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OK, we're going to look at Judges
chapters 4 and 5 this evening. They go together. We probably
won't do a whole lot in chapter 5. Basically, what you have in
Judges chapter 4 is narrative or prose recording the particular
deliverance under the judgeship of Barak. And then in chapter
5, you have the Song of Deborah. You see a very similar convention
used in the book of Exodus. And Exodus chapter 14 records
the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. And then in chapter
15 is the Song of Moses to praise God for that act of deliverance. So I'll just pick up reading
in Judges chapter 4 at verse 1 and read to the end of the
chapter. When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again
did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord sold them into
the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander
of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Herashef, Hagoyim. And the
children of Israel cried out to the Lord, for Jabin had 900
chariots of iron. And for 20 years, he had harshly
oppressed the children of Israel. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the
wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. And she
would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and
Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came
up to her for judgment. Then she sent and called for
Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to
him, has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, go and deploy
troops at Mount Tabor. Take with you 10,000 men of the
sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun. And against you,
I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots
and his multitude at the River Kishon. And I will deliver him
into your hand. And Beric said to her, if you
will go with me, then I will go. But if you will not go with
me, I will not go. So she said, I will surely go
with you. Nevertheless, there will be no
glory for you in the journey you are taking. For the Lord
will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose
and went with Beric to Kadesh. And Beric called Zebulun and
Naphtali to Kadesh. He went up with 10,000 men under
his command, and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber, the Kenite
of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had separated
himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth
tree at Za'anem, which is beside Kadesh. And they reported to
Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount
Tabor. So Sisera gathered together all
his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the people who
were with him, from Herashef, Hagoyim, to the river Tishon. Then Deborah said to Barak, Up,
for this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera
into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before
you? So Barak went down from Mount
Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera
and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the
sword before Barak. And Sisera alighted from his
chariot and fled away on foot. But Barak pursued the chariots
and the army as far as Heresheth Hagoyim. And all the army of
Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a man was left. However, Sisera had fled away
on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite.
For there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the house
of Heber the Kenite. And Jael went out to meet Sisera,
and said to him, Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me, do
not fear. And when he had turned aside
with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket. Then he said
to her, please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. So she opened a jug of milk,
gave him a drink, and covered him. And he said to her, stand
at the door of the tent. And if any man comes and inquires
of you and says, is there any man here, you shall say no. Then
Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her
hand and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple.
And it went down into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary.
So he died. And then as Beric pursued Sisera,
Jael came out to meet him and said to him, come, I will show
you the man whom you seek. And when he went into her tent,
there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple. So on that
day, God subdued Jabin, king of Canaan, in the presence of
the children of Israel. And the hand of the children
of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin, king of Canaan,
until they had destroyed Jabin, king of Canaan. If you look at
the very end of chapter 5, you'll see at the end of verse 31, so
the land had rest for 40 years. typical of these deliverance
cycles. At the end, it indicates how
long Israel enjoyed rest. Well, inserted between verses
23 and 531 is this song of praise by Deborah to extol the virtue
and the goodness and the glory of the God of Israel who had
brought deliverance to his people through these particular means. So tonight, we're going to look
at first the sin of Israel, verses 1 to 3. Secondly, the deliverer
raised up by God in verses 4 to 11. And then the victory of Israel
described in verses 12 to 24. And as I said, we'll probably
not to reduce the importance of it, but chapter 5 does basically
recite or rehearse all that has been done here. in Chapter 4.
And along the way in our study in Chapter 4, we'll pull a few
things out of Chapter 5 that help us to understand some things
a little bit better. But note first the sin of Israel
in verses 1 to 3. When Ehud was dead, the change
wrought on the people was only external. While Ehud was in control
or in charge, the people towed the line. It would be similar
to your child. You send him or her to a room,
to clean up and they go in there and they basically just sit there
and they don't do anything until they hear mom or dad walking
down the hallway. Then they get very busy. It's
certainly only an external compliance and that is what was true of
Israel in this particular instance. We already saw this announced
in the thematic statement in chapter 2 specifically in verse
19. And it came to pass when the
judge was dead that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than
their fathers by following other gods to serve them and bow down
to them. They did not cease from their
own doings nor from their stubborn way. So that continued cycle
of sin, oppression, and deliverance is going on in this particular
section. So Ehud is dead. The children
of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. No doubt this
means they forsook God. they sought the Baals, they sought
the Ashtoreths. In Deborah's song in chapter
5, I believe this is a reference to Israel concerning the days
in which she lived, and prior to that, verse 8, they chose
new gods, then there was war in the gates, not a shield or
spear was seen among 40,000. in Israel, just preceding that
in verses 6 and 7. In the days of Shamgar, son of
Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted, and the
travelers walked along the byways. Village life ceased. It ceased
in Israel until I, Deborah, arose a mother in Israel. So again,
the conditions revert back to that time when Ehud wasn't ruling,
or wasn't having this judgeship over Israel. And so then it indicates
the fact that God raises up an oppressor. Verse 2, so the Lord
sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan. who reigned in
Hazor. Now if you're remembering in
Joshua chapter 11 the children of Israel take Hazor and they
kill Jabin. Probably Jabin is more of a title,
probably not a personal name of a particular individual but
rather it's a title like Caesar or like Pharaoh or something
to that effect. So the idea is not that this,
some have said that chapter 4 simply duplicates what we see in Joshua
chapter 11. It is not out of the ordinary
for these people of Azor to regroup, a man to rise up in the interim
and to become a threat to Israel. But note the language that is
used here. So the Lord sold them into the
hand of Jabin king of Canaan. Note in verse 9, so Deborah said,
I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, there will be no
glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord
will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. So you see, God raises
up the oppressor, Jabin and Sisera, and then God announces through
the prophetess Deborah that he's going to sell Sisera into the
hand of what we think at this particular point might be Deborah,
but it actually is Jael. So you see, God is sovereign.
