King of Caanan. A mighty oppressor of Israel, (Judg. 4: 2, 3.) His name signifies to understand, from Binah.
Jabin, 1
Ja´bin (discerner), king of Hazor, and one of the most powerful of all the princes who reigned in Canaan when it was invaded by the Israelites. His dominion seems to have extended over all the north part of the country; and after the ruin of the league formed against the Hebrews in the south of Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, he assembled his tributaries near the waters of Merom (the Lake Huleh), and called all the people to arms. This coalition was destroyed, as the one in the south had been, and Jabin himself perished in the sack of Hazor, his capital, B.C. 1450. This prince was the last powerful enemy with whom Joshua combated, and his overthrow seems to have been regarded as the crowning act in the conquest of the Promised Land (Jos 11:1-14).
Jabin, 2
Jabin, King of Hazor, and probably descended from the preceding. It appears that during one of the servitudes of the Israelites, probably when they lay under the yoke of Cushan or Eglon, the kingdom of Hazor was reconstructed. The narrative gives to this second Jabin even the title of ’King of Canaan;’ and this, with the possession of 900 iron-armed war-chariots, implies unusual power and extent of dominion. The iniquities of the Israelites having lost them the Divine protection, Jabin gained the mastery over them; and, stimulated by the remembrance of ancient wrongs, oppressed them heavily for twenty years. From this thralldom they were relieved by the great victory won by Barak in the plain of Esdraelon ever the hosts of Jabin, commanded by Sisera, one of the most renowned generals of those times, B.C. 1285. The well-compacted power of the King of Hazor was not yet, however, entirely broken. The war was still prolonged for a time, but ended in the entire ruin of Jabin, and the subjugation of his territories by the Israelites (Judges 4).
This is the Jabin whose name occurs in Psa 83:11.
1. A powerful king in the time of Joshua, at Hazor in the north of Canaan. The league which he organized to crush Joshua, only made his own ruin more complete, Jos 11:1-23 B. C. 1450.\par 2. Another king of Hazor, a century and a half later, who sorely oppressed Israel for twenty years, till Deborah and Barak were raised up as deliverers, Jdg 4:1-24 Psa 83:9 .\par
Ja’bin. (whom God observes).
1. King of Hazor, who organized a confederacy of the northern princes against the Israelites. Jos 11:1-3, Joshua surprised the allied forces by the waters of Merom, Jos 11:7, and utterly routed them. (B.C. 1448). During the ensuing wars, Joshua again attacked Jabin, and burnt his city. Jos 11:1-14.
2. A king of Hazor, whose general, Sisera, was defeated by Barak. Jdg 4:2; Jdg 4:13. (B.C. 1316).
1. King of Hazor in northern Palestine, near the Merom waters. Headed the confederacy of northern kings (Jobab of Madon, the kings of Shimron, Achshaph, etc., N. of the mountains of Naphtali and in the Arabah S. of Chinneroth, i.e. the Ghor, S. of the sea of Galilee, etc.) against Israel: Jos 11:1-4. Their army was "even as the sand upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many." Lest Joshua should be affrighted at this formidable array, Jehovah in vision promised "I will deliver them up all slain before Israel"; I am infinitely more than a match for them, and I am on thy side.
The "I" is emphatic in the Hebrew. Joshua suddenly fell upon them and "chased them unto great Zidon (then the metropolis of Phoenicia, but later in David’s time outstripped by Tyre), and Misrephoth Maim and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward, until they left them none remaining."
2. The king of Hazor whose general, Sisera, was defeated by Deborah and Barak.
Jabin (jâ’bin), whom he—i.e., God—observes. 1. King of Hazor, a northern district of Canaan. Jos 11:1. He and his allies were utterly defeated in a battle with Joshua at Merom, the city of Hazor was taken, and Jabin put to death. 2. Another king of the same name and place, who had great wealth and power, and oppressed the children of Israel for 20 years. Jdg 4:2. His army was defeated by Deborah and Barak, and Sisera, Ms principal general, put to death.
[Ja’bin]
1. King of Hazor in the north, who, with confederate kings, raised an enormous army ’as the sand that is upon the sea shore,’ but was signally defeated by Joshua, after he had overthrown the confederacy in the south. Jos 11:1-11. Thus early in the history of Israel the kings of the south and the north appear on the scene, and perish.
2. Another king of Hazor, who oppressed Israel twenty years; he was defeated by Deborah and Barak. Jdg 4:2-24. Psa 83:9 calls upon God to do to the great northern confederacy in the last days as was done to this king.
By: Emil G. Hirsch, Ira Maurice Price
1. King of Hazor; head of one of the great confederations which faced Joshua in his conquest of Canaan (Josh. xi.). He summoned his allies from every side, including the Amorites, Hittites, and many petty kingdoms. By "the waters of Merom" the battle was fought, and the great coalition, notwithstanding its chariots of iron, was defeated. Joshua took advantage of his victory, captured the royal city Hazor, and slew Jabin, its king. He thus conquered territory that was finally divided by lot among (at least) Asher, Naphtali, Zebulun, and Issachar.
2. King of Canaan "that reigned in Hazor" (Judges iv.). Some regard Josh. xi. and Judges iv. as referring to one and the same event. This Jabin appears as an oppressor of Israel for twenty years, whose most formidable instruments of war were nine hundred chariots of iron. Israel arose under the inspiration of Deborah and Barak to throw off this yoke. Jabin's army was in charge of Sisera, his commander-in-chief, who afterward fell in the tent of Jael the Kenite. No mention is made of Jabin's part in the battle, either in the prose or in the poetic account of that event (Judges iv., v.). The result of the battle, however, was that "God subdued on that day Jabin, the King of Canaan, before the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed more and more against Jabin, the King of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin, King of Canaan" (ib. iv. 23, 24). An interesting reference is found in Ps. lxxxiii. 9: "Do thou unto them as unto Midian, as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the River Kishon."
JABIN (‘[God] perceives’).—A Canaanite king who reigned in Hazor, a place near the Waters of Merom, not far from Kedesh. In the account, in Jdg 4:1-24, of the defeat of Jabin’s host under Sisera, the former takes up quite a subordinate position. In another account (Jos 11:1-9) of this episode the victory of the two tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali is represented as a conquest of the whole of northern Canaan by Joshua. Both accounts (Jos 11:1-9, Jdg 4:1-24) are fragments taken from an earlier, and more elaborate, source; the Jabin in each passage is therefore one and the same person.
W. O. E. Oesterley.
(1) “The king of Hazor,” the leading city in Northern Palestine, who led an alliance against Joshua. He was defeated at the waters of Merom, his city was taken and he was slain (Jos 11:1-9).
(2) “The king of Canaan, that reigned (or had reigned) in Hazor.” It is not clear whether he dwelt in Hazor or Harosheth, the home of Sisera, the captain of his host at the time of the story narrated in Jgs. He oppressed Israel in the days preceding the victory of Deborah and Barak. To the Israelites he must have been but a shadowy figure as compared with his powerful captain, Sisera, for the song makes no mention of him and there is nothing to indicate that he even took part in the battle that freed Israel (Jdg 4:2, Jdg 4:7, Jdg 4:17, Jdg 4:23, Jdg 4:24 bis; Psa 83:9, Psa 83:10).