Deborah, A Leader in a National Emergency
Study Scripture: Judges 4: 4 – 10, 14, 21 – 22
Background Scripture: Joshua 24, Judges 1 –3
Lesson #1 June 6, 2026
Key Verse
And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
Judges 4:4 – 5
INTRODUCTION
If you want to be sad read the book of Judges.
If you say you are a believer who professes to love God your sadness should be much greater than you have ever experienced when you read this Book.
But there is hope in God and it is revealed in this Study Lesson
But before you satisfy yourself with the hope that is in God let us briefly review what this book is telling us.
There were about seven judges that are recorded in this Book of Judges. The first one is Ehud and you will cringe when you read how he went to the summer Palace of the King of Moab that oppressed Israel and slid his dagger between the fifth and 6th ribs of the King so that the fat closed around it and he could not draw it out again. Then he shut the door behind him and ran for his life.
You will cringe when you read in our Study Lesson how Jael, the Kenite woman drive welcomed the enemy of Israel who came to her for a hiding place when he lost the battle and ran for his life, and she plunged a stake through the skull of Sisera, the commander of the enemy troops that had their knees on the neck of the people of Israel for 20 years.
Then you will worry about Gideon when God had to cut his army down from 32,000 to 300 before he sent him into battle. After he had this amazing exposure to the power of God and won the battle he still slipped into apostasy.
You will read about the terrible prophecy of the orphan Jotham whose prophecy was fulfilled in a mysterious and violent way as God worked against Abimelech the false judge.
Your heart will probably sink again when you read how the Judge Jephthah’s daughter came out to meet him when he was coming back from the battle he had one under the power of God and he remembered the vow that he had made that the first person he met as he came home he would sacrifice to God and he knew that he had to fulfill that vow.
Then after you feel great about Samson wreaking havoc among the Philistines with his tremendous God given strength you will wonder at his naïve folly in allowing that Philistine girl named Delilah to worm out of him the secret of his strength and finally destroy him.
Then finally you will feel extreme revulsion when you read the story of the Benjamite perversion where a slave girl and the concubine of a travelling Israelite after being raped and tortured to death was cut into twelve pieces and a piece sent to each of the tribes of Israel demanding that they take revenge and destroy the tribe of Benjamin.
The Book of Judges records what is regarded as one of the darkest periods in the storied history of the nation Israel. The years between the death of Joshua and the coming to authority of the prophet Samuel was a horrible time for the nation. It was a situation that only God could salvage.
As you think about all these things you should understand that all these events happened in the Land of Promise, the Promised land of Canaan. It is a story of a deteriorating nation and it is a picture of the deteriorating Christian life and so it has a dual purpose of picturing what Christians will do when they encounter spiritually the war that they are up against.
We cannot avoid this for the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:11 told us plainly,“Now all these things were written down for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages are come”.
But what are the things that were written about that the Apostle referred to? Let us look at these things that the people of Israel did and the things that we keep doing ourselves for we think God does not see us and see all that we are doing:
“Moreover brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
And all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
And all did eat the same supernatural meat, and did all drink the same supernatural drink: for they drank of that supernatural Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them: as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also attempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all these things happened unto them as a warning, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall”.
And now come the lesson that we pray that this Lesson Study will make you learn;
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make the way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it”.
One scholar points out to us that when we think about the Land of Canaan we should be thinking about what it signified, for the Land speaks about the principles of victory over sin through the risen life of an indwelling Lord. He stresses that God’s purpose for the believer is to get you out of Egypt which stands for the world and its ways and is the place of slavery and bondage. So God takes you through the wilderness, and there you will face the defeats, the barrenness and fragmentary enjoyment of God’s resources, finally taken into the land with its promise, its supply and its victory.
So after the book of Joshua with its victory under Joshua when the people obeyed the instructions of God we come to the Book of Judges which is a Book of defeat and of failure.
It gives you all the warning signs you should look for, the danger signals, the perils and the dangers and difficulties that lay along the life path of a believer.
This is what this Lesson Study is supposed to get you to understand.
We are told that politically at this time in Israel there was no central government or authority. There was no strong, permanent leadership like that which Joshua had provided. The Judges came up, and they died. And everything bad started all over again.
So we are told in Judges 21;25 the people fell under the peril where they were given over to the folly of what one writer calls “ consecrated blundering”. Even though they thought that there was no king in Israel they forgot that Jehovah was their King; but they they ignored Him, didn’t take Him seriously, and only took themselves seriously. So they did what they thought was right in their own eyes not thinking that what they were doing in their own eyes was wrong.
If one wants to be nice to the people of Israel we would say that they were guided by their conscience and so they were dedicated to do earnest efforts to do what was right but always ending up wrong.
As a result the pattern of defeat would repeat itself over and over again, coming in one cycle after another, in which each time God has to come in His grace and delivering the people only to have them enter another cycle of defeat.
Does that look familiar in your life? This Book of Judges make it clear what you should be doing and what you should be avoiding.