He raises up the oppressor and then he puts the oppressor down.
This is what we see throughout these cycles. This is what we
see when we go on in the future of Israel's history. That seems
like an odd way to say something. in the future of Israel's history,
we see that God raises up Assyria, they get proud and arrogant,
so God puts them down. Same thing with His servant Nebuchadnezzar,
the Babylonians. They are used by God to bring
judgment to bear upon the southern tribes, and then God raises up
whom He calls His Christ. His Messiah, Cyrus, king of Persia,
he raises him up to use Persia to bring down the Babylonian
Empire. So when we move through the Old
Testament, we move through the New Testament, it is absolutely
undeniable that God is sovereign. You cannot escape the reality
that everything is decreed and everything is controlled by God
Most High. The biblical authors have no
problem with this. They don't try to figure it all
out by saying, well, if this is the case and this is the case,
they understand what our confession teaches about first causes and
about second causes, about God who has decreed all things and
about the reality that man is responsible to God in every situation
that he or she faces. So God sells them into the hand
of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander
of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Herashef, Hagoyim. And the
children of Israel cried out to the Lord. This is that cry
again, not of repentance, not forsaking their sin, not casting
themselves upon the mercy of God, but it's a cry of distress,
it's a cry of oppression, it's a cry of pain, and it's underscored
here at the end of verse 3, 4, Jabin had 900 chariots of iron
and for 20 years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.
So for 20 years the children of Israel were under harsh oppression
oppressing from this particular gang. No doubt they saw these
chariots. They saw these chariots of iron. It would be similar to or akin
to Nazi occupation of a particular city or a country. You would
see the swastikas. You'd see the SS. You'd see the
troops all over your city. And probably that's what's going
on here in Israel under the oppressing hand of Sisera and Jabin. Now note, the deliverer raised
up by God. I must confess, as I approached
this chapter this morning, I always thought that Deborah was the
judge and Barak was her helper, or that they were sort of a team.
a team of deliverers. We've got Debra, we've got Beric,
and then we've got JL coming up the third leg being a co-deliverer
as well. Well, it is clear to me now that
it's Beric that's the deliverer. Debra's a prophetess. That's
what's indicated here. for us in the Scripture. Deborah
is identified as a prophetess. Several others in the Scriptures
are called prophetess. Miriam, Huldah, Noadiah, Isaiah's
wife, Anna in the New Testament, and then also Philip's daughters
prophesy. So that's not an uncommon thing. Deborah is also a woman, okay? That's inductive, isn't it? That's
some biblical exegesis there. Deborah's a she, and so is JL. Now, again, I read good commentaries,
but good commentaries often deal with bad commentaries and odd
gut commentaries. There's a lot of ink that has
gone into a promotion of Deborah and JL as sort of these heroines
or champions of women's rights like they were the early feminists
and they were the early pioneers that challenged a patriarchal
society and what we see here is God raising up women to do
these miraculous things and God does raise up these women to
do some miraculous things. It's absolutely incredible. But
what Bloch says, I think, is closer to the truth. He says
the biblical author was obviously interested in women's affairs
and achievements. I mean, he tells us, Deborah
and Jaya. In fact, Deborah cautions Barak,
you're not going to get the glory for the death of Sisera. It's
going to come by a woman, OK? Bloch says, but in the final
analysis, Deborah and JL are not heroic figures because of
their revisionist challenges to prevailing social structures. They are heroines because of
what they accomplish as agents of the divine agenda, which in
this instance has less to do with overthrowing oppressive
patriarchy than the role they play in Yahweh's overthrowing
oppressive Canaanites. That's the problem. It isn't
that now we've got Deborah and Jael rising up to establish a
feministic revisionism of Israel's history. It's that we see our
powerful and glorious God raise these vessels up to bring these
Canaanites under subjection to Israel. So Deborah, notice, she
is a prophetess and she would judge, verse 4. We read that
language, we think of the book, it's called judges, therefore
she must be one of those deliverer-type judges like Samson and Jephthah
and Othniel and Ehud and Barak. But probably judging here has
more the idea of rendering to the people specific things in
terms of her prophetic office. It tells us where she set up
shop. She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between
Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim and the children of
Israel came up to her for judgment. Now, probably because Israel
was in such a spiritually destitute state, the people went right
to the prophet. They didn't go to the priest.
