What is the meaning of Judges 5:6? In the days of Shamgar son of Anath • This phrase fixes our attention on a very specific historical window. Judges 3:31 records, “After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad, and he too saved Israel.” • Shamgar’s courageous act was real, physical deliverance. Yet the mention here suggests that even after his victory, national security remained fragile. • The pattern of the period—sin, oppression, crying out, deliverance (Judges 2:18-19)—is on display again. Israel’s safety hinged on faithful leadership and God’s mercy, not on standing armies or politics. in the days of Jael • Jael appears in Judges 4:17-22, where she decisively ends Sisera’s threat with a tent peg. Her boldness echoes Deborah’s prophecy (Judges 4:9). • By placing Jael’s name alongside Shamgar’s, the song highlights that deliverance sometimes comes through unexpected instruments. Compare 1 Samuel 17:45-47, where David confesses that “the battle belongs to the LORD.” • Both Shamgar and Jael stood firm when others hesitated, illustrating how individual obedience can shift an entire nation’s fortunes. the highways were deserted • Under Canaanite oppression (Judges 4:3), main roads were unsafe. 2 Chronicles 15:5-6 speaks of a similar era: “No one could travel safely, for great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands”. • Vacant highways meant commerce stalled, communication broke, and worship at the tabernacle waned (compare Deuteronomy 16:16’s call for pilgrimage). • God had promised peace for obedience (Leviticus 26:6), so deserted roads signaled covenant breach and divine discipline. and the travelers took the byways • Fear forced ordinary people onto winding, hidden paths. Isaiah 33:8 observes, “The highways are deserted, no travelers are on the road”, linking moral collapse with social breakdown. • Taking byways implies constant vigilance, detours, and delay—life in survival mode. Lamentations 1:4 pictures Zion’s roads mourning because “no one comes to the appointed feasts”. • When open, public life shuts down, God’s people cannot flourish. Their situation cried out for the kind of intervention God soon supplied through Deborah and Barak (Judges 4:14-16). summary Judges 5:6 sketches a bleak snapshot: even after Shamgar’s exploit and before Jael’s famed strike, Israel’s main streets lay empty and fear ruled the land. The verse reminds us that without faithful leadership and covenant loyalty, a nation’s daily life unravels. Yet God raises deliverers—sometimes unlikely ones—to restore peace and reopen the highways for His people’s worship, work, and fellowship. |
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