Deborah & Barak - Judges 4:1 - 5:31

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Bible Stories

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Rusty' Notes

• The Book of Joshua reveals that victory, success, and progress result when God's people trust and obey Him consistently.
• The Book of Judges shows that defeat, failure, and retrogression follow when they fail to trust and obey Him consistently.
• In this respect Joshua and Judges are like two sides of one coin.

"This book is … quite negative: it begins bleakly, continues darkly, and ends horribly."
 
Judges 1-3 sets the stage for the period of the judges in Israel's history, highlighting the challenges the Israelites face in the Promised Land and the beginning of the cycle of disobedience and deliverance.

• Judges settled civil disputes but sometimes also served as military leaders.

1. Judges 1: After Joshua's death, the Israelites continued their efforts to conquer the remaining Canaanite territories.

• The tribe of Judah led the charge, achieving some victories, but many tribes failed to fully drive out the Canaanites.
• This incomplete obedience led to the Israelites living among the Canaanites, which set the stage for future idolatry and conflict.

1. Judges 2 : An angel of the Lord rebukes the Israelites for not obeying God's command to completely remove the Canaanites.

• The chapter outlines the cycle that will characterize the book of Judges: Israel's disobedience, oppression by enemies, crying out to God, and deliverance by judges.
• Chart of judges
• The chapter also notes the death of Joshua and the rise of a new generation that does not know the Lord, leading to their worship of other gods.

1. Judges 3 : The first judges are introduced.

• Othniel, the first judge, delivers Israel from the king of Aram, bringing peace for 40 years.
• Ehud, the second judge, delivers Israel from the Moabites by assassinating King Eglon, leading to 80 years of peace.
• Shamgar, the third judge, delivers Israel from the Philistines, though his story is briefly mentioned.

These chapters highlight the Israelites' struggle to remain faithful to God amidst the influences of the surrounding nations and set the pattern of recurring cycles of disobedience and deliverance that define the era of the judges.
 
 
DEBORAH AND BARAK
JUDGES 4
1 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died. 2 So the Lord sold them to King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera who lived in Harosheth of the Nations.

• Northern Galilee area
• Hazor was one of the largest cities in the Promised Land – controlled by Canaanites.

3 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, because Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them twenty years.
4 Deborah, a prophetess and the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

•  Her name means "Bee," and she did what often typifies a bee: She stung the enemy, and she brought sweet refreshment (as honey refreshes one's spirit and strength) to her people.

5 She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to settle disputes.
6 She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the Naphtalites and Zebulunites?

• On this occasion, Israel's forces were very numerous.
• They had perhaps a 10 to one advantage over the Canaanites.

7 Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his infantry at the Wadi Kishon to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.’ ”
8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

• Most Israelite commanders called on God to help them but Barak called on Deborah.

9 “I will gladly go with you,” she said, “but you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera to a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

• Whatever his motivation may have been, Barak put a condition on obeying God.
• The will of God was clear.
• He even had God's promise of victory.
• Nevertheless he refused to obey unless Deborah accompanied him.
• Barak would defeat the Canaanites, but a woman would get the honor for defeating the commander, Sisera.
• This was Barak's punishment for putting a condition on his obedience to God.

10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the sons of Hobab, Moses’s father-in-law, and pitched his tent beside the oak tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.
12 It was reported to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor. 13 Sisera summoned all his nine hundred iron chariots and all the troops who were with him from Harosheth of the Nations to the Wadi Kishon. 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn’t the Lord gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
15 The Lord threw Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army into a panic before Barak’s assault. Sisera left his chariot and fled on foot. 16 Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth of the Nations, and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left.
17 Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. 19 He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again.

• Sisera had violated every part of the code governing the actions of host and guest.
• Sisera should have gone directly to Heber, the head of the household, not to his wife's tent.
• This violation of hospitality customs would have alerted Jael that something was amiss.
• Furthermore, Sisera should not have accepted Jael's offer of hospitality.
• But when he did, this doubtless indicated to Jael again that his intentions were not right.

