They chose new gods. — The Chaldee and the LXX. agree in this interpretation, which is strongly supported by Deuteronomy 32:16-17. The Syriac and Vulgate render it “God chose new things,” or “wars” (nova bella elegit Dominus, Vulg.); but this gives a poorer sense, and is open to the objection that Jehovah, not Elohim, is used throughout the rest of the song. It alludes to the idolatry (Jeremiah 2:11) which brought the retribution described in the next clause. Ewald and his pupil, Bertheau, render “gods” (Elohim) by “judges;” but this is very doubtful, though the word has that meaning in Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:7-8.
Then was war in the gates. — The Canaanites drove the Israelites from the city gates, where judgments were given, and expelled them from their towns; so the Targum explains it to mean, “the storming of gates,” and so too Rabbi Tanchum. One MS. of the LXX. and the Syriac and Arabic versions have the strange rendering, “they chose new gods like barley bread,” which Theodoret explains to mean, “as though after eating wheaten bread, men would voluntarily descend to coarse barley bread”; but this is only due to an inferior reading.
Was there a shield or spear. — This is usually, and not unnaturally, explained to mean that there had been a general disarmament (comp. Judges 3:31; 1 Samuel 13:19); we must then assume that the Israelites had only bows, slings, and swords. But (1) there is no indication whatever (but rather the reverse, Judges 4:15) that Barak’s army — which, moreover, consisted of 10,000, not 40,000 — was unarmed; and (2) the context seems to favour the meaning that, in spite of these degradations, there was not a warrior in all Israel who dared to put on his armour.
Among forty thousand. — Even if the number is meant as a round or general number, it is remarkable. It is true that though Barak only had 10,000 men with him, the contingents of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh are not counted; but even then the number shows that Israel was weakened and disunited, for the Transjordanic tribes alone had sent 40,000 men to help Joshua in the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 4:13).