Deborah and Jael: Strength For The Mission
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Children’s Bible Page 274.
When we lived in South Louisiana, a friend of mine and I went and spent a day at the World War 2 museum in New Orleans.
I’ve always been fascinated with World War 2 probably because I have two grandfathers and a grandmother in law who lived during the war.
It is so interesting to me that as the war was being fought between Great Britain, Germany, and others, America was committed to staying out of the war.
It was peacetime in America.
People were focused on their lives, their growing families, their careers, and the pursuit of the American dream.
Yet, the country was horribly awakened from their American dream on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
At that moment, it was no longer peacetime, it was wartime.
The mission was no longer the individual pursuit of the American dream, but it was the corporate pursuit of fighting for freedom.
There was a real mission, a real enemy, real casualties, and a desperate need for victory.
In an even more real way, I want to remind you this morning church that we are in the midst of a real war.
I’m not talking about governments, countries, and foreign policy.
I’m talking about the war that rages between the church of the Lord Jesus and the reign of darkness, Satan, demons, and hell.
You know as believers, we are saved out of the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.
And our commission from our Lord Jesus is to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him;
To go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded;
To love the Lord our God with all our heart soul mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
And we are called to this mission not out of mere duty, and certainly not in order to gain favor or standing with God.
God has taken all the initiative in gifting us all his favor and perfect standing through the work of Jesus.
Yet, as Jesus has already won the victory, we are joyfully empowered by the Spirit of God to serve His mission; to serve, to give, to go, to share Christ, and to help lead others to follow Jesus.
That’s why our mission as a church is stated this way: Christ Covenant Church exists to glorify God by exalting Christ, equipping the saints, and evangelizing the world.
As we continue our series on different women in the Bible, we are going to focus today on two women who are introduced to us during the same event in Scripture, their names are Deborah and Jael.
Now, Deborah and Jael lived during the time of the Judges of Israel, and if you know anything about the time of the Judges, it was a spiritually dark time for God’s Old Testament people.
God had used Joshua to lead out in the mission to take the promised land, and God granted the people many victories, but we read in the first part of Judges that the people did not drive all the people out of the land like God had commanded.
And this left God’s people vulnerable to being influenced by the paganism and false worship of the other nations that were left.
And we read in Judges that God’s people went through cycle after cycle where the people do what is evil in the sight of the Lord,
So the Lord gives them over to an enemy nation like he promised he would if they turned from him.
The people would eventually cry out to the Lord for mercy and rescue.
And God would raise up a judge to rescue the people from the enemy nation.
Only to fall away from God again.
One of the main themes of Scripture about the kingdom of God is that not only do we need a Savior, but we need a Savior-King to rule over us in righteousness.
So, one thing the book of Judges is doing is showing us how much the people of God falter without godly leadership who is focused on serving the mission of God.
The book ends this way:
25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
So, in the midst of these cycles, Deborah was one of the judges that God raised up to lead, and Jael is a very unlikely hero in the midst of the story.
So, I want us to see how God leads and strengthens his people in the midst of the mission he has them on,
And in it, I pray that we see the God empowers us for His mission now, and because of his victory, we should be willing to show up and give our lives to joyfully serve him in His mission.
Chapter 4 tells the story from man’s perspective, then chapter 5 is a song which helps us get God’s perspective on the story.
Given the amount of text, I will read some and summarize some as I seek to expose this passage to us.
1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. 2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. 3 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.
4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment.
Since the people of God had turned from the Lord to serve other gods, God gave them into the hands of King Jabin of Canaan whose commander of the army was Sisera.
Sisera is the main enemy of God’s people in this event given he is the one to fight against them.
We read that God’s people had lived under the tyranny of Jabin and Sisera for twenty years, but Sisera’s army had 900 chariots of iron, which were the newest technology in war at the time, so the enslaved Israelite people had no way to fight against them.
So, finally, they cry out to the Lord.
And God had promised his people that when they truly cry to him, He would hear them and deliver them.
So, we are introduced to Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of a guy named Lappidoth, who was judging Israel at the time.
And we read that she would sit under a tree that they called the palm of Deborah, and they came to her for judgment, meaning they came to ask her what they should do about the horrible position they were in.
Now, the fact that Deborah was a prophetess, one of eleven we read of in the Scriptures, means that her primary task was to speak God’s words to his people.
