Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek. — The LXX. and Vulgate render it, “Ephraim uprooted them in Amalek.” But the meaning seems to be, “Out of Ephraim (came down to the battle) those whose root is in Amalek,” or, “among the Amalekites.” Ephraim had firmly rooted himself (comp. Isaiah 27:6; Psalms 80:10) in the country which had been the stronghold of the Amalekites. (See Judges 12:15.)
After thee, Benjamin, among thy people. — Ephraim is here addressed by a sudden change of person (comp. Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 42:20. &c). After thee, O Ephraim, came down Benjamin, mingled with thy people. The forces of “little Benjamin” are overshadowed by, and almost lost in, the crowded ranks of its powerful neighbour-tribe. In after days Benjamin clung to the skirts of Judah, but at this period his fortunes were more allied with those of Ephraim. “After thee, Benjamin,” seems to have become (perhaps from this allusion) a war-cry of the tribe (Hosea 5:8).
Out of Machir came down governors. — Machir was the only son of Manasseh (Genesis 1:23; Numbers 27:1), and is here used for the Western Manassites (Joshua 17:5). The Eastern half-tribe, no doubt, held aloof with Gad and Reuben. The silence respecting Judah is remarkable. We may conjecture that Judah and Simeon were sufficiently occupied in keeping off the Philistines, or that, having secured their own territory, they remained in selfish isolation. The word rendered “governors” (LXX., “searchers out”; Vulgate, “princes “) is more strictly “law-givers” (Sym-machus, entassontes).
They that handle the pen of the writer. — Literally, they who draw with the staff (shçbet) of the scribe (sophçr). Sophçr may mean scribe (literally, “one who counts “), and the verb rendered “handle” is, literally, “draw;” but shçbet can hardly mean “pen”; nor is it easy to say of what special use “the pen of the writer” would be in the gathering of clans to battle; nor have we the faintest indication that Zebulon had any literary pre-eminence. There can be little doubt that the meaning is, “They who lead (so in Latin, traho sometimes has the meaning of duco) with the staff of the marshal.” The sophçr is the officer (2 Kings 25:19) who musters, and therefore naturally counts and enrols, the host (Jeremiah 52:25), and the staff: is his natural “rod of power,” or ensign of office; just as it-was (vitis, Plin., H. N. xiv. 1, § 3) of Roman centurions (Vulgate, De Zebulon qui exercitum ducerent ad bel-landum).