LITERARY AND TOPOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON THE

BATTLE OF KISHON (JUDGES IV-V)

by

NADAV NA'AMAN

Tel-Aviv

1. Sarid in Judges v 13

)äz yerad färîd le'addirim Cäm

yhwh yerad-li baggibb6rim

Verse 13a of the Song of Deborah is an old crux interpretum. The

meaning of 1ryd and its relation to Pdyrym is not clear and the

derivation of yrd is debatable. LXXB translates "Then those who

remained came down with the mighty men", a rendering that was

adopted, with slight variants, by some scholars. Others explained

yrd as an imperfect D of rdh, "to have dominion", "to rule" .2 2

However, the similarity of v. 13a to v. l lb ("Then the people of

YHWH came down to the gates") and the sequence within the

passage describing the advance into battle of the Israelite troops (vv.

11 b-13) strongly support its interpretation as an imperfect G of yrd

("went down").3 fryd was often explained as a kind of designation for Israel, although the meaning of "remnant", a term usually

applied to a survivor (or survivors) after a defeat, hardly suits the

image of the Israelite troops as they are portrayed in the song. It

is for this reason that scholars sometimes emended the text, to read

either "Israel",4 "gates" or "officers" These

1 C. F. Burney, The Book of Judges with Introduction and Notes (London, 1918), pp. 130-1, with earlier literature; A. Weiser, "Das Deboralied", ZAW 71 (1959), p. 83; A. Globe, "The Muster of the Tribes in Judges 5, 11e-18", ZAW 87 (1975), p. 170, n. 2; J. A. Soggin, Judges, a Commentary (London and Philadelphia, 1981), pp. 82, 88.

M. D. Coogan, "A Structural and Literary Analysis of the Song of Deborah" CBQ 40 (1978), p. 148, with earlier literature in n. 35.

3Burney (n. 1); Weisner (n. 1); Globe (n. 1). 4 G. F. Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (Edinburgh, 1895), pp. 150-2; W. Richter, Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Richterbuch (Bonn, 1966), pp. 77, 401; B. Halpern, "The Resourceful Israelite Historian: The Song of Deborah and Israelite Historiography", HTR 76 (1983), p. 385, n. 26; see BHS, ad loc.

5 Burney (n. 1), pp. 130-1. 6 Y. Kaufmann, The Book of Judges (Jerusalem, 1962), pp. 137-8 (Hebrew).

424

emendations have no textual support and they are all lectio facilior. Another problem is the meaning of Pdyrym. The noun -dyr

("mighty one", "noble") was explained by modern commentators

as referring to the Israelites. The preposition I was translated in

various manners, i.e., "as", "like", "with", "the". It goes with-

out saying that such meanings are uncommon for I in Biblical Hebrew.

An important clue for the understanding of v. 13 is the word 'z

("then"). It opens the verse and appears four more times in the

song (vv. 8, 11, 19, 22):'

(a) "New gods were chosen, then he fought at the gates" (a.

8a).

(b) "Then down to the gates marched the people of YHWH" (v.

I 16).

(c) "Then down marched ..." (v. 13a; see below).

(d) "The kings come, they fought; then fought the kings of

Canaan" (v. 19). (e) "Then the hooves of the horses hammered; the galloping, the

galloping of his steeds" (v. 22).

It seems that the word 'z was deliberately selected to open the five

major stages of the struggle between Israel and the Canaanites:

(a) It is first mentioned to introduce the Canaanite military

pressure on the Israelite city gates (v. 8); (b) it introcudes the

emergence from the gates to fight the oppressors (v. l lb); (d) it

opens the actual fighting with the Canaanite kings (v. 19); (e) it

introduces the defeat of the Canaanites (v. 22). Taking this consis-

tent structure into account, one would hardly expect that stage (c) will refer back to stage (b); it rather describes a new stage in the

Israelite advance to battle, in between the emergence from the gates and the actual fighting.

With this background in mind I suggest translating v. 13 "Then

down to Sarid he marched towards the mighty ones; the people of YHWH marched down for him with warriors". V. 13b is an

7 W. F. Albright, "The Song of Deborah in the Light of Archaeology", BASOR 62 (1936), pp. 29-30; C. Rabin, "Judges V, 2 and the 'Ideology' of Deborah's War", JJS 6 (1955), p. 125; D. R. Hillers, "A Note on Judges 5, 8a", CBQ 27 (1965), p. 125; Y. Ikeda, "The Song of Deborah and the Tribes of Israel", in C. Rabin et al. (ed.), Studies in the Bible and the Hebrew Language Offered to Meir Wallens- tein (Jerusalem, 1979), p. 66 (Hebrew).