Spiritually idolatry lurked around every corner and was often the order of the day. It was a time of great instability, the tribes had not completely settled in their allotted areas and in some places disregarded the command of God to eradicate the pagan Gentile nation whose iniquity had overflowed the cup, but had chosen to have them live among them.
The large tribe of Manasseh failed to obey God and according to 1:29 they allowed the Canaanites to dwell in Gezer among them.
The tribe of Zebulon did the same thing and allowed the Canaanites to live among them.(Verse 30).
Asher did the same thing (Verse 31).
Naphtali did the same foolish thing (Verse 33).
The tribe of Dan were into the hill country and not allowed by the Amorites to come down to the plains. (Verse 34).
Thus as God had warned when there was disobedience to His instructions there would be continuing trouble and so there was a steady cycle of war and peace with different Canaanite nations.
Now we must understand that when the people of Israel came to these Canaanite villages it looked so nice and peaceful and they did not seem particularly dangerous people. They seem to be fine and quite innocent looking. So the people of Israel thought they could allow the tribes to coexist with the villages of the pagan nations. But note that what they were doing was settling for less than total victory.
Let us look at ourselves for a moment! As a Christian have you ever settled for less than total victory in your life?
Did you stop smoking, drinking, eating you want, chasing after the opposite sex that does not belong to you, cursing and swearing, and enjoying the same things as non-Christians?
Are you hot tempered, anxious, always worrying about things, feeling self-confident, feeling proud of yourself just like those outside of God, and excusing yourself saying that you are only human?
So when the Canaanites, of course the philosophers, pundits, secular thinkers, mega religious ministries who teach health and wealth and instant healing when you paying of tithes and offerings to them, and financial planners nowadays in the modern world tell you that worshiping their fertility gods, the Baals and the Ashtaroths, and of course the Freudians, the Jungians, the Maslows and other modern psychologists and others, tell you that following their rules, you will be successful when you bow down to them and involve yourself into licentious practices, you go along.
God has to somehow step in and help you, reminding you to reject all of that nonsense and stick to the words of Scripture.
So we will advise. Take God seriously when He speaks to you about the nature of the enemy that you will face for that the enemy will seduce and pressure you to allow yourself to settle down to live your life with them.
In Israel as among us there was a recurring problem with idolatry ( and note that idolatry is not just bowing down to idols of wood and stone and precious metals), as the people tried to serve Yahweh and the local Canaanite gods at the same time. Sometimes they completely forgot their God except in times of trouble.
The constant refrain in Judges is that: “there was no King in Israel: everyone did what was right in his own eyes”.
The Book of Judges relates cycles of sin, judgment and relief in an increasingly downward spiral into apostasy. Typically there was national sin, then judgment and oppression by their enemies. This led to their suffering, weeping and pleading to God for help over an extended period. Deliverance from the results of their deliberate sinning often took some time, for they had to be taught a lesson.
Then God in His mercy and mindful of His covenant would raise up a deliver to liberate them from their enemies. They would be immediately grateful but as soon as that ‘deliverer’ passed from the scene, there would be a rapid slide into apostasy, each cycle more degenerate than the previous one. They quickly reverted to the worship of Baals, participated in the degraded forms of Canaanite idolatry and ignored the Covenant with their God. Thus the cycle would start all over again. It was so easy for them to forget that God had promised them blessings, and that there were cursings if they did not live up to what they had promised.
At that time in Israel, a “Jjudge” was almost never a person who passed judgment on certain cases, or who acted in the most common sense of the word. They might have exercised some judicial function, but their primary task was to be a military leader. Usually, the Israelites were free from oppression as long as the judge lived.
Note that these leaders were called by God, sustained by God, and helped by God. They always faced insurmountable obstacles, but God worked everything out.
We are told about Israel being delivered by more than a dozen people, the prominent ones being Othniel (3:7-11), Ehud (3:12-31), Deborah (chapter 4-5), Gideon (chapters 6-8), Jephthah (10:6-12:7), and Samson (chapters 13-16). But there were others we know little about such as Shamgar (4:31), Tola (10:1-2), Jair (10:3-5), Ibzan (12:8-10), Elon (12:11-12), and Abdon (12:13-15).
In today’s Lesson we study the deliverance brought through Deborah, but before her the painful pattern of sin, judgment, and relief, was already well established. We are told of Othniel and Ehud who delivered Israel from their tormentors but the people returned to their evil ways as soon as those judges died.
The ‘raising-up’ of a woman to be a judge was a commentary on the times, for women were not normally judges. To show the dreadful situation of the nation in even more stark reality, the woman actually went to war with the troops.
In this situation God called on a woman to be involved in waging war. Everything was flipped around. How bad can things get! Women are not supposed to go to war. They like Deborah said are to be “a mother in Israel”, They are supposed to be calling on men to defend them and their children, men are supposed to be brave and protect their families. These were not normal times.
So what is a woman to do in this kind of situation like in Israel then?
One writer when he looks at the story of Ruth and the story of Deborah, considers these two women as lilies in the midst of a stagnant pond. What an image!
