And the princes of Issachar. — The ordinary reading of the Hebrew gives the meaning, “And my princes in Issachar (came down to battle) with Deborah.” If this be the right reading, Deborah calls them “my princes” with a touch of pride, and hence some have assumed that she belonged to the tribe of Issachar, not to that of Ephraim. But a very slight change gives the meaning of “the princes in Issachar.” Deborah did not take actual part in the battle, like Boadicea or Joan of Arc, but seems to have been close at hand, in the rear, to encourage the combatants, as the ancient British and German women used to do, and as Arab women do to this day.
Even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. — Rather, even Issachar, as well as Barak, rushed down at his feet (i.e., after Barak) into the plain (emek).” It is a pity that the verse does not end here, for the next clause begins the description of “the malingerers,” whose cowardice or selfishness is triumphantly contrasted with the heroic daring of Zebulon and Naphtali in Judges 5:18.
For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart. — The word for “divisions” (pelagoth) might mean “families” or “clans,” as the LXX., or “factions,” as the Vulgate seems to have understood it; but it almost certainly means streams, as in Job 20:17 (margin, “streaming brooks”), where alone it recurs. The allusion is to the Jabbok and its numerous affluents. “Thoughts of heart” only occurs elsewhere in Isaiah 12:1. where it is rendered “decrees,” with the epithet “empty,” or “vain.” Possibly, therefore, an ironic contrast is intended between the magnanimous “decisions” (chikekey lçbh) of Reuben and his evanescent “projects”(chikerey lçbh). The play of words is almost certainly contemptuous, and there may be some lurking scorn in the word pelagoth to imply either “rivers” or “factions.” Reuben debated and stayed at home on frivolous pretences, as Sparta did in the days of Marathon. But even then the sting of the reproach lies in the taunting question of the next verse.