425

elaboration of "he marched" identifying the marching force with "the people of YHWH" who came down to fight "for him", i.e., the Lord of Israel. Sarid is a well-known Israelite town on the southern border of Zebulun (Josh. xix 10, 12).8 For the combina- tion yrd 1ryd (without a preposition of locative termination) see the border descriptions in Josh. xv 10-11, xvi 2, 7, xix 13. The noun

'dyrym ("mighty ones") refers to the Canaanites, the powerful enemies of Israel. The spl )dyrym, in which yoghurt was served to Sisera (v. 25), is a special kind of a bowl ("lordly bowl") that befits

the noble guest. The town of Sarid is located less than 10 km. south of "Taanach,

by the waters of Megiddo", the military assembling ground of the Canaanite forces.9 Sarid is Megiddo's closest northern Israelite

town, the assembling of the Canaanite troops near the latter is the

logical site for attacking warriors that have assembled near the former place. Whereas Mount Tabor, where the Israelite troops assembled according to Judg. iv 6, 10-14, is located east of Wadi Kishon and its offshoots, the muddy wadi is situated halfway between Megiddo and Sarid, blocking the way for both attack and retreat for the Canaanites. The deployment of the Israelite army at

Sarid, on the southern border of Zebulun, thus fits well the place of Wadi Kishon in the song (v. 21). Meroz (v. 23) was probably a town in the vicinity of Sarid that refused to join the battle and was cursed for its disloyalty.1° The town may have been destroyed at

8 In Josh. xix 10 and 12 the MT reads �ryd. In the light of several versions (LXXL, Pesh., Latin) the reading Šdwd was preferred by modern scholars. See G. A. Cooke, The Book of Joshua (Cambridge, 1918), p. 175; M. Noth, Das Buch Josua (2nd edn, Tübingen, 1953), pp. 110, 115; Z. Kallai, Historical Geography of the Bible (Jerusalem, 1986), p. 179, n. 165. However, in the light of the Song of Deborah (Judg. v 13), it is better to regard �ryd as original, the reading Šdwd is a scribal error due to the common interchange of rld in the Hebrew letters.

9 A. F. Rainey, "The Military Camp Ground at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo", Eretz Israel 15 (Jerusalem, 1981), pp. 61*-66*. For the earlier literature, see the extensive discussion of E. Täubler (ed. H. J. Zobel), Biblische Studien: Die Epoche der Richter (Tübingen, 1958), pp. 153-64.

10 A. Alt suggested that Meroz was a Canaanite city that joined the tribe of Manasseh and was governed by aristocracy, i.e., the lords of the city. See id., "Meroz", ZAW 58 (1941), pp. 244-7 (= Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte des Volkes Israel [henceforth KS] I [München 1953], pp. 274-7). Alt was followed by Täubler, pp. 193-7; N. K. Gottwald, The Tribes of Yahweh (Maryknoll, New York, 1979; London, 1980), pp. 512-3, 529, 573, 581. However, both the assumption that Meroz must have been a former Canaanite city and that "its inhabitants" (yŠbyh) refers to the lords of the city, lacks any concrete foundation.

426

that time as a punishment for disloyalty, as Migdal Penuel was

desroyed by Gideon in the time of the war against the Midianites

(Judg. viii 17), thus disappearing from the scene; and its location

was not remembered by later generations.l1 A. Caquot recently suggested that vv. 14-17 has been inter-

polated into the Song of Deborah and that originally v. 18 came

after v. 13.12 My interpretation of v. 13 fits this attractive suggestion well: the march of the Israelite troops to the place of battle near the

southern border of Zebulun is thus followed by praise of the two

tribes that participated in the fighting against the Canaanites.

In the light of this interpretation I suggest the following transla-

tion for the original sequence of the song in vv. I I b- 13, 18:

l lb Then down to the gates marched the people of YHWH. 12 Awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, utter a song.

Arise Barak, and capture your captives, son of Abinoam. 13 Then down to Sarid he marched towards the mighty ones.

The people of YHWH marched down for him with warriors. 18 Zebulun is a people that scorned his life to the death.

Naphtali too, on the heights of the field.

