שופטים, פרק ה׳, פסוק י״ז

The Song of Deborah shifts its focus from praising those who volunteered for battle to criticizing the tribes who chose to sit on the sidelines. A clear picture of evasion emerges, detailing the excuses and actions of Gilead, Dan, and Asher, who all avoided joining the national campaign. The people of Gilead remained comfortably in their distant territory. One perspective suggests they stayed behind because they felt the war was not in their neighborhood [שטיינזלץ, אלשיך], or because they relied on other tribes to serve as a buffer against the enemy [מלבי״ם]. However, other commentators view this mention of Gilead as a rhetorical challenge directed at the tribe of Reuben. According to this thought, since some men from Gilead actually did cross the Jordan River to help the Israelites, it exposes the failure of Reuben, who used their geographical distance as a hollow excuse to stay behind [מצודת דוד, רלב״ג, רד״ק]. Another opinion narrows the criticism specifically to the family of Jair, son of Manasseh, from Gilead, who simply chose to remain at home rather than fight [רד״ק].

The resentment grows significantly fiercer regarding the tribe of Dan, especially since their land was located close to the battlefield [מצודת דוד, אלשיך]. Instead of stepping forward to assist God, the people of Dan focused on gathering their wealth and property into ships to escape the terrifying enemy [רש״י, מצודת דוד, רלב״ג]. While some explain that Dan ignored the war to continue their regular maritime trade and personal business [מלבי״ם, שטיינזלץ], others emphasize that these were not large ships on the open sea. Rather, they were boats on the Jordan River, which the tribe used to flee to the opposite bank [רד״ק, רלב״ג].

Finally, the narrative addresses the tribe of Asher, who lived along the seacoast in open, unfortified border towns. The primary approach among commentators is that Asher, unlike Dan, had a valid justification for their absence. Because they inhabited an exposed maritime border with cities lacking protective walls, they were forced to remain in place. They had to guard their vulnerable territory from the potential invasions of neighboring nations, making it impossible for them to abandon their land to join the broader war effort.