One of the obvious themes in the book of Judges is that when the people of Israel have a lack of leadership, God raises up surprising and unexpected people to lead.
God chose Othniel, the younger brother of Caleb;
Ehud, a left-handed man;
Gideon, a fearful young man;
And for Deborah, she was the only woman called to lead as judge.
And I want our women to be encouraged by Deborah that God equips you by His Spirit to be fully engaged in the mission of God in the church and in the world.
Where would the world of Christianity, missions, and the church be without Spirit filled godly women giving themselves to the task of sharing Christ, making disciples, and serving God’s church?
Now, in no way does Deborah being used by God as a judge contradict the complementary roles God has given men and women in the home and church.
The whole context of Judges is not having consistent leadership and God raising up surprising candidates.
I will also note that Deborah is the only judge who is not a warrior, but her role is to speak on God’s behalf.
I know in our day, it is popular for women to be warriors in our films and books, but I believe God’s good design is not sending His most precious vessels to take responsibility for the physical battles of war, so Deborah calls another man to be the warrior.
6 She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. 7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?”
Canaan was in the north, so it makes sense that God would tell Deborah to give the word of God to a commander in the north named Barak to take two tribes of the north and go and position themselves as an army against Sisera, the enemy commander.
So, God has spoken and given his commission to commander Barak through Deborah.
And notice, the commission comes with the promise of victory just like Jesus’ commission to the church.
Jesus starts from victory saying all authority has been given to me, so, go and make disciples.
Yet, when Barak receives the commission of God from Deborah he responds:
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.”
Now, it would be easy for us to read this response from Barak as a lack of faith and disobedience to God’s command.
God has told him to go, but he is being reluctant saying, “Well, I won’t go unless you, Deborah go with me.”
But, I’m inclined to not read it that way.
I’m actually inclined to read Barak’s response as a positive response of faith.
In Exodus 33, when Moses is praying to God about Him leading the people to the promised land, Moses prayed:
15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.
In our passage today, Deborah is the prophetess representing God and His word to Barak,
So, I believe Barak to be saying in faith, I will not go without the presence of the Lord.
One reason I believe this is Hebrews 11 lists Barak as one of the men of faith who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, became mighty in war, and put foreign armies to flight.
The first and great concern for all of us as we seek to serve the Lord should be having the presence of God with us.
Is it not why Jesus ends his great commission to us with this promise: I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Look at Deborah’s response:
9 And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
You see, in worldly terms, winning battles in war was one of the greatest ways man could win glory for himself.
But, as God always does, he promises he is going to work in a way that brings all glory to himself.
As we hear Deborah say that the enemy will be given into the hand of a woman, we wonder if Deborah will be the woman, but no.
And we read that Barak and Deborah go together and gather an army of 10,000, which is piddly compared to an army that had almost that many iron chariots.
Then, the passage shares a seemingly random detail about a guy named Heber who had pitched his tent near Kedesh.
Then, the passage goes right back to the two armies getting ready for battle.
And Deborah calls the army to fight for God goes before them.
And verse 15 makes clear that the Lord defeated Sisera and his army in before Barak.
And Sisera is the only one who escapes the battle.
And he flees on foot until he comes to a tent of a woman named Jael, the wife of Heber.
Here is why that fact about this guy Heber choosing to live in a tent near Kedesh is not random.
It is the very tent Sisera flees to.
And Sisera feels safe there because there was peace between the Canaanite king and the man Heber.
And his wife Jael is at the tent and steps out to greet Sisera.
Listen to what happened next:
18 And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’ ”
Jael is willing to bring Sisera in the tent and hide him from Barak who was searching for him.
She hides him under a rug.
He asks for water, but she does him one better and offers him fresh milk and curds.
She offers to stand guard for him.
Yet, Sisera has no idea that this woman Jael was related to Moses, which led her to fear Moses’ God and God’s people.
So:
21 But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died.
Men, if you ever ask your wife for a glass of water, and she serves you ice cream in bed instead, I would not go to sleep that night, I’m just saying.
Jael then steps outside her tent and sees Barak looking for Sisera, and she waves him over, brings him into her tent, and Barak finds on the floor of the tent, Sisera dead with a tent peg through His head.
23 So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel.
I said earlier that chapter 4 tells the story from man’s perspective, then chapter 5 is a song which helps us get God’s perspective on the story.
