Judges 4 (2)
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Where have all the leaders gone?
Where have all the leaders gone?
For over one hundred years God’s people had experienced godly men who did all God commanded them to do so that God’s people would thrive in their walk with Him.
When Joshua and his generation died, Israel found themselves without a strong leader. Instead of being held together by one God used to hold His people together, the individual tribes found themselves weakening in their efforts to claim all God had promised.
What Shamgar did with what he had is remarkable. However, his acts really made no impact on God’s people.With the death of Ehud (see Judges 3), eighty years of relative peace came to an end. Judges 4:1
The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died.
If nothing else, God’s people are consistent!
We know that those born during the latter years of wilderness wanderings and those born during the first years of occupation neither knew God or His ways. We can also conclude that as a generalization very few were able to be used by God.
The decline of God’s people does not negate God’s covenant with their ancestors. God always remains faithful to His promises.
So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera who lived in Harosheth of the Nations.
Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, because Jabin had 900 iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them 20 years.
The technical superiority of Jabin and his mercenary, Sisera meant Israel was at a serious disadvantage.
Deborah
Deborah
Judges 4:4–5 (HCSB)
Deborah, a woman who was a prophetess and the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. It was her custom to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her for judgment.
It is almost impossible for us to imagine the shock that having a woman as a prophet and judge and leader would have caused among Israel.
If you are familiar with the account of God’s ways we cannot be totally surprised.
Think about Sara, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah. Remember Rahab?
God uses whom He will for His purposes.
One theme the author is calling attention to in Judges 4-5 is the fact that the generation who did not know God or His ways, was also at a loss to raise up godly men!
The biblical text is meant to catch our attention.
A woman, a prophetess, a wife is judging and leading Israel.
The next scene shifts abruptly from Deborah sitting under a tree, calmly leading and judging to a Deborah who summons a man whom we know very little.
The tribe of Naphtali, second son of Jacob through Rachel’s servant Billah,i s noted earlier in Judges for their failure to drive out the Canannite’s -
Judges 1:33 (HCSB)
Naphtali did not drive out the residents of Beth-shemesh or the residents of Beth-anath. They lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, but the residents of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served as their forced labor.
Here Deborah’s role as prophetess is clearly emphasized.
Judges 4:6–7 (HCSB)
She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you: ‘Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor, and take with you 10,000 men from the Naphtalites and Zebulunites? Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s forces, his chariots, and his army at the Wadi Kishon to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.’ ”
Barak is given a clear and compelling call from God through Deborah.
Two phrases in this summons stand out:
a). the LORD, the God of Israel
a). the LORD, the God of Israel
This way of identifying God is first used by Jacob after he meets his brother, Esau after many years. Jacob builds an altar to ‘God, the God of Israel’ (Gen 33:20).
The altar Jacob built was located in Shechem which is the same place God appeared to Abram and promised that his offspring would inherit the land (see Gen 12:7).
Moses and Joshua both use the phrase ‘the LORD, the God of Israel’ as they communicate with both the Egyptian Pharaoh and with the people of God as Joshua prepares to retire.
Deborah identifies that yes, it is the same God who spoke to our ancestors who is speaking to and through me.
Judges 4:8 (HCSB)
Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.”
Since there is no indication that Barak had been seeking God it appears that Barak’s trust is limited. He will only act if Deborah - as a prophetess - goes with him.
She quickly notes that Barak will not be remembered as the hero of the story. That role will be given to a an unnamed woman - whom we have yto meet.
Barak represents what we might identify as a tradition.
When God called Moses, Moses immediately identified reasons he could not serve.
When we meet Gideon, he will try and avoid God’s assignment because of his insignificance.
Later the prophet Jeremiah will try and escape God’s call by claiming he is ‘too young.’
The LORD hands over Sisera
The LORD hands over Sisera
Judges 4:12-16 give a brief narrative of the events.
Deborah, again, calls on Barak to act (see Judges 4:14.)
