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Judges Chapter 4
Deborah and Barak
- Judges 4:1 And the
children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when
Ehud was dead.
- 2 And the LORD sold
them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in
Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in
Harosheth of the Gentiles.
- 3 And the children
of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots
of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of
Israel.
It gets longer each time. It started out as 8
years of bondage, then 18. Now it is 20 years. This shows the
importance of teaching the next generation about God, about
salvation through Jesus, about eternity and not being married to
this world but finding God and studying His word. If we don't, we
can lose a whole generation. One of the saddest sentences in the
bible is, "There arose a generation that knew not God."
Things had gotten so bad after 20 years of
bondage from Canaan that they finally cried unto the Lord. Sisera
was the captain of Canaan's soldiers. He was the main one that kept
Israel in bondage that long. Yet we see God as a merciful God who
hears His people when they cry out to Him even though they
previously sinned against Him and served the idol gods of the
surrounding nations that their forefathers failed to drive out. God
said at the time that these nations would be a thorn in their side
and influence them into evil.
- Judges 4:4 And
Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel
at that time.
Deborah was the 16th judge in Israel.
- Judges 4:5 And she dwelt
under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount
Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for
judgment.
This was about 5 miles north of Jerusalem.
- Judges 4:6 And she sent
and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and
said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded,
saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten
thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of
Zebulun?
- 7 And I will draw
unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's
army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver
him into thine hand.
- 8 And Barak said
unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou
wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
- 9 And she said, I
will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou
takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell
Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went
with Barak to Kedesh.
Deborah prophsied that a woman would be the
one that would save Israel from bondage since he was afraid to go
without her (Deborah) being with him. God uses different methods at
different times. He uses 10,000 men here but in chapter 7 of Judges
which tells of the day of Gideon, God instructed him only to use
300.
We can't criticize Barak too much though
because he at least wanted to make sure he was in the will of God
and God would be with them by insisting on Deborah going with him.
- Judges 4:10 And
Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with
ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
- 11 Now Heber the
Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of
Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his
tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
- 12 And they shewed
Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.
We don't really know if this descendent
of the father in law of Moses was part of the plot to destroy Sisera
or not but we know his wife later becomes the woman that gets the
credit for victory as Deborah prophesied.
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Judges 4:13 And Sisera
gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots
of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth
of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.
In the book of 1 Kings it shows that
this place was the same place in which Elijah had the prophets of
Baal destroyed later in the time of the kings.
-
Judges 4:14 And Deborah
said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath
delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out
before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten
thousand men after him.
Perhaps Barak knew the Lord was with Deborah
and had no confidence in himself to hear from the Lord. We have
people like that today that perfer to trust in others to intercede
and seek the Lord thinking they themselves are not worthy or lack
the will to pray and seek God for themselves.
That is one thing that we have after the
coming of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to
those that genuinely receive Jesus. We are all equally able to seek
the Lord as a corporate body of Christ or as individuals. We all
have access to all God has for us. He raises up pastors, teachers
and such but all of us can hear from the Lord as individuals too so
that we are not deceived by someone that is not for real. We also
have the written word, both Old and New Testaments to show us the
truth. Anything we hear or see, we can check with the written word
or pray until we hear from God ourselves to confirm the word we hear
preached or taught.
- Judges 4:15 And the
LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host,
with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted
down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
- 16 But Barak pursued
after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the
Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the
sword; and there was not a man left.
- 17 Howbeit Sisera
fled away on his feet 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.
- 18 And Jael went out
to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to
me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent,
she covered him with a mantle.
- 19 And he said unto
her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am
thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink,
and covered him.
- 20 Again he said
unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when
any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man
here? that thou shalt say, No.
- 21 Then Jael Heber's
wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand,
and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples,
and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and
weary. So he died.
- 22 And, behold, as
Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto
him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And
when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the
nail was in his temples.
- 23 So God subdued on
that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of
Israel.
- 24 And the hand of
the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin
the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of
Canaan.
When we first read this chapter, we might
assume that the woman Deborah refers to is herself, but now we see
clearly that it is by the hand of Jael that the victory is complete.
A woman did indeed complete the victory in this case.
As long as Israel served the Lord, nothing
could possibly come against them but when they forsook God, anything
could happen. They had no mighty strength in themselves. If only all
of us could learn from that. Our victory is in the Lord alone. No
other. DC
Israel escaped bondage once again.
Judges Chapter 5
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