It makes men to be ashamed of themselves!
But this was Israel’s darkest hour and the people who lived across the Jordan from Canaan were not in Canaan proper but a little bit to the north southwest of the sea of and that place they were ruled from was Mount Tabor. One writer describes some details of the location which are important for what we are to think about.
“Now Hazor where this man called Jabin lived was north of the Sea of Galilee. Hazor was the capital of the northern Canaanite Confederacy. It was actually a city- state, and all the Canaanite tribes were gathered under one leader, Jabin the king. The word “Jabin” means enlightened one, which seems to be more of a title than a name. He was allied with a man called Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. “Harosheth” means smiths, and “goyim” you will recognize as the word Jews often use for Gentiles. Together, the two words means “ smiths of the Gentiles”.
Sisera was a very interesting person. His name is not Canaanite or Semitic, but Indo- European. He was probably a Philistine, one of those people who came from the region of the Aegean Sea from what is known today as Greece. The Philistines were one of the groups driven out of that area by the Greek tribes, and they came into Canaan and settled there.
The Philistines had a monopoly on iron working. As late as the beginning of the monarchy under Saul, hardly any Israelite had iron weapons. At that time the ultimate weapon was an iron spear or sword, but most had to be made of bronze. The Philistines had learned how to work iron in Greece, and they maintained a deliberate monopoly on iron working. Those iron weapons were made in Harosheth-hagoyim. If any Jew wanted an iron plowshare, or an object that pertained to peaceful pursuits ( which they were permitted to possess by the Philistines) they had to come to a Harosheth- hagoyim to have them made or sharpened. Thus the Philistines were able to oppress the Israelites because they could prevent them from gathering an arsenal of weapons P for example, one of the champions of Israel was Shamgar, and the only weapon he had was an ox- goad, which is a piece of wood about 6 to 8 ft long with a metal tip. The horrible oppression of the Israelites is described further in Chapter 5 beginning with verse 6.
Evidently 40,000 men was the greatest number the Israelites could muster at this time and not one of them was equipped. There were no shields or spears in Israel. This gives you some idea of their plight. They were in terrible shape.
It also appears that there was no leadership in Israel because the two leaders that are mentioned in this account, Shamgar and Jael, were not in Israelites at all. Shamgar is not a Jewish name, he is described as one of the deliverers, but not as a judge. And Jael,, as we will see in a moment was not only a non-israelite, she was a woman. There were no leaders in Israel. Though the people were terribly oppressed, there was no one who could deliver them.
Now this is the setting against which we need to see the ministry of Deborah”.
This Chapter in our Study Text is crucial to modern arguments as to the place, role, and function of women in marriage, the church, and in society and in leadership.
Note people have used Judges 4 & 5 to prove ideas which are in conflict such as
-women should be prophetesses today in the Church
-A woman’s place is to be submissive and be beside her husband for in this case this prophetess was identified by her husband’s name “Deborah…the wife of Lapidoth”.(some of course argue that the words “wife of Lappidoth” do not necessarily mean she was married and Lapidoth might be the place where she came from, and/or Lappidoth could mean “torch” or “lightening” indicating she was a “fiery woman)”
-A woman can he happily married, carry our her family role, and be a leader at the same time.
It must be considered whether Deborah’s role was prescriptive indicating how we should act today and setting the norm for behaviour today, or descriptive simply describing what Scripture she did and not going further than that.
Clearly we are told she was a prophetess as was Miriam, Aaron’s sister (Exodus 15:20-21), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Isaiah’s wife (Isaiah 8:3), Anna (Luke 2:36), and the seven daughters of Philip the Evangelist.
God used prophets simply to reveal His will to the people in different situations but they did not have a worship function..
Note that though it might be considered that Deborah was an unlikely choice for a Judge all the major Judges in the Book were unlikely and unexpected choices for a Judge. This was moreso in the case of the minor Judges of which we know little.
In the case of Othniel, he is described as a younger brother, obviously a less privileged position.(Judges 3:9) Ehud is described as a left-handed man (3:15) an unusual disadvantage in that society but one which God used to His advantage.
It is stressed Deborah was a woman normally unlikely to be in a position of leadership.
Gideon (6:15) claimed his clan was the weakest in Manesseh and that he was the least in his father’s house.
Jephthah was states as the son of a prostitute”, and that in addition even his brothers had rejected him. (11:2) He was an unlikely candidate to be a Judge.
Samson was a social odd-ball with strange taste. In addition he was a Nazarite and lived under many restrictions.
Clearly God chose those who we would never think of choosing as deliverers They were out of the norm and were all weak, and unlikely candidates for leading to victory.
But God chose Deborah to be “ mother in Israel” to give advice to those that came to her. She therefore is called a Judge for she had a judicial function, and not a military function. The other major Judges all had military functions with only some having judicial functions..
Note they generally were local Judges. Deborah’s role was trans- tribal for many came from all over to hear from her.
