Yahweh Our Warrior Savior: 4:1-24

Intro:

A Word on Shamgar is in order. Look at verse 31 of chapter 3, “After him was Shamgar the son of Anath who killed 600 of the philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.” No more is said of Him. What we know is God used him to save Israel as he did with Othniel and Ehud. With a farming instrument, Shamgar slayed 600 Philistines. An ox-goad was roughly eight feet long. On one end was a shar prick to drive oxen. On the second end was a small spade or iron paddle for cleaning out the plow. God uses strange people with strange instruments: Ehud’s dagger, Jael’s hammer, Gideon’s horns and torches, a woman’s millstone, and Samson’s donkey jawbone. God saves His people in shocking and interesting ways. So, Shamgar like Ehud before Him was used by God to save His people. This truth fits nicely with our story.

We all have unique ways in which we tell stories. For example, take my wife, she is by no means a bad story teller, but when she tells a story she brings each and every detail to the story, while also chasing every potential rabbit, and at times the punch line of the story is lost in the effort to make sure you get the whole picture. So when she comes home and I ask her how her day was, she will tell me with a dramatic introduction, “Guess what happened today?” I responsively will say, “What?” Then for next few moments I am mauling over all the detail that has, as she says, have been word vomited on to me. Then you have me. I tell stories with the least bit of words as possible. Lauren will ask, “what did you do today?” I respond with a list and every detail possible seems to be left out. In today’s text the author of Judges recounts an interesting event, but does so in a very straight forward style. He is more like me in his recounting. Many details are left out and there is hardly any commentary, at least until the next chapter. It seems the author of Judges answers this question: who is the source of salvation?

From the passage we have read it is clear that Yahweh is the source of salvation. Now let’s allow the text to describe that salvation.

First, Yahweh is the source of salvation for those who need it (1-3).

Verses one through three express this quite plainly. In verse one, “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in God’s sight of the Lord after Ehud died.” When Ehud led the charge against Eglon earlier he also led Israel, and the people while under his supervision at least outwardly obeyed the Lord. Where we find ourselves now, Ehud has died and the external restraints for godliness have been removed and now they disobey. Isn’t this true for us all. It is much easier to be ungodly when no one is watching.

Take my new dog for an example. We went to workout in the activities center for an hour one day. We left him out of his kennel. When we returned we found a kleenex box torn to shreds and Lauren’s favorite scarf he left in ruins. Think of the times when you are in the car by yourself and someone cuts you off. Think of the times when you are left alone on the internet. Think of the times when you are alone with a boyfriend and girlfriend. The point is when we are left unsupervised or at least we think we are unsupervised, we are more prone to act on out our sinful nature. We like Israel, though, are never left unsupervised.

For verse one says that they did evil in the sight of the Lord. God saw their evil and he brought judgment by allowing Jabin king of Canaan to rule over them with his right hand man Sisera. Jabin is said to rule in the land of Hazor a place that was conquered and destroyed during the time of Joshua. What we have here is Israel again failing to complete Holy War on Canaan and as a result they have allowed a city to become a central location of power yet again. Furthermore, as God had promised Israel would be caught in sin by practicing the religions of the people around them.

What we see in Israel is very similar to the situation that we see in the church in many western cultures like our own. If I were to ask my Indonesian friends what Christians were like they would quickly point to western films, TV shows, and music. You may say, “Well they just don’t know.” You are indeed right, but it is arguable that the church in America on many fronts has snuggled so close to American nationalism that it has failed to remain distinct even when the nation begins to drift from a biblical worldview and lifestyle. We must ask ourselves, “Are we Christians first or do we place something above our identity with the God-man?” Yahweh is the source of salvation for those who need it. That includes all of us.

Second, Yahweh is also the source of salvation in a warrior fashion (4-16).

After the author points out that Israel is back into their cycle of sinful behavior, verse three shows that after twenty years of bondage to Jabin and Sisera the people cried out to Yahweh for help. He did just that. Deborah is then introduced as a prophetess. Some struggle with the fact that this woman had such a prominent part in Israel’s leadership. As I have said the title judges for the book and the characters in this narrative is somewhat misleading, for most of the time they are referred to as delivers and not judges. They are to be seen as precursors to the greater deliver to come. Deborah in this light seems to be acting the part of angel of the Lord in chapter two. She is a messenger from God to the people and particularly to the one who God rose up to deliver Israel from Jabin and Sisera. Barak then enters the scene. He is the one who seems to more in with the typical hero of the story. He is told by Deborah in verse 6 and 7 are key, “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. 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 will I not give him into your hand?”

The area in which the battle would take place is mostly a plain, much like what you see in my home of Illinois. Yet, it had mountain to the north and a river to the west. Barak is not a man of great courage and refuses to go unless Deborah goes with him. She promises to do so. They proceed to Tabor and when Sisera caught wind of this he went down to meet them with his 900 chariots of iron. When the armies drew near Deborah, being a good Harold of God’s word, essentially told Barak to go do what God is already doing. Look in verse 14, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go before you?” Then look in verse 15, “ And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword...” His army would fall. We are given no more detail than that. God being the warrior He is, went out before His people and accomplished the victory on their behalf. Chapter 5 gives us insight on what God did. He sent a rain storm and the river Kishon flooded making the land of battle a place of drudgery for those on chariots. Therefore, the tactical advantage of Sisera was removed and his army was pursued and destroyed. After Sisera had been done away with. God subdued Jabin and gave him into the hand of Israel leading to his destruction as well. The enemies of God’s people better beware because their God is a warrior not to be messed with.

