257 “ WHY TARRY THE WHEELS CHARIOT ? ” (JUDG 5,28) OF HIS has been dealt a serious blow. Nascent Israel has repelled Sisera and affirmed its right to dwell in the central highlands; in response to this, Sisera’s mother awaits his triumphant return, but no such triumph is forthcoming. In characterizing this woman and her dashed hopes, the poet emphasizes that it is not just Sisera who has failed, but that his choice of battlefield vehicle — the chariot — has failed as well. Yet nowhere in the preceding verses of the poem is there any mention of this mechanism of warfare. Why is a chariot highlighted at this moment, and in this manner? To answer this question, we must consider the historical context in which the events within the poem took place, if not the composition of the poem itself 3. Most scholars agree that the setting of the poem is the 12th century BCE, a time following the waning of Egyptian power in the area 4. This was also a time when lowland Canaanite culture, reeling in the wake of the Egyptian c o l l a p s e , saw tremendous socio-economic instability. This condition forged alliances between highland villagers of different ethnic patrimonies that doubtlessly led to the emergence of early Israel, in contradistinction to the remnants of lowland urban Canaanite dwellers 5. The confrontation between Sisera and the Queen. Women in Judges and Biblical Israel (New York 1998) 93-98; S. NIDITCH, Judges. A Commentary (OTL; Louisville, KY 2008)76-82. Though the tradition underlying the poem and its sociological details 3 dovetail with 12th century events, it is likely that the current form of the text reflects redactional accretions and reworking. See K.L. SPARKS, Ethnicity and Identity in Ancient Israel (Winona Lake, IN 1998) 112-114; DE HOOP “ Judges 5 Reconsidered ”. On the collapse of Egyptian hegemony in the Levant at the end of the 4 Bronze Age, see the summary discussion by C. A. REDMOUNT, “Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt”, The Oxford History of the Biblical World (ed. M.D. COOGAN) (New York – Oxford 1998) 84-87. See also in the same volume the essay by L.E. STAGER, “Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel ”, 90-91, 97-102, for a discussion of the proliferation of settlements in Canaan in the early Iron Age immediately following the decrease in Egyptian hegemony in the area. SCHLOEN, “Caravans”, 35-38. On the conditions leading to the formation 5 of communities in the highland frontier, see the recent overview of archaeology and theories of early national formation by W.G. DEVER, Who Were The Ancient Israelites and Where Did They Come From? (Grand Rapids, MI 2003); R . B . C O O T E – K.W. W H I T E L A M , “ T h e Emergence of Israel : Social Transformation and State Formation Following the Decline in late Bronze Age Trade ”, Semeia 37 (1986) 118-125.