What is peculiar about Deborah was that even though her associate Barack was listed in Hebrews among the people of Faith her name was not listed, though she clearly was according to this book of Judges the great example of faith and dependence, and one admirably suited to receive revelation and directions from God.
What is clearly extremely remarkable about Deborah and their ministry is that when she was ministering as a prophetess and a judge she was relatively near to Bethel. One writer tells us why this is significant:
“ Bethel was a long way from the region that is described in the first 3 verses of chapter 4. In those verses the area described was the territory possessed by the two tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon. Ephraim, however, is about 50 miles to the south of Naphtali and Zebulon. In order to travel from this part of Canaan to Ephraim, the people had to go by way of Shiloh because the road went right by Shiloh.
Now, Shiloh was the spiritual center of Israel at that time; that is where the ark was, where the tabernacle was, where the priests were. But there was no leadership there, so the people bypassed Shiloh, and went all the way to Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim to meet with Deborah and to seek wisdom from her.
This is an amazing fact: there was no man anywhere in Israel they could appeal to. The priests were decadent, as we know from other accounts in the book of judges, and certainly from the story in 1 Samuel of Eli and his sons.
There was no wisdom in Shiloh, so the people went to Deborah who had already established herself in their eyes as a woman of the Word of God.
She was a prophetess.
Now this leads me to believe that the first step for any woman who wants to have an impact upon her age is for her to be a woman rooted in the Word of God. That is where Deborah’s authority came from. We will see, as the account unfolds, that she appealed continually to the word of God and not to her emotions, not to her fears, not to her anxieties, but to the Word….
Women have the same access to God and the same right to appeal to him and draw upon his resources as any man. That is where women are to begin, by getting to know God in a personal way, going into his Word in depth, acting upon the basis of its promises, and cultivating that relationship with him.
The Word is the basis for all authority. That was the basis of Deborah’s authority, and men sought her out for they knew she had wisdom”.
Remember now that we are dealing with people in the Covenant who have disregarded God and disregarded their oath. The Commandments of God and the desires of God meant little. They were attracted by the freedom and liberty offered by the pagan gods, and they ‘drank deeply’.
Now it is easy to rally around and do right when there is strong leadership. Godly, visible leadership always helps and when older, mature believers are in control, things generally would go better. So the weakness and absence of godly leadership resulted in Israel going through three to four centuries of decline, disunity and moral compromise.
The New Testament warns against false teachers, false leaders, leadership without integrity and leadership that does not follow the truths and principles of God
When necessary God allowed and deliberately brought very painful oppression to those in the Covenant, in order to force the people to come back to him, not to rely on the flesh and on those outside of God for security.
Of course, these lessons are very important for us, for we like Israel are dealing with a God who loves those in the Covenant and will not allow them to go their own way. He will allow oppression and bondage, often for a long time, so that people would experience life without His constant guidance and then cry out to Him.
Note that God used different oppressors at different times, showing that he can use a multitude of people and things to get our attention and get us back into line. Those whom He loves He chastens and this chastening produces the peaceable fruits of righteousness, for those who are his children.
We should note carefully that the history lesson we study in Chapter 4 is told in “prose” and then repeated in “poetry” with additional details in Chapter 5.
When we compare the two accounts, we see that the battle fought at the foot of Mount Tabor was not just an ordinary battle, but was one faught by spiritual forces involving the Lord God Himself.
We can learn from this that seemingly ordinary events are not necessarily ordinary,for they are really spiritual realities behind everything that happens.
We should be mindful that every wicked thing done to the people of God, behind every institution or organization which has destructive purposes, is the hand of our enemy Satan. So taken together Chapters 4 and 5 gives us an insight as to what is really happening around us.
THE TEXT
Verse 1-3. These verses provide the setting for the story of Deborah and Barak. The Israelites were once again in rebellion against God, indulging in idol worship and other disgusting Canaanite practices. This followed the death of their latest deliverer Ehud, whom God had mercifully raised up to rescue them from Canaanite oppression.
Eighty years of peace was not enough to anchor their minds on God. As long as the leaders lived they managed to restrain every move toward idolatry and they kept the people close to God, but as soon as they were gone, they slid downward. It appears that they were more afraid of the godly leaders that they were afraid of God.
On this occasion their tormentors were King Jabin of Canaan and his general Sisera. Here Israel was under the direct discipline of God, as we read that God had sold them into the hands of King Jabin.
The turning away from God by the people is directly connected to the death of Ehud on the one hand and the deliverance of Israel into the power of Jabin on the other and clearly shows that when Ehud was alive, he kept the people from idolatry and defended them against their enemies.
Note that under Joshua, Israel triumphed over all armies. The current army leader, Sisera, with his nine hundred chariots of iron notwithstanding, would have been defeated by Israel, had they been faithful to the Covenant. Previously God delivered the enemies of Israel into their hands, under His judgment, they are delivered into the hands of their enemies.
Note that this enemy Jabin king of Hazor, (the name was apparently a title of the king) had been previously destroyed. Joshua 11 records that Joshua had defeated the grandfather of the current “Jabin” though he and his allies had military power;“even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots many”.