They didn't seek the Yoram and the Thummim, much like in Samuel's
day. Remember? Eli was a priest. Eli's sons were priests, but
they were wicked. And so the people sought refuge
and sought judgment and sought help and assistance from Samuel. When you look at verse 4 and
it says, the children of Israel came up to her for judgment,
probably this is an explanation or an exposition of verse 3. In verse 3 it says, the children
of Israel cried out to the Lord. How did they cry out to the Lord?
They cried out to the Lord's prophetess. They said to Deborah,
please bring us the judgment. And now notice, the prophetess,
I argue, is not the deliverer raised up by God, but is the
voice of God to the deliverer, Barak. It's Barak that's the
judge. Beric gets the deliverer. It's not Deborah and Beric. It's
not a tag team. It's not a pair. But rather, Deborah has a particular
function. She is a prophetess. And she
being used by God deals specifically with Beric. Bloch offers several
lines of evidence to indicate that it's not Deborah who's the
prophetess. And again, I'm not. camping on
this because God can't use a woman to be a prophetess, but we need
to understand what's going on, or to be a judge, we need to
understand what's going on in the text. She is not introduced
as the one whom the Lord raised up. There is no reference to
the Spirit of the Lord coming on her to deliver Israel. This is pretty common in these
cycles. When the judge is raised up,
the Spirit of the Lord comes upon her. or comes upon them. You say, well, it doesn't mention
that about Barak. It doesn't need to. See, what
some take as cowardice on Barak's part in verse 8 underscores his
faith. He doesn't want to go where God
isn't. That's why he wants Deborah to go with him. So if Deborah
goes with him as the prophet of God, he doesn't need the Spirit
of the Lord to come upon him because the Spirit of the Lord
is with him. He's got God's presence. So there's
no reference to the Spirit of the Lord coming on her to deliver
Israel. She needs Barak to accomplish
the deliverance. The verb to save is not applied
to her. She says the Lord will sell Sisera
into the hands of a woman, but not my hands. Now when we read
that, verse 9, we probably assume she's going to get the victory.
Imagine if you'd never read Judges, and you got to verse 9, and she
says, Beric, God is going to give this enemy, this Sisera,
into the hands of a woman. Well, if you didn't know Jael
was in the latter part of this chapter, you'd probably assume
it was going to be Deborah that brought the hammer to fall on
Sisera. Actually, you wouldn't know that
either, because you wouldn't have the Jael story. She went
up with Barak, but she was not at the head of the troops. She
tells Barak that the Lord was giving Sisera into your hand,
not my hand, in verse 14. She is absent in the description
of the battle. And then in chapter 5, verse
7, in her song, she's referred to as a mother in Israel, not
a savior, not a deliverer. And then finally, she is not
mentioned in Hebrews 11.32. It is Barak. If Deborah had been
included in Hebrews 11, it would have been with the prophets.
It wouldn't have been with the judges. She is not the judge. She is a prophetess. she hears
the complaint from Israel, she then gets her marching orders
from the living God, and she calls upon Barak to be the deliverer
for Israel. And that brings us to verse 6.
Notice his call. Then she sent and called for
Barak the son of Abinoam from Kadesh and Naphtali and said
to him, has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, go and deploy
troops at Mount Tabor. Take with you 10,000 men of the
sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun. So we don't know
why he's called. We don't know what is in his
resume. We don't know how she knew him.
The author here pens it together in a way that doesn't necessarily
answer every question that we might have. But the chapter is
magnificent. The way that it's structured,
the way that it works, the way the author writes this, it is
absolutely brilliant literature. The way that he has put this
narrative together to convey to us the glory of God in the
salvation of his people. So Beric is called and then there
is a promise given to Beric. Notice in verse 7. And against
you, God the Lord says, I will deploy Sisera, the commander
of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude at the river
Kishon. and I will deliver him into your hand." So you see,
the prophetess has the scheme, she knows the program, and so
she calls Barak, she calls him to this particular office of
deliverer, or judge, or the one that's going to break the back
of the oppressing Canaanites, and then she makes this statement
to him that God says, I will deliver him into your hand. It's
actually not a team at all. It's not Deborah, it's not Barak,
and it's not J.L. working sort of in concert. The
theme of the book, or the theme of the chapter, is God bringing
deliverance to the people of Israel. It's very clear, it's
very conspicuous. It's here in verse 7. It's in
verses 14 and 15 played out. And then in the summary, verses
22 and 23, it's all about God. He uses these human instruments
to be sure. He is the first cause. He raises
up these second causes. But the point of the story is
that God uses these men, these women, to exercise his sovereignty
in delivering his people from their oppression. Again, the
emphasis is upon amazing grace. The emphasis is upon God's intervention. The emphasis is upon God's rescuing
his erring people, his sinful people. Remember, they cried
out, not in repentance, not to forsake their sin, but they cried
out because they don't like Jabin. They don't like these iron chariots.
