Judges 5:28-30 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The mother of Sisera looked out at a window Expecting to see him returning; for she concluded that he went forth not so much to fight as to take the spoil. Have they not divided the spoil? That is, it is certain they have got the prey, only they tarry to distribute it, according to every man's quality and merit. It is scarcely possible to conceive any thing more beautiful or expressive than these verses. No writer, either poet or orator, ever formed a finer image upon any subject. It seems even beyond all that painting could express. No picture could have represented to us so much of the action as these words do. We perfectly see the mother of Sisera waiting for the victorious return of her son, and looking out at a window to behold his triumphant chariot at some distance. We see her rejoicing over the Israelitish captives. We see her, as it were, examining and delighting her eyes with the rich and gorgeous spoils which they had brought home. How does all this heighten, in our imagination, the fall of Sisera, who lies at the same time dead in the tent of Jael, without pomp or attendant, without mother, or sister, or brother, to weep over him, slain by the hand of a woman! This fine conclusion of the relation of Sisera's fall may be said to have all the beautiful colouring of a Titian, and all the force of a Raphael or Rubens; for no one pencil ever expressed any thing so perfectly.