Judges - 5 (Chapter 4, Verse 1 to Chapter 5, Verse 31)
Deborah, Jael and Barak
In this section of Judges we learn of victory for the Israelites by two women with a man tagging along behind in the sharing of honours. This is most strange for those times when it was a male-dominated society. It is something that requires some explanation and we will come to this later.
Sad to say the people of Israel had not learned their lesson and had drifted off into evil yet again after the death of two good judges, Ehud and Shamgar. It says something about the nation’s spirituality when it has to be bolstered by strong leaders and then gives way once those heroes are removed from the scene.
Yet are things any different today? We sometimes see Christian fellowships rallying around a dominant personality, only to fade and drift away when that leader is called to a different field of service or called home to heaven. If the people had been totally committed to the Lord and not to the man, they would have continued and pulled together in their adversity or time of loss.
In Judges chapter four verse one we read: “…the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the Lord. So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.” The great city of Hazor was about seven miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Jabin’s commanding officer was Sisera who lived in Harosheth, a place thought to be near modern day Haifa in Israel. It is Sisera who features in the events of chapters four and five.
As in former times, when they had fallen away from Him, Israel pleaded in desperation to God. We read in chapter four verse three that, “The children of Israel cried to the Lord for help.” And what brought them to that point? It was Sisera’s nine hundred iron chariots! It was like ordinary foot-soldiers today facing an army of tanks. This had gone on for twenty years and now all the self-satisfaction of the Israelites had evaporated under the severe discipline of the Lord. All this because they again had done evil in God’s sight.
When Christian believers fall away from the Lord into sin, and continue to be disobedient, as did the children of Israel, then they can expect to come under the discipline of a loving heavenly Father. The writer to the Hebrews tells us this in chapter twelve verses five to eleven. In verses ten and eleven we read: “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
If you are under the hand of the oppressor today because of disobedience to the Lord, then it is time to begin to pray in earnest for His forgiveness so that He may deliver you and restore you to fellowship with Him again.
In this fourth chapter of Judges we learn of Deborah, a prophetess who judges Israel. She lived in the central hill country about twelve miles north of Jerusalem. She is the only female judge of whom we read in the Bible. There were other women who were prophetesses, such as Miriam the sister of Moses, Huldah in the time of king Josiah, and the wife of Isaiah whose name we do not know.
God did not usually raise up women to these positions, but where He judged it necessary He did so. It was usually as a rebuke to men because they had failed, or in a time of spiritual decline when faithful leaders could hardly be found. In verse five we read that “the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.” She was the only one who could be relied on, for God had clearly marked her out. His stamp of authority was upon her and the people recognised it.
Often, in times of extremity and when men have failed in their duty, God has been pleased to raise up and bless women in the work of his kingdom. Only eternity will reveal what has been done by faithful women, sometimes working alone in difficult and dangerous situations. This does not in any way overturn the New Testament teaching on the different roles and functions of men and women in the Church. It is simply a plain fact before us here that God raised up and equipped Deborah for a role of guidance and leadership in her day. Besides that, He would give victory to Israel by another woman, Jael. Israel’s deliverance would be in God’s way and by whatever means He sovereignly determined.
One day Deborah sent for Barak of the tribe of Naphtali in the region of Galilee. She gave him God’s word that he should call together ten thousand men out of the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor near the southern hills of Galilee. She would then lure out Sisera the commander of Jabin’s army with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River, and victory would be assured.
Now you would think that a message like that from God through a prophetess would be all the encouragement needed. Yet here is where we seek the weak faith of Barak. He was soldier enough, ready to go and fight, but felt he could only do so if Deborah went with him. It was almost as though he viewed her as some kind of lucky charm instead of trusting in God’s word alone. That lack of faith would be rebuked as eventually the battle honours were given to another and not to Barak.
How many blessings have we forfeited because of our lack of faith or because of our disobedience to the plain word of God? How often has spiritual success been given to other Christians because we failed in our preaching of God’s Word or in our care for people? These are challenging questions that must be faced up to. It is easy to point the finger at Barak and ask, ‘Where was his faith?” or ‘Where was his courage?’ It is more difficult to point the finger at ourselves and say, ‘Where was my faith when the times of testing came?’ It is painful to ask of ourselves, ‘Where was my courage in the time of pressure or danger?’ When evil forces seem to tower over us do we fail like Barak?
Heber the Kenite now comes into the story. His wife was Jael who features so prominently in what follows. The Kenites were nomadic tinkers who had originally lived down in the southern region of the Negev. Moses had married a Kenite woman, Zipporah, who was related to Heber who naturally would have been expected to feel some sort of kinship with the Israelites. However, the Kenites had co-existed happily with Israel’s enemy and so Heber informed Sisera of Barak’s troop movements and Sisera massed his opposing forces at the river Kishon. But this is just where God wanted them to be!
It was then that Deborah urged on Barak with this encouragement, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” In all our struggles as Christians our only confidence is that the Lord has gone ahead of us and prepared the way. It is for us to follow and so gain the victory.
From Deborah’s song of victory, recorded in Judges chapter five, we learn that God sent a violent storm which caused the river Kishon to overflow, sweeping away many of the Canaanites. Added to that the heavy rainfall would soon cause the sodden earth to become a quagmire under the iron chariots of Sisera. All his advantage was lost and the Israelites swept through the confused ranks. One rainstorm sent from God and overwhelming superiority of the Canaanites was wiped out!
Sisera managed to escape on foot and fled to the tent of Jael, Heber’s wife, where he was killed while he slept. The whole episode is summarised in verses twenty-three and twenty-four: “On that day God subdued Jabin, the Canaanite king, before the Israelites. And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin until they destroyed him.”
A terrifying and oppressive enemy had been put down before God’s people in answer to their cry. Have we no such enemy to be subdued today? Indeed we have! Satan is far worse in his subtle, persistent ways than any Canaanite king. But we have one wiser that Deborah on our side and far more powerful than Jael or Barak. In the first Letter of John chapter three verse eight we are told: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” Satan may harass us but he cannot harm us. He may threaten us be he cannot do more than he is allowed by God.
The closing lines of Deborah’s song, at the end of Judges chapter five, say this: “So may all your enemies perish, O Lord! But may they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Can you honestly say that you are one of those who loves the Lord? Is your life shining brightly, dispelling the darkness of evil around you?