2. The "Galilean Oriented" Redaction of the Story of Judges iv

It is generally assumed by scholars that biblical stories reflect a

good topographical knowledge of their authors regardless of

whether the stories are historically accurate or not. This is a

reasonable assumption since even an author who is describing a

legendary episode will try to attach to it certain environmental

features in order to add authenticity to his composition. By analysis of these stories, scholars were able to demonstrate how accurate

were the descriptions within their geographical and topographical

setting. Biblical stories thus contributed much to the field of

historical geography of the land of Israel, with the identification of

many sites becoming possible because of the accuracy of these

descriptions.

11 Weiser (n. 1), pp. 91-2, n. 91; see A. D. H. Mayes, Israel in the Period of the Judges (London, 1974), p. 86.

12 "Les tribus d'Israël dans le cantique de Débora (Juges 5, 13-17)", Semitica 36 (1986), pp. 47-70 (esp. pp. 54-5); cf. M. Noth, Das System der zwölf Stämme Israels (Stuttgart, 1930), pp. 5, 36; id., Geschichte Israels (2nd edn, Göttingen, 1954), p. 139, n. 4 = History of Israel (2nd edn, London, 1960), p. 150, n. 3.

427

It must be emphasized, however, that the accuracy of the

environmental features should not be taken for granted. After all, stories may have been written by authors who lived in exile, far

away from their homeland. Editorial activity may also contribute

to distortion of the original picture. Reasonable as the assumption

may look, topographical reliability and coherence of the descrip- tions must first be established before we are entitled to estimate the

author's familiarity with the environment that surrounded the

story. The description of the battle near Wadi Kishon in Judg. iv is a

good example for such discussion. It is the only geographically detailed story that we have from the north of Israel. For a long time

the story resisted reasonable geographical understanding and many solutions have been offered to overcome the difficulties.13 The

many inner contradictions within the plot may be illustrated by the

following five points:

(A) The site of Harosheth-ha-goiim, the seat of Sisera (v. 2) and the

assembling place of the Canaanite troops (vv. 13, 16), is disputed. It has recently been suggested that it was located on the western

Jezreel plain, in the area between Taanach and Megiddo, where,

according to the song, the kings of Canaan assembled for battle

(Judg. v 1 9). The proposal was intended to settle the problem of

the relation of the prose to the song, but it involves other dif-

ficulties. According to the prose, the Canaanite troops were sum-

13 In addition to the commentaries, see J. Garstang, The Foundations of Bible History: Joshua Judges (London, 1931), pp. 294-303; Albright (n. 7), pp. 26-9; A. Alt, "Die Herkunft des Namens Galiläa", PJb 33 (1937), pp. 52-65 ( = KS II, pp. 363-74); id., "Megiddo im Ubergang vom kanaanäischen zum israelitischen Zeitalter", ZAW 60 (1944), pp. 67-85 (=KS I, pp. 256-73); B. Mazar, "Beth She�arim, Gaba and Harosheth of the Peoples", HUCA 24 (1952-53), pp. 80-4; Täubler (n. 9), pp. 142-69; J. Simons, The Geographical and Topographical Texts of the Old Testament (Leiden, 1959), pp. 288-90; Richter (n. 4), pp. 32-65; Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible. A Historical Geography (London , 1966; Philadelphia, 1967), pp. 200-5; R. de Vaux, Histoire ancienne d'Israël 2: La période des Juges (Paris, 1973), pp. 100-5 = The Early History of Israel (London, 1978), pp. 790-6, with earlier literature; Rainey (n. 9); id., "Toponymic Problems (cont.): Harosheth- Hagoiim", Tel Aviv 10 (1983), pp. 46-8; Kallai (n. 8), pp. 228-35.

14 Rainey (n. 13) connected Harosheth with the root hrt ("to cultivate") and interpreted Harosheth-ha-goiim as "the plantation of the Gentiles". Like the majority of scholars, Rainey assumed that the prose and the song refer to the same area, i.e., the western Jezreel plain; however, whereas other scholars regarded Harosheth as the name of a town, located in the extreme west of the Jezreel plain (see n, 25 below), he identified it with a large territory, namely, the Megiddo- Taanach area.

428

moned to Harosheth-ha-goiim (v. 13), crossed the Kishon river and

fought the Israelites. After their defeat they fled back to their

gathering place (v. 16). How, then, should we account for the fact

that Sisera fled in an entirely different direction, namely, to the oak

of Zaanannim (v. 17), a place located on Naphtali's southern

border (Josh. xix 33)? And how did it happen that Barak reached

this northern place at the end of his pursuit, after he had followed

the fleeing Canaanite troops westwards, to Harosheth-ha-goiim (vv. 16, 22)?

