They say, "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation. Let the name of Israel be remembered no more!" For they conspire in one accord; against You they make a covenant.....Do to them as You did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground. Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna who said, "Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God." (Verses 4-5;9-12)
Two pretty unlikely heroes are noted in this passage as conquerors over the enemies of Israel. A woman and a farmer. Deborah and Gideon. Let's start with Deborah. One of the only female judges of Israel that we know about. Israel was under the control of Jabin, king of Canaan, at the time, and the commander of his army was Sisera. For twenty years this man cruelly oppressed the children of God, using his army of nine hundred iron chariots to fight against their less superior forces. While sitting under the palm of Deborah one day speaking the will of God over those who came to her for wisdom, the prophetess summoned Barak in order to give him a message from God: "Hasn't the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you to gather your men at Mount Tabor? There He will draw Sisera out and give him into your hand."
Barak, unsure, won't go into battle unless Deborah goes, too. "I'll go, but be warned. The road you've decided to take won't lead to your glory, for the Lord will give Sisera into the hands of a woman." No matter. Barak wanted a hand to hold instead of trusting with courage in the word of the Lord to him.
When Sisera heard of the armies of Israel gathering, he assembled his own army with its chariots and trained soldiers and headed to Mount Tabor. Barak, still cowed, was, it seems, still reticent to pick up his arms and lead his men into battle. "Get up!" cried Deborah. (Can't you just hear her.) "This is the day Sisera is delivered into your hands." I think he was still whining a bit...you know, Sisera has all these chariots...all these men...and he's won again and again for twenty years now. Deborah exhorts Barak one more time. "The Lord has gone out before you!"
Of course the armies of Sisera were routed and killed. Only Sisera escaped and found himself in the desert community of Kedesh. There, a woman named Jael was surprised when the mighty warrior came rushing past her tent. "Come on in here," she wooed. "You're safe with me." And she covered Sisera with a rug and led him into her tent. The sight of this cruel leader must've made her heart beat faster and her face flush. Thinking what to do in the moment. Not knowing the outcome of hiding him there. A bigger plan hatching as she opened the tent flap and pushed Sisera into her home.
"Give me some water, please," he groaned. "I'm so thirsty." She gave him some milk instead then covered him up like a baby so he could sleep. "Watch the opening of the tent so no one discovers me," he commanded right before he fell under the spell of his own weariness and the milk and began to snore loudly, dead asleep.
Jael had taken a hammer and a pretty long nail to the door with her. The steady sounds of the general breathing, snoring, was her cue. Before she could think about it too long, she took the nail, set it at Sisera's temple and hammered it through his head and into the ground beneath.
Not long afterward, Barak came along. Looking for his enemy. "He's in here!" cried Jael. Sure enough. Sisera was dead. Killed by a woman who was unafraid of the Hitler of her day. She grasped the opportunity God gave her to stand up to the enemy, believing Sisera was in her tent because God brought him there. It was the beginning of Israel's freedom from Jabin the king of Canaan.
Excited by the conquest, Barak and Deborah actually wrote a song. A long one. It extols victories, but ends with an ode to Jael and her bravery:
Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent dwelling women most blessed.
He asked water and she gave him milk. She brought him curds in a noble's bowl.
She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen's mallet.
She struck Sisera. She crushed his head. She shattered and pierced his temple.
Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still.
Between her feet he sank, he fell. Where he sank, there he fell -- dead.
Perhaps the song would've been sung about Barak since God called him first to the task of victory. He gave his moment to another and missed the rush of knowing his God more intimately.
Gideon was a farmer with no experience of war. He was gleaning wheat in a winepress when a mighty angel appeared and declared: "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor!"
His response? If God is with us why are all these bad things happening? Why doesn't God do the awesome deeds He used to do to get us out of these terrible times?
"You go in this might of yours and save Israel?" The angel challenged the whining of Gideon.
Wha...? "Uh, you can't mean me! I got nothing. Our family is the weakest of our clan and I'm the weakest of them!"
"Precisely. And I will be with you when you go out to save Israel."
The angel of the Lord had to prove he'd be with Gideon, but the runt of the family of Joash the Abiezrite became the mighty warrior he was proclaimed by the angel to be. He let God define him not by his own natural abilities but by God's purposes for him in the moment. Gideon won battles not because he was strong, but because he was willing.
It still angers God when the enemy of our souls wants to pasture in lands that belong to Him. How long will His children allow the overthrow of their lives? Twenty years, as they did under the tyranny of Sisera? God would say to us as Deborah said to Barak, "Get up! It's you God wants to use!" The mighty angel of the Lord would meet us in our dens, watching television or playing video games, and say: "The Lord is with you, O mighty child of valor." There's a work for us to do, daily. We are called out to be vigilant over our souls, our lives, and our nation. I don't want to be caught up in self-doubt, like Barak and Gideon, to such a degree that I miss out on the victory. I doubt anyone will write a song about me. Jael will be remembered forever. She was the reason the name of Israel wasn't wiped out as Sisera wanted. One woman doing the will of God. Gideon believed what God said about him instead of what he knew of himself and toppled mighty kings. But what if I'm only victorious in crushing the enemy who wants to rob from me, kill me and utterly destroy my life? All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Christ...and He has given that to me. I want to stand fully armed - helmet, breastplate, belt, shoes, shield and sword - and resist the destroyer of all that is mine in Christ. Put a nail through his head when he even comes near my tent.
Remember, this is who God says you are: A living stone being built into a vast spiritual house, part of the royal priesthood, a people of God's own possession, a chosen race, beloved and rejoiced over, a people formed for Himself that we might declare His praise. We are mighty warriors, princesses and princes, joint heirs with Christ and His precious bride. Created for God's pleasure and given the Spirit of His dear Son. So let's get up!!
