Judges 1:16;
4:1-22; 5:24-27
In lesson 1, we laid the foundation and set the stage for our study. Today, we're going to pick up starting in verse 4 and get introduced to a woman named Deborah and a man named Barak. God uses both of them to accomplish His will, but one of them has a faith issue that has consequences!
4 Now Deborah,
a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
Deborah was the 5th
judge for Israel.
(Since Deborah is
in this account, but not the subject of this study, we’ll leave any further
details about Deborah until we study her in depth in a future study.)
5 And she would sit under the palm tree of
Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children
of Israel came up to her for judgment.
Contained within
the role of judge was the responsibility to make decisions individually for the
people and for Israel as a whole. I’m
sure Deborah spent much time in prayer over her role and the decisions she was
called upon to make. Do we?
6 Then she sent
and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to
him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount
Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons
of Zebulun;
Here we’re
introduced to Barak, a military commander in Israel’s army. Deborah had sent for him with a mission from
the Lord God of Israel to go and deploy troops at Mr. Tabor. He was to take with him 10,000 men of the
sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun.
Let’s pause and
look at some possible reasons the Lord God instructed Barak to take Israel’s
army to Mt. Tabor. Geographically, it
was a secure military location with a height of some 1865 feet above sea
level. It had a flat surface on top
large enough for a town to be built upon and its sides were steep, giving a
look-out vantage point over the surrounding area.
God often uses His
creation to bring about His will!
7 and against
you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and
his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”
The River Kishon
ran near the southern foot of Mt. Tabor and under normal conditions was a dried
up brook or spring until it rained and then it became a roaring river. Sisera, the military commander of the
Canaanite army, knew this and if it had been the rainy season he would have
taken that into consideration when planning his strategy. However, it was not the rainy season, leaving
Sisera confident in using his chariots of iron.
Let’s take a look
at what God reveals through Deborah in this verse …
God would deploy
Sisera against Barak/Israel … in other words, once Sisera knew that Barak was
at Mt. Tabor, he would gather his army and go after him.
Sisera would use
chariots
Sisera would have
a multitude of soldiers to assist him
Both armies would
meet at the Kishon River in the plain of Esdraelon at the base of Mt Tabor
Sisera and his
army would be delivered into the hands of Barack … in other words they would be
defeated!
On the surface it
appears that Sisera has a bigger advantage with his multitude of warriors and
chariots of iron. They are better
equipped to fight this battle in the eyes of onlookers, but Sisera, with all
his advantages didn’t have God and as we will soon see, God fights for His
people.
As Christians,
aren’t we thankful that God fights for us!
8 And Barak
said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go
with me, I will not go!”
Barak, seeing the
danger and difficulty of his assigned mission, wanted and maybe even needed the
assurance and confidence the presence of Deborah would give him. In fact, he told her that if she didn’t go,
he would not go either!
Before we come
down too hard on Barak for his momentary lack of faith, let’s remember that
Gideon (Judges 6:15, Judges 6:36), Abraham (Genesis 15:2-3, Genesis 17:18),
Moses (Exodus 4:10, Exodus 4:13) and even Peter (Matthew 14:30-31) all had
their moments of weak faith as well.
And, if we’re honest, don’t we have moments of weak faith ourselves from
time to time?
9 So she said,
“I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the
journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a
woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
Deborah agrees to
go with Barak, but there is a cost to his renown and reputation. There would be no glory for him, for the Lord
would give Sisera into the hand of a woman.
In other words, a woman would bring Sisera down and she would receive
the glory for doing it. Barak, on the
other hand, would have to live with someone else, a woman, getting the glory
that normally would have gone to the commanding military leader.
(Women in that
culture did not enjoy the freedoms and rights that women today, in most
cultures, do, but that didn’t and doesn’t stop God from welcoming them as His
children. As women of God, we have much
to be thankful for, God is not partial to anyone and welcomes all who obey His
will and Word.)
10 And Barak
called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his
command, and Deborah went up with him.
Barak did everything the Lord had commanded … and Deborah went with him. The Israelite army is in place and ready for their next move.
In the next lesson we're going to see some ACTION! All this build up in lessons 1 and 2 are coming to a head in our next lesson!!!
patsy @ From This Heart of Mine
~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~
Sources used for this study:
Various translations of the Holy Bible
Various commentaries
Several trusted and biblically sound online sources
Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter
Archaeological Study Bible
All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen
Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs
Halley’s Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley
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