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Judges Chapter 5
The Song of Deborah and Barak
- Judges 5:1 Then sang
Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,
2 Praise ye the
LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly
offered themselves.
They had victory and now it was time for them
to rejoice and give God all praise and glory.
- Psalm 84:11 For
the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and
glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly.
- 12 O LORD of
hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
Continual praise and worship is good. Not
only do we show thanks for God's deliverance from trouble but it is
an example to the children to do likewise. To God be the glory for
things He has done.
- Judges 5:3 Hear, O
ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the
LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.
- 4 LORD, when thou
wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of
Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds
also dropped water.
- 5 The mountains
melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the
LORD God of Israel.
This was an awesome time in the days of Moses
when God came down upon Mt. Sinai to meet with Moses.
- Exodus 19:18 And
mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD
descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the
smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
- 19 And when the
voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder,
Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
We see though that the people were so afraid
and really were not ready to hear God speak to them in person. After
the coming of Jesus years later though things change. Jesus bridged
the gap between God and man but only for those that believe and
receive Him. Hebrews speaks of this.
- Hebrews 12:18
For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and
that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and
tempest,
- 19 And the sound
of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that
heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any
more:
- 20 (For they
could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a
beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through
with a dart:
- 21 And so
terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and
quake:)
- 22 But ye are
come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
- 23 To the
general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect,
- 24 And to Jesus
the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
- 25 See that ye
refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who
refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape,
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Oh how we rob ourselves, our families and
others who might hear and receive by our testimony, if we fail to
receive the new and living way through faith in Jesus Christ. God
gives us a comforter, one that abides within our inner most being.
We no longer have to live in unbelief up one day, down the next. We
can have the joy of the Lord all the time. There will be trials and
heartache, but the Holy Spirit abides with us to get us through
those times. We must keep on living for God and teaching our
children so that there will not rise up a generation that does not
know the Lord.
We must keep the faith. God gave us a
new and living way. We must not go back into unbelief and pass that
unbelief to our children or we will see exactly this same type of
thing happen as we see in the book of Judges. Here we read of
deliverance from God, then a few years later a generation that goes
back into the mess God delivered their forefathers from, we see
bondage to enemies, we see them cry to the Lord and deliverance
again. Over and over we see this because they are not taught to
worship, seek and live for God from one generation to another. In
Jesus we can break that cycle by always teaching, worshiping,
seeking, learning and praying in the Spirit daily.
There is nothing to hard for the Lord,
nothing is impossible. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
- Judges 5:6 In the
days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the
highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through
byways.
We read about Shamgar in Judges chapter 3 and
about Jael in Judges chapter 4.
- Judges 5:7 The
inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until
that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.
- 8 They chose new
gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear
seen among forty thousand in Israel?
It is so sad to read about this at times when
new generations arise and choose other gods that are really not God
at all. They have no power to do good or evil. When they cut off the
real God, it cuts off safety, peace and even prosperity. It opens
the door to invasion and poverty. We can't seem to get it through
our heads that we need our creator. Without His hand of protection,
there is nothing good that will last. Idols can never deliver them
from danger. They sit still and can do nothing. The evil spirits
that accompany them though can do evil by deceiving the ones that
worship the false gods.
- Judges 5:9 My heart
is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves
willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD.
- 10 Speak, ye that
ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the
way.
- 11 They that are
delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing
water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD,
even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages
in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the
gates.
When they were obedient and at peace, there
was safety. The leaders and governors could ride and enter places with
much rejoicing and honor. The people were safe from those that would
hide near places where people came to draw water in order to prey
upon innocent people. When righteous rulers reigned, bandits and
outlaws were scarce. The protection of God was with them.
- Judges 5:12 Awake,
awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and
lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.
- 13 Then he made him
that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people:
the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.
When a nation or group of people have victory
over enemies, it is common for some to write songs about the
victories and in some cases they are about God who has saved and
delivered them as well as the captains and heroes that led the way.
- Judges 5:14 Out of
Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee,
Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors,
and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.
- 15 And the princes
of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he
was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben
there were great thoughts of heart.
- 16 Why abodest thou
among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For
the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
- 17 Gilead abode
beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued
on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.
- 18 Zebulun and
Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death
in the high places of the field.
Deborah was from Ephraim. So the tribes of
Ephraim, Benjamin, Manasseh, Zebulun, Issachar, Naphtali. the tribe
of Barak, helped fight against the Canaanites, but Ruben, Gad,
Asher, Judah and Simeon seemed to be ones that were not among those
that did the fighting for some reason.
- Judges 5:19 The
kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in
Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.
- 20 They fought from
heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
- 21 The river of
Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O
my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.
- 22 Then were the
horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings
of their mighty ones.
- 23 Curse ye Meroz,
said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants
thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the
help of the LORD against the mighty.
In verse 23 we see an angel curse the in
habitants of the Meroz because they would not help the Lord in this
battle. Also in Revelations we see what happens to those that
enslave people and slay them without cause. We see here that the
kings that helped Jabin against Israel did not profit or gain money
in return because they themselves were defeated. The angels of the
Lord helped Israel. Some enemies were defeated by storms causing the
river to swept them away. In verse 22 we see the horses suffer in
battle when they are driven too hard over rough roads. I do notice
in reading history that innocent people suffer when nations go to
war but also animals that depend on them for their care.
- In Revelations we read:
Revelation 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall
go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed
with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the
saints.
We must never forget that there is a natural
law of reaping and sowing that has existed from the beginning of
creation. No one will get by with evil.
- Judges 5:24 Blessed
above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed
shall she be above women in the tent.
- 25 He asked water,
and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly
dish.
- 26 She put her hand
to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and
with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when
she had pierced and stricken through his temples.
- 27 At her feet he
bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell:
where he bowed, there he fell down dead.
The story of Jael's bravery in defeating this
evil man who held Israel in bondage for 20 years, is in Judges
chapter 4.
- Judges 5:28 The
mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the
lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the
wheels of his chariots?
- 29 Her wise ladies
answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself,
- 30 Have they not
sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or
two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers
colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both
sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?
Sisera's mother waited for him to return
wondering why he was taking a long time to return home. Verse 30
shows what happens when armies defeated those they fought against.
They divided women among the men to ravish, they take garments of
different colors of fine needlework to wear and show off their
victory but in this case there was no victory.
Israel had rest 40 years after this
deliverance by the Lord. This seems to happen over and over again
when a new generation arises. It is something to think hard about.
How do we prevent our children and those after them from losing
their way and departing from God? Perhaps not assembling ourselves
in worship and setting the example both in worship in our lifestyle.
Perhaps it is the lack of teaching or trusting others to do the
teaching for us as parents? Whatever it is, we need to seek the face
of God for answers.
In all things, staying faithful to the Lord
is the way to live. If we do that we might suffer hardship and
persecution in this life, but the reward in eternity will be
everlasting joy and peace. It will be worth it all. Our children
also will see and believe. DC
Judges Chapter 6
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