Israel then had no need to fear their enemies. All they had to do was to obey God and remain under his protection but they did not. The cycle began: first apostasy, then painful bondage, then supplication to God.
We know what the pain of Israel was when they were dominated by Jabin, the current king of Canaan and Sisera, his general. In chapter 5, verses 6-8, we are told of the utter defeat of the people of God, and the degrading situation in which Israel lived.
Sisera had 100 chariots of iron which was an overwhelming force when the Israelites only had a fighting army of foot soldiers. The armies were clearly uneven for Sisera’s army and Israel’s army did not have a fighting chance to defeat such a formidable enemy. For 20 years Jabin and Sisera forces made Israel helpless to do anything about their oppression.
They could only have the victory and defeat Cicero’s army because of the grace of God
Note that this was parallel to the story of the Exodus for the Egyptian army was great and equipped with powerful chariots that could threaten to eliminate all of these fleeing people at the Red sea here it was only the grace of God that soundly defeated the Egyptian army with their powerful chariots according to Exodus 14. The song of Deborah which we will read in Judges 5 reminds us of the Song of Moses recorded in Exodus 15which Moses and the Israelites sang after the Egyptians were defeated.
The song of Deborah tells us that open farming had been destroyed. The villages were abandoned. The peasantry did not exist anymore. There was no commerce, no trading, and normal travel, for the highways were almost completely deserted. The people had to travel by hidden by-ways and through the forests in order to get from one place to the other.
The military situation was so bad, that the Judge mentioned in Chapter 3 named Shamgar, had to use an ox goad, which is just a sharp stick, to kill six hundred Philistines; he had no better weapon.
We are then told that Israel had no weapons at all, just a few wooden clubs, (Chapter 5:8). This is explained by the fact that though iron working had been introduced from some distant Greek areas of the Mediterranean, apparently, Israel had been so weakened that they were forbidden to develop an iron working industry. The Philistines had a monopoly on the making of iron. So Israel had to go up to Harosheth, the name means “smiths of the Gentiles” (4: 13) to get their plowshares or other such implements made or sharpened, but they certainly could not turn these into weapons, and hence Deborah’s chilling statement in 5:8. Armies without iron weapons were at a great disadvantage.
So these were dark days, days of immense pain and suffering and the leaders and people of Israel were fearful of their future. The people were overwhelmed. Commerce was dead, farming was dead, travel was severely limited and there were no weapons that one could use to defend oneself against the superior armaments of the Canaanites.
Verse 4. That was the setting in Israel and there was no one to deliver them from their terrible oppression.
Note also that one of the deliverers of Israel does not even appear to be an Israelite but a ‘stranger’, for his name Shamgar, was not a Jewish name. He is called a deliverer but not a judge. Then Jael, who figures prominently in our story also had a non- Israelite name, and on top of that was a woman, certainly not a military figure.
A clear sign of the times, there was now an amazing woman, Deborah, a prophetess, who is named as the ‘judge’ in Israel
See Isaiah 3:12.
A Prophetess means one on whom the Spirit of God descended, and who was the instrument of conveying to the Israelites the knowledge of the divine will, in things sacred and civil.
These are not normal times, but in all the shifting circumstances and changes, God remains the same, ever faithful and true to His promises. God responds to the cries of the Israelites and will do His work of liberation through Deborah the prophetess.
Deborah means ‘bee’ and she busily employed herself in the service of God and her countrymen, as prophetess and judge. She did not judge as a sovereign or under civil authority but as a prophetess, as God’s mouth to the people, particularly in those matters pertaining to God.
Note that she had four different functions. She is described as first, a prophetess, telling people what God thinks,
Second, a judge, calling the people back to truth and justice.
Third, she is “a mother in Israel” (chapter 5), which means that she is one who nourished children. Fourth, she was a wife, so she knew about relationships and how this had to be managed between men and women.
Some translate the term ‘wife of Lapidoth’ as a ‘woman of Lapidoth’.
Verse 5. …she dwelt…means her house was shaded by a palm tree or she sat to judge the people under a palm tree, which became known as the ‘palm tree of Deborah’. In deference to her modesty or given the climate of the times, she did not sit in the usual place, “the gate”.(See Ruth 4:1-2; Prov 22:22).
These were, you remember, very unusual and dangerous times.
The expression “came up” is not merely a reference to the higher elevation of Mount Ephraim but gives eminence to the place of justice as a spiritual height as in Deuteronomy 17:8. Apparently the Israelites came up to her for judgment from all over and this speaks to the high regard she held among the people.
It is important to note though what was happening. Bethel was quite some distance away from the land of Naphtali and Zebulun which is at the center of our story. Ephraim is fifty miles to the south of this area, and to get from there to Bethel where Deborah was, the people had to pass Shiloh, the spiritual center of Israel where the Ark, the Tabernacle and the priest were.