They don't like being under harsh oppression for 20 years. So in
the midst of that, God orchestrates this plan to deliver Israel from
her oppression. Now, notice in verse 8. Barak's
dependence. Barak said to her, if you will
go with me, then I will go. But if you will not go with me,
I will not go. Now if we just read that without
any thought whatsoever, he would sound like a bit of a coward.
He would sound almost like a bit of a Nancy boy. He doesn't want
to go into the fray unless his big protector, Deborah, is right
there with him. This is common in call narratives. What happens when Moses is called?
Does Moses just say, absolutely, God send me, here am I? No, he
doesn't do that at all. He says, here am I, send Aaron,
because I can't do it. This is very typical in call
narratives. When we get to Gideon in Judges
chapter 6, the Lord God wants to use this particular man. What
does he do? He says, here am I, Lord, I'm
going to go. No. He has to test the Lord. He has
to present these things. He has to make sure that God
is going to go with him. What appears to be Barak's cowardice
is actually Barak's faith. When Barak says, if you will
go with me, then I will go, he is saying what Moses said to
the Lord God Almighty. If you don't go with us into
the promised land, I don't want to go. We don't want to go. I
need your presence. I need your power. I need every
divine resource that there is, because I can't go break the
back of Jabin. I cannot destroy 900 chariots
of iron. I can't face Sisera, this wretched
man. I cannot do this in my own strength.
What we find here is not cowardice, but faith. If you will go with
me, then I will go. But if you will not go with me,
I will not go." Bloch says the request to be accompanied by
the prophetess is a plea for the presence of God. This is
a good thing. This is what we want from our
leaders. This is what Israel needed in terms of a barrack
is that he would call upon the prophetess to go alongside of
him because that meant that God was in the mix. Notice verse
9, the assurance of victory is given. Now verse 9 says, Derek,
you're not going to get the glory, the glory, or God's going to
deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman. But what's she saying?
God's going to deliver Sisera. You're not going to lose. Barrett,
the mission that you are being tasked with is win-win. There is no failure involved.
Sure, you're not going to get to carry Cicera's head around. That glory is going to go to
someone else. Actually, she doesn't carry it
around. She nails it to the ground. But nevertheless, verse 9 is
a promise that God is going to bring victory. I will surely
go with you. Nevertheless, there will be no
glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord
will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." Just the way the
Lord sold Israel into oppression to begin with is the same way
He's going to sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. It is the
means by which Deborah encourages Barak that there will in fact
be victory. Notice in verse 10, Barak called
Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. He went up with 10,000 men under
his command and Deborah went up with him. Now feasibly you
could just read from verse 11 to verse, I'm sorry, verse 10
to verse 12. You could do that without any
break in the narrative whatsoever. You could go from verse 10 under
his command, and Deborah went up with him to verse 12, and
they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinuam had
gone up to Mount Tabor. But for verse 11, we interrupt
this program for this little bit of information here. What
difference does it make where Heber the Kenite lives? Because
Jael's married to Heber the Kenite, right? We need Jael to be in
this narrative. We need her to be in a place
of advantage so that she can dispose of Sisera, the enemy
of the Lord and the enemy of his people. So Heber, the Kenite
of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had separated
himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the Terebinth
tree at Za'aneim which is beside Kedesh. 1.16 in the book of Judges
already indicated this particular tidbit concerning Heber. So you
see the author here puts this in there so that when we get
down to jail we know why she's there We know what she's doing
there and we know her place in the narrative. It is a beautiful
way to foreshadow and a beautiful way to bring together all of
the elements of this particular discourse. So the reference in
Judges 1.16 and the significance of this note, Davis calls verse
11, The minutia of salvation. The minutia of salvation. Something
that seems so ordinary. Something that seems so minute. Something that seems so unimportant.
I mean, who cares where Heber, the son of Hobab, lives? Right?
I mean, does that really affect you? Do you ever do your devotions
in Judges 4.11 and tell your wife or your husband, wow, Heber
moved because he wanted to be in a better place? No, that's
not something that Spurgeon usually writes devotionals about. That's
not the stuff that sermons are usually preached on. It is a
minute detail, but as you follow through the narrative, you go,
oh yeah, I can see why the author includes it there. so that Jael
has a tent for Sisera to come and seek refuge in. I mean, isn't
that ironic? He seeks refuge in that particular
tent. He wants to get a little sleep.
