2 Gregory T.K. Wong Because of such similarities, many scholars have come to see both songs as belonging to the same genre known as “victory song” (3). However, Hauser concedes that as a genre, “victory song” is a classification based more on content than form, as “there is not enough patterned regularity held in common by Exod 15 and Judg 5 to make it reasonable to propose something so set as a victory song form lying behind these poems” (4). Thus, although both songs employ several common themes, “this commonality does not derive from a concerted effort by each poet to imitate a well-know formal structure for victory songs, but rather from the writer’s basic instinct regarding what was necessary and important in a song praising Israel’s God for the victory” (5). But despite the similarities outlined above, there are also significant differences between the two songs. First, in contrast to the Song of Moses, where the actual destruction of the Egyptians is described in great detail (Exod 15,3-10), in the Song of Deborah, the actual battle scene depicting the destruction of the enemy is extremely brief, occupying only about four short verses in Judg 5,19-22. Second, while YHWH is depicted as directly involved in bringing about the destruction of the Egyptians in Exod 15,3-10, in the Song of Deborah, victory over the enemy is not directly attributed to YHWH. In fact, YHWH is not even mentioned in the battle scene in vv. 19-22. Third, while the bulk of the Song of Moses is addressed directly to YHWH, with YHWH being consistently referred to in the second person (Exod 15,6-18), in the Song of Deborah, YHWH is so addressed only in Judg 5,4.31. Fourth, while Israel as a nation is not mentioned in the Song of Moses until Exod 15,13-18 after the Egyptians have been completely destroyed, the actions of Israelite tribes and warriors seem to constitute a central focus throughout the Song of Deborah. (3) See, for example, G.F. MOORE, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (ICC; New York 1895) 127; J. GRAY, Joshua, Judges and Ruth (The Century Bible; London 1967) 221; GLOBE, “Literary Structure”, 495-499; HAUSER, “Two Songs”, 265, 279-280. In this regard, although C. LEVIN “Das Alter des Deboralieds”, Fortschreibungen: Gesammelte Studien zum Alten Testament (BZAW 316; Berlin 2003) 132, 135, characterises the song as a “Thanksgiving Song (Danklied)” on the basis of his analysis of its psalmic elements, the fact that the main cause of thanks is thought to be deliverance in the battle at Tabor puts it also in a category not significantly different from that of a “victory song”. (4) HAUSER, “Two Songs”, 279. (5) HAUSER, “Two Songs”, 281.