There was no help in that “spiritual center”, no leadership, no righteous priesthood and so the people found out about Deborah as a woman of the Word of God, and they came to her.
Some might very well ask at this stage, What is a woman doing leading?
Things were really bad and there were apparently very few men willing to listen to the instructions of God.
But beyond that we know from the New Testament that God grants the gift of prophecy to women so and they are instructed to practice it appropriately. See 1 Corinthians 11: 5.
There are several other prophetesses mention in the Bible such as Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Anna (Luke 2:36), and Phillip’s four daughters (Acts 21:8-9).
1 Corinthians 11:5 tells us that a woman who is prophesying must do so with her head covered, so as not to bring dishonor on the head. The covering of the head by women was a sign of obvious submission to male leadership in the church, as also evidenced by the wearing of a veil.
It is clear that a woman was to use her gift and be guided by the established order, just like anyone else, including the leaders in the church.
Deborah would not usurp the leadership of Barak, but would certainly rebuke him for his fears, and prophesy that his impressive military actions would count for less than he would expect.
Note also that the Bible does not hesitate to praise women for their heroic actions and their leadership, taking the initiative when required.
We only have to read the story in 9:53-57, when a woman acted at Thebez, throwing a millstone on Abimelech’s head when he was terrorizing the place. We also read about the wise woman of Tekoa.
There is no doubt that women can be and are greatly used by God. The issue is not one of male superiority or female inferiority but one of God ordained headship, final accountability.
Remember that Jesus was under the headship and authority of His Father, according to John 5:19, without being inferior in any way, according to John 1:1 and 10:30.
In this regard we can look at this issue in light of
-God’s ordained order (1 Corinthians 11:3),
-Gods order of Ccreation (1 Corinthians 11:8-9)
-The presence of the watching Angels (1 Corinthians 11:10), and
-In light of the nature of the Fall. (1Timothy 2:14)
Verse 6-7. We are told that Deborahthe prophetess, sent and called for Barak, who lived in Kadesh, some eight miles from Hazor, the power center where the enemies of Israel were. He certainly seem to have been living in the center of the oppression.
It is suggested that the name of the place in which he lived was a holy site. In that case though he was living in the center of oppression he knew, the Lord but was either powerless, or simply afraid to act.
This was not where the armies hostile to Israel were stationed however. They were at the foot of Mount Carmel thirty miles southwest of Hazor, near the banks of the Kishon River, and sitting on the flat rich farmland of Israel, ideally suited for chariot operations.
The name Barak means ‘lightning’ and he might already have had a reputation as a warrior.
Deborah speaks of God as Yahweh, the covenant keeping God of Israel, to remind the Israelites in the time of their calamity that God would be faithful regarding the mercies He had promised to their fathers in His covenant. This title would also call to mind His past acts of mercy toward them in Egypt, at the Red Sea, in the wilderness, and in the conquest of Canaan.
It was a title of hope and comfort.
Deborah’s question which is sometimes translated as a statement, suggests that Barak might had already received some indication, that he should engage Sisera and his forces or that God had already commanded him to do as Deborah was now instructing. One writer notes:
If so, the spirit of prophesy in Deborah confirms the spirit of a soldier in Barak.
Deborah must have wielded some authority in God’s name, to summon Barak and then giving him the commission to raise an army.
But note that she was summoning a man who every day saw the power of the enemy king, his large army, his allies and his chariots of iron and he was probably trying to forget the difficult situation. But he had to be challenged to obey what God had been telling him. Note this comment by one writer:
“Remember what God said. You like Barak, would probably say, “I’m trying to forget it!” Some situations are so difficult we are not sure what is going to happen, we don’t want to test God with them.
So Barak’s response probably went like this. “We don’t have an army; we don’t have any weapons, and they won’t let us have any. We don’t have any experience, in fact, we have never even tasted victory in my generation. We’re not sure we want to try it. We don’t want to be Exhibit A. We don’t want to end up in a museum and have people say, “Well, this man tried and he didn’t make it, But look, here’s his uniform: here’s his bronze knife. See how it’s bent? It didn’t go in”, But then here are the Philistines. See their iron, their spears, their shields, their chariots? I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Deborah, because it seems that you know more than me; If you’ll go, I’ll go.
And Deborah doesn’t put him down. A righteous woman, walking in the Lord, she encourages him and says, ‘I’ll go with you, but there’s a penalty for that; you don’t get the victory; it will go into the hands of another woman.
God must have given Deborah a dream or a vision that if Barak didn’t obey, another woman who didn’t know she was to play a part in this prophecy would take the victory away from him because he was fearful. Barak’s army hadn’t left for the battle yet but God has already given the victory”.
Note that even in the worst of times God has His people who are looking to Him and waiting on Him to fulfill His promises. (See Simeon and Anna). The lesson is obvious.
Do not let circumstances that seem to be overwhelming and cannot be solved be a obstacle of strength and a measure of the situation you are in. Do not let fear take you over. Trust the Word and promises of God.
