Deborah The Delightful Series

I have enjoyed war stories and war heroes since I was a

small boy watching the news on the movies screen in the local

theater. I never realized, however, that not all of the heroes

were men. I heard of Joan of Arc when I got into the upper

grades of school, but I never had the concept of the heroin in

my mind until recently as a retired pastor. The history of the

women warriors on the battlefield has not been available until

recent years when female historians have brought them to

light. Even those in the Bible have not been known because

they are overshadowed by the great male warriors of the

Bible. It has been my delight to discover that women have

played a major role in defending the freedom and value

system of America and of the people of God through history.

One of the most outstanding is Deborah

Here we have a woman who rose to the top in a day when

all the world around here was filled with masculine brutality.

Her story takes place between the years 1209 and 1169 B.C.

Life was one war after another, and every man did that which

was right in his own eyes. Moral standard were so low that

even the godly people did things that would be a disgrace in

our day. Almost nothing was unacceptable. The masses of

people were following pagan practices and were not different

from the pagan people around them. But in the midst of this

awful period of history we suddenly come to chapter 4 of

Judges, and to our surprise a woman is in charge. No woman

had been a judge of Israel before and none came after her.

She was a one of a kind female, and she was able by her

God-given gifts to rise to the point of being the leader of

God's people. Israel had been oppressed by the cruel

Canaanites for twenty years. They were devastated and were

crying out to God for help. This is when we begin to get the

story of this delightful leader named Deborah. In Judges

4:4-10 we get some basic facts about her.

She was a prophetess.

She was a wife.

She was a leader of Israel.

She was a literal judge who decided disputes.

She was a messenger of God's word to men.

She was a partner with the male commander of Israel's army.

In Chapter 5 we see also that

She was a poetess and a singer.

She was a mother-5:7.

What this marvelous women illustrates is that a woman

can do it all. She can be a wife and a mother, and still be a

leader and public servant. She can have both a private world

and a public world where she can be successful. God delighted

in this unusual woman and used her in a unique way to bless

his people. Lets look at the ways she was used of God by some

of the roles she played.

1. AS PROPHETESS.

This means God used her as a spokesperson to

communicate his message to others. You do not choose this,

for it is God's choice as to who is going to give his word to

others. God does not discriminate against women and use

only male instruments to communicate. The role of prophetess

is found in both the Old and the New Testament. Miriam the

sister of Moses was a prophetess as we read in Ex. 15:20. It is

of interest to note that Miriam was also a poetess and singer

like Deborah. It makes me feel that women who are closest to

God will be channels of joy and song for others. Much, if not

most of the poetry and song by which believers have praised

God all through history has come to us through gifted women.

Others called prophetesses are Huldah in 2 Kings 22:14,

Noadiah in Nehemiah 6:14, Anna in Luke 2:36, and the four

daughters of Philip in Acts 21:9.

These women received direct revelation from God, and this

enabled them to announce what God was going to do. They

were the only people who could know the future and tell

others what was going to be. They were extremely valuable

when it came to knowing how a battle was going to turn out.

Anyone can be brave in facing a battle if they know ahead of

time that they are going to win. Deborah knew that the forces

of Israel could now overcome the enemies of Israel, and so she

was a pure delight to Barak the commander of the army of

Israel. So much so that he says in v.8 that he will not go to

war unless she comes with him. Here is a male warrior who

refuses to enter the battlefield without this female by his side.