This turns out to be a great nightmare for him. So notice,
verses to the third large section, the victory of Israel described,
verses 12 to 24, and this is in two parts. The defeat of the
army, and the defeat of the commander. The defeat of the army, the troops
are assembled in verses 12 and 13. They, we don't know who they
are, but they reported to Sisera that Beric, the son of Abinoam,
had gone up to Mount Tabor. So Sisera gathered together all
his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the people who
were with him from Herosheth, Hagoyim, to the river Kishon."
Now note the river Kishon there and note the river Kishon in
verse 7. This is important. Probably what
happened, just going to give you the rub here, probably what
happened is that God sent a storm and that the river overflowed. So what was a weapon became a
liability. Chariots are good when the ground
is dry. Chariots are helpful when you've
got solid pavement. But when you're in an iron chariot
and the river overflows and you're in mud, a chariot is probably
the last place that you want to be. Now you ask, how do we
know that this is probably what's going on? Notice in verse 14.
The troops have assembled, verses 12 and 13. Verse 14, Deborah
said to Barak, up, for this is the day in which the Lord has
delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before
you? So you see again, the emphasis
is upon God. It's God's victory. God uses
Deborah. God uses Barak. God uses Jael. God uses hammers. God uses tent
pegs. God uses rain. God uses the River
Tishon. but ultimately the victory is
of the Lord, right? He doesn't just snap his fingers
and everything's that way. This is what makes life very
interesting. This is what makes life very
intriguing. It's because God does these things
for His glory and for the good of His people. Verse 14, so Barak
went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him, and
the Lord routed Sisera. Literally, the Lord threw them
into a panic. Go back to Joshua for just a
moment. Joshua chapter 10. Joshua chapter 10. at verse 9. Joshua therefore came upon them
suddenly having marched all night from Gilgal so the Lord routed
them. Same verb. The Lord threw them
into a panic, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon,
chased them along the road that goes to Beth Horon and struck
them down as far as Azekah and Makedah. And it happened as they
fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth-horon, that
the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as
Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from
the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword. You go back to Judges chapter
5, and in the song of Deborah she seems to indicate something
of God's power coming through nature. And it probably is the
case that this is what happened when the Lord routed Sisera.
The rivers swell. The chariots start to stick.
In fact, Sisera has to jump off of his chariot to run on foot. What was their battle or what
was their weapons of strength became their weakness. Notice in 5.4, I'm sorry, 5.5,
the mountains gushed before the Lord, this Sinai, before the
Lord God of Israel. Verse 20, they fought from the
heavens, the stars, from their courses fought against Cicero.
Now some of the people say that in other societies or peoples
around them, they attributed stars with this sort of a thing.
If that's what the author is doing, then it makes perfect
sense. But then the torrent, verse 21, of Kishon swept them
away. That ancient torrent, the torrent
of Kishon, oh my soul, march on in strength. So you see, going
back to chapter 4, verse 14, up, for this is the day in which
the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord
gone out before you?" So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with
10,000 men following him. The rivers swelled, the chariots
staked, and what happened? They're sitting ducks at this
point. So the Lord threw them into a panic and all his chariots
and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak. And
Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. Now Davis comments on verse 14
with reference to the Lord being the warrior. The Lord, verse
15, routed Sisera Just like we saw in Joshua 10, the Lord is
the subject of each of the verbs there. God routes, God chases,
God fights, God destroys these enemies. Davis says there is
almost an unwritten cultural law that religion and theology
and God should always be gentle, soft, and nice. Strange then
that the God of the Bible is the warrior. The strength of
Israel is not the soft, wimpy, graven image of current Western
imagination. The only real hope of God's afflicted
people is in a strong Lord who in righteousness judges and makes
war. This is what you get in the God
of Joshua and Judges and throughout the New Testament. I think Davis
is right. There is this concept, and you've
met these people as well. When they hear things like this,
they say, well, that's not, that doesn't sound right. I mean,
the thought that jail took a tent peg and hammered Cicero's head
to the ground offends people. They think that's vicious and
barbaric. They think that unkind, because
God's supposed to be nice. God's supposed to be gentle.
