(16) There was not a man left.--The massacre in all battles in which the fugitives have to escape over a river and contend with a storm is always specially fatal. The memory of this terrible carnage was preserved for years, together with the circumstance that the soil was enriched by the dead bodies (Psalm 83:10). Similarly at Waterloo, the year after the battle a blaze of crimson poppies burst out over the plain, and the harvests of the subsequent years were specially rich.
"The earth is covered thick with other clay,
Which her own clay shall cover."
The scene of the battle of Marius at Aquae Sextiae was long called Fourrieres (a corruption of Campi Putridi) for the same reason; and the site of Cannae is still known as Pezzo di Sangue.
Verse 16. - Barak pursued after the chariots. Barak, supposing Sisera still to be with the chariots, pursued after them, and seems to have overtaken them, as they were embarrassed in the rotten, boggy ground which had been suddenly overflowed by the swollen waters of Kishon. Many were swept away by the flood and drowned, the rest put to the sword while their horses were floundering in the bog (Judges 5:21, 22). But Sisera had meanwhile escaped on foot unnoticed, and fled to the tents of the friendly Kenites.
4:10-16. Siser's confidence was chiefly in his chariots. But if we have ground to hope that God goes before us, we may go on with courage and cheerfulness. Be not dismayed at the difficulties thou meetest with in resisting Satan, in serving God, or suffering for him; for is not the Lord gone before thee? Follow him then fully. Barak went down, though upon the plain the iron chariots would have advantage against him: he quitted the mountain in dependence on the Divine power; for in the Lord alone is the salvation of his people, Jer 3:23. He was not deceived in his confidence. When God goes before us in our spiritual conflicts, we must bestir ourselves; and when, by his grace, he gives us some success against the enemies of our souls, we must improve it by watchfulness and resolution.
But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles,.... The place from whence they came, and to which they endeavoured to escape: but he followed them, so close all that way, and made such havoc of them, that
all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left; no, not one, excepting Sisera, as in Judges 4:17; or "even to one" (l), as in the original text; not one escaped to Hazor to acquaint Jabin of the loss of his army. Philo Byblius says, that nine hundred and ninety seven thousand of Sisera's army were slain.
"The earth is covered thick with other clay,
Which her own clay shall cover."
The scene of the battle of Marius at Aquae Sextiae was long called Fourrieres (a corruption of Campi Putridi) for the same reason; and the site of Cannae is still known as Pezzo di Sangue.
all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left; no, not one, excepting Sisera, as in Judges 4:17; or "even to one" (l), as in the original text; not one escaped to Hazor to acquaint Jabin of the loss of his army. Philo Byblius says, that nine hundred and ninety seven thousand of Sisera's army were slain.
(l) "usque ad unum", Montanus.