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.
God is going to use Deborah the prophetess to deliver Israel from their oppression. Deborah is one who can make decision in matters of disputes. She is the one the scripture says was leading Israel at that time. Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. (Judges 4:4)
Deborah was not an elected leader. She was the one the people turned to for wisdom to settle their difficulties. The people sensed the presence of God in this prophetess. She sent for the military commander in Israel Barak. She spoke to him as a prophetess.
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. (Judges 4:6)
We have Barak’s response. Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” (Judges 4:8)
Deborah gives her response to Barak. 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. (Judges 4:9)
Ten thousand men accompanied Barak and Deborah to the Kishon River. 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. (Judges 4:12-13)
Sisera took his 900 iron chariots and all his men to face off with the Israelite army. He is not going to refuse a challenge from the poorly equipped Israel. He takes his men to the Kishon River.
Deborah commands Barak. Arise! Go! Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?
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. (Judges 4:14)
Israel did not have any swords or shields (Judges 5:8). They were going to be slaughtered going up against a well-armed army with 900 iron chariots, unless the hand of the Lord was with them.
This battle took place at the Kishon River where a small stream becomes a flood plain. It is prone to mud and muck. Now through the leading of the Lord through the prophetess Deborah the army of Sisera and the powerful iron chariots have been lured onto the muddy flood plain.
What was before an asset to have heavy iron chariots has now through this maneuver turned these iron chariots into liabilities. They are stuck in the mud.
“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. (Judges 5:4)
Since this battle was orchestrated of the Lord, we should not be surprised at the Lord bringing rain at the exact time that would be a disaster for Sisera and his army. Deborah was a great military leader. But not because of her strategic genius.
The river Kishon swept them away,
the age-old river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul; be strong! (Judges 5:21)
Something that surpasses that. She is a prophet of Almighty God. It is God who orchestrated everything. Deborah is powerful because God is using her. The best kind of power, not by might but by the Spirit of God.
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. (Judges 4:15)
God did it! He used Deborah to reveal his plans. Sisera flees on foot. How do you run when the Lord is causing the defeat? He meets Jael, the most blessed of women (Judges 5:24). But Jael is the one whose name means, the wild mountain goat. This woman is the most blessed, the Greatest of all time. She in a sense really is the GOAT. She will be remembered forever.
This woman Jael is not who Sisera would have wanted to meet. Jael gave him milk to drink, goats milk I suppose, and gave Sisera a covering wo he could sleep. Among the Bedouin community it is the women who set up the tents. Who new how dangerous that skill, setting up tents could be? It means you always have a ready tent peg and a mallet.
Jael used the tent peg to kill Sisera. Chapter 5 is a song of praise accounting what Jael did. During the time Sisera’s mother was wondering where her son Sisera was. Israel was so weak he must be delayed dividing the spoils she thought. No, she did not know yet what the Lord had done to deliver Sisera and his army to Israel.
God used Deborah who was strong. She was strong in the Lord. The Lord can use you if you are strong in the Lord. He could use you to rebuild a broken family. He could use you to turn around a declined church. He could use you to put morality into your nation.
If you are strong in the Lord, it is more powerful than political power, military power, scientific power. There is nothing impossible with God. If you are strong in the Lord you may have a victory March.
March on my soul, be strong (Judges 5:21).
God delights to use weak vessels. Deborah was not a weak woman, but her real power was in her relationship with God. One person walking with the Lord can do more than you can imagine.
