The Call To Action and the Response (Judges 5:12-15).
“Awake, awake, Deborah.
Awake, awake, utter a song.
Arise Barak, and lead your captivity captive,
You son of Abinoam.”
Accordingly there now comes the call to the leaders to do their duty. Deborah, the prophetess, is to ‘utter a song', in other words to prophesy. We can compare with this how the king of Moab called on Balaam to prophesy against Israel (Numbers 22:5-6). The words of such a prophet or prophetess were seen as mighty weapons of war. Barak is to remove captivity from Israel by making their captivity itself captive. Or alternately by capturing those who held them captive and leading them as a host of captives. Note again the comparative repetitions. Deborah is twice exhorted to stir her prophetic gift into action, and ‘captivity' is repeated twice in the exhortation to Barak.
“Then came down a remnant of the nobles.
The people of Yahweh came down for me against the mighty.
Out of Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek.
“After you, Benjamin,” among your peoples.
Out of Machir came down governors,
And out of Zebulun those who handle the marshal's staff.
And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah,
As was Issachar so was Barak,
Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet.'
Deborah describes the response of the tribes to the call to arms. The nobles may have been seen as a remnant because the remainder had been executed by the king of Hazor, but more probably because others (their tribes described later) did not respond. But the people of Yahweh did nobly respond (or at least some of them). Ephraim and Benjamin, Machir and Zebulun, and Issachar. Naphtali had, of course, made the call and would therefore be counted among them.
“Ephraim whose root is in Amalek.” Compare Judges 12:15. Ephraim appears to have taken over territory previously occupied by Amalekites, or possibly had Amalekites living among them. It may however refer to former Amalekites who had become Ephraimites by accepting the covenant with Yahweh. None are more zealous than the convert.
“After you (or ‘following you”), Benjamin!' Hosea 5:8 implies that this may have been their famous battlecry. Machir, this may have been the part of Manasseh west of Jordan (Machir is a son of Manasseh), but Joshua 17:1 places Machir in Gilead and Bashan. They had leaders who did respond. In Zebulun ‘those who handle the marshal's staff,' (or ‘scribal staff'), were possibly those who ensured and controlled supplies to the army, or it may be glorying in the fact that even their scribes responded to the call. But the parallel is what suggests ‘marshal's', leaders of the people.
Issachar's princes were also there giving their support to Deborah, and so was Barak. He was the one they all followed as they rushed into the valley, the plain by the Kishon. Once he was committed, as a consequence of Deborah accompanying him, he led nobly as the great warrior he was.
The Roll of Dishonour - The List of Those Who Failed to Respond (Judges 5:15-17).
Judges 5:15-17 (15b-17).
“By the watercourses of Reuben,
There were great resolves of heart.
Why did you sit among the sheepfolds,
To hear the pipings for the flocks?
At the watercourses of Reuben,
there were great searchings of heart.
Gilead abode beyond Jordan,
And Dan, why did he remain in boats?
Asher sat still at the haven of the sea,
And abode by his creeks.”
The call had gone out to the tribes, but some had failed to respond. As in Genesis 49:4, Reuben was as usual two-minded, unable to decide what to do. Great resolve was followed by great heartsearching. Although to be fair to them, with Moab waiting on their borders they had much to think about. So in the end, rather than listening to the call of Yahweh, they sat among the sheepfolds listening to the shepherd boys calling their flocks by piping on their flutes. (This can still be heard today in the Near East). The spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. They listened at ease, enjoying the irrelevancies of life, rather than responding to Yahweh.
Gilead just refused to come. They stayed where they were. This represented Gad (Joshua 13:24) and parts of Manasseh (Joshua 17:1). (But see on Machir above). Dan too were not interested, they were too busy fishing (although another rendering of ‘in boats' might be ‘at ease', based on findings at Ugarit. But ‘in boats' is a good parallel for ‘by his creeks'). They were a long way from the action. Asher stayed by the sea to the west. They were the more guilty because they were fairly close to the action. Perhaps they did not want to bring the wrath of Hazor on themselves.