Judges 5:10

Speak, ye that ride on white asses,.... Though in some countries, as in ours, it is reckoned disgraceful to ride on asses; so Leo Africanus (b) makes mention of a preacher in Africa, who was called

Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way. Speak, ye that ride on white asses - i:e., join in this song of praise. [ 'ªtonowt (H860) tsªchorowt (H6715), bright shining she-asses (cf.

Speak; celebrate the praises of our mighty God, whose hand hath done this. Ye that ride on white asses, i.e. magistrates and nobles, who used to do so, 12:14; horses being in a manner forbidden there, . Ye that walk by the way, i.e. you that now can safely travel about your business in those highways, which before you durst neither ride nor walk in. So great and mean persons are jointly excited to praise God.

Judges 5:10 Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.Ver. 10. Speak, ye that ride on white asses.] Ye nobles and circuit judges; ye merchants and marketmen, that while durst not be seen abroad for Tories and cut throats, speak out God’ s worthy praises for the re-enjoyment of your pristine privileges, that your Malvoy is now become a Salvoy.

(10) Speak.—Rather, Think of it. or, perhaps, “Meditate the song.” It is placed in the original in far more forcible position at the end of the verse. Ye that ride on white asses.—That is, nobles and wealthy (Judges 10:4; Judges 12:14). The word can hardly mean “white,” because there are no such things as white asses. It means rather “bright-coloured” (Ezekiel 27:18), “glossy-skinned,” or “dappled” (super nitentes asinos, Vulg.). These were the more valuable sort of asses, and were used by the rich and great. It is only because this was not understood among the Greeks and Romans, who despised the ass, that the LXX. and Josephus so often disguise the word in writing for Gentiles, using pôlon, “steed,” or the general word hupozugion, “beast of burden,” instead. No incident was more derided among the Gentiles than the riding to Zion of her king, “meek and sitting upon an ass” (Zechariah 9:9), (see the Life of Christ, 2:197). Here though the Alexandrine MS. of the LXX has “on female asses of the South “—i.e., of Ethiopia—we find in other MSS. “on beasts of burden.” Ye that sit in judgment.—Rather, ye that sit on rich divans, though our version follows the Vatican MS. of the LXX., the Chaldee, and the Vulgate. The Hebrew is, “ye that sit on middin,” and some Jews understood it to mean “at Middin”—i.e., ye inhabitants of the town Middin (which is mentioned in Joshua 15:61, and which they suppose may have been peculiarly oppressed and insulted by the enemy). Others, again, suppose that middin is saddle-cloths (comp. Matthew 21:7). The Alexandrine MS. of the LXX. has epi lampênôm—i.e., on sedans or covered chariots. There can be little doubt that it means “bright carpets” (compare mad in Psalms 109:18). And walk by the way.—Rather, ye that walk in the way. Deborah appeals (1) to the wealthy, riding through the safe highways: (2) to those of all classes who now sit at ease on divans, bright with carpets, of which Easterns are so fond: and (3) to foot-passengers in the ordinary life—to join in the thought and song of praise. On the phrases “sitting at home and “walking on the roads” to describe the ordinary avocations of life, see Deuteronomy 6:7 : “When thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way.”

Verse 10. Ye that ride on white asses] Perhaps אתנות צחרות athonoth tsechoroth should be rendered sleek or well-fed asses; rendered asinos nitentes, shining asses, by the Vulgate. Ye that sit in judgment] ישבי על מדין yoshebey al middin; some have rendered this, ye who dwell in Middin. This was a place in the tribe of Judah, and is mentioned Joshua 15:61. And walk by the way.] Persons who go from place to place for the purposes of traffic.

10. In this most obscure verse the poet is generally supposed to call upon various classes of Israelites to take their share in celebrating the victory. Tell of it] So LXX, Vulgate The verb means talk (against) Psalms 69:12, or speak (to) Job 12:8, but properly to meditate upon, muse Psalms 105:2; Psalms 145:5 etc.; it does not occur in early literature (Genesis 24:63 is textually doubtful). The word is corrupt. ye that ride on white asses] more exactly, as the Arabic shews, tawny, reddish-grey, asses, i.e. choice animals such as would be ridden by persons of dignity; the leading men in ancient Israel used to ride on asses, just as members of the ruling house in Zanzibar, and as the sheikhs in S. Arabia, do at the present day. Cf. Judges 10:4, Judges 12:14, 2 Samuel 17:23; 2 Samuel 19:26. rich carpets] from a word which means garment, raiment (e.g. Judges 3:16), here supposed to refer to the raiment, i.e. saddle-cloths, of the asses. This is highly precarious, and the word, which is irregular though perhaps not impossible in form1[34], must be considered corrupt. LXX. cod. A interprets the two lines as referring to a triumphal procession; LXX. cod. B, Targ., Vulgate in judgement, by a false etymology. [34] Instead of îm, it has the plur. ending în, the normal form in Aramaic; which occurs, however, regularly in the Moabite Stone, and in the O.T. 25 or 26 times (15 in Job) in passages either dialectical or late.

Ye that ride on white donkeys ... - i. e. nobles or magistrates. Deborah appeals to the classes mentioned in Judges 5:6-7, to bear witness to the happy change that had followed the overthrow of Jabin.

10. Dappled she-asses — Such as had a reddish skin marked with white streaks or spots. Asses of this colour were scarce and costly, and therefore none but the rich and noble among the people were accustomed to ride on them.