‘ And she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kedesh-naphtali. And said to him, “Has not Yahweh, the God of Israel commanded? Go, and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with you ten eleph men of the children of Naphtali, and of the children of Zebulun.” '
The Spirit of Yahweh was at work for Deborah had foreseen short term coming events. She was thus completely in charge. We must assume that Barak was a recognised battle leader whose influence was such that she knew men would follow him. The power of her influence is seen in that he came. His name means ‘lightning', a worthy opponent for Baal, the god of lightning who was worshipped in Hazor. He was to be Yahweh's lightning. He lived in Naphtali territory, of which Hazor was one of the cities allotted to them. Perhaps both were in her mind when she chose him.
“And said to him, “Has not Yahweh, the God of Israel commanded?”” Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, was in charge of operations here. He was their commander (compare Joshua 5:14). And He was doing it through Deborah.
“Go, and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with you ten eleph men of the children of Naphtali, and of the children of Zebulun.” Mount Tabor was a mountain rising from the plain of Jezreel to a height of 588 metres (1900 feet). It was steep-sloped and on the Zebulun-Issachar border. There they would be safe from chariots, which would encourage the Israelite fighting men. ‘Go and draw' refers to the plan to draw Sisera's chariots towards Mount Tabor. He was to take ten largish units of men. Military units were split into ‘elephs', ‘hundreds' and ‘tens' (Judges 20:10), but as often with military units the number was theoretical. The actual group would be far smaller.