Deborah Rises In Strength Series

When our difficulties arise some people might say, we have a problem. There are a few rare individuals who say, in the same situation, we have an opportunity. Deborah is one of those who say, we have an opportunity. She is one of the rare individuals who make a difference in the difficult times.

Deborah lived in very bad times. But it was all the more of an opportunity to show her great leadership. Her dependance on God and her battle strategy brilliance shone through in the difficult situation.

The theme of judges is that everyone did what was right in their own eyes. There was a reoccurring pattern in the Judges:

1. Sin of the nation

2. Punishment

3. Repentance

4. Deliverance.

There were three judges that preceded Deborah as judge. Each judge represented a whole new generation that had turned from the Lord and needed a leader who would lead them to defeat their oppressors and bring deliverance and peace for years to come.

Othniel (Judges 3:9-11) Captured a city. His name even meant powerful one. There was peace for 40 years

Ehud (Judges 3:15-30) Boldly killed the oppressor king with his sword. There was peace for 80 years.

Shamgar (Judges 3:31) (Judges 5:6) He struck down six hundred Philistines. Unknown period of peace.

The preceding judges personally overpowered the enemy. Deborah was different. She did not personally overpower the enemy, but her unsurpassed strength came from her relationship with God. She was a prophetess. The Spirit of God speaks through her to deliver the nation.

All the judges who preceded Deborah were dead by the time she held court. The people would stay faithful to God as long as that judge who delivered them was alive. Then they would revert back to idolatry when that judge passed on.

Deborah was a woman who found her strength in the Lord. She was a prophetess, and she was leading or judging Israel. The story of Deborah is told twice in two different ways. Chapter 4 is prose account of Deborah as Judge and chapter 5 is poetry version known as the Song of Deborah.

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. (Judges 4:5)

The people would seek out ones who had the wisdom of the Lord. They would come to Deborah to have their disputes settled.

We begin the story of Deborah with the sin of Israel. Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, now that Ehud was dead. (Judges 4:1) They fell into their pattern. The previous judge Ehud died, and they did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

We read about the idolatry of the land. When they chose new gods war came to the city gates. (Judges 5:8) There was a widespread idolatry in the land. They exchanged the living God for idols that were no god at all. The idolatry gave them false promises of fertility and prosperous agriculture.

Their turning from God ended the time of peace and brought oppression. The Lord once again gets the attention of Israel by the oppression (severe oppression) of a pagan king. In this case the oppression came from King Jabin of Canaan.

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. (Judges 4:2-3)

The commander of Jabin’s army was Sisera who led an army of 900 iron chariots. This army struck fear in the hearts of the poorly armed Israelites. The Israelites were cruelly oppressed for twenty years. The Israelites were afraid to travel on the main highways.

For King Jabin’s army to have 900 iron chariots could be compared to an army with 900 tanks to an army that had none. The Israelites were dominated militarily. In the movie Ben Hur, it showed how iron chariots with knives on the wheels could cut down foot soldiers like a farmer with a sickle harvesting a field of wheat.

The oppression was designed by the Lord. They cried out to the Lord. The oppression made Israel see the foolishness of idols and then to turn to worshiping the true God. It caused them to cry out.

After twenty years of oppression Israel was broken. In their brokenness they cried out to the Lord for help. Finally, they were more than just sorry that they were under oppression. Now they are repulsed by their own sinfulness. But we know God’s mercy is greater than all our sin.