drawn to the story, but I hadn’t really explored it before at this depth.
Deborah is the only judge in the book of Judges that is female. She is also the only one in the book that is both a judge and a prophet. She is also the only judge in the book that the writer has only good things to say about. And she is the only singer/songwriter of all the judges. In studying this story I have found 4 spiritual principles for us to live by.
Before we get started, let’s pray: God of all times and all people, thank you for your Word and for the ways that you speak to us through story and song. Open our hearts and minds to hear from you this morning. Amen
Before I get to the spiritual principles in the story, let me tell you the story of Deborah. In the book of Judges, the people of Israel go through 7 cycles of turning away and turning back to God. In this picture, we see the circular nature of this period of Israel’s history. Israel serves the Lord, Israel falls into sin and idolatry, Israel is enslaved, Israel cries to the Lord, God raises up a judge, and Israel is delivered. Then it starts all over again. Deborah is the 4th judge in the series of cycles – the center of the stories.As her story begins, Israel is under Canaan’s rule – the king is Jabin and the commander of the army is Sisera. Israel is terrified of Sisera because he has 900 iron chariots – a fact that is mentioned several times. Deborah has set up a court in the middle of Israel – in the hill country of Ephraim, out under a palm tree – where people from all over Israel come to settle their disputes. The first description of Deborah says that she is the wife of Lappidoth – a name that is never mentioned again, but that can be translated as torches or flames. Also, the word ‘wife’ can be translated ‘woman’ – so she could be being described as a “woman of torches” or ‘woman of fire.’
I don’t want to spend too much time on this, but I do want to point out that there is no indication that anyone had any issue with a woman being a judge. I am thankful to be part of a denomination that recognizes women’s gifts for leadership – in fact this year is the 40th anniversary of that decision. There is an initiative within the Covenant Church called “Develop a Deborah” which "encourages pastoral leaders to identify and encourage women in their ministry contexts with leadership gifts."
Back to the story. Deborah sends for Barak, who lives in Northern Israel and gives him a direct and personal command from God. ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. 7 I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his [d]many troops to the river Kishon, and I will give him into your hand.’ But for whatever reason that is not revealed in the story, Barak doesn’t want to go without Deborah. He tells her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”
Deborah agrees to go with him, but tells him that because of putting this condition on his obedience God will hand Sisera over to a woman instead of him. So Deborah and Barak lead 10,000 men. Deborah gives the command of God again to Barak saying that the Lord had gone out before him to lead him in victory, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not even one was left. Even those chariots, which are mentioned several times, were destroyed.
Not one of his army was left, but Sisera himself escaped. He is desparate and goes to the tents of his allies, the Kenites. He goes into the tent of Jael, a woman, and asks her to stand guard at the door and hide him. He asks her for some water, but instead she gives him milk which seems to have a soothing effect on him and he falls asleep in her tent.
While he is sleeping, Jael grabs a tent peg and a hammer and proceeds to hammer the tent peg through the temple of the sleeping commander all the way to the ground. The story of Deborah ends with her and Barak singing a song together that tells the story of the way God has delivered Israel once again.
The four spiritual lessons that I got from this story are:
1. God gives us direct and personal instructions.
2. It’s Ok to ask for help.
3. If someone asks for help, help them!
4. Celebrate spiritual victories.
Let’s look at these in a little bit more detail. The first one, “God gives us direct and personal instructions” is fairly self-explanatory. Sometimes these instructions come through our friends, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul and also through our co-workers, spouses or friends. This reminds me of that great Mark Twain quote, "It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." We do know what God is asking us to do. He has made it abundantly clear.
The second principle “it’s ok to ask for help” is easy to know but hard to do. We don’t like to admit that we are weak. Barak was up against 900 iron chariots – what are you up against? I think that most of us don’t realize where the battle comes in against us in our spiritual lives. The daily tasks of forgiving, loving and showing kindness are our battleground and many days it seems like there are 900 ironclad reasons for withholding these from those who have offended us. This is when we need to ask for help. ““If you will go with me, then I will go” – ask someone for prayer. Ask someone for help. It’s not only ok, but it is biblical – Ecc 4:8-9 is one example, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another
to lift him up.”
This leads to the third principle, “If someone asks for help, help them!” In studying this story, I came across some excerpts from Sandra Glahn’s book “Java with the Judges” – she had this to say about the story of Deborah, “is there someone in your life whose faith you can bolster by your presence?” let me ask that again, “is there someone in your life whose faith you can bolster by your presence?” We need each other and we really need to help each other without finding fault – the way that God says he helps those who ask for wisdom. If someone is humble enough to come to you for help, the last thing he/she needs is a lecture or a sigh or an “I told you so.”
We all need help and the truly strong ones among us are the ones who are able to see and admit where they are weak. Romans 14 gives great instructions on how to help and support one another in a way that is non-judgmental, I highly recommend taking some time to study it this week. The first verse of the next chapter concludes the passage: (this is the Message version) “Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, ‘How can I help?’”
The last principle is to “celebrate spiritual victories.” I think that it is easy and natural and human to see faults or failures, but I think it is good, hard spiritual work to see victories and growth. Israel went through 7 cycles of failure and success and I think sometimes I go through that many in one day! We will again and again do what is right in our own eyes or do what is evil in the sight of the LORD just as Israel did. But we have to celebrate those victories, small as they may be, when we make right choices. When we don’t say that snarky comment. When we recognize grace or maturity or kindness. The song at the end of the story recounts all parts of the recent events – the good and the bad. The power and majesty of God is recognized as the primary source of victory. The song rejoices in God and gives Him praise and credit for deliverance.
I love to study these Old Testament stories and find treasures of spiritual truth. These 4 principles are essential for life together.
You know what God is asking you to do. I mean, I mostly always know what God is asking me to do in any given circumstance – turn the other cheek, do unto others, don’t let unwholesome talk come out of my mouth, just to name a few of my recurring instructions. If you don’t know what God is asking you, then spend some time in the word and in silence and he will tell you.
Once you know what it is that you need to do, ask for help. Identify a few people in your life that you think you could ask and then swallow your pride and go ask. You will be glad you did.
And when someone asks you for help, help them. Don’t mock them or talk about them or ignore them, just help. Pray for them, encourage them, ask them how it’s going.
And then, when you or your friend has successfully forgiven or loved or shown kindness or whatever it is, celebrate! There is nothing more encouraging than recognizing where we have grown or where we have succeeded where we used to fail. And sometimes we are too close to see it. So if you see growth in someone – tell them! If you see where someone is succeeding, show them! I was lost but now I’m found; was blind but now I see. Sing it from the rooftops.
Sing with Deborah and Barak, “let those who love God be like the rising of the sun in its might.”Amen.
