Deborah uses this question to spotlight Israel’s complete military helplessness before God intervened. By asking rather than stating, she invites her listeners to visualize the shocking absence of basic weapons and feel the weight of their defenselessness, making God’s subsequent victory all the more stunning.

No verbal response is recorded, as this is part of Deborah’s song. The rhetorical question expects silent agreement from her audience, acknowledging Israel’s complete lack of weaponry during their oppression.

Deborah’s question highlights the shocking reality that among forty thousand Israelites, not a single shield or spear could be found. The Hebrew construction emphasizes absence through interrogative form, making the listener confront the totality of their defenselessness. She asks rather than declares to make her audience participants, forcing them to answer in their own minds and thereby own the humiliating truth. This weaponless state directly resulted from choosing new gods, as apostasy brought Canaanite domination and systematic disarmament. The question carries theological weight: when Israel abandoned Yahweh, they lost not just spiritual covering but physical protection. Their unarmed condition magnifies the miracle that follows, as God delivers through the most unlikely of instruments, a woman prophet and a peasant army with no military hardware.