God's supposed to be sappy. That's the kind of stuff we face,
not in the world, but in the church. We have this idea that
God has one default select, and that is niceness. God is not
nice, nice, nice, according to the scripture. He's holy, holy,
holy. He's righteous, and he's just,
and he does all that he does for his own glory and for the
good of his people. The warrior of Israel is fighting
Sisera. He causes the River Kishon to
overflow. He brings these 10,000 troops
down from Mount Tabor. They take the edge of the sword,
and they utterly decimate the Canaanite army, except for Sisera. Sisera escapes. Sisera bails. Sisera leaves. Notice what we
find in verse 16. Barak pursued the chariots, and
the army, as far as Harasheth Haggoyim, and all the army of
Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a man was left. So we've got the defeat of the
army. Now we come to the defeat of the commander. Verses 17 to
22. However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite. Verse 11, you see that? Verse 11 puts her in the narrative. Sisera fled away on foot to the
tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. For there was peace
between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. This peace treaty or covenant
that Jabin and Heber had together. Sisera thought, I'm safe. This
is my safe haven. I've escaped Yahweh. I've escaped
the army. I've escaped everybody. I'm a
free man. Take the guy who thinks he committed
the perfect crime. You know, he's driving out of
town, he sees the police in his rearview mirror, I'm heading
to Mexico, I'm heading to Canada if he's in the States, I'm heading
to the States if he's in Canada, I'm heading to Argentina, I'm
heading somewhere, but I'm in the free. I get to my safe house,
I see this person, she says, why don't you come in and I'll
arrest you. Isn't that great? Everything
is going well for Sisera. As far as Sisera is concerned,
this is a done deal. He may have got our chariots,
he may have got our armies, but he didn't get me. This is what's
going on in the mind of Sisera. So the relocation of Heber indicated
in verse 11 would serve the purposes of God and of Israel. Now notice the plan of jail in
verses 18 to 21. She offered safety to Sisera. She offered nourishment to Sisera. She offered protection to Sisera. And she secured deliverance for
Israel by hammering his head into the ground with a tent peg. Now Bedouin women would be the
ones responsible for putting up and taking down the tents.
She would have facility and competence with wielding a hammer and a
tent peg. This would be second nature to
this particular woman. The narrative is structured very
similar to the Ehud narrative as well. You've got the one with
the sharp object having dialogue with the person they're going
to terminate. And interestingly enough, Beric then comes and
is similar. He's not the bumbling buffoon
that the guards in Eglon's palace was, but nevertheless he serves
the same function. When those guards open the door
and they see fat Eglon lying in his guts, They are surprised
at what has taken place. What do you think Barak thought
when he walks in, perhaps thinking that Sisera is going to be tied
up or handcuffed to the bed, and he's lying there with a tent
peg driven through his head? I mean, this is an amazing deliverance
that is wrought in this particular instance. So Jael went out to
meet Sisera, verse 18, and it is so descriptive. And when Deborah
praises God in her song in 524 to 527, it's so descriptive. And in a moment, we're going
to deal with, was what JL did right? Because as you can assume,
there are people that say, this was vicious. This was horrific.
One man that we all know and love says that it was murder
that JL did this. I don't understand that. In a
time of war, how could it be murder? I mean, if somebody sniped
him with a high-power rifle, would that be murder? No. If
SEAL Team 6 got Osama bin Laden or someone took a tent peg through
his head, what difference does it make? It's war. This is an
enemy combatant. This is a terrorist who has harshly
oppressed your people. You take him out. It's not murder
for J.L. any more than it is murder for
an army man to take his sword and to hack Cicero's head off.
I guess you can see what side I fall out on. I don't believe
it was wrong. I believe it was right, and I
believe that the Scriptures affirm that and confirm that. Notice
verse 18, J.L. went out to meet Cicero and said
to him, turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me. Do not fear.
Do not fear." Wow. And when he had turned aside
with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket. Then he said
to her, please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. So she opened a jug of milk,
gave him a drink, covered him. And he said to her, stand at
the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of
you and says, is there any man here, you shall say no. Then
Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her
hand and went softly to him. She didn't want to wake him up.
Went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple. Literally hammered it into his
temple. And it went down into the ground.
Why? For he was fast asleep and weary,
so he died. And then notice, Beric comes
along. You know, some speculate, was
Barak seeking the glory? Right? He was told that it would
be a woman that would get the deliverance. I don't think so. Barak was doing his job. Sisera
fled. I don't know that Barak's disappointed
because she got, I'm sure he was probably surprised to see
a tent peg through this man's head and this woman standing
there having delivered the death blow. But notice in verse 22,
and then as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and
said to him, come, I will show you the man whom you seek. And
when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera dead with the peg
in his temple. That's a powerful description
of the disposal of God's enemy and Israel's enemy. Now note
the summary of the victory in verses 23 and 24. So on that
day, Deborah, Barak, and Jael subdued Jabin. It doesn't say
that, does it? There's not one word about Deborah. There's not one word about Barak. There's not one word about jail
in verses 23 and 24. What's the author want us to
get? It's about God, right? So on that day God subdued Jabin
king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel and
the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against
Jabin king of Canaan until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. Block says, the conclusion reminds
the reader that the conflict in the book of Judges is not
between patriarchy and egalitarianism. We're not supposed to approach
this and say, well, Deborah and Jael, they are the early pioneers
of the feminist movement. That's not the point. He says
it's not the conflict in the book of Judges is not between
men and women or even between Israelite leaders and the rulers
of the nations. The conflict is between the divine
king and the kingdom of light on the one hand and the forces
of the kingdom of darkness on the other. That's the point of
Judges chapter 4. So when we get to the very end,
verse 22, it affirms, confirms, and underscores everything that
Deborah had prophesied. you will have victory, and Sisera
will be delivered into the hands of a woman. So Barak sees with
his own eyes the efficacy of God's holy word in play. So with reference to Jael, was
she a bad person or a good person? I guess it depends on whose side
you're on. If you're an Israelite or a Canaanite.
