Sermon Tone Analysis

At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel.

5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment.

6 She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun.

7 I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’” 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.” 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 got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

8 Barak told her, “I will go, but only if you go with me.”

17 Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite.

18 Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.”

So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

19 Then 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 He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’

say, ‘No.’”

21 But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died.

19 “Please give me some water,” he said.

“I’m thirsty.”

So she gave him some milk from a leather bag and covered him again.

The title of the message today as we continue in Women’s History Month is, “Fight, Like a Girl”.

9 “Very well,” she replied, “I will go with you.

But you will receive no honor in this venture, for the Lord’s victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman.”

So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 1

20 “Stand at the door of the tent,” he told her. “If anybody comes and asks you if there is anyone here, say no.”

Before the days of kings in Israel, there were judges.

The judges were extraordinary civil and military rulers who governed Israel in the time between the death of Joshua and the foundation of the kingdom of Israel.

A time before they begged God for a king like the other nations had.

Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.

Judges announced God’s commands, not their own opinions; they declared God’s promises, not merely their own hopes or wishes and because they were speaking for God they had authority in the land.

At this time God was their King and He led them and protected them and directed them through his chosen vessels, like the judges.

The tribes were scattered, nations of people were fighting for status and territory.

There were stories of miraculous victories in which God called out individuals and instructed them to do what we would sometimes call strange things.

The judges included such leaders as Gideon and Samson and Jephthah and Deborah.

Deborah was the fourth judge of Israel and at this time the people of Israel had been oppressed by Jabin, the king of Canaan, for twenty years.

Because of their disobedience they were in and out of captivity.

Deborah sat under a tree called the “Palm of Deborah” and the Israelites would come to her under this tree to hear her judgments.

One day, by the direction of God and stirred by the wretched condition of Israel she sends a message to Barak, the son of Abinoam and tells him that the Lord God has commanded him to get together ten thousand troops from the tribes Naphtali and Zebulun and concentrate them on Mount Tabor.

The people of Israel had been oppressed by Jabin, the king of Canaan, whose capital was Hazor, for twenty years.

Stirred by the wretched condition of Israel she sends a message to Barak, the son of Abinoam, at Kedesh of Naphtali, and tells him that the Lord God had commanded him to muster ten thousand troops of Naphtali and Zebulun and concentrate them upon Mount Tabor, the mountain at the northern angle of the great plain of Esdraelon.

At the same time she states that the Lord God of Israel will draw Sisera, commander of Jabin's army, to the River Kishon.

Barak declines to go without the prophet.

Deborah consents, but declares that the glory of the victory will therefore belong to a woman.

As soon as the news of the rebellion reaches Sisera he collects nine hundred chariots of iron and a host of people

Then she says I will draw out Sisera, commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops, to the Wadi Kishon, which was a river, and I will give them into your hands.

In other words I’m going to get them to this spot and you take them out.

Then something very interesting happens, Barak responds I’ll only go if you go with me, if you don’t go, neither will I.

It’s important to note, the people Deborah is telling Barak to go to war against are the same people who had already been taken down once by Israel, had been sentenced to be their servants and should have been what they would say back then, under their feet.

These people she was telling him to go to war against should not have been capable of giving them this kind of trouble, but because of their disobedience in the form of being slothful, we would know it better as lazy, their cowardice and their unbelief they are now fighting to not be oppressed themselves by the same people their fathers had already conquered and who they foolishly spared.

So now, as was their pattern of behavior, they are once again crying out to God to save them from their oppressors.

And this time a woman is bringing the message.

Deborah tells Barak, sure I’ll go with you, but if I go with you, you will not get the glory for this battle, in fact God is going to sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.

So for a society so ingrained with male leaders, where women couldn’t own land except in very specific situations, where they were given in trade at times and used to seal deals, this man says he will not go to war unless this woman, goes with him.

We must also take note that God doesn’t take away the assignment, nor does He give it to someone else, instead Deborah just tells him he will not get the glory for the battle, that honor is going to be given to a woman.

Then she gets up and goes with him to battle.

At first glance, it sounds like she may be talking about herself, that she would be the one who takes out Sisera, but she’s not.