So, what I am going to do is seek to apply the story to our lives as Jesus’ church using the song that Deborah and Barak wrote about this event in chapter 5.
And I am going to point out the three main themes in the song that link to the event, and apply it to our lives today.
1. Willingly Offer Yourself To God and His Mission
1. Willingly Offer Yourself To God and His Mission
1 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:
2 “That the leaders took the lead in Israel,
that the people offered themselves willingly,
bless the Lord!
9 My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel
who offered themselves willingly among the people.
Bless the Lord.
The song begins: Bless the Lord for this event, why?
Because the leaders took the lead and the people offered themselves willingly to the Lord.
How do you know when the church of Jesus is being and doing what God has empowered it by His Spirit to be and do?
It’s when the leaders take the lead and the people offer themselves willingly to the Lord.
God told Deborah to speak, and she spoke.
God told Barak to call out an army, and He called them out.
10,000 from the people heard the call and willingly offered themselves for the mission.
They did all this under the banner of God’s good promise that He would be with them, and He will grant them victory.
Jesus commands us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him.
Jesus calls some men to preach the Word and to lead by calling out God’s people to follow Jesus and lead others to follow Jesus.
God’s people hear God’s call and willingly offer themselves to God and His mission.
And God is pleased to empower and give the victory on behalf of those who offer themselves to him.
All under the banner of his authority over all things and the promise that he will always be with us.
But unfortunately, not all the Israelites who heard God’s call responded.
12 “Awake, awake, Deborah!
Awake, awake, break out in a song!
Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,
O son of Abinoam.
13 Then down marched the remnant of the noble;
the people of the Lord marched down for me against the mighty.
14 From Ephraim their root they marched down into the valley,
following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen;
from Machir marched down the commanders,
and from Zebulun those who bear the lieutenant’s staff;
15 the princes of Issachar came with Deborah,
and Issachar faithful to Barak;
into the valley they rushed at his heels.
Among the clans of Reuben
there were great searchings of heart.
16 Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds,
to hear the whistling for the flocks?
Among the clans of Reuben
there were great searchings of heart.
17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan;
and Dan, why did he stay with the ships?
Asher sat still at the coast of the sea,
staying by his landings.
18 Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death;
Naphtali, too, on the heights of the field.
23 “Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord,
curse its inhabitants thoroughly,
because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
to the help of the Lord against the mighty.
Some people willingly offered their lives to the Lord even unto death.
For others, there were great searchings of heart.
That’s like when God calls, and someone says, “Oh, I’ll pray about that”, but they never get around to actually doing it.
Some used the excuse that they couldn’t manage to leave their sheep long enough to do what God was asking.
Some said, “Oh I have to stay with my ships.”
They did not come to the help of the Lord against the mighty.
Now, of course, we know, God didn’t need them. He could have defeated the enemy on his own. When you read the account, he practically did.
It kind of reads like Barak and army sat and watched while God defeated the enemy army.
But, that’s not the point.
The point is that the very reason we exist is to know the great love of God through trust and obedience and to give our lives for Him and His glory and His mission.
Recall the account in:
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
The call of God and the empowerment of His Spirit in every believer is for the purpose of service to God’s kingdom through God’s church (say it again).
We, church, are on a mission authorized by the authority of Jesus Christ and empowered by His presence with us, and God has provided each one of us and us as a local church the time, the talents, and the resources appropriate to do all he is calling us to do.
The question is: are you a part of it?
Have you prioritized God’s mission in your heart and life? Have you prioritized it in your schedule and your budget?
The mission of God is centered on what we do in worship and service through the church, but of course, it flows into your home, and your workplace, and your free time in understanding God is in all your life and you can pursue His glory in all of life, but doing that requires sacrifice.
When was the last time you said “no” to some other opportunity in order to say “yes” to service to God’s mission?
And I’m not saying that every ministry and service opportunity through the church has to have your name on it, but I am saying that every believer should be giving and pouring out somewhere for the mission of God and His church, for this is what you were made for.
Willingly offer yourself to God and His mission.
2. Take Joy In God’s Glory Over Self Glory
2. Take Joy In God’s Glory Over Self Glory
3 “Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;
to the Lord I will sing;
I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.
There were a lot of different people involved in the story, but it is so apparent that all the singing and all the glory pointed only to God alone.
Being victorious in war was a primary way men were able to distinguish themselves, advance in influence, and gain glory for themselves.