Barak finally shows up however and Deborah gives him marching instructions. He was told by Deborah, a prophetess, a woman who was certainly not a military genius, that he was to position himself and his army, drawn from specific tribal areas, in a particular way.
Note that the maneuver she instructed that he go up to Mount Tabor with ten thousand men, while another party would go down to the river Kishon and draw Jabin and his nine hundred chariot plus foot soldiers army to the river, does not appear to be sound military strategy.
Barak is really to provoke Sisera to attack this thirty thousand man Israelite army foolishly assembling on the flat lands, making it easy for him to destroy them with his mobile iron chariots. It seems that when Sisera attacks one group, Barak would sweep down from the mountain and hit his army unexpectedly. (Read chapter 5).
The trek to Mount Tabor would bring Barak and his forces close to the tribes of Benjamin and Ephraim and we learn in Chapter 5 that other tribes, though not all, joined in the battle against Sisera and his forces.
Mount Tabor rose out of a plain (Esdraelon ) and the movement of such a large force of men across the plain would not go un-noticed and would be sure to reach the ear of King Jabin and his general Sisera. Barak knew that to obey Deborah would certainly lead to armed conflict with Sisera.
Note that this proposal of Deborah was not sound military strategy.
Here were two armies about to fight, one with forty thousand men, with no shields or weapons, dominated for twenty years, no ability or experience in fighting, led by a commander who only had twenty years of defeat behind him, probably to be accompanied by a female Judge with no military experience.
On the other side, Sisera with nine hundred iron chariots, lots of well armed soldiers with iron weapons, military strategists and the confidence of ruling over a dispirited people.
The chariots would have an advantage on the plains, and when the Israelite army was there, and Barak’s men joined them it would be a bloodbath, Sisera felt.
So Deborah confidently affirmed to Barak that God would deliver his enemies into his hands. This was certainly a woman of God, who knew the mind of God, and who was dedicated to following his instruction without fear or favour.
It is to be noted that the brook or stream Kishon meanders lazily through the plain of Esdraelon on its way to the Sea of Galilee; but near its source it can suddenly become a dangerous torrent and overflow its banks in early spring, after rain or the melting of snow.
The ground on the banks of the Kishon would then become an impassable morass, and severely limit the mobility of chariots. Sisera must have known this and if it was the rainy season, he would not have deployed his chariots in such a dangerous location. This indicates that it was an unexpected and untimely rain that turned the battle into the advantage of the Israelites. It was through her gift of prophecy that Deborah knew this and set in motion the events that led to the great victory.
Deborah delivered the full message from God to Barak. God will draw Sisera out to battle and He, God would deliver Sisera and his army into the hands of Barak. She gave him an express promise of success.
In fixing the place of battle where Sisera would move his army, Deborah gave Barak something he could check off, which when it happened would strengthen his faith that the rest of her prophecy would also be fulfilled.
Verse 8. In one sense, Barak was rightly concerned about King Jabin’s army under the command of Sisera, for it was indeed a formidable force. They had nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels, a mechanized division as it were. But on the other hand there was the assurance from God through Deborah.
Barak ‘s faith wavered and he would only go if Deborah consented to go along with him. Some excuse Barak saying he knew the presence of the prophetess would embolden his soldiers, in the face of such a strong enemy.
Then again other leaders have also expressed a reluctance to deliver Israel from trouble. Moses was at first unwilling to lead Israel out of Egypt, and Gideon also conveniently considered himself to be the least worthy to undertake the assignment. Barak as a good soldier recognized the great difficulty and danger of the mission and needed the assurance that the presence of Deborah would provide.
Barak was clearly very impressed with Deborah, whom he must have perceived as a true prophetess and thus one through whom God spoke. If Deborah was with him, he would literally have God’s voice in his ear, advising and directing the battle. Nevertheless we can see fear and lack of trust in the power of God in this man. The fact that based on reason his apprehension makes sense doesn’t make it right. This man, like many other men since his day, and living nowadays, should rightly be rebuked.
Verse 9-10. Deborah, a remarkable person in every respect, agreed to go with Barak, but as a rebuke for his lack of faith, her going would possibly damage his reputation as a soldier. Still every one knew that Barak was courageous and that this situation was an impossible one.
He certainly was willing to fight the war, but he was uncertain of the role that God had obviously wanted of him.
If men say they are in leadership and that God wants them to be leaders, they have no right to behave like Barak.
Deborah gave a warning which all men should note carefully.
The defeat of Sisera would be taken out of his hand; for God was going to deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman. All military leaders wanted the honour to slay the opposing leader and in this battle this would not happen. This was one battle Barak would not be talking about. Still Barak preferred the peace of mind that came with Deborah than his reputation or any medal.
Women soldiers were not yet ‘invented’ in Israel but these were not normal times and Deborah’s courage and willingness is a sharp contrast to Barak’s timidity.
