What Does Judges 5:31 Mean?

(31) **So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord.**—The abrupt burst in which the song rushes, as it were, to its conclusion, is very grand. The total frustration of the hopes of the princesses is all the more forcibly implied by the scorn with which it is left unexpressed. The one word “so” sums up the story in all its striking phases; and this passionate exclamation accounts, in part, for the intensity of feeling which runs through the whole poem, by showing that Deborah regards the battle as part of one great religious crusade. The completeness of the overthrow caused it to be long remembered as an example of Israel’s triumph over God’s enemies (Psalm 83:9-10; Psalm 83:12-15). When the Christian warriors of the first crusade were riding deep in the blood of the murdered Saracens, after the capture of Jerusalem, they were fully convinced that they were “doing God service;” and so filled were they with religious emotion, that at vesper-time they all suddenly fell upon their knees with streaming tears. The general dissemination of a feeling of pity—pity even for our worst enemies—is a very modern feeling, and still far from universal. **But let them that love him.**—This is probably the right reading, though it was early altered into “they that love thee.” **As the sun when he goeth forth in his might.**—For the metaphor, comp. Psalm 19:4-5; Psalm 68:1-3; Daniel 12:3; Matthew 13:43. **And the land had rest.**—This is not a part of the song, but concludes the whole story (Judges 3:11; Judges 3:30; Judges 8:28). This is the last we hear of any attempt of the Canaanites to re-conquer the land which they had lost, although we see a small and spasmodic outbreak of this race in the story of Abimelech (Judges 9.). Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission. Bible Hub