If you're a Canaanite, she's probably one of the top three
notorious people that you just don't like. But if you're an
Israelite, hopefully she's a hero. But again, throughout this whole
chapter, the deliverance belongs to the Lord. It's highlighted
in 7, 14, here in the conclusion, 23 and 24, no mention. of the
human agents whatsoever. It is God's sovereignty. It is
God the Lord who raises people up. And again, I'll remind us,
we're not in the theocracy, we're not in the period of Holy War,
we're not in a time where somebody could validate doing something
like this and saying, well, I was functioning as an agent for God.
I whacked that abortionist with my .30-06 for God. That is absolutely unrighteous
behavior. There is no new covenant warrant
for any individual Christian to take up physical arms to destroy
the enemies of God as Christians. Now, if a man is a Christian,
and he also serves in the military, and he's functioning in a civil
capacity, well, by all means, he's able to engage in just warfare. But Christians as Christians
and churches as churches are not to go out and cut the heads
off of Ciceras in our particular generation. We cannot do that
in the name of Jesus Christ. So please, that's not what I'm
advocating. But this is a different scenario
in Judges 4 and 5. This is a time of holy war. This
is a time where God is communicating to his people through his prophets.
This is a time where they are engaged in dealing with the oppressive
enemies that are going against them. So God's sovereignty. But secondly, notice the benediction
pronounced by Deborah in chapter 5 verses 24 to 27. Most blessed
among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Canaanite. Blessed
is she among women in tents. This language, by the way, is
applied to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Most blessed among women
is this one. It goes on to say, He asked for
water. She gave milk. She brought out
cream in a lordly bowl. She stretched her hand to the
tent peg, her right hand to the workman's hammer. She pounded
Sisera. She hammered Sisera. She pierced
his head. She split and struck through
his temple. At her feet he sank. He fell.
He lay still. At her feet he sank. He fell.
Wherever he sank, there he fell dead. It doesn't sound like the
prophetess of Israel had any problem whatsoever with JL's
conduct. In fact, she gives a benediction
and says that it's a wonderful thing that she did. Now, a third
thing to consider here is the wickedness of Cicero. This wasn't
a guy minding his own business. This wasn't a guy just chilling
out. Chapter 4, verse 3, he harshly
oppressed Israel. Not for 20 minutes, not for 20
days, but for 20 years. And then notice in chapter 5,
verse 30. There's an interesting contrast.
24 to 27, Deborah praises God for jail. And then in verses 28 to 30,
Sisera's mother is waiting for him to return. Sisera's mother
is looking out of the window saying, when is my young man
going to come home? She's being encouraged by her
friends. Verse 28, the mother of Sisera
looked through the window, cried out through the lattice, why
is his chariot so long and coming? Why tarries the clatter of his
chariots? Her wisest ladies answered her.
Yes, she answered herself, are they not finding and dividing
the spoil? To every man a girl or two? It
takes time to divvy up the property and to rape those Israelite girls. It takes time to engage in this
sort of profligacy. You just calm down, Mrs. Sisera. You just relax. Your baby boy
will come home after he's done savaging these Israelite girls. That's the text. This wasn't
some guy sitting around minding his own business, wanders into
Jael's tent, and she just takes a tent peg and a hammer and lets
him have it. He is an enemy of God. He is
an enemy of Israel. And he is brought down by God's
servant. He was a wretch of a man to every
man and girl or two. For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments,
plunder of garments embroidered and dyed, two pieces of dyed
embroidery for the neck of the looter. It's going to take time,
Sisera's mom, for him to return home. That's how they're comforting
this woman. You know when they go out to battle, it takes time
for the men to do all that they do. This man was wicked. I mentioned
somebody earlier who said this concerning Tamar, I'm sorry,
Jea, specifically with reference to Deborah's statement in chapter
5, 24 to 27. This particular man said, though
this act was murder and a breach of honor. No, it wasn't. How
do you get that from the text? How do you tell Deborah, you
are praising God for a murderer? That's just not what's happening.
