The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.
The inhabitants of the villages ceased, х chaadªluw (H2308) pªraazown (H6520)] - rule; i:e., (concrete for) rulers ceased in Israel. And so the Septuagint renders it: exelipon dunatoi. But the Hebrew word does not necessarily mean that the Shophetim were not in Israel, because they had left the country, but that they no longer exercised their public functions, and through loss of heart let anarchy universally prevail.
Until that I ... arose a mother in Israel., х 'eem (H517) is used here in the same sense as 'aab (H1), father, frequently is, for paternal ruler-doing good and providing for the interests of others (cf. Job 29:16; Psalms 68:6; Isaiah 22:21).] And so Deborah assumed the office of ruler and councellor, not for, the gratification of her personal ambition, but for the good of the people, over whom she watched with the lively interest and solicitude of a mother over her children. These verses describe the sad condition of the country, the oppression of the people, the disorderly state of the country, and the origin of all the national distress in the people's apostasy from God. Idolatry was the cause of foreign invasion, and internal inability arising from sloth or cowardice to resist it. (As to the highways in ancient Palestine, see Reland, 'Palaestina,' illustrated, vol. 1:, b. 2:, chs. 3:, 4:)