6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Judges 4:4-9
And in time of peace there is no complaint, and no fault is found in this woman, whereas most of the judges were causes of no small sins to the people. But when the Canaanites, a people fierce in battle and rich in troops, successively joined them, showed a horrible disposition against the people of the Jews, this widow, before all others, made all the preparations for war. And to show that the needs of the household were not dependent on the public resources but rather that public duties were guided by the discipline of home life, she brings forth from her home her son as a leader of the army, that we may acknowledge that a widow can train a warrior; whom, as a mother, she taught, and, as judge, placed in command, as, being herself brave, she trained him, and, as a prophetess, sent to certain victory.
And lastly, her son Barak shows the chief part of the victory was in the hands of a woman when he said, “If you will not go with me I will not go, because I do not know on what day the Lord will send his angel with me.” How great, then, was the might of that woman to whom the leader of the army says, “If you will not go I will not go.” How great, I say, the fortitude of the widow who does not protect her son from dangers through motherly affection but rather with the zeal of a mother exhorts her son to go forth to victory, while saying that the decisive point of that victory is in the hand of a woman!