Judges 4:24

And the hand of the children of Israel, prospered and prevailed against Jabin, the king of Canaan,.... They continued their wars with him, in which they were successful: until they had destroyed

Judges 4:24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.Ver. 24. Until they had destroyed Jabin.] So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord. Read the Church’ s prayer, Psalms 83:9-10; - "Do unto them as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth."

(24) The hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed.—Literally, as in the margin, The hand. . . . going went, and was hard—i.e., “became heavier and heavier in its pressure.” The battle of the Kishon was the beginning of a complete deliverance of Israel from the yoke of the Canaanites.

Verse 24. The hand of the children of Israel prospered] ותלך הלוך vattelech haloch, it went, going - they followed up this victory, and the consequence was, they utterly destroyed Jabin and his kingdom. IT will naturally be expected that something should be said to justify the conduct of Jael: it must be owned that she slew Sisera in circumstances which caused the whole transaction to appear exceedingly questionable. They are the following: - 1. There was peace between her family and the king of Canaan. 2. That peace was no doubt made, as all transactions of the kind were, with a sacrifice and an oath. 3. Sisera, knowing this, came to her tent with the utmost confidence. 4. She met him with the most friendly greetings and assurances of safety. 5. Having asked for water, to show her friendship and respect she gave him cream, and that in a vessel suitable to his dignity. 6. She put him in the secret part of her own tent, and covered him in such a way as to evidence her good faith, and to inspire him with the greater confidence. 7. She agreed to keep watch at the door, and deny his being there to any that might inquire. 8. As she gave him permission to secrete himself with her, and gave him refreshment, she was bound by the rules of Asiatic hospitality to have defended his life, even at the risk of her own. 9. Notwithstanding, she took the advantage of his weariness and deep sleep, and took away his life! 10. She exulted in her deed, met Barak, and showed him in triumph what she had done. Now do we not find, in all this, bad faith, deceit, deep hypocrisy, lying, breach of treaty, contempt of religious rites, breach of the laws of hospitality, deliberate and unprovoked murder? But what can be said in her justification? All that can be said, and all that has been said is simply this: "She might have been sincere at first, but was afterwards Divinely directed to do what she did." If this was so, she is sufficiently vindicated by the fact; for God has a right to dispose of the lives of his creatures as he pleases: and probably the cup of Sisera's iniquity was full, and his life already forfeited to the justice of God. But does it appear that she received any such direction from God? There is no sufficient evidence of it: it is true that Deborah, a prophetess, declares her blessed above women; and this seems to intimate that her conduct was pleasing to God. If Deborah was inspired on this occasion, her words are a presumptive proof that the act was right; unless we are to understand it as a simple declaration of the reputation she should be held in among her own sex.

See the margin. The meaning is, that Barak’s great victory was the beginning of a successful resistance to Jabin, by which the Israelites recovered their independence, and finally broke the Canaanite power.

24. Prospered… prevailed… destroyed — Compare marginal reading.