. The song asks why Ruben dwells between two borders to hear the flocks and repeats the division and strife. Galaad rests beyond the Jordan, Dan occupies himself with ships, and Aser stays on the seashore and in the havens. Zabulon and Nephthali offer their lives to death in Merome’s region.

Chanaan’s kings fight in Thanac by Mageddo’s waters but take no spoils. War comes against them from heaven: stars in their order and courses fight Sisara. The torrent Cison drags their bodies; the song names the torrent Cadumim and Cison and calls the soul to tread on the strong. Horse hoofs break as the strongest enemies flee at speed and fall headlong. The Lord’s angel calls for a curse on Meroz’s land and inhabitants because they do not help the Lord and his most valiant men. Challoner separately says Meroz’s location cannot be found and it is not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. He gives a spiritual reading: those refusing to help God’s people against spiritual enemies are cursed.

The song blesses Jahel, Haber the Cinite’s wife, among women and in her tent. Sisara asks for water; she gives milk and offers butter in a dish fit for princes. Her left hand goes to the nail and her right to the workman’s hammer; she strikes Sisara, seeks a place in his head for the wound and strongly pierces his temples. He falls between her feet, faints, dies and rolls before them, lying lifeless and wretched. His mother looks from a window, howls and asks from the dining room why his chariot and horses are slow to return. One wife wiser than the others answers her mother-in-law: perhaps he is dividing spoils, with the fairest woman chosen for him, varied colored garments for his prey and different furnishings heaped to adorn necks. The song asks that all the Lord’s enemies perish and those loving him shine like the rising sun. The land rests forty years.

The story inside

Debbora and Barac’s song calls willing volunteers and rulers to praise the Lord, recalls Seir, Edom and Sinai, and describes the earlier paths and valiant men before Debbora arose. It turns to those who came or stayed, preserving Ruben’s question and the particular entries for Galaad, Dan, Aser, Zabulon and Nephthali. The battle verses name the kings, stars, torrents, broken hoofs and Meroz’s failure to help. The ending places Jahel’s act beside Sisara’s mother’s questions and one wife’s proposed explanation, then closes with a wish about the Lord’s enemies and lovers and the recorded forty-year rest. Challoner’s separate notes include a spiritual reading of the paths, two alternative readings of Ephraim’s passage, an uncertain reading of Ruben and an unknown location plus spiritual reading for Meroz.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The song and its notes have different kinds of statements. The song names trembling earth, melting mountains and stars fighting, while Challoner gives his own explanation of the resting paths. Keeping the attribution avoids supplying an unrecorded weather or military mechanism.
2
The commentary preserves alternatives and uncertainty. The Ephraim passage may concern this flight or earlier victories under Aod; Ruben’s division is introduced with “it seems”; Meroz’s location is unknown. A plain explanation can retain these limits without choosing or inventing a solution.
3
The final scene preserves a proposed answer rather than a fact about spoils. Sisara’s mother asks about delay, and one wife says perhaps he is dividing loot. That speech follows the song’s account of his death; it is not evidence that he actually takes the named spoils.