Another difficulty in this hypothesis is in v. 2, where Sisera is des-

cribed as dwelling in Harosheth-ha-goiim. In spite of 1 Kgs xi 16 and the Mesha Stela (line 8), 15 the wording yze?sb b strongly conveys the impression of referring to a definite place (e.g., v. 5), and not to a region (the western Jezreel plain according to this

interpretation). 16

(B) From the description of Sisera's escape it may be inferred that he fled northwards and that the oak of Zaanannim (Josh. xix 33) was located on his route. The city of Hazor, described as the seat

of Jabin "king of Canaan" (vv. 2, 17; see 1 Sam. xii 9), is situated in the upper Jordan Valley, south of Lake Huleh. For these reasons

some scholars have identified Harosheth-ha-goiim with the hill

country of Galilee, east of Hazor, the seat of the northern Israelite

tribes. I The description of Sisera's dwelling in a vast area (v. 2) is not explained by this theory. Moreover, such a northern location for the assembling place of the Canaanites involves great dif-

ficulties. How can the seat of the northern Israelite tribes be iden-

tical with the gathering place of the Canaanite troops? Also, did the

Canaanite army march from the north to Wadi Kishon in order to

fight here their next-door neighbours, the Israelite troops? And did Sisera advance southwards from the area of Hazor to the Kishon

river to fight Barak who likewise went southwards from Kedesh of

Naphtali to Mount Tabor? Finally, what is the relation of the prose to the Song of Deborah, according to which the Canaanites assembled in the Megiddo-Taanach area?

(C) The oak of Zaanannim is situated near Kedesh according to the

story (v. 11). However, Kedesh of Naphtali is located in the

15 Aharoni (n. 13), p. 203. 16 See Simons (n. 13), pp. 288-9. 17 Mazar (n. 13), pp. 80-4; Aharoni (n. 13), pp. 201-3.

429

northern part of the tribal inheritance, whereas the oak of Zaanan-

nim was a toponym on Naphtali's southern border, neart Adami-

nekeb and Jabneel (Josh. xix 33).18 The attempts of scholars to

escape this difficulty by locating Kedesh either near Taanach,19 at

Kh. el-Kidish north-east of the Jabneel Valley,2° or in the vicinity of Mount Tabor, 2 are not convincing. Kedesh of Naphtali is iden-

tical with Kedesh of Galilee mentioned several times in the Bible

uosh. xii 22, xix 37, xx 7, xxi 32; 2 Kgs xv 29; 1 Chr. vi 76); all

other identifications may be regarded as unnecessary attempts to

avoid the difficulties inherent within the story in its final form.

(D) According to v. 10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to

Kedesh, his city. This is odd: Zebulun is situated in the area north

of Wadi Kishon; his wandering northwards to Kedesh in order to

return southwards to Mount Tabor, on the border of his

inheritance, does not make geographical or military sense.

(E) Deborah's seat in the area of Bethel (v. 5) also involves

geographical problems. According to the prose, only Zebulun and

Naphtali participated in the battle against Sisera. Thus, in order to

bridge the territorial gap between Deborah's and Brak's seats and

to ensure her integration within the plot, the author (or redactor) made her walk all the way from the area of Bethel to Kedesh of

Galilee, and then join Barak and his troops on their way southwards to Mount Tabor. The inhabitants of Mount Ephraim do not play any role in the prose account; Deborah's wandering north and south is another odd trait in the story of Judg. iv.

The conclusion is inevitable: either the author of the story or a

late redactor was not acquainted with the geography of northern

Israel and mixed up the narrative elements in a way that excludes

any geographical sense from the description.

18 Kallai (n. 8), pp. 228-31; N. Na¸aman, Borders and Districts in Biblical

Historiography (Jerusalem, 1986), pp. 138-41. 19 Moore (n, 4), p. 117; K. Budde, Das Buch der Richter (Freiburg, 1897), p. 36;

Garstang (n. 13), p. 301; F. M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine II (Paris, 1938), p. 415; B. Mazar, "Elon-bezaanannim" Encyclopaedia Biblica I (Jerusalem, 1950), p. 328 (Hebrew); E. Stern and I. Beit Arieh, "Excavations at Tel Kedesh (Tell Abu

Qudeis)", Tel Aviv 6 (1976), p. 22; cf. Burney (n. 1), pp. 81-2; Simons (n. 13), p. 289.