Two pretty unlikely heroes are noted in this passage as conquerors over the enemies of Israel. A woman and a farmer. Deborah and Gideon. Let's start with Deborah. One of the only female judges of Israel that we know about. Israel was under the control of Jabin, king of Canaan, at the time, and the commander of his army was Sisera. For twenty years this man cruelly oppressed the children of God, using his army of nine hundred iron chariots to fight against their less superior forces. While sitting under the palm of Deborah one day speaking the will of God over those who came to her for wisdom, the prophetess summoned Barak in order to give him a message from God: "Hasn't the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you to gather your men at Mount Tabor? There He will draw Sisera out and give him into your hand."
Barak, unsure, won't go into battle unless Deborah goes, too. "I'll go, but be warned. The road you've decided to take won't lead to your glory, for the Lord will give Sisera into the hands of a woman." No matter. Barak wanted a hand to hold instead of trusting with courage in the word of the Lord to him.
When Sisera heard of the armies of Israel gathering, he assembled his own army with its chariots and trained soldiers and headed to Mount Tabor. Barak, still cowed, was, it seems, still reticent to pick up his arms and lead his men into battle. "Get up!" cried Deborah. (Can't you just hear her.) "This is the day Sisera is delivered into your hands." I think he was still whining a bit...you know, Sisera has all these chariots...all these men...and he's won again and again for twenty years now. Deborah exhorts Barak one more time. "The Lord has gone out before you!"
Of course the armies of Sisera were routed and killed. Only Sisera escaped and found himself in the desert community of Kedesh. There, a woman named Jael was surprised when the mighty warrior came rushing past her tent. "Come on in here," she wooed. "You're safe with me." And she covered Sisera with a rug and led him into her tent. The sight of this cruel leader must've made her heart beat faster and her face flush. Thinking what to do in the moment. Not knowing the outcome of hiding him there. A bigger plan hatching as she opened the tent flap and pushed Sisera into her home.
"Give me some water, please," he groaned. "I'm so thirsty." She gave him some milk instead then covered him up like a baby so he could sleep. "Watch the opening of the tent so no one discovers me," he commanded right before he fell under the spell of his own weariness and the milk and began to snore loudly, dead asleep.
Jael had taken a hammer and a pretty long nail to the door with her. The steady sounds of the general breathing, snoring, was her cue. Before she could think about it too long, she took the nail, set it at Sisera's temple and hammered it through his head and into the ground beneath.
Not long afterward, Barak came along. Looking for his enemy. "He's in here!" cried Jael. Sure enough. Sisera was dead. Killed by a woman who was unafraid of the Hitler of her day. She grasped the opportunity God gave her to stand up to the enemy, believing Sisera was in her tent because God brought him there. It was the beginning of Israel's freedom from Jabin the king of Canaan.
Excited by the conquest, Barak and Deborah actually wrote a song. A long one. It extols victories, but ends with an ode to Jael and her bravery:
Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent dwelling women most blessed.
He asked water and she gave him milk. She brought him curds in a noble's bowl.
She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen's mallet.
She struck Sisera. She crushed his head. She shattered and pierced his temple.
Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still.
Between her feet he sank, he fell. Where he sank, there he fell -- dead.
Perhaps the song would've been sung about Barak since God called him first to the task of victory. He gave his moment to another and missed the rush of knowing his God more intimately.
Gideon was a farmer with no experience of war. He was gleaning wheat in a winepress when a mighty angel appeared and declared: "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor!"
His response? If God is with us why are all these bad things happening? Why doesn't God do the awesome deeds He used to do to get us out of these terrible times?
"You go in this might of yours and save Israel?" The angel challenged the whining of Gideon.
Wha...? "Uh, you can't mean me! I got nothing. Our family is the weakest of our clan and I'm the weakest of them!"
"Precisely. And I will be with you when you go out to save Israel."
The angel of the Lord had to prove he'd be with Gideon, but the runt of the family of Joash the Abiezrite became the mighty warrior he was proclaimed by the angel to be. He let God define him not by his own natural abilities but by God's purposes for him in the moment. Gideon won battles not because he was strong, but because he was willing.
It still angers God when the enemy of our souls wants to pasture in lands that belong to Him. How long will His children allow the overthrow of their lives? Twenty years, as they did under the tyranny of Sisera? God would say to us as Deborah said to Barak, "Get up! It's you God wants to use!" The mighty angel of the Lord would meet us in our dens, watching television or playing video games, and say: "The Lord is with you, O mighty child of valor." There's a work for us to do, daily. We are called out to be vigilant over our souls, our lives, and our nation. I don't want to be caught up in self-doubt, like Barak and Gideon, to such a degree that I miss out on the victory. I doubt anyone will write a song about me. Jael will be remembered forever. She was the reason the name of Israel wasn't wiped out as Sisera wanted. One woman doing the will of God. Gideon believed what God said about him instead of what he knew of himself and toppled mighty kings. But what if I'm only victorious in crushing the enemy who wants to rob from me, kill me and utterly destroy my life? All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Christ...and He has given that to me. I want to stand fully armed - helmet, breastplate, belt, shoes, shield and sword - and resist the destroyer of all that is mine in Christ. Put a nail through his head when he even comes near my tent.
Remember, this is who God says you are: A living stone being built into a vast spiritual house, part of the royal priesthood, a people of God's own possession, a chosen race, beloved and rejoiced over, a people formed for Himself that we might declare His praise. We are mighty warriors, princesses and princes, joint heirs with Christ and His precious bride. Created for God's pleasure and given the Spirit of His dear Son. So let's get up!!
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