April 26, 2024 | Be God's Light
Deborah Delivers Israel from Jabin
Scripture: Judges 4 (NIV)
1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.
4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. 7 I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”
8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”
9 “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
12 When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. 15 At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
16 Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. 17 Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”
21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
22 Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.
23 On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.
Devotional
It might surprise some that a woman was recognized as a prophet and judge of Israel during the Old Testament. God spoke directly to Deborah, promising deliverance from the king of Canaan and his military commander Sisera. She called on her own military commander, Barak, to gather an army of ten thousand men to do the job.
But Barak wouldn’t do it unless Deborah went along. It was unheard of for a woman to go into battle. Perhaps Barak wanted to unseat her from her role as prophet and judge. Maybe he was simply afraid of the powerful Sisera and his army. Or possibly he recognized that God was with Deborah, and he wanted her by his side.
The battle would take place on Mount Tabor, by the Kishon River. It was ten thousand Israelites on foot verses the vast army of Sisera supported by nine hundred iron-clad chariots. Israel didn’t stand a chance. Except they won. How?
Deborah’s song in Judges 5 gives some insights.
“When you, Lord, went out from Seir,
when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook, the heavens poured,
the clouds poured down water.” (v. 5)
“From the heavens the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
The river Kishon swept them away,
the age-old river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul; be strong!” (v. 21-22)
God poured down a torrential thunderstorm, flooding the Kishon River and the surrounding land. The iron-clad chariots bogged down and were rendered useless. God gave the victory, for which a woman, Deborah, received honor. Even the enemy commander Sisera fell to a woman with a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other. As a result, “the land had peace forty years” (Judges 5:31).
What does this story teach you about God? What does it say about people? What about you?
Poem
Opportunities
Deborah:
Show me, LORD
Who it is you’re calling
May they respond with willing feet
Barak:
Lead me, LORD
Let me not shirk battle
Arm me in truth as I stand firm
Jael:
Use me, LORD
In the fight ‘gainst evil
Give mighty strength by your right hand
All:
Send me, LORD
With your vict’ry message
To those oppressed longing for hope