He says, though this act was murder and a breach of honor,
likely motivated by her desire for favor with the conquering
Israelites, There's not one whit of evidence in the text to suggest
that. Could it not be the case that
Jael loved the God of Israel? She loved the Israelites? She
saw her particular opportunity when Sisera says, can I lie down
in your tent? It wasn't that she was courting
favor with the Israelites. It's that she was glorifying
God. He goes on to say, and though it was without regard for God
on her part, again, how do we know that? I trust Deborah more
than I trust this man, at least in this. God's overruling providence
caused great blessing to flow from it, which is good. Great
blessing did flow from it. But now listen what our dear
brother John Gill, particular Baptist brother says. When she
perceived he was fast asleep, and it being now put into her
heart to kill him, having an impulse upon her spirit, which
she was persuaded was of God, not filling her with malice and
revenge, notice, but a concern for the glory of God, the interest
of religion and the good of Israel, She took this method to affect
the death of this enemy of God and his people. I think Gill
gets it on this particular passage most wonderfully. So that's chapter
4. As I said, chapter 5 is a song
of praise. The purpose of the song verses
1 to 3, to praise the Lord. When leaders lead in Israel,
when the people willingly offer themselves, bless the Lord. Hear,
O kings! Give ear, O princes! I, even
I, will sing to the Lord. I will sing praise to the Lord
God of Israel. Verses 4 and 5 speak of the coming
of the Lord. She uses imagery from the Lord
God coming to Mount Sinai to bless His people. And then what
then follows in this particular section does seem to indicate
some contrast within Israel itself. There were certain tribes that
didn't jump into the fray. They didn't participate in seeking
to destroy the enemies. We see in verse 18 specifically,
Zebulun is a people who jeopardized their lives to the point of death.
Naphtali also on the heights of the battlefield. These were
the tribes that sided with and partnered with Barak in order
to defeat Jabin and Sisera. So the Lord or Deborah is praising
God for their participation. Meroz, according to verse 23,
curse Meroz, said the angel of the Lord. Curse its inhabitants
bitterly, because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Don't know a whole
lot about that. Didn't have time to look into
it a whole lot. But apparently, Meroz should
have helped, and they didn't. And so the angel of the Lord
says, curse them. I've already mentioned this contrast.
24 to 27, we have jail. 28 to 30, we have the mother. of Sisera. And then in verse
31, we have something of a petition and then we have a call. Thus
let all your enemies perish, O Lord. Let them all perish,
O Lord, but let those who love him, this is a call, a challenge
to Israel, let those who love him be like the sun when it comes
out in full strength. You may have gotten an email,
probably you did from Pastor Cam, about the Orthodox Catechism
by Hercules Collins. It's another great name, Hercules.
Basically, what Hercules Collins did was take the Heidelberg Catechism
and baptize it. So any reference to infant baptism
is no longer in this Orthodox catechism. Well, the wording
with reference to the second petition, I think, gets at what
Deborah says here in verse 31, when she says, let all your enemies
perish, O Lord. The Orthodox catechism, Heidelberg
catechism number 123, talking about the second petition in
the Lord's Prayer. Thy kingdom come. That is, rule
us so by thy word and spirit that we may humble and submit
ourselves more and more unto thee. Also preserve and increase
thy church, destroy the works of the devil and all power that
lifts up itself against thy majesty. make all those counsels frustrate
and void which are taken against thy word until at length thou
reign fully and perfectly when thou shalt be all in all." So,
thus let all your enemies perish, O Lord, is similar to that petition
wherein the Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray, thy kingdom
come. That's what Deborah's saying.
That's what Deborah's praising God for. is that his judgments
bring the advancement of his kingdom on earth. And then she
calls upon Israel, let those who love him be like the sun.
When it comes out in full strength. So the land had rest for 40 years. And I realized I just wrote a
note here back to the jail thing. The people that are against jail
and the people that say, wow, that was vicious, I wonder if
they would take that to act if it was their daughters that had
been raped by Cicero. If their daughters had been savaged
by a man like Cicero, would they say, Oh, that's terrible, the
way JL dispatched him. Probably not. They would probably
love to read with glee and joy the description found in verses
24 to 27. If your little girl, your daughters,
your friend's daughters had been raped by these men, certainly
you would praise God for JL, for her hammer, and for her tempeh. Because God the Lord used that
to bring judgment upon a man who did such wickedness. Well,
let us close in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. We thank you for the Book of Judges, and we know ultimately,
even in Chapters 4 and 5, The message is the same, that you
are a God of great and amazing grace, that you deliver your
people under oppression, that you are the one who raises men
up, you raise up women to do your will. And God, may we be
encouraged in studies like these and may we realize with what
Davis said, What afflicted souls need is the warrior of Israel.
We need the God described to us in the book of Revelation.
We need the Christ of Revelation 19, that one who wages war. We just pray now that you would
go with us and that you'd watch over us. And we pray with Deborah
that your kingdom would come, that your kingdom would increase,
that you would indeed be glorified throughout this earth as more
and more people submit to your rule and your reign. And we ask
these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.