20 I. Press, "Elon-bezaanannim", Encyclopaedia Biblica I (Jerusalem, 1950), pp. 327-8 (Hebrew); Y. Aharoni, The Settlement of the Israelite Tribes in Upper Galilee

(Jerusalem, 1957), pp. 79, 99-101 (Hebrew); id. (n. 13), p. 204; M. Kochavi, "Khirbet Kedesh- Kadesh Naftali", BIES 27 (1963), pp. 165-72 (Hebrew).

21 Kallai (n. 13), pp. 232-5.

430

It seems to me that the confusion is the result of the work of a

late Judean redactor who did not understand certain details in the old story, and although he had no real knowledge of the topography in the north, tried to fill in various details that were left unspecified in the plot. In what follows I shall try to isolate his interpolations and then delineate the original story and its relation to the song.

My point of departure is Harosheth-ha-goiim, the gathering place of the Canaanites according to the old story (vv. 13, 16). Its location (the western Jezreel plain) and its original meaning ("the plantation of the gentiles") apparently were not clear to the redac- tor who identified it with Gelil-ha-goiim (literally "the district of the gentiles"; Isa. viii 23), which in his time was a name for the district of Galilee. He therefore assumed that the "king of

Canaan" ruled a vast territory whose scope was not dissimilar to the league of Canaanite kings that fought Joshua according to Josh. xi 1-5. The origin of Jabin, "king of Canaan", and of his com- mander Sisera was left unnoticed in the old story of Judg. iv. The redactor identified Jabin with the homonymous king of Hazor

(Josh. xi), thus locating his seat (mlk b) in the area of eastern Galilee

(v. 2a). He further located Sisera's seat at Harosheth-ha-goiim, where according to the old story he assembled the Canaanite troops (vv. 13, 16). The above mentioned exceptional description of Sisera's dwelling b) in a region (v. 2b) was thus created.22

According to the old story, the defeated Canaanites were pursued to Harosheth-ha-goiim, where they had previously assembled (vv. 13, 16). Since the redactor regarded it as a name for a vast northern

territory, he likewise placed Sisera's route of escape and Jael's tent in the north. Jael's seat was identified with the oak of Zaanannim of which the redactor has learned from the border description of

Naphtali (Josh. xix 33). He further described it as situated next to Kedesh of Naphtali (v. 11), which was the best known town within the inheritance of the tribe in later times and which he identified as the seat of Barak (v. 6). In reality, the oak of Zaanannim was located far south of Kedesh. The redactor's ignorance of the

topography of northern Israel likewise led to the interpolation of Kedesh as the assembling place of the Israelites before they mar- ched to Mount Tabor (v. 10). It is clear that he assumed that

22 For the selection of the verbal form ywŠb as the result of the preceding verbal form mlk, see Simons (n. 13), pp. 288-9.

431

Kedesh was situated somewhere north of Mount Tabor, thus

describing it as the gathering place of the northern tribes and as a

town near the oak of Zaanannim, on the way northwards to

Galilee.

In line with his work of filling in gaps within the original plot, the redactor inserted v. 17b which describes a treaty between the

Kenites and the king of Hazor, thereby explaining Sisera's escape to the tent of Jael and his trust in her hospitality.23

Deborah's seat was likewise missing in the original story of Judg. iv. As in the case of Jabin, the redactor identified her with a

homonymous name, that of Deborah who was buried near Bethel

(Gen. xxxv 8), and located her place in southern Mount Ephraim

(vv. 4b-5). The mention of Elon Tabor (1 Sam. x 3) may have sup-

ported this identification (see Richter [n. 4], pp. 37-42). The redac-

tor thus gained an expansion of the circle of participants in the bat-

tle. However, by assigning Deborah the role of a Judge of Israel he

violated one of the principal ideas of the "framework" of the book,

namely, that Israel had been subjugated to foreign power only after

the death of the Judge. Furthermore, Deborah's seat in Mount

Ephraim obliged him to describe a union of the two Israelite

leaders, Deborah and Barak. Therefore he inserted the move of

Deborah from her southern place northwards from to Kedesh of

Naphtali, where the Israelite troops would have assembled (v. 9b). The following words and sentences must have been interpolated

into the original story of Judg. iv: vv. 4b-5, 9b, 11, 17b; also mlk

bhsze?r (v. 2a); hgivym (v. 2b); mqds nptly (v. 6a); qdsh

(v. 9b). The redactor was motivated by what might be called "the

fright of anonymity" , ,2 and in order to fill in the ` `missing" details

he has located the five participants of the plot (Jabin, Sisera,

Deborah, Barak and Jael) and has supplied a motive for Sisera's

escape to Jael's s tent. Unfortunately, the redactor was not

acquainted with the geographical reality of northern Israel, and by

identifying Hazor and the district of Galilee as the seats of Jabin, Sisera and the Canaanites, the geographical background of the

story became extremely odd. Moreover, the outlines of the battle

as they were portrayed in the song can no longer be reconciled with

23 For the secondary character of υυ. 11 and 17b, see Richter (n. 4), pp. 43, 57-8.

24 For the "fright of anonymity", see N. Na¸aman, "Canaanites and Periz- zites", BN 45 (1988), pp. 43-4, with earlier literature in n. 3.

