923 Biblical Characters - Deborah, Barak & Jael (Jdg.4.1-24)
Exploring Biblical Characters • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 42 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
- As one of the ministers in town, I wrote a Crossroads article to go in the Riverine Herald this week
- In it I spoke about the problem of sin & related it to a pandemic & lockdowns & how it was impossible to irradiate sin on a human level
- That every person is infected & are not able to maintain a proper, healthy, relationship with their Creator
---------------
- I spoke about how Jesus as Saviour, came with the purpose of bringing people to God
- Remember, He said these words…
31 “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
- Incredible words!! The judgement of the world has now come & the division has been established between the saved & the unsaved
- The pivotal factor in all of this is the Person of Jesus
--------------
- When He is lifted up upon a cross – His death – He will draw all men to Himself
- Now drawing all men doesn’t mean that it excludes women & it doesn’t mean that it includes every single person
- What it means is that all mankind (generically) who look to Jesus will pass over judgement & over death into life as Jesus says here…
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
- Judgement has come & it sits on every person who does not believe that God sent Jesus & hence that does not believe that Jesus is the Saviour who saves us from our sins
----------------
- Prior to the coming of Jesus, there was no appropriate remedy for sin & people who were unregenerate (referring to those who do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling with them as Christians do) could not stay on track with God
26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
1. The Merry-Go-Round of Sin and Restoration
1. The Merry-Go-Round of Sin and Restoration
- This brings us to the big issue in Judges
- The Israelites are now in the promised land; they have the law of God & they know that there is only One God & it is this God – Yahweh – who brought them out of the land of Egypt & out from under the slavery/oppression that Pharaoh had put them under
- However, the Israelites failed to conquer all the land that God had planned for them to conquer
--------------
- As a side note, driving the occupants out – to put it simply – is like driving temptation out
- The people of the land were great sinners who constantly offended God by their behaviour
- Not only were they under the judgement of God in which they were to be driven out of the land, but they were a source of great temptation to the Israelites who must stay true to Yahweh
- Not only this – but they would be a source of oppression to the Israelites – that was the reason they left Egypt, wasn’t it!
16 The sons of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the valley land have chariots of iron, both those who are in Beth-shean and its towns and those who are in the valley of Jezreel.” 17 Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, “You are a numerous people and have great power; you shall not have one lot only, 18 but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall clear it, and to its farthest borders it shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong.”
- But it’s not in the “DNA” of people who don’t have the Spirit of God to believe that God can & will do what He says
- So looking only at what was before their eyes – “Oh my gosh, iron chariots” – they lost heart
- We come then to Judges…
1 Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, 2 and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? 3 “Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’ ” 4 When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
- They started making covenants/agreements/bargaining with the people of the land
- But we should call it by the proper name – compromise
- Perhaps, it went like this – “let’s not go to war, how about we benefit from each other, say by trade & the like”?
- But those covenants with the people of the land was a violation of the Covenant Israel had made with God
------------------
- After a time, people who shared different values from the people of God (Israel had the values from the Law) would act differently & they then started to act ruthlessly & oppressed the Israelites
- I remember the harsh criticisms labelled at Neville Chamberlain who was the British Prime Minister from 1937 – 1940 when World War II began
- Like the rest of Europe, he wanted to avoid any more war like WWI so he, like Europe, had a policy of appeasement & signed a deal with Adolf Hitler that whilst allowing Hitler certain parts of Czechoslovakia, Hitler would not go any further with his ambitions
- Good luck with that – Hitler hated the fact that he made that deal, threw it out & attacked Poland – that was the end of the appeasement policy in Europe & the start of WWII
1 O God, do not remain quiet; Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still. 2 For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, And those who hate You have exalted themselves. 3 They make shrewd plans against Your people, And conspire together against Your treasured ones. 4 They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel be remembered no more.”
------------------
- The Israelites, likewise, should have reflected on the reason for why God wanted all the Promised land cleared out & no deals to be made with the inhabitants of the land
- But it happened – the Israelites fell for the temptations placed before them by the ungodly nations in the land & fell for their gods & their sins
- They also came under oppression from what were technically superior nations & the Lord was no longer going to drive them out but let the Israelites suffer for their own sins & choices
- But in compassion, He would hear their cries for help & respond by raising up special people to relieve them of their situation
18 When the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them.
--------------
- The book of Judges records a repetitive cycle that shows us the raw problem of humanity
- The circle: people “do evil” by serving other gods / Yahweh sends a nation to oppress them / The people cry out to Yahweh / He raises up a deliverer / The oppressor is defeated / The people have rest
- This is the repeated history & story in the book of Judges
- Round & round they go
----------------
- 5 times the phrase “did evil” in the sight of the Lord occurs in Judges
- “In the sight of” is more significant than we realise
Q. How many people would think that they do evil “in the sight of the Lord”?
- In the sight of our sexually liberated country rarely, if ever, do people think that they do evil in the sight of the Lord
----------------
- We read that the Lord “sold them” into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan
- This is what happens when people turn from the Lord
- They go their own way & the Lord gives them over to the enemy
Q. How can anyone expect the blessings & protection of God when they decide to turn to idols or other gods – or give themselves over to the sins of their contemporary culture?
- The apostle Paul explains the result of this in Rom. 1…
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
- After this, Paul goes on to give another 2 denouncements of “God gave them over…”
- God says: If you want to live life without Me, then know the full force of life without Me
- Know the pain that sin & unbelief brings, the evil, the emptiness, the vacuum
---------------
- It seems that only after pain, suffering & distress do people finally wake up & do something about it
- Israel cried out to the Lord – there was repentance, sorrow
- It’s just a pity people don’t have the wisdom to stick with the faith
Q. Do you remember the old Mortein ad, if you’re old enough to remember it – “When you’re on a good thing, stick to it”
- Everyone needs to remember this about the Lord
- Let us not get involved in the perpetual cycle of sin, judgement, repentance & peace that we see here in Judges
2. The Actions of Women Who Save a Nation
2. The Actions of Women Who Save a Nation
Q. You never thought I’d preach on this, did you?
Q. Does this pose a problem for male leadership that we find in the NT?
Q. Is this showing that women can be leading men?
- Of course, some might like to read that here, but it would be a mistake
----------------
- We should always be careful to not bring our own cultural baggage & context into a passage like this to determine & to generalise role relationships in marriage & in the church
- Here, in this passage, God raises up two women to deal with the king Jabin & his commander Sisera
- Sisera has 900 Iron Chariots (with wood as well) & they oppressed the sons of Israel for 20 yrs
---------------
- These people are