But remember when Deborah told commander Barak that this battle was not going to lead to his glory, but to the glory of a woman, the next verse tells us Barak got busy getting ready for battle.
You see, he understood that he was not obeying God in order to bring glory to himself, but in order to point all glory to God.
The reader might have thought when Deborah said a woman would get the glory that she was talking about herself,
But it ended up being Jael, a Gentile, one who had no interest in gaining glory with God’s people and certainly would not have qualified for any leadership positions.
It is as clear in this story as any other in Scripture that there is only one true hero that deserves all the glory, and that is God almighty!
See, by the presence of the Spirit of God in us, we take great joy in playing our minor role in service to King Jesus who is the one who is in the major role and receives all the glory.
It is our glory to point all glory to Christ.
If God called you today to the remotest of jungles to preach the gospel, and you went there and died without another knowing your name, it would be to your glory to point all glory to Jesus.
Take joy in God’s glory over self glory, for it is God’s glory that you were created for!
3. Trust The Mighty God To Empower You For His Service
3. Trust The Mighty God To Empower You For His Service
The rest of the song in chapter 5 adds some details to the story that glorifies God and His work in the event all the more!
4 “Lord, when you went out from Seir,
when you marched from the region of Edom,
the earth trembled
and the heavens dropped,
yes, the clouds dropped water.
5 The mountains quaked 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 highways were abandoned,
and travelers kept to the byways.
7 The villagers ceased in Israel;
they ceased to be until I arose;
I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.
8 When new gods were chosen,
then war was in the gates.
Was shield or spear to be seen
among forty thousand in Israel?
Remember those 9,000 iron chariots Sisera had that helped keep God’s people enslaved for twenty years?
Well, when Barak lined up God’s people for battle, God sent a huge rainstorm to flood the stream in the valley,
Because you know one thing that totally neutralizes iron chariots? Mud.
Notice what their situation had been for twenty years.
It wasn’t safe to travel on the highways or visit one another.
Why had it gotten so bad? Verse 8, because among God’s people, new gods were chosen.
Turning away from worship of the true God and putting lesser desires in His place.
But, then God raised up Deborah to speak God’s word.
10 “Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys,
you who sit on rich carpets
and you who walk by the way.
11 To the sound of musicians at the watering places,
there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the Lord,
the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel.
“Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.
19 “The kings came, they fought;
then fought the kings of Canaan,
at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;
they got no spoils of silver.
20 From heaven the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The torrent Kishon swept them away,
the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon.
March on, my soul, with might!
22 “Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs
with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.
24 “Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
25 He asked for water and she gave him milk;
she brought him curds in a noble’s bowl.
26 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.
27 Between her feet
he sank, he fell, he lay still;
between her feet
he sank, he fell;
where he sank,
there he fell—dead.
28 “Out of the window she peered,
the mother of Sisera wailed through the lattice:
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’
29 Her wisest princesses answer,
indeed, she answers herself,
30 ‘Have they not found and divided the spoil?—
A womb or two for every man;
spoil of dyed materials for Sisera,
spoil of dyed materials embroidered,
two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?’
31 “So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!
But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.”
And the land had rest for forty years.
While God orchestrated a great victory for His people that day by crushing the head of the enemy by means of Jael, a person we would have never expected,
This whole story points us forward to an ever greater victory.
You and I are born in sin, desiring the glory of self and desiring lesser gods instead of living for the glory of the true God.
And because of our sin, we languish in tyranny and slavery to sin and darkness.
But while we were still sinners, God sent the word made flesh, He sent His son Jesus.
And Jesus was not only promised the presence of God, but He himself is God.
And Jesus took all the tyranny, enslavement, and punishment of our sin on the cross when He died,
Just when it looks like our enemy had won as the nails were being driven into Jesus’ hands and feet,
Jesus rose three days later proving that He had won the final victory and has crushed the enemy’s head by those nails.
So that all who trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection are forgiven and freed from sin and made a part of God’s kingdom.
And God adopts us into His family, the church, and empowers us by His Spirit to be joyful servants of His kingdom through His church until He comes again!
Have you bowed the knee to King Jesus?
Have you received His victory?
If you are in Christ, have you offered your whole self to Him in joyful service?
Are you engaged in the work of God’s church, in your home, in your workplace?
Let’s pray.
(Elder at couches)