20 Then he said to her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent. If a man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’ ” 21 While he was sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife, Jael, took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She hammered the peg into his temple and drove it into the ground, and he died.

• To die by the hand of a woman was a disgrace in the ancient Near East (cf. 9:54 - Abimelech).

22 When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come and I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!

• The man who should have taken the initiative in attacking Israel's enemy years earlier now got another order from a woman—a seemingly "ordinary housewife," who had conquered General Barak's mighty enemy: General Sisera.

23 That day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 The power of the Israelites continued to increase against King Jabin of Canaan until they destroyed him.[1]
 
DEBORAH’S SONG
JUDGES 5
1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang:
2 When the leaders lead in Israel,
when the people volunteer,
blessed be the Lord.
3 Listen, kings! Pay attention, princes!
I will sing to the Lord;
I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
4 Lord, when you came from Seir,
when you marched from the fields of Edom,
the earth trembled,
the skies poured rain,
and the clouds poured water.
5 The mountains melted before the Lord,
even Sinai, before the Lord, the God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
in the days of Jael,
the main roads were deserted
because travelers kept to the side roads.
7 Villages were deserted,
they were deserted in Israel,
until I, Deborah, arose,
a mother in Israel.
8 Israel chose new gods,
then there was war in the city gates.
Not a shield or spear was seen
among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart is with the leaders of Israel,
with the volunteers of the people.
Blessed be the Lord!
10 You who ride on white donkeys,
who sit on saddle blankets,
and who travel on the road, give praise!
11 Let them tell the righteous acts of the Lord,
the righteous deeds of his villagers in Israel,
with the voices of the singers at the watering places.
Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates.
12 “Awake! Awake, Deborah!
Awake! Awake, sing a song!
Arise, Barak,
and take your prisoners,
son of Abinoam!”
13 Then the survivors came down to the nobles;
the Lord’s people came down to me against the warriors.
14 Those with their roots in Amalek came from Ephraim;
Benjamin came with your people after you.
The leaders came down from Machir,
and those who carry a marshal’s staff came from Zebulun.
15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
Issachar was with Barak;
they were under his leadership, in the valley.
There was great searching of heart
among the clans of Reuben.
16 Why did you sit among the sheep pens
listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks?
There was great searching of heart
among the clans of Reuben.
17 Gilead remained beyond the Jordan.
Dan, why did you linger at the ships?
Asher remained at the seashore
and stayed in his harbors.
18 The people of Zebulun defied death,
Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.
19 Kings came and fought.
Then the kings of Canaan fought
at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo,
but they did not plunder the silver.
20 The stars fought from the heavens;
the stars fought with Sisera from their paths.
21 The river Kishon swept them away,
the ancient river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul, in strength!
22 The horses’ hooves then hammered--
the galloping, galloping of his stallions.
23 “Curse Meroz,” says the angel of the Lord,
“Bitterly curse her inhabitants,
for they did not come to help the Lord,
to help the Lord with the warriors.”
24 Jael is most blessed of women, is Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite;
she is most blessed among tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water; she gave him milk.
She brought him cream in a majestic bowl.
26 She reached for a tent peg,
her right hand, for a workman’s hammer.
Then she hammered Sisera--
she crushed his head;
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 He collapsed, he fell, he lay down between her feet;
he collapsed, he fell between her feet;
where he collapsed, there he fell—dead.
28 Sisera’s mother looked through the window;
she peered through the lattice, crying out:
“Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why don’t I hear the hoofbeats of his horses?”
29 Her wisest princesses answer her;
she even answers herself:
30 “Are they not finding and dividing the spoil--
a girl or two for each warrior,
the spoil of colored garments for Sisera,
the spoil of an embroidered garment or two for my neck?”
31 Lord, may all your enemies perish as Sisera did.
But may those who love him
be like the rising of the sun in its strength.
And the land had peace for forty years. [2]

• This chapter celebrates the fact that God gave His people a great victory through these women.

And today, the fighting between Israel and it’s enemies ceases for another season as the peace treaty goes into effect between Israel and Gaza.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jdg 4:1–24.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jdg 5:1–31.