Judges 5:29

Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Her wise ladies.—Literally, the wise of her princesses. There is unconcealed scorn in this, showing that the wisest were most utterly mistaken. Their “wisdom” is the seductive flattery of delusive hopes.

Answered her.—The verb is in the singular, implying that one spoke after another. The Vulgate renders it. “One of his wives, wiser than the rest, answered.”

Yea, she returned answer to herself.—The meaning of the clause is very uncertain. It may be, “yea, she repeats their answer to herself,” accepting their flattering surmises; or, on the contrary, “but she repeats her words to herself,” entirely unconsoled; or, again—but this is less likely—“yea, she retracted her own (anxious) words.” The anxious foreboding or the inextinguishable hope would be equally true to nature, according to the temperament of the Canaanite princess.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:24-31 Jael had a special blessing. Those whose lot is cast in the tent, in a low and narrow sphere, if they serve God according to the powers he has given them, shall not lose their reward. The mother of Sisera looked for his return, not in the least fearing his success. Let us take heed of indulging eager desires towards any temporal good, particularly toward that which cherishes vain-glory, for that was what she here doted on. What a picture does she present of an ungodly and sensual heart! How shameful and childish these wishes of an aged mother and her attendants for her son! And thus does God often bring ruin on his enemies when they are most puffed up. Deborah concludes with a prayer to God for the destruction of all his foes, and for the comfort of all his friends. Such shall be the honour, and joy of all who love God in sincerity, they shall shine for ever as the sun in the firmament.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The scene is changed to the palace of Sisera.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. her wise ladies—maids of honor.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Her wise ladies answered her,.... Every one in their turn endeavouring to comfort her and make her easy. The Vulgate Latin version is,"one that was wiser than the rest of his wives;''but they seem rather to be her maids of honour, or ladies of her acquaintance, who were come to pay her a visit, and share in the pleasing sight they expected to have of Sisera:

yea, she returned answer to herself; before they could well give theirs, she soon recollected herself what might be, and must be, the occasion of this delay; and this, according to the Targum, she made in her wisdom, what her great wisdom quickly suggested to her was certainly the case, and with which she comforted and quieted herself.

Geneva Study Bible

Her wise ladies answered her, yea, {t} she returned answer to herself,

(t) That is, she comforted herself.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. The queen-mother is surrounded by her princesses in the ḥarîm of the palace. The wisest of them will soon discover their folly! The mother ‘tries to silence her presentiment by the same kind of answer which her sage companions give her’ (Moore).

Judges 5:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The princesses in attendance upon Sisera's mother sought to console her with the remark, that Sisera would have to gather together rich booty, and that his return was delayed in consequence. In the expression "the wisest of her princesses" (see Ges. 119, 2), the irony is very obvious, as the reality put all their wise conjectures to shame. תּעננּה, third pers. plur. fem. for תּענינה. The second hemistich of Judges 5:29 contains a clause inserted as a parenthesis. אף־היא is adversative: "but she;" אף is only an emphatic copula; the antithesis lies in the emphatic change of subject indicated by היא. אמריה השׁיב, lit. to bring back her words, i.e., to repeat. להּ is used in a reflective sense, "to herself." The meaning is: But Sisera's mother did not allow herself to be quieted by the words of her wise princesses; on the contrary, she kept repeating the anxious question, Why does Sisera delay his coming? In Judges 5:30 there follows the answer of the wise princesses. They imagine that Sisera has been detained by the large amount of booty which has to be divided. הלא, nonne, is he not, in the sense of lively certainty. They will certainly discover rich booty, and divide it. רחם, uterus, for puella. "A girl (or indeed probably) two girls to the head of the man," i.e., for each man. צבעים, coloured things, cloths or clothes. רקמה, worked stuff, or garments worked in divers colours (see the remarks on Exodus 26:36), is attached without the vav cop. to צבעים, and is also dependent upon שׁלל. The closing words, שׁלל לצוּארי, "for the necks," or (as the plural is also frequently used to signify a single neck, e.g., Genesis 27:16; Genesis 45:14) "for the neck of the booty," do not give any appropriate sense, as שׁלל neither signifies animals taken as booty nor the taker of booty. The idea, however, that שׁלל is used for שׁלל אישׁ, like הלך in 2 Samuel 12:4 for הלך אישׁ, viator, and חתף in Proverbs 23:28 for חתף אישׁ, seems inadmissible, since שׁלל ecni has just before been used three times in its literal sense. There is just the same objection to the application of שׁלל to animals taken as booty, not to mention the fact that they would hardly have thought of having valuable clothes upon the necks of animals taken as booty. Consequently the only explanation that remains, is either to alter לצוּארי into לצוּארו or לצוּאריו, or else to change שׁלל into שׁגל, the royal spouse. In the former case, שׁלל would have to be taken as in apposition to רקמתים צבע: a variegated cloth, two worked in divers colours for his (Sisera's) neck as booty, as the lxx have rendered it (τῷ τραχήλῳ αὐτοῦ σκῦλα). Ewald and Bertheau decide in favour of the second alteration, and defend it on the ground that שׁלל might easily find its way into the text as a copyist's error for שׁגל, on account of שׁלל having been already written three times before, and that we cannot dispense with some such word as שׁגל here, since the repetition of שׁלל three times, and the threefold use of ל, evidently show that there were three different kinds of people among whom the booty was to be distributed; and also that it was only a fitting thing that Sisera should set apart one portion of the booty to adorn the neck of his wife, and that the wisest of the noble ladies, when mentioning the booty, should not forget themselves.