Judges 5:8
in Judges 5When they chose new gods, then war came to their gates. Not a shield or spear was found among forty thousand in Israel.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They chose new gods; Then was war in the gates: Was there a shield or spear seen Among forty thousand in Israel?
KJV
They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
⋯
This verse in Judges 5
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(Judges 5:8) The Lord has chosen new wars, and he himself overturns the gates of the enemy. If a shield and a spear appeared among forty thousand Israelites, it is to be understood that he said this as if by swearing an oath, that among forty thousand Israelites neither a shield nor a spear could be found. Therefore, the Lord is said to have chosen new wars, and to have overturned the gates of the enemy because he has made the weak strong and victorious.
This site's exposition
In the days of Shamgar
on Judges 5:6-8
Shamgar is the man of Judges 3:31. A trader would notice these conditions first: "the highways were deserted and the travelers took the byways". Verse 8 sets cause beside effect, new gods and then war "to their gates", with no shield or spear, as at 1 Samuel 13:19-22.
This site's exposition
Not a shield or spear was found
John Wesley reads the missing shield and spear two ways. Many thousands may have been disarmed by the Canaanites and Philistines, or the people may have neglected their arms because they had given up hope. On either reading, the men were there and the weapons were few.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Was there a shield - There was not, the meaning is not, that all the Israelites had no arms, but, either they had but few arms among them, being many thousands of them disarmed by the Canaanites and Philistines, or that they generally neglected the use of arms, as being without all hope of recovering their liberty.
They chose new gods,....
It was their idolatry that provoked God to give them up thus into the hands of their enemies. The Lord their God was one Lord, but this would not content them: they must have more, many more, still more.
Either they were disarmed by their oppressors, or they themselves neglected the art of war; so that, though they had spears and shields, they were not to be seen, but were thrown by and suffered to rust, they having neither skill nor will to use them. She shows in one word what it was that brought all this misery upon them: They chose new gods,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The song proceeds in these verses to describe the sad condition of the country, the oppression of the people, and the origin of all the national distress in the people's apostasy from God. Idolatry was the cause of foreign invasion and internal inability to resist it.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
They chose new gods - This was the cause of all their calamities; they forsook Jehovah, and served other gods; and then was war in their gates - they were hemmed up in every place, and besieged in all their fortified cities; and they were defenseless, they had no means of resisting their adversaries; for even among forty thousand men, there was neither spear nor shield to be seen.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The “war in the gates” describes the hostile attacks of the Canaanites, which were the punishment of the idolatry of the Israelites (compare the marginal references), and the reduction of Israel to an unarmed and unresisting state under the Philistine dominion. See Jdg 3:31 note.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יִבְחַר֙ | yivchar | it chose | H977 → | 171 times |
| אֱלֹהִ֣ים | ʾelohim | gods | H430 → | 2601 times |
| חֲדָשִׁ֔ים | chadashim | new | H2319 → | 53 times |
| אָ֖ז | ʾaz | then | H227 → | 141 times |
| לָחֶ֣ם | lachem | bread | H3901 → | |
| שְׁעָרִ֑ים | shearim | gates | H8179 → | 374 times |
| מָגֵ֤ן | magen | a shield | H4043 → | |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יֵֽרָאֶה֙ | yeraeh | it was seen | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| וָרֹ֔מַח | varomach | and a spear | H7420 → | |
| בְּאַרְבָּעִ֥ים | bearbaim | among forty | H705 → | 136 times |
| אֶ֖לֶף | ʾelef | thousand | H505 → | 505 times |
| בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ | beyisrael | in Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
יִבְחַר֙it chose
yivcharH977 →171 times
אֱלֹהִ֣יםgods
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
חֲדָשִׁ֔יםnew
chadashimH2319 →53 times
אָ֖זthen
ʾazH227 →141 times
לָחֶ֣םbread
lachemH3901 →
שְׁעָרִ֑יםgates
shearimH8179 →374 times
מָגֵ֤ןa shield
magenH4043 →
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יֵֽרָאֶה֙it was seen
yeraehH7200 →1300 times
וָרֹ֔מַחand a spear
varomachH7420 →
בְּאַרְבָּעִ֥יםamong forty
bearbaimH705 →136 times
אֶ֖לֶףthousand
ʾelefH505 →505 times
בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃in Israel
beyisraelH3478 →2507 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Judges 2:17Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience…
it leads to
- Galatians 1:6
I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
- Deuteronomy 9:12
And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from…
- Judges 2:7
And the people served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had seen all the great works that the LORD had done for Israel.
- Galatians 1:6
Through
Judges 4:3Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
it leads to
- Judges 1:19
The LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plains because they had chariots of iron.
- Judges 1:19
Through
Judges 2:12Thus they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down…
it leads to
- Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
- Deuteronomy 6:14–15
Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you.
- Deuteronomy 29:25
And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of…
- Deuteronomy 13:5
Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the…
- Exodus 20:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Judges
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on the Song of Deborah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.