43

the description of the prose. It is clear that the redactor's

topographical ignorance and his borrowing of the "missing" details from the corpus of biblical literature confused the integrity of the original story of the battle near Wadi Kishon. Only by eliminating these insertions can we understand the original prose

description of the event.

The original plot of Judg. iv may be delineated as follows: Jabin, "king of Canaan", and his commander Sisera had subjugated the Israelite tribes. Deborah, the north Israelite prophetess, urged Barak to start a rebellion. He summoned the troops of Zebulun and

Naphtali and they marched to Mount Tabor to fight the Canaanites. The Canaanites' commander, Sisera, immediately called his army with its mighty iron chariots (compare Josh. xvii 16, 18; Judg. i 19) to Harosheth-ha-goiim, i.e., the western Jezreel plain, on the other side of the Kishon river. The fighting broke out near Wadi Kishon, and after his victory Barak chased the Canaanites up to their towns. Sisera fled alone on foot,26 and arrived at Jael's tent, which must have been located in the western

Jezreel plain. There he was betrayed and killed, just before the

arrival of the Israelite commander at the place. The surrender of

25 Harosheth-ha-goiim was located by many scholars in the vicinity of el- Harithiyeh. See W. F. Albright, "Some Additional Notes on the Song of Deborah", JPOS 2 (1922), pp. 284-5; id., "Contribution to the Historical Geography of Palestine", AASOR 2-3 (1923), pp. 21-2; Alt. "Die Herkunft" (n. 13), p. 372, with earlier literature in n. 3; Garstang (n. 13), pp. 380-1; Abel (n. 19), pp. 343-4; cf. de Vaux (n. 13), p. 102 (E. tr., p. 792). Noteworthy also is the name Silat el-Harithiyeh (map. reference 172212), a village located 2 km. south of Taanach. It seems therefore that Harosheth(-ha-goiim) was the name of the western Jezreel plain and that the old name has survived on the margins of the plain. There are several parallel cases of the preservation of an old name of a region in its margins. Thus, the name of the land of Gina, which was the pre- Israelite name for the western Jezreel plain, has survived in the name of the Second Temple Village Ginae. The village of Zer�în (map reference 181218) pre- served the name of the town of Jezreel and of the nearby Valley of the same name. The name of the land of Kabul (1 Kgs ix 13) has survived in the village of K�bûl (map reference 170252). The name of the vast area of Gilead has survived in Khirbet Jel�ad. For a further discussion, see N. Na¸aman, "Pharaonic Lands in the Jezreel Valley in the Late Bronze Age", in M. Heltzer and E. Lipi�ski (ed.), Society and Economy in the Eastern Mediterranean (c. 1500-1000 B.C.) (Leuven, 1988), pp. 184-5.

26 For the literary motif of the commander of an army escaping alone from the battlefield, see H. Tadmor, "Sennacherib's Campaign to Judah: Historical and Historiographical Considerations", Zion 50 (1985), pp. 70-5, with earlier literature (Hebrew).

433

Jabin (v. 23), who subjugated the Israelites at the beginning of the

story, closes the circle and brings the plot to its natural end. B. Halpern has recently suggested that the story of Judg. iv was

derived from the Song of Deborah, or from questions and assump- tions that arise from the song.2' In the discussion above it was

pointed out that the story in its final form cannot be reconciled with

the song, and that the description of the kings of Canaan who

assembled "at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo" to fight the

Israelites accross Wadi Kishon is in marked contrasts to the

geographical background of the prose. The mention of the ten

tribes in the song (Judg. v. 14-17) is another serious obstacle for the

comparison of the two sources.

By eliminating both the interpolated ten tribes from the song (see n. 12 above) and the "Galilean oriented" redaction from the prose, the way is open for a fresh equation of the two sources. It seems to me that Halpern's thesis is essentially correct and that the song was

the source from which the author of the prose drew the main details

for his story. The reader is referred to Halpern's works for a metic-

ulous description of the narrator's reconstruction of history. It must be emphasized, however, that this author was not as imaginative and speculative as Halpern assumed in his reconstruction of the

process of borrowing.

