Judges 1:16; 4:1-22; 5:24-27
At the end of lesson 2, I told you that we would see some ACTION in the next lesson! Lessons 1 and 2 prepared us for what will happen here in lesson 3. Let's pick up with verse 11 in Judges, chapter 4 and see where it takes us ...
11 Now Heber
the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated
himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at
Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh.
Judges 1:16 … Now
the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the City of
Palms with the children of Judah into the Wilderness of Judah, which lies in
the South near Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.
In these verses,
we’re going to take our first look at Heber.
As stated in the introduction, Heber was a Kenite with close ties to the
Israelites and a ‘non-aggression’ pact with the Canaanite king, Jabin. In today’s language, we would say that he was
‘playing both sides of the coin!’
Heber’s close ties
with the Israelites can be traced back to Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses
which would make the Kenites descendants of Moses’ father-in-law. (Verse 11 has been the subject of controversy
over who Hobab was. Some versions
indicate that he is Moses brother-in-law, other versions read similar to the
NKJV, which is the one I used for this study.
After much research, I am leaning toward Hobab being Moses brother-in-law
and not his father-in-law (Jethro/Reuel). Please feel free to form your own opinion after doing your own research. Whichever way you lean, for the purposes of this study, Heber’s connection to the Israelites is
made plain regardless of who Hobab was.)
Heber had
separated himself from the Kenites in Judah’s land area, possibly because of
the threat of Philistine invasion, and moved his family north to the area of
Zaanaim near the Kedesh River. There he
endeared himself to the Canaanites and was considered by Sisera to be his
friend and ally.
12 And they
reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
It appears that
Heber and company reported to Sisera that Barak had gathered his army and had gone
up to Mt. Tabor.
13 So Sisera
gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the
people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.
In response to the news,
Sisera gathered together all his chariots and all the people with him to the
River Kishon. Sisera seemingly thought
that this was his opportunity to deal a blow to the Israelites by wiping out
Barak’s army. Little did he know that he
was fighting the God of the universe via this Israelite army.
14 Then Deborah
said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera
into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from
Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
“Has not the
Lord gone out before you?” This
is a constant prayer of mine, that the Lord would go before me and prepare the
way. Prepare the way for what? Whatever life brings. It’s comforting to know that the Lord is
ahead of me and knows all about what’s there.
He will never leave me nor forsake me and that brings such peace. Obviously, it brought comfort and assurance
to Barak as well!
When Deborah gave
the word … and the assurance that Sisera would be delivered into Barak’s hand,
Barak and his 10,000 men went down the mountain side of Mt. Tabor.
15 And the Lord
routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword
before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot.
“And the Lord
routed” … what did this entail? Sisera
went rushing into the dry Kishon River aiming to show his superiority however,
there was a very heavy untimely rain that made a roaring river out of the Kishon
and flooded the plains (Judges 5:4, 19-21).
Sisera’s chariots of iron were useless mired down in the mud making all
who were in the chariots sitting ducks for Barak’s army.
At the same time
Barak and his men came rushing down the steep slopes of Mt Tabor and did battle
with Sisera and his army.
Sisera, seeing the
handwriting on the wall, ran away on foot.
16 But Barak
pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army
of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.
Barak continued
pursuing and fighting Sisera’s army until it was completely destroyed, not a
man was left … except Sisera, who fled on foot in order to escape.
17 However,
Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite;
for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the
Kenite.
The Bible doesn’t
tell us how far Jael’s tent (Heber’s wife) was from the actual battle, but it
was far enough that by the time Sisera got there, he was exhausted. Remember that Heber was considered a friend
and ally of the Canaanites, which is most likely why Sisera sought refuge
there.
What better place
to hide, regroup and get some rest than in the tent of an ally’s wife. Since men did not go into women’s tent’s,
Sisera likely thought that no one would look there and that he would be safe.
However, Jael did
not share her husband’s allegiance to the Canaanites, her favor was toward the
Israelites.
Finally, we meet the lady of this study, and we see that she and her husband are of two different allegiances. We have two enemies, the Israelites and the Canaanites, fighting against each other and a husband supporting and helping the Canaanites and his wife ... well, what about his wife? We'll find out in the 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
I had never thought to pray over our every day life in that way but I will be doing so now.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were kids we went camping for a week and my sister and I were sleeping in an old Army tent.It didn't have a floor but we didn't care. We had camp cots on either side and had fun setting up our abode for the week. One night we had a sudden hard rain and it quickly became apparent that Dad had set up our tent with a stream bed running right down the middle. Sis and I awoke clinging to our cots as they were sinking in the mud on one side. That is something you never forget! I can relate to the chariots!
Lana, I want to include God in every aspect of my life even down to the dailyness of living. It's comforting to me to know that He goes before and prepares the way for me at my request.
DeleteI can see why that camping trip has stayed with you all your life, what a memory!
I feel exactly the same. I find as we get older we have drawn closer and closer to Him and His care. It is indeed a comfort.
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