Test your recall

What two readings does Challoner give for Ephraim and Benjamin, and why must the wife’s “perhaps” about Sisara’s spoils remain a proposed explanation?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 25509–25538
Judges Chapter 5 The canticle of Debbora and Barac after their victory. 5:1. In that day Debbora and Barac, son of Abinoem, sung, and said: 5:2. O you of Israel, that have willingly offered your lives to danger, bless the Lord. 5:3. Hear, O ye kings, give ear, O ye princes: It is I, it is I, that will sing to the Lord, I will sing to the Lord, the God of Israel. 5:4. O Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, and passedst by the regions of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens and clouds dropped water. 5:5. The mountains melted before the face of the Lord, and Sinai before the face of the Lord the God of Israel. 5:6. In the days of Samgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jahel, the paths rested: and they that went by them, walked through bye-ways. The paths rested.... The ways to the sanctuary of God were unfrequented: and men walked in the by-ways of error and sin. 5:7. The valiant men ceased, and rested in Israel: until Debbora arose, a mother arose in Israel. 5:8. The Lord chose new wars, and he himself overthrew the gates of the enemies: a shield and spear was not seen among forty thousand of Israel.
Lines 25540–25555
5:9. My heart loveth the princes of Israel: O you, that of your own good will offered yourselves to danger, bless the Lord. 5:10. Speak, you that ride upon fair asses, and you that sit in judgment, and walk in the way. 5:11. Where the chariots were dashed together, and the army of the enemies was choked, there let the justices of the Lord be rehearsed, and his clemency towards the brave men of Israel: then the people of the Lord went down to the gates, and obtained the sovereignty. 5:12. Arise, arise, O Debbora, arise, arise, and utter a canticle. Arise, Barac, and take hold of thy captives, O son of Abinoem. 5:13. The remnants of the people are saved, the Lord hath fought among the valiant ones.
Lines 25557–25568
5:14. Out of Ephraim he destroyed them into Amalec, and after him out of Benjamin into thy people, O Amalec: Out of Machir there came down princes, and out of Zabulon they that led the army to fight. Out of Ephraim, etc.... The enemies straggling in their flight were destroyed, as they were running through the land of Ephraim, and of Benjamin, which lies after, that is beyond Ephraim: and so on to the very confines of Amalec. Or, it alludes to former victories of the people of God, particularly that which was freshest in memory, when the men of Ephraim and Benjamin, with Aod at their head, overthrew their enemies the Moabites with the Amalecites their allies. See chap. 3.—Ibid. Machir.... The tribe of Manasses, whose eldest son was Machir.
Lines 25570–25588
5:15. The captains of Issachar were with Debbora, and followed the steps of Barac, who exposed himself to danger, as one going headlong, and into a pit. Ruben being divided against himself, there was found a strife of courageous men. Divided against himself, etc.... By this it seems that the valient men of the tribe of Ruben were divided in their sentiments, with relation to this war; which division kept them at home within their own borders, to hear the bleating of their flocks. 5:16. Why dwellest thou between two borders, that thou mayst hear the bleatings of the flocks? Ruben being divided against himself, there was found a strife of courageous men. 5:17. Galaad rested beyond the Jordan, and Dan applied himself to ships: Aser dwelt on the sea shore, and abode in the havens. 5:18. But Zabulon and Nephthali offered their lives to death in the region of Merome.
Lines 25590–25610
5:19. The kings came and fought, the kings of Chanaan fought in Thanac, by the waters of Mageddo and yet they took no spoils. 5:20. There was war made against them from heaven: the stars, remaining in their order and courses, fought against Sisara. 5:21. The torrent of Cison dragged their carcasses, the torrent of Cadumim, the torrent of Cison: tread thou, my soul, upon the strong ones. 5:22. The hoofs of the horses were broken whilst the stoutest of the enemies fled amain, and fell headlong down. 5:23. Curse ye the land of Meroz, said the angel of the Lord: curse the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to help his most valiant men. Meroz.... Where this land of Meroz was, which is here laid under a curse, we cannot find: nor is there mention of it anywhere else in holy writ. In the spiritual sense, they are cursed who refuse to assist the people of God in their warfare against their spiritual enemies.
Lines 25612–25642
5:24. Blessed among women be Jahel, the wife of Haber the Cinite, and blessed be she in her tent. 5:25. He asked her water, and she gave him milk, and offered him butter in a dish fit for princes. 5:26. She put her left hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workman’s hammer, and she struck Sisara, seeking in his head a place for the wound, and strongly piercing through his temples. 5:27. Between her feet he fell: he fainted, and he died: he rolled before her feet, and there he lay lifeless and wretched. 5:28. His mother looked out at a window, and howled: and she spoke from the dining room: Why is his chariot so long in coming back? Why are the feet of his horses so slow? 5:29. One that was wiser than the rest of his wives, returned this answer to her mother in law: 5:30. Perhaps he is now dividing the spoils, and the fairest of the women is chosen out for him: garments of divers colours are given to Sisara for his prey, and furniture of different kinds is heaped together to adorn necks. 5:31. So let all thy enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love thee shine, as the sun shineth in his rising. 5:32. And the land rested for forty years.