By composing the "framework" (vv. 1, 2*, 3, 23) and by

eliminating the episodes of Meroz and the mother of Sisera, the

narrator succeeded in crystallizing the plot. Two combating war-

riors and two women of contrasting characters are represented at

the centre of the stage. The "king of Canaan" was added to the

plot as the subjugating enemy, in accord with the "framework" of

the stories of the Judges. It is clear that the author has in mind the

kingdoms of his time, in which the king was the central figure and

the chief commander sometimes led the army to battle (compare, for example, 2 Sam. x 6-18; Isa. xx 1). In place of the kings of

27 Halpern (n. 4), pp. 379-401; id., "Doctrine by Misadventure: Between the Israelite Source and the Biblical Historian", in R. E. Friedman (ed.), The Poet and the Historian (Chico, 1983), pp. 41-73; id., The First Historians. The Hebrew Bible and History (San Francisco, 1988), pp. 76-103.

28 For the narrative structure and the contents of Judg, iv, see recently D. F. Murray, "Narrative structure and technique in the Deborah-Barak story (Judges iv 4-22)", SVT 30 (1979), pp. 155-87; Y. Amit, "Judges 4: Its Contents and Form", JSOT 39 (1987), pp. 89-111; H. D. Neef, "Der Sieg Deboras und Baraks über Sisera", ZAW 101 (1989), pp. 28-49.

434

Canaan and their leader (Sisera) he therefore described a king and

his commander of staff. The author further replaced certain

geographical names by others, which presumably were better

known to his readers. Thus, Mount Tabor took the place of Sarid

and Harosheth-ha-goiim replaced the poetic "Taanach by the

Waters of Megiddo". Other details are not dissimilar in the two

sources. It is only the late redaction of both the prose and the song that has blurred the similarity and changed the course of events in

the two descriptions of the battle.

3. A Reference to the Battle of Kishon in Isaiah viii 23b

The textual analysis and historical background of Isa. viii 23b are

disputed among scholars, and various attempts have been made

over the years to explain its meaning and determine its historical

background. V. 23b (or v. 23) was generally regarded as an intro-

duction to the prophecy of Isa. ix 1-6, the latter being attributed

either to Isaiah himself, or to a pre-exilic or post-exilic author.29

The linguistic background of v. 23b was examined in great detail

by J. A. Emerton.3° One would concur with the suggestion that

both hql and hkbd are perfects, though whether both refer to either

past or future (prophetic future) events is disputed. One may fur-

ther ask whether hr'swn and h'hrwn are indeed the subjects of the

verbs. After all, the prophecy may well refer to two different times

(compare Jer. 1 17), the first of which would build the hopes for the second (h'hrwn) (Barth [n. 29], pp. 141-4).

A. Alt was the first scholar to suggest that Tiglath-pileser III's

conquests and annexations of 734-32 are the historical background to the mention of "the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations" .3 These three entities represent the three

provinces of Dor, Gilead and Megiddo established by the Assyrians after the conquest of the three districts. However, the relation of

29 H. Barth, Die Jesaia-Worte in der Josiazeit (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1977), pp. 141- 77, with earlier literature; M. E. W. Thompson, "Isaiah's Ideal King", JSOT 24 (1982), pp. 79-88, with earlier literature; R. Kilian, jesaia 1-39 (Darmstadt, 1983), pp. 5-10, with earlier literature.

30"Some Linguistic and Historical Problems in Isaiah viii. 23", JSS 14 (1969), pp. 151-75.

31 "Jesaia 8, 23-9, 6. Befreiungsnacht und kronungstag", Festschrift Alfred Ber- tholet zum 80. Geburtstag gewidmet (Tübingen, 1950), pp. 29-49 (= KS II, pp. 206-25).

435

this triad to the duo of Zebulun and Naphtali involve difficulties. The territories ("lands") of the two tribes cover only part of the

province of Megiddo and it is not clear how this duo may refer to the same territory as that of the triad of Dor, Gilead and Megiddo.