Barak gathers the troops and he, Deborah and the ten thousand go to Mount Tabor, the place God directed and here comes Sisera with all of his chariots, his 900 chariots and all of his troops headed to war.

At this point Barak sees this war machine he and his men are up against and he gets worried, it would appear they are no match for this opponent with their horses and iron chariots outfitted with trees attached to the wheels to take out the foot soldiers and just as Barak wants to turn and find a place of greater safety Deborah tells Barak Up! or in other words let’s go this is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hand.

This is it, the time is now.

Sometimes you have to ready yourself for battle, then wait for the call.

And as you see your enemy approach, don’t get scared and run, stand.

Stand knowing that if the Lord sends you, you can believe that he will go before you and fight the battle on your behalf.

And then Barak sees something amazing, “…the Lord threw Sisera, his chariots and all his army into a panic, to the point where their leader got off his chariot and ran away on foot, meanwhile his whole army fell or died by the sword.

Barak’s enemy was taken out, the whole army, but the commander of the troops, Sisera, ran away to what he thought was a safe place, he runs to the tent of Jael the wife of the person who told him Barak had gathered an army.

Be careful where you think you can find a safe haven, things and people are not always what they seem.

This woman comes out to meet Sisera and tells him come on, come inside, don’t be afraid.

This man had been running on foot, so he was tired, his entire army had been taken out, so he was afraid.

And he comes to this woman, the wife of his friend who’s offering him a place to rest, aaannnd...he takes it.

Not only that, he’s thirsty and asks her for some water.

Well she gives him milk.

Now what’s the difference?

Water refreshes and revives you, but milk, anyone ever drink warm milk before going to bed? Milk relaxes you and helps you to sleep.

Fight like a girl.

She covers him up with a rug, we’d call it a blanket and he relaxes, probably exhausted but before he goes to sleep he tells her to stand at the door of the tent and lie if anyone asks if there was anyone in the tent and then he goes to sleep.

And while he slept Jael takes a tent peg and a hammer and drives the peg through his temple until it went into the ground.

Y’all she meant that.

He was exhausted from running from the battle, he trusted the wrong person and he paid for it with his life.

Then Barak comes looking for Sisera and Jael goes out to meet him, tells him come on I’ll show you the man you’re looking for, so brings him to her tent and shows him Sisera lying there dead with a tent peg through his temple.

Fight like a girl—the battle was won, not by power, not by might, but by my Spirit says the Lord.

When you have God on your side, when you’re doing His will

You don’t have to worry about who’s coming against you.

You don’t have to worry about how many people they have.

You don’t have to worry about the weapons they have.

You don’t have to worry about what the people are saying.

You don’t have to worry about what you see with your eyes.

You don’t have to worry about it because God will fight your battle for you.

If He brings you to it, He’ll take you through it, no matter what it is.

God will take the normal order and flip it.

It was Deborah who gave the order for Barak to move forward.

She told him today is the day, then reassured him with a question, “Has not the Lord gone out before thee”?

Then it was Jael who struck the final blow taking out the commander of the army.

When you prepare for battle, there’s three things you need to be certain of those are, make certain it is God sending you, that you’re in the right fight and that it’s the right time for you to go.

You can be in the right place, doing the right thing but it’s the wrong time.

You can be in the right place, at the right time but doing the wrong thing.

You can be doing the right thing, at the right time but you’re in the wrong place.

So you need to be in the right place, doing the right thing at the right time.

21 But when Sisera fell asleep from exhaustion, Jael quietly crept up to him with a hammer and tent peg in her hand.

Then she drove the tent peg through his temple and into the ground, and so he died.

All three of these things need to be in alignment for your assignment to have the greatest success.

Too often people come into a church and they have great ideas given by God, but what they want to do is not for that body of Christ, it doesn’t line up with the mission for that branch of Zion.

Or they have a great idea, and it is for that body of Christ, but it’s not the time to implement it.

Or they may have the best of intentions but what they want to do is not right for the Kingdom of God.

You can’t bring everything into the church, because while it may be lawful according to man, it may not line up with God’s plan or His way of doing things.