The Song's Wish and Forty Years of Rest

After the battle and Jabin's subduing, the land enjoys forty years of quiet.

After the irony of Sisera's waiting household, the singers widen the conclusion from this defeated enemy to the Lord's enemies and His lovers. The sun comparison closes the poem; the forty-year notice closes the Deborah and Barak account. Judges 6:1 begins another cycle of Israel doing evil, so this rest is real but limited.

The song ends with praise shaped as a contrast of destinies, followed by forty years of quiet in the land.

Understanding the Big Idea

The victory song ends by asking that the Lord's enemies perish while those who love Him rise in brightness like the sun. A narrator then reports forty years of rest for the land. The wish belongs to the song, while the rest is a historical notice that closes this deliverance episode.

To close the victory song with a sharp contrast between the Lord's enemies and those who love Him, then give the historical duration of the resulting rest.

Christ's gospel announces His death and resurrection for sins (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), and Jesus commands love for enemies (Matthew 5:44). This song's battle wish should not be used to curse present people or replace the gospel's call to witness and love.

1. What two groups does the song contrast in its last wish?
2. How does the sun image work as poetry?
3. How long does the narrator say the land rested?
4. What does Judges 6:1 show about the limit of that rest?
5. How should Jesus' instruction in Matthew 5:44 shape present-day speech about enemies?