Chico Alliance Church
October 20, 2002
Pastor David Welch
“Barak & Deborah”
Unlikely Heroes Part Two
Introduction
And He (Jesus) has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Cor. 12:9
Since all people struggle with weakness, this is great news. Even those we perceive as powerful have significant weaknesses. It should come as no surprise that God can and indeed does use weak and unlikely people. If we were to look closely, every person God used in the Bible was an unlikely candidate for great things. The premise through this series is that the weakness of men accentuates the power of God. Just for fun, we have chosen to focus on a few unlikely heroes listed in Hebrews 11:32-34
And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Hebrews 11:32-34
These are those listed who perfectly fit the description “from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” Since four out of the six people specifically named in these verses came from the times of Judges we touched briefly on the background surrounding that period.
Background
Judges records the consequences of partial obedience. Judges records a series of cycles revolving around bondage and deliverance. The writer of Judges first summarizes the cycle and then illustrates it with the history of some of the major Judges. We explored the five elements of that cycle two weeks ago.
SIN
Lacking a person relationship and firsthand experience with God a new generation arose that followed after the gods of those around them. They did evil in God’s sight even though it was not a problem in their own sight. Each person became their own standard. The end result of a society who follows no objective standard is clearly illustrated in this historical document. It usually ends in immorality; idolatry and anarchy destroy a people.
SLAVERY
God must respond to evil in His world, especially among His chosen people.
The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Judges 2:14
SUPPLICATION
In the misery of their bondage the people cried out to God.
for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them.
What is so special about crying out to God?
• It arises from recognition of personal helplessness.
• It arises from recognition of hopelessness.
• It expresses humble faith in God’s goodness
• It expresses willingness to let God do it His way
Those who honestly cry out to God find deliverance.
SALVATION
In response to their cry God rose up and anointed and empowered someone to bring deliverance from oppression. This was a person specifically empowered by God for the purpose of deliverance in response to the cry of the people. This deliverer would not be empowered until the people were repentant. Some were obscure until called. The Lord used a number of unlikely “saviors” to bring salvation to the people. Hebrews 11 lists four judges from this period. Who will God rise up among us to deliver us from what binds us as a church? Who will God bring into your life to lead you to freedom from what binds you?
SILENCE (Rest)
After freedom from the oppressor, God granted a period of rest or continued freedom. This period usually corresponded with the life of the anointed servant. After the death of this leader, the people returned to their old ways and the cycle began again. The leader was there to remind them to keep their eyes on God. The leader was there to expose evil and encourage righteousness. The leader would encourage them to stand against their enemies in the power of God.
APPLICATION
We all cycle through these stages many times in our lifetime.
Sin, slavery, supplication, salvation, silence
Too often we fail to recognize it and struggle through the slavery stage longer than necessary. Israel had enjoyed a period of rest for nearly 80 years under another unlikely hero Ehud the left-handed judge. (Left-handed people were generally scorned.) However after Ehud died we read about one of the people mentioned in our passage. The cycle continued in Judges 4
Sin
Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, after Ehud died. Judges 4:1
Slavery
And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim (huh ROH sheth-huh GOY im) Judges 4:2
Sisera’s home, Hărōshet haggôyim, is modern Tell ’Amar, located at the place where the Kishon River passes through a narrow gorge to enter the Plain of Acre. It is about ten miles northwest of Meggido.
What jumps out at me here is the fact that it is the LORD who sold the Israelites into Jabin’s hands. We briefly touched on the divine strategy of bondage and tribulation.
I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me. Hosea 5:15
As we learn in the next verse, Jabin severely afflicted them for twenty years.
Canaan was made up of a number of city-states, each of which was ruled by a king. “Jabin” was the official title or name of the King of Hazor (Josh. 11:1). He was also called “King of Canaan.” This title probably means that he was the head of a confederacy of kings. Joshua had burned Hazor (Josh. 11:13), but the Canaanites had rebuilt it and occupied it. With his large army and his 900 chariots of iron, Jabin was securely in control of the land. As you read the narrative, however, you get the impression that Sisera, captain of Jabin’s army, was the real power in the land. Jabin isn’t even mentioned in Deborah’s song in Judges 5!
The location of the main fortress city left in Cannan; Hazor is located about ten miles north of the Sea of Galilee.
Archaeological investigations do show a major destruction level in the thirteenth century, which could be the result of attacks by either the Sea Peoples, the Israelites or some other group. Subsequently the city was refortified by Solomon (1 Kings 9:15) and remained a major center of commerce and a key to Israel’s northern border until the Assyrian conquest (2 Kings 15:29).
