Judges 5:12

"Awake, awake, Deborah; utter a song: Arise, Barak, and lead away the captives, thou son of Abinoam. Then came down a remnant of the nobles and the people; Jehovah came down for me against the mighty. Out of Ephraim came down they whose root is in Amalek; After thee, Benjamin, among the peoples; Out of Machir came down governors, And out of Zebulun they that handle the marshall's staff."

"Lead away the captives" (Judges 5:12). Dalglish pointed out how: "A similar phrase, `lead captivity captive,' was later applied to (1) the triumphal procession of God (Psalms 68:17f); (2) and to the conquering Christ (Ephesians 4:8-10; Colossians 2:15, and 2 Corinthians 2:14-16)."[25]

"A remnant of the nobles and the people" (Judges 5:13). Not all of Israel responded to the call of Deborah. The word "remnant" here reminds us of Isaiah's use of the same term to describe the "faithful." In all ages, it has always been the same. Only a "remnant" choose to obey the Word of God.

"Jehovah came down for me" (Judges 5:13). The remnant was more than enough. With God's help, the victory for God's people was won in spite of those who did not respond.

"Ephraim ... Benjamin ... Machir ... Zebulun" (Judges 5:14). These were the tribes that responded. Machir was the principle unit in the tribe of Manasseh.

"Whose root is in Amalek" (Judges 5:14). Keil gave the meaning of this as indicating that, "Ephraim had settled in the territory once occupied by the Amalekites."[26] Cundall, however, rejected this, stating that, "There is no evidence of this."[27] This writer believes that there is probably a prophetic meaning here. Ephraim, even this early in his history, was no doubt showing signs of that eventual apostasy in which he would usurp the place of God Himself. Deborah was a resident of the territory of Ephraim, and she was no doubt aware of the direction in which Ephraim was moving. The Amalekites were sworn enemies of God, and there is a hint here that a root of the same enmity might also be in Ephraim.

Nevertheless, in this roll-call of the faithful tribes, the name of Ephraim heads all the rest, and added to the two tribes who, in the beginning, heeded Deborah's summons, namely, Zebulun and Naphtali, the number of participating tribes in the war against the Canaanites reached a total of six. This is not a contradiction of the fact that only two tribes are mentioned in Judges 5:4. As noted earlier, the campaign was extended far beyond the initial phase of it related in Judges 4.