1. Judges 5:6 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What were these highways?

Judges 5:6 (ESV)

6 “In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, and travelers kept to the byways.

The word used refers to the winding caravan routes that criss-crossed the land of Palestine, especially across the Jezreel Valley linking northern Israelites with their countrymen to the south, perhaps in contrast to the main roads.1