Sisera escapes
Sisera escapes
The entire army is eliminated. Except Sisera.
He alone escapes and seeks shelter in the tent of Heber and his wife, Jael.
Heber is a descendant of Moses’ father-in-law who had moved away from his tribal group (see Judges 4:11).
Heber is not home. His absence is not explained.
Jael invites Sisera to enter the tent - and certainly it was noticed. Married women did not invite men into the tent when the husband was absent.
Sisera, exhausted from the battle and his escape, accepts Jael’s hospitality.
His acceptance leads to his death -
Judges 4:21 (HCSB)
While he was sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She hammered the peg into his temple and drove it into the ground, and he died.
Barak arrives, insures that Sisera is dead.
The narrative concludes with this notice:
That day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. The power of the Israelites continued to increase against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.
REFLECT AND RESPOND
REFLECT AND RESPOND
The Sovereign Activity of God
The Sovereign Activity of God
God’s sovereign power is clearly evident.
Judges 4:6 (HCSB)
She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you: ‘Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor, and take with you 10,000 men from the Naphtalites and Zebulunites?
Judges 4:9 (HCSB)
“I will go with you,” she said, “but you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera into a woman’s hand.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh
Judges 4:14–15 (HCSB)
Then Deborah said to Barak, “Move on, for this is the day the Lord has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn’t the Lord gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. The Lord threw Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army into confusion with the sword before Barak. Sisera left his chariot and fled on foot.
That day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.
A Reluctance to Step Up
A Reluctance to Step Up
Barak is not the only one to express reluctance.
Judges 5:15–18 (HCSB)
The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; Issachar was with Barak. They set out at his heels in the valley. There was great searching of heart among the clans of Reuben. Why did you sit among the sheepfolds listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks? There was great searching of heart among the clans of Reuben. Gilead remained beyond the Jordan. Dan, why did you linger at the ships? Asher remained at the seashore and stayed in his harbors. Zebulun was a people risking their lives, Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.
Where were the leaders…men of God willing to listen to God, willing to risk their lives for the advance of God’s kingdom?
This ‘reluctance’ raises questions for our circumstances thousands of years later:
The dilemma faced by the Israelites in the dark days of the governors is not without parallel in the contemporary church, which is often at the mercy of the world. Dependence on secular business procedures and the methodologies of the social sciences increases in the church as godliness and genuine spirituality among the leaders decrease. But a church that has permitted itself to be squeezed the mold of the world should not be surprised to find itself hostage to its enemies. The Lord is under no obligation to those who bear his name in vain, those who claim to be the people of God but act like Canaanites.
Daniel Isaac Block, Judges, Ruth, vol. 6, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 175.
Where are the leaders?
Where are the leaders?
The pivotal statement in the account of the Judges is found in
Judges 2:10 (HCSB)
That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel.
We are living in the midst of a generation of those who do not know the Lord or His work.
Perhaps we can recognize God’s work by remembering the account of Jesus’ transfiguration:
Mark 9:2–9 (HCSB)
After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up on a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transformed in front of them, and His clothes became dazzling—extremely white as no launderer on earth could whiten them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good for us to be here! Let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”— because he did not know what he should say, since they were terrified. A cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud: This is My beloved Son; listen to Him! Then suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, He ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
Like Peter we all long for intimate moments with the Lord.
We often spend considerable energy trying to recreate such moments.
As the three were with Jesus, the other disciples were fighting a losing battle with a demon-possess boy.
Had Jesus not descended the mountain what would have happened to the boy?
Jesus came down and demonstrated for those followers what a leader does and how what a leader does is developed from who a leader is:
And He told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer [and fasting].”
Leaders are not born in Bible study groups. They are not born in worship services. Both of those are pieces.
The birthplace of genuine leadership is in close, consistent walking with God.
Will you be a leader?
Let me leave you with a verse that speaks to us - here at CBC in Winston:
Psalm 92:14–15 (HCSB)
They (God’s people) will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green, to declare: “The Lord is just; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”