I hope it doesn’t take us twenty years to realize our sin and cry out to God.
Supplication
The sons of Israel cried to the LORD; for he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years. Judges 4:3
I want to draw some attention to the nature of these cries to God. They seem to be based on desperation not devotion. Even though such a cry is often heard and answered by God, often times they represent a selfish bent on the part of the desperate. These people did not seem to cry out to God for cleansing from sin but for comfort in difficult circumstances. They did not seem as interested in His Presence as his presents. The difference between temporary reformation and true revival depends on whether change is internally or externally driven. The speed at which these people returned to doing what was right in their own eyes and evil in the sight of the Lord leads me to think that, for most, their change had more to do with external pressure than internal purity.
Had they repented, God would have done much more than deliver them from physical slavery. He would have liberated them from their spiritual bondage as well. To ask God for comfort and not cleansing is only to sow seeds of selfishness that will eventually produce another bitter harvest. David’s prayer is what Israel needed to pray: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10).
The promise of the New Covenant which we now embrace features internal change.
"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ’Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Jeremiah 31:31-34
The point is a humble cry grabs God’s attention. He heard their cry and arranged for their supernatural deliverance.
Salvation
Just what kind of person qualifies to rally the people to stand against their oppressors? As we have been saying, God uses some of the most unlikely people to accomplish his eternal purposes. As we said earlier, God’s strength becomes more pronounced against our weakness. He wants our focus to be on His power not man’s feeble effort.
For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;
who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many. 2 Cor. 1:8-11
Let’s return now to the historical account of this deliverance and see who God used. The main characters in this drama of deliverance are Deborah and Barak.
God Communicated the plan & the person
We are first introduced to Deborah as prophetess and judge in Israel.
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim ; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. Judges 4:4-5
Women were not well accepted in a male-dominated society.
Lepers, Gentiles, and women were considered outcasts by many Jewish people, especially the Pharisees. Many Pharisees would pray each morning, “I give thanks that I am a man and not a woman, a Jew and not a Gentile, a free-man and not a slave.”
Deborah was an exception as she held a very high position. People came to her for arbitration in disputes (judge). They also looked to her for direction as a spokesperson for God (prophetess).
Deborah’s secret. While we have to believe that Deborah was an exceptional person in her own right, there was more to her leadership than her special talents. We can be sure she was wise and fair: the readiness of Israelites to trek to where Deborah held court so she could settle their disputes tells us that (Judges 4:5). But what really made Deborah special, and won her the respect of the men of Israel, was her closeness to the Lord. God spoke to this woman. And God spoke through her. She was one of those few spokesmen that God selected to communicate His will to His Old Testament people: Deborah was a prophetess (Judges 4:4). It was Deborah’s special relationship with God that was recognized by all the people, and that won her their respect. (Richards)
Anyone can become sensitive to God. It takes no special talent or aptitude. It is a heart thing. It is a matter of inner passion and priority to seek the Lord with all ones heart. God spoke to one who would hear and laid out the path to deliverance. He told her to summon a man named Barak.
Now she sent and summoned Barak(BAY rak) the son of Abinoam (uh BIN oh uhm) from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, "Behold, the LORD, the God of Israel, has commanded, ’Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. ’I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his many troops to the river Kishon (KIGH shahn) , and I will give him into your hand.’ " Jud 4:6-7
God communicated the person as well as the plan. It does not say so directly, but why summon Barak who lived in a whole different section of the country? Perhaps it was because he and his people were affected by the tribulation imposed by Jabin. We are actually never told that Barak is a judge. Only his father and his home town were identified. Barak lived in one of the cities of refuge controlled by the priests. An unlikely person from an unlikely tribe called to accomplish an impossible mission.
Barak responded to the call
How would this man respond to God’s call to deliver his people?
Then Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go." 4:8
I wish we had been given a bit more detail. This brief response leaves room for a great deal of speculation. I want to know the motive behind Barak’s ultimatum. Was he afraid? Was he reluctant? Did he need the assurance of God’s presence in the person of God’s prophetess? Was there a hint of stubbornness? Was this an indication of faith?
My guess, because of Deborah’s response, is that he was reluctant and perhaps intimidated to accept such an impossible mission on his own. God’s command to go and promise of deliverance was not quite enough for Barak. He would only go if God’s representative Deborah went with him.
Deborah responded to Barak’s ultimatum
Deborah agreed to go with him but there would be consequences for this choice.