The God we worship is not a passive grandfather in the sky. He is not the cosmic sissy that some would like Him to be. He does not fit into the box of those who refer to themselves a progressive/open-minded Christians. Even us who claim to be Bible-believing Christians at times put God in a box that he is not meant to be in. We emphasize the traits we like, while ignoring or dismissing the traits of God that run against our sinful desire to be Lord and savior of our lives. The God of Judges, the one true God, is a warrior who fights for and with His people. It is election season. We live in a nation divided, and yet it seems that the culture overall is moving in a more sinful direction. Even the conservative candidate panders to the LGBTQ+ community and the republicans have yet to even propose an abolition of abortion. Those on the other side perpose that toddlers should be able to choose their gender, the elderly are a burden to be rid of by physician assisted sucide, and babies that are born can be left to die. We will I believe find ourselves in place less open and more hostile to the truth. There are some who experience hostilities now because they look different from those who believe they are better. Christians will look different if they are faithful to the truth of God’s Word. We too may experience mistreatment. Let us take it in stride, respond with love, boldness, and the proclamation of the truth. Let us realize that Yahweh goes before us and tears down the walls and transforms the heart of those who he sets His love upon. By His Spirit through our preaching the gospel and living lives worthy of it, God resurrects those who are spiritually dead to life. He will not leave you, and all sins committed and particularly those committed against His people will be punished. For He says, “vengeance is mine.” We have been commanded to go and make disciples of all nations. Barak was told to go down. We have been promised that Jesus would be with us to the end of the age. Deborah, a prophet went with Barak. God went before and gave victory to Barak. God has gone before us and prepared situations in which we may proclaim the gospel bringing light to the darkness. Let us go and preach in faith for we are commissioned by the warrior God, Yahweh.

Third, Yahweh is the source of salvation by orchestrating historical events (11, 17-24).

Now I want to draw our attention to what at first seems like a random aside in verse 11, “Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim which near Kedesh.” If you were to stop at verse eleven in this text you would have no idea what is going on. Did the author of Judges just chase an irrelevant rabbit? I mean who has ever heard Heber the Kenite. We are about to have war and the author of Judges just states for us to know some random dude from the lineage of Moses’ father-in-Law moved his family north and pitched his tent. This is verse though can hardly be called an aside in the whole context of this narrative account. For when Sisera’s army was put to flight and destroyed, he fled to Jael’s tent. Who is Jael? Verse 17 tells us that she is the wife of Heber the Kenite. Sisera fled there because Jabin had peace with Heber, so he thought he would have refuge. Jael welcomed him warmly and gave him a place to rest and milk to drink. Sisera went to sleep thinking all was safe and clear. But Jael drove a tent peg through his head with a hammer. We then are told Barak rolls up on to the scene and Jael tells him the work she had done. She says in verse 22, “’Come, and I will show you man whom you are seeking.’ So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.”

Have there been events that in the moment seem insignificant? Maybe you meet a random person. Maybe you move to a new place. When you look back you see how God was using that event to draw you to himself, bring you to Christ, to grow you in Christ-likness, or just to use you as an instrument in someone’s life.

There was one evening when I was an RA at Missouri Baptist. I was sitting in the lobby and doing homework with one of my future groomsmen and another student. The other student claimed to be a Christian and had just been caught cheating on his girlfriend. His life was in shambles and he was talking to us in a somewhat prideful tone. I responded in a blunt way and asked him if He actually trusted in Jesus. I pointed out how he is prideful about sin, is failing his classes, and overall his life just seems to be contradictory to everything that would represent a Christians life. We continued to converse going back and forth. I asked him questions. I tried to be honest and loving. I left that conversation thinking not much of it. If anything I was disappointed that he seemed not to respond repentantly. However, years later he was speaking at a chapel service and cited that conversation as the turning point of his life. I was just doing homework and had a real conversation with someone. Little did I know that God would use that conversation as a turning point. I am sure we all have had moments like those. But realize that Yahweh is the source of salvation. He orchestrates the minute events in our lives to draw us closer to himself. He created the very circumstances that this other man and I could talk and he provided me with the wisdom through His word to speak truth. He then applied that in a truth that I by no means could not.

In the same way he orchestrated the events that put Jael in a situation to bring God’s judgment on the enemies of His people. Earlier in our narrative in verse 9 God promised that Barak would not receive glory for victory because Yahweh would give Sisera into the hand of a woman.

We would expect a mighty warrior to be God’s instrument for deliverance, but in this instance we see an ordinary woman used. God does things in a way that puts the proud to shame. He picks the least of these, Israel and not Egypt, Jacob and not Esau, David and not Saul. Furthermore, Jesus came not as a military leader to overthrow the Roman authorities. He instead came as carpenter preaching to the poor, the sinner, and the afflicted. He healed the sick. He will indeed return and bring earthly and carnal authorities to judgment. But let us realize that God can and does use those things which appear to be unimportant to accomplish his great purposes. He uses people like Jael to accomplish His purposes. Remember what God has done for you and take every opportunity to be light to the world around you. You never know what difference it might make.

Conclusion:

If anything, the author of Judges wants us to know that the God the Bible is the source of Salvation. That he saves people who need it, that he is a warrior, and that he is at work in the midst of even life’s most minute details. He is a God who will defend you and protect you. He is a God who is always with you and will even assist you when you have failed him. He is moved even prior to our repentance to act in order to draw us back into fellowship with Him where we find true meaning and joy. He demonstrates his loving character in so many ways, but we ultimately find it in His Son Jesus. Who came to a people who are desperately wicked and died the death they deserved. He satisfied God’s wrath and when we believe in Him God counts His perfections as our perfections. We the church are the new people of God and the same God who went out with Israel goes out with us into our schools, homes, work places, and other areas of our life. Let us seek to in faith like Barak make war with darkness. And instead of the sword of metal use the sword of the Spirit to pierce the hearts of stone turning them to hearts of flesh. May Yahweh our warrior savior be praised.