“Barak probably thought the woman must be Deborah. The prophecy was only explained by its fulfillment. Her presence as a prophetess would give a divine sanction to Barak’s attempt to rally the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. To Barak himself it would be a pledge of her truth and sincerity
Barak raised the army from Naphtali and Benjamin as Deborah had commanded, though Chapter 5 indicates he had volunteers from some of the other tribes.
…at his feet…means his army was strictly infantry for he had no chariots or the soldiers were willingly at his command.
Sure enough Sisera was informed by some confederates of the movement of Barak’s forces and immediately mobilized his troops. He had nine hundred chariots and a multitude of Philistines and other soldiers.
He deployed his forces at the river Kishon, where he no doubt imagined that his superior force of nine hundred chariots and support troops would make short work of the Israelites. Sisera advanced up the valley, moving his troops along the dry river bed
Assured that God was in the lead, Barak and his forces swept down from Mount Tabor to attack Sisera’s forces.
In every undertaking it is good to be satisfied that God is in the lead and that we are rightly about our duty under His direction.
God Himself is said to have discomfited the enemy forces.
The events of the day are repeated in prose and we will therefore simply read the scriptures covering verses 15 to 22.
And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his hosts, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
But Beirach pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the heads of the sword; and there was not a man left.
How be it Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the King of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him,Turn in, my Lord, turn in to me: fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a rug.
And he said unto her, Give me,, I pray thee a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee,, and say, Is there any man here?, that thou shalt say, No.
Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him,, and said unto him, Come and I will show thee the man whom thou sleekest; and when he came into her tent, behold Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples”.
Some argue that Sisera sounded like a coward who liked to hide himself behind a woman’s skirts. But however you might think, the fact is that God had revealed to Deborah that she would not receive the glory that would belong to Barak, but a woman would get the credit for killing Sisera.one writer as a perfect comment on this issue:
“Much has been written about the rules of hospitality and Jael’s failure to honor those rules. In any event, it was Yahweh not Jael, who delivered the Israelites from Jabin and Sisera (.23).
Jael was only an instrument of that deliverance.
The Book of Judges makes no mention of her violation of hospitality norms. There is nothing to suggest that it regards her action as treachery”.
We would not know the details of how God defeated this enemy except for the details of Chapter 5.They were by some demoralising and crippling dread that put them in an unaccountable confusion and so they were destroyed to a man, except for Sisera. Chapter 5:19-21 suggests that some divine intervention with the River Kishon played a part in the destruction of Sisera’a army.
Ironically, Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot to escape the slaughter. His chariots were supposed to have given him an unassailable advantage over the Israelite foot soldiers but instead seemed to have facilitated their defeat. The chariots of iron were not merely useless, bogged down in the mud; but the charioteers, trapped in their mired vehicles were an easy prey to Barak’s men.
No weapon formed against the people of God can prevail, when God leads the charge.
CONCLUSION
God did it. He planned the battle, He gave the instructions through His agent, He controlled the forces of nature, and He decided who would get the honor because of weakness in the male leadership.
Note that the prophetess Deborah encouraged Barak, and she encouraged all of Israel.
She stands out as a woman of the Word, and she called the men to knowledge and obedience to the Word of God.
Her important role was as a “mother in Israel”. God gave her the opportunity and as a mother she had a tremendous impact on her times and on her people. This role was as important as everything else that she ever did.
It is interesting to note too that when the book of Hebrews tells us of the roll call of heroes of faith several judges are mentioned and included there is Barak. So we know that his faith, though not as it should be, was very strong, and was commendable. He was prepared, despite any weakness, to put his life on the line.
The fact that Deborah had told him he would not get the honor of killing Sisera did not stop him from doing his work, destroying armies of Jabin, and pursuing Sisera make sure that he was finished off.
It is noteworthy that Hebrews 11 does not mention Deborah. She certainly had great faith, but her role and place in history was not only to be a leader, but more importantly to have, in her own words the role to be a “mother in Israel”.
She saw herself as not only helping her people with wisdom and truth, but standing behind Barak, calling on him to stand up like a man, encouraging him, telling him about the ministry that God had given him, and standing behind him, letting him take the credit.
So we point out to the women of the faith that they must be like Deborah, a “mother in Israel”. That is their role.
That is a great ministry, one that people of God can never ever do without. The congregation of God would collapse and suffer great, irreparable loss if this great ministry that women have is not carried out in our lives.
The woman of God must understand that they are needed, and they most not resist the example of Deborah.
So their job is often to tell the men “Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given your enemies into your hands. The Lord has gone on before you”.
This was the turning point in Israel. It will be the turning point in our lives if the women do what they ought to do.
All of God’s promises will be fulfilled, both those of blessings and those of cursings. God can and will get His people’s attention with stiff discipline.
The consequences of sin are far reaching, unpredictable and attack all that God has constituted. Though not in our Text but related to the battle, in chapter 5 we read that some of the tribes did not care to help their brothers fight their common enemy.
Christians can be comforted in the knowledge that all circumstances can be made to serve God’s purposes, if He so desires. We can then live in obedience, seeking the Kingdom first and leaving all else in the hands of Yaweh, our covenant keeping God.