Judges 4:16

But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) There was not a man left.—The massacre in all battles in which the fugitives have to escape over a river and contend with a storm is always specially fatal. The memory of this terrible carnage was preserved for years, together with the circumstance that the soil was enriched by the dead bodies (Psalm 83:10). Similarly at Waterloo, the year after the battle a blaze of crimson poppies burst out over the plain, and the harvests of the subsequent years were specially rich.

“The earth is covered thick with other clay,

Which her own clay shall cover.”

The scene of the battle of Marius at Aquæ Sextiæ was long called Fourrières (a corruption of Campi Putridi) for the same reason; and the site of Cannæ is still known as Pezzo di Sangue.

Benson Commentary

Jdg 4:16-17. There was not a man left — In the field; for there were some who fled away, as Sisera did. The tent of Jael — For women had their tents apart from their husbands. And here he probably thought he would be more secret and secure than in her husband’s tent, or in any other place in that encampment, as it would have been a much greater insult to Heber for any Israelite to search for him there than in any other of his tents. For there was peace between Jabin and the house of Heber — Not a covenant of friendship, which they were forbidden to make with the Canaanites, but a cessation of hostilities, which Jabin granted them, because they were peaceable people, abhorring war, and wholly minding pasturage, and were not Israelites, with whom his principal quarrel was. Add to this, that God disposed his heart to favour those who were careful to shun idolatry, and other sins wherewith Israel had corrupted themselves.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:10-16. Siser's confidence was chiefly in his chariots. But if we have ground to hope that God goes before us, we may go on with courage and cheerfulness. Be not dismayed at the difficulties thou meetest with in resisting Satan, in serving God, or suffering for him; for is not the Lord gone before thee? Follow him then fully. Barak went down, though upon the plain the iron chariots would have advantage against him: he quitted the mountain in dependence on the Divine power; for in the Lord alone is the salvation of his people, Jer 3:23. He was not deceived in his confidence. When God goes before us in our spiritual conflicts, we must bestir ourselves; and when, by his grace, he gives us some success against the enemies of our souls, we must improve it by watchfulness and resolution.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

What with the overflowing of the Kishon Judges 5:21, by which numbers were drowned, and the panic which had seized the defeated army, and made them an easy prey to the sword of the pursuing Israelites, Sisera's whole force was cut to pieces and broken up.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. But Barak pursued … unto Harosheth—Broken and routed, the main body of Sisera's army fled northward; others were forced into the Kishon and drowned (see on [218]Jud 5:21).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To wit, in the field; for there were some who fled away, as Sisera did.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles,.... The place from whence they came, and to which they endeavoured to escape: but he followed them, so close all that way, and made such havoc of them, that

all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left; no, not one, excepting Sisera, as in Judges 4:17; or "even to one" (l), as in the original text; not one escaped to Hazor to acquaint Jabin of the loss of his army. Philo Byblius says, that nine hundred and ninety seven thousand of Sisera's army were slain.

(l) "usque ad unum", Montanus.

Geneva Study Bible

But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. The Canaanites fled in a westerly direction to their base, pursued by Barak, and not one escaped; cf. Exodus 14:28.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - Barak pursued after the chariots. Barak, supposing Sisera still to be with the chariots, pursued after them, and seems to have overtaken them, as they were embarrassed in the rotten, boggy ground which had been suddenly overflowed by the swollen waters of Kishon. Many were swept away by the flood and drowned, the rest put to the sword while their horses were floundering in the bog (Judges 5:21, 22). But Sisera had meanwhile escaped on foot unnoticed, and fled to the tents of the friendly Kenites. Judges 4:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak." ויּהם, as in Exodus 14:24 and Joshua 10:10, denotes the confounding of the hostile army by a miracle of God, mostly by some miraculous phenomenon of nature: see, besides Exodus 14:24; 2 Samuel 22:15; Psalm 18:15, and Psalm 144:6. The expression ויּהם places the defeat of Sisera and his army in the same category as the miraculous destruction of Pharaoh and of the Canaanites at Gibeon; and the combination of this verb with the expression "with the edge of the sword" is to be taken as constructio praegnans, in the sense: Jehovah threw Sisera and his army into confusion, and, like a terrible champion fighting in front of Israel, smote him without quarter, Sisera sprang from his chariot to save himself, and fled on foot; but Barak pursued the routed foe to Harosheth, and completely destroyed them. "All Sisera's army fell by the edge of the sword; there remained not even to one," i.e., not a single man.