Judges 5:6 Meaning Explained

Judges 5:6

“In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, and travelers kept to the byways.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The verse highlights a profound societal breakdown: the main roads, meant for connection and commerce, were abandoned. This wasn't just about danger from enemies; it points to a pervasive lawlessness, where even people within Israel felt unsafe to travel openly.

What Judges 5:6 means

Deborah's song begins by describing the dire straits Israel was in for twenty years under Canaanite oppression, a time when the public roads were so dangerous due to enemies and lawlessness that travelers were forced to use deserted and obscure paths. This vivid picture of widespread insecurity and fear underscores the depth of their suffering before God intervened and raised up Deborah.

The Land Under Siege

Imagine a world where the main roads are deserted, and every journey is fraught with peril. This wasn't just a bad travel advisory; it was the reality for Israel.

A Land Paralyzed

This verse paints a stark picture of a nation gripped by fear and oppression. The "highways were unoccupied, and travelers kept to the byways" wasn't just about inconvenient travel. It signifies:

Anarchy and Lawlessness: The main roads, usually bustling with commerce and communication, were dangerous. This indicates a breakdown of order, with violence and robbery making public travel impossible.
Enemy Occupation and Terror: The Canaanites, under Jabin's rule, had infiltrated and controlled the land. Their presence meant constant threat, forcing people into hiding or to take circuitous, less visible routes.
Widespread Fear: The simple act of traveling became an act of courage or desperation. People were so fearful they abandoned the most direct paths, opting for secretive, dangerous byways.

This description sets the stage for understanding the magnitude of the deliverance that God brought through Deborah and Barak.

Heroes Without Full Victory

Shamgar and Jael are names we might recognize, but this verse places them in a context that highlights a crucial point: heroism alone doesn't always bring lasting deliverance.

Courage in a Crucial Time

The mention of Shamgar and Jael isn't just historical trivia. It serves a vital purpose in Deborah's song:

Shamgar's Legacy: We know Shamgar slew 600 Philistines with an ox-goad (Judges 3:31). His actions brought a measure of relief, but it wasn't a complete liberation from Canaanite oppression.
Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, famously killed Sisera (Judges 4:17-22). This was a pivotal moment that broke the back of Jabin's tyranny.

Historical context

Written: Likely composed shortly after the events described, around the 12th century BC.
Author: Traditionally understood as the prophetess Deborah, though authorship is debated.
Location: Written from the region of Ephraim in Israel.
Genre: Poetry (a victory song or psalm) featuring vivid imagery and parallelism to express deep emotion and historical narrative.

Historical background

The verse paints a stark picture of a land gripped by fear and lawlessness, where even the roads were deserted due to constant threats from enemies and internal strife.

c. 1200 BC
Shamgar's Leadership
Shamgar, son of Anath, served as a judge in Israel. His exploits, such as slaying 600 Philistines with an ox-goad, offered temporary relief but did not bring lasting peace.
c. 1170 BC
Jael's Actions
Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, famously defeated the Canaanite general Sisera. While a heroic act, it was a singular event within a larger context of oppression.
c. 1170 BC— this verse
Canaanite Oppression Intensifies
During the periods of Shamgar and Jael's influence, Israel suffered greatly under the oppression of Canaanite kings like Jabin, leading to widespread insecurity.
c. 1170-1150 BC
Widespread Lawlessness
The lack of strong central leadership and the presence of occupying forces created an environment of anarchy, where public roads became dangerous and travel was severely restricted.

Key themes

01Societal breakdown and fear
02Oppression and vulnerability
03Insecurity on public roads

Cross-references

Leviticus 26:22

This passage, a prophetic warning, directly echoes the sentiment of Judges 5:6 by stating that if Israel doesn't listen to God, 'I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your young, destroy your livestock, and leave you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.'

Isaiah 33:8

This verse paints a similar picture of desolation and broken peace, lamenting 'The highways are deserted; travelers no longer use the common roads. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses despised. The land mourns and wastes away.'

Lamentations 4:18

This verse captures the same feeling of constant threat and inability to travel freely, stating, 'Our ways were watched for, so that we could not walk in the public squares; our end was near, our end had come; our end had arrived.'

Zechariah 7:14

This verse links the lack of peace and security to disobedience, describing a scattering that results in abandonment: 'but they refused to listen, and turned a deaf ear. They made their hearts like flint lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts by his Spirit had sent by the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. “As I called, and they would not listen, so now I will call, and they will not listen,” says the Lord of hosts.'

Scholarly commentary

Judges 5:6: "In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways."

6-8. The song proceeds in these verses to describe the sad condition of the country, the oppression of the people, 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 to resist it.
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Judges 5:6: "In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways."

Jdg 5:6. In the days of Shamgar, &c. — In this and the two following verses Deborah, to give the Israelites a just sense of their deliverance, and excite them to greater thankfulness, represents the miseries to which the Canaanites had reduced them by twenty years’ oppression; their public roads or high-ways were deserted for fear of robbers or viol…
benson

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What Judges 5:6 means

Historical context

Written: Likely composed shortly after the events described, around the 12th century BC.
Author: Traditionally understood as the prophetess Deborah, though authorship is debated.
Location: Written from the region of Ephraim in Israel.
Genre: Poetry (a victory song or psalm) featuring vivid imagery and parallelism to express deep emotion and historical narrative.

Historical background

The verse paints a stark picture of a land gripped by fear and lawlessness, where even the roads were deserted due to constant threats from enemies and internal strife.

c. 1200 BC

Shamgar's Leadership

Shamgar, son of Anath, served as a judge in Israel. His exploits, such as slaying 600 Philistines with an ox-goad, offered temporary relief but did not bring lasting peace.

c. 1170 BC

Jael's Actions

Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, famously defeated the Canaanite general Sisera. While a heroic act, it was a singular event within a larger context of oppression.

c. 1170 BC— this verse

Canaanite Oppression Intensifies

During the periods of Shamgar and Jael's influence, Israel suffered greatly under the oppression of Canaanite kings like Jabin, leading to widespread insecurity.

c. 1170-1150 BC

Widespread Lawlessness

The lack of strong central leadership and the presence of occupying forces created an environment of anarchy, where public roads became dangerous and travel was severely restricted.