A reasonable solution to the problem is to assign the duo and the triad to two different periods, and h'hrzvn. This was sug- gested by W. Harrelson in his discussion of the prophecy:32

Thus, despite the probable connection of the oracle with the conquest of the territory of the tribes by Tiglath-pileser III, the prophet may also be alluding to the "former" days of darkness and oppression under the king of Hazor (Jg. 4:1-3) and to these tribes' turn of for- tune as a result of the great victory won by Barak of Naphtali. These motifs which appear in the old blessings and hymns of early Israel

might be considered stock materials employed by Isaiah in the shap- ing of his oracle. Their occurrence would not be significant, perhaps, were it not for the fact that one particular motif in the oracle is drawn

unquestionably from the period of the Judges: the "day of Midian"

(9:3). Harrelson further explained terms and images that appear in the

prophecy of Isa. ix 1-6 against the background of "early poems, narratives and traditions of the period prior to the monarchy" (pp. 152-3). In particular he tried to demonstrate the influence of the Gideon tradition on one or other form of vv. 3 and 5 of the pro- phecy. His suggestions remained mainly unnoticed in subsequent discussions of the prophecy.33 It seems to me, however, that Har-

relson was on the right track in suggesting that there is a connection between the mention of Zebulun and Naphtali in Isa. viii 23b and the battle against Sisera of Judg. iv-v. The event in which the Lord

(who is the subject of the two verbs in v. 23b) had delivered the

"lands" of Zebulun and Napthali is presented by the prophet as a

basis for future hopes-the "making glorious" of the districts of

Dor, Gilead and Megiddo. The mention of the "day of Midian"

(Isa. ix 3) is likewise presented as an example for the power of the

Lord, who will break the Assyrian yoke. The mention of gelil haggôyïm in v. 23b may well represent

32 "Nonroyal Motifs in the Royal Eschatology", in B. W. Anderson and W. Harrelson (ed.), Israel's Prophetic Heritage, Essays in Honor of James Muilenburg (Lon- don, 1962), p. 152.

33 Harrelson's article is not mentioned in the works cites in nn. 29-30: but see R. A. Carlson, "The anti-Assyrian character of the oracle in Is. ix 1-6", VT 24 (1974), p. 131.

436

another hint of the episode of the battle of Kishon. It was suggested above that haroset haggôyzm was misinterpreted as another name for

gelil haggdyfm. Provided that the prophecy reflects the same

misunderstanding of the archaic designation, the latter appellation

may well be a veiled allusion to the battle against the Canaanites

in the period of the Judges. The battles against Sisera and against Midian are combined

together for a second time in Ps. lxxxiii 9-10: "Do to them as thou

didst to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, who

were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground

('dmh)" .34 It is hardly accidental that Ashur is the last mentioned

in the list of Israel's traditional enemies (vv. 6-8). Just as in Isa. viii

23b-ix 6, so in Ps. lxxxiii the episodes of the period of the Judges build the hopes for future breaking of the Assyrian yoke.35

One may further ask why these particular past events were

selected as examples for the breaking of the Assyrian yoke. After

all, there are other episodes in which the Lord delivered his people from foreign subjection. The answer may be found in the reality in

which the prophecy of Isa. viii 23b-ix 6 was spoken. There were

only few events in the early history of Israel that have been

memorized over the years in connection with those north-Israelite

territories that were conquered by the Assyrians in the years 734-2 B.C. It is for this reason that the battle against the Canaanites in

the north, and the battle against the Midianites conducted on both

sides of the Jordan, have been selected. One may therefore date the

prophecy of Isa. viii 23b-ix 6 to the time between the Assyrian con-

quest of 734-32 and the Assyrian collapse in the west in the twenties

of the 7th century B.C..

Finally, I suggest the following translation for Isa. viii 23b: "As in the past he (the Lord) made lighter the land of Zebulun and the

land of Napthali, so in later (time) he made glorious the way of the

sea, the land beyond the Jordan, the district of the nations".

34 For a historical-topographical analysis of Ps. lxxxiii 9-10, see Na¸aman (n. 18), pp. 139-40, with earlier literature.

35 The attachment of the deliverances from the Canaanites and the Midianites in both Isa. viii 23b-ix 6 and Ps. lxxxiii 9-10 is an additional argument against W. Werner's recent claim that Isa. viii 23b is a redactional bridge between viii 21-23a and ix 1-6; see id., Eschatologische Texte in Jesaia 1-39. Messias, Heiliger Rest. Völker (Würzburg, 1982), pp. 21-5, 42-4. V. 23b is the logical opening to the pro- phecy of ix 1-6, as was pointed out by scholars who have analysed its structure and contents. See nn. 29, 31 above; O. Kaiser, Der Prophet Jesaja Kapitel 1-12 (2nd edn, Göttingen, 1963), pp. 97-103 = Isaiah 1-12, a Commentary (London, 1972), pp. 123-30; H. Wildberger, Jesaia 1-12 (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1972), pp. 362-89.