The ups and downs here might remind you of those in Ephesians 4:8-10. And for good reason!
Word came to Sisera of the insurrection at Mount Tabor. It came by the mouth of one “Heber the Kenite” (Jdg 4:11). Although many of the Kenites had settled on Israel’s southern border near Arad, this man had pitched his tent north of Mount Tabor and made a peace agreement with Jabin (see v 17). We can assume his wife didn’t co-sign the document! But back to the battle scene. Mount Tabor is a sugarloaf shape; even today tour buses can’t get up its steep slopes. So obviously Barak and his troops were safe at the summit as long as they stayed there. But they could only lead captive those who held Israel captive if they were willing to trust God, come down in weakness, and see the salvation of the Lord. So it’s time again for another motivating sting! “Up,” said Deborah to Barak, “For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand.…So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him” (v 14). The New King James puts it this way: “And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army” (v 15). I grew up on the KJV, and it says, “the Lord discomfited Sisera.” I never was quite sure what “discomfited” meant, but it sounded like his army had a panic attack! When you look at the Hebrew hamam, it says, “to put in commotion, to disturb, destroy, break, consume, crush, discomfit, trouble, vex.” To make matters worse for Sisera’s troops, “The river of Kishon swept them away” (5:21). A lot of good iron chariots do when stuck in the mud! The Kishon doesn’t look like much today, but I was in Israel one year after flood waters from extra high snowfall in the mountains ripped out all the concrete bridges over the Kishon! God had set the trap, and Israel won again!