She said, "I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman." Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. Judges 4:9
I wonder how Deborah knew that detail. Did God tell her that after Barak issues his ultimatum? Did she already know that part ahead of time? Did God change His plan based on Barak’s response? I like the perspective Deborah had “the journey you are about to take.” Life is a journey and how we respond to God’s call determines what honors come along the way. In this case God did not disqualify a reluctant warrior but diverts the glory. Barak then did what I would consider the hardest part of the job. Convincing 10,000 recruits to go with him. Mustering volunteers to join in a difficult mission is not an easy task.
Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up with him; Deborah also went up with him. Judges 4:10
God brought deliverance
Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. Sisera called together all his chariots, nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. Deborah said to Barak, "Arise! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hands; behold, the LORD has gone out before you." So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. The LORD routed (put into a panic) 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. 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 even one was left. Judges 4:12-16
Some of the battle details were recounted in a victory song later.
"The kings came and fought; then fought the kings of Canaan at Taanach near the waters of Megiddo;
They took no plunder in silver.
"The stars fought from heaven, from their courses they fought against Sisera.
"The torrent of Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon.
O my soul, march on with strength.
"Then the horses’ hoofs beat from the dashing, the dashing of his valiant steeds.
’Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD, ‘Utterly curse its inhabitants; because they did not come to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the warriors.’ 5:19-23
Deborah had the game plan and the timing.
When God goes out before you who can be against you? Just as God delivered the Israelites into Jabin’s hand he delivered Jabin’s army into Israel’s hand. What about general Jabin?
Now Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, "Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid." And he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. He said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty." So she opened a bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. He said to her, "Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ’Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ’No.’ " But Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and seized a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking." And he entered with her, and behold Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.
So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. The hand of the sons of Israel pressed heavier and heavier upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan.
Judges 4:17-24
The event was also remembered in the victory duet.
"Most blessed of women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; most blessed is she of women in the tent.
"He asked for water and she gave him milk; in a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.
"She reached out her hand for the tent peg, and her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.
Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head; and she shattered and pierced his temple.
"Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay; between her feet he bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell dead. Judges 5:24-27
They celebrated with a victory duet
Began with praise to God for His intervention and deliverance
Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,
"That the leaders led in Israel, that the people willingly offered themselves, Bless the LORD!
"Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers! I—to the LORD, I will sing, I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.
"LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the field of Edom,
The earth quaked, the heavens also dripped, even the clouds dripped water.
"The mountains quaked at the presence of the LORD, this Sinai, at the presence of the LORD, the God of Israel. Judges 5:1-5
Recounts the misery of Israel in bondage.
Recounts reluctance of other tribes to help
Recounts the decisive deliverance
Recounts Jael’s defeat of Sisera
Surmises the grief of Sisera’s mother at his failure to return home.
Finishes with a blessing that all of Israel’s enemies perish and all who love the Lord would shine like the rising sun.
Observations and Lessons
• Living according to what is right in your own eyes brings bondage so live by God’s ways.
BE quick to respond to God’s discipline.
Discern where it comes from and repent from the heart.
• A humble cry of desperation grabs God’s attention so humbly cry out to God often.
Don’t just cry for deliverance from circumstances.
Money, job, difficult people, health, trials.
Continually cry to the Lord for forgiveness and deliverance from sin.
Attitudes, destructive habits, hurtful words, ungodly behavior.
• God uses the most unlikely people to resist evil and restore righteousness so make yourself available to Him always.
The obscure and reluctant
The unlikely and unappreciated
God may use just one person to rally the people and lead them to victory.
One person can inspire courage to face their enemies and resist the bondage.
• God has a specific plan for victory so listen carefully and follow fully.
We so often think we have a better plan. God’s ways seem so impossible and illogical to our way of thinking. We must remember God clearly says…
" My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
• What God commands God empowers so trust in God’s strength.
Barak could have won the battle without Deborah. All he needed was the Lord. He had the promise of victory.
• When God goes before us who can stand against us so courageously engage the enemy.
Let God be your point man. Nothing gets by Him.
What are you facing today? What is holding you in misery and bondage? Cry out to God for deliverance and stand by and watch who he will send to bring it.
• Those who share the responsibility must also share the honor so consider trusting God alone.
• It is good to remember and celebrate God’s victories so celebrate often.
This whole account emphasizes one of our church goals. Resolutely resist evil and restore righteousness.
Will you call out to God for His supernatural deliverance?
Will you believe God for the impossible?
Will you listen to God’s call to engage the enemy?
Will you follow His means to victory? Dedication to learning, fellowship, prayer, communion.
Will you be God’s instrument to rally the family to move against the gates of hell and experience the building of Christ’s church?
God uses unlikely people like Deborah and Barak. People who struggle with identity, courage, obscurity. To this one will I look
Thus says the LORD,
"Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest? "For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being," declares the LORD. "But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. Isaiah 66:1-2
