What Does Judges 5:28 Mean?

(28) **The mother of Sisera.**—With a bold poetic impetuosity the scene is changed, and the prophetess, with a few broad touches, sets before us the last scene of the strange eventful history. The mother of Sisera and her attendant princesses had looked for the triumph and return of the host as confidently as the ladies of Spain expected the return of the Armada, or as the ladies of Aberdeen sat, “with their fans into their hand,” looking out for the sails of Sir Patrick Spens. We have a similar scene in the *Persians *of Æschylus, where the great Atossa wails over the miserable flight of her defeated son Xerxes. In that, however, there is more of pity and less of derision, though, no doubt, the spectacle was meant to be pleasing to the victorious Athenians. This exulting description of the cruel but blighted hopes of the *women *of Sisera’s family is an inimitable touch of genuineness; it shows a woman’s authorship (Ewald). **Looked out at a window.**—Watching for the first glimpse of her son’s return. In Eastern courts the queen-mother is a more important person than the wife. **And cried.**—Rather, *wailed *(Vulgate, *ululavit, *an onomatopœia, like the Hebrew *yabhabh*)*. *It is the wail of impatience passing into anxiety.