Judges 5:25

“He asked water, and she gave him milk , etc.] That is, Sisera asked it of her, as the Targum expresses it, when he turned into her tent: she brought him fresh butter in a lordly dish ; which signifies either the same, the milk with cream on it, for that is meant by butter; or having first taken off the cream, she gave him milk to drink, and then brought the cream in a dish for him to eat, and thereby the more incline him to sleep; and this she brought in a dish fit for any lord or nobleman to eat out of; in such a polite and courteous manner did she use him, so that he could have no suspicion of her having any ill design against him. R. Jonah, as Kimchi notes, interprets this of a dish of…”

“butter--curdled milk; a favorite beverage in the East.”

“Butter - Rather curdled milk, probably a fermented and intoxicating drink. All these marks of respect and friendship would lull Sisera into security. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Butter - Or, cream, that is, the choicest of her milk: so the same thing is repeated in different words. Lordly dish - Which you are not to understand of such a costly dish as the luxury of after ages brought in, which is not agreeable to the simplicity either of this family, or of those ancient times; but of a comely and convenient dish, the best which she had, and such as the better sort of persons then used. Probably Jael at that time intended him no other than kindness, 'till God by an immediate impulse on her mind, directed her to do otherwise. Judges 5:28”

“asked: Jdg 4:19-21 butter: Chemah, may signify buttermilk, which is made by the Arabs by agitating the milk in a leathern bag; and is highly esteemed because of its refreshing and cooling qualities. Judges 5:26”

“25 He asked water, she gave him milk; She handed him cream in the dish of nobles. 26 She stretched out her hand to the plug, And her right hand to the workmen's hammer, And hammered Sisera, broke his head, And dashed in pieces and pierced his temples. 27 Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: Between her feet he bowed, he fell: Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. Assuming that the fact itself is well known, Deborah does not think it necessary to mention Sisera's name in Jdg 5:25. חמאה, which generally signifies thick curdled milk, is used here as synonymous with חלב, in the sense of good superior milk. ספל is only used here and in Jdg 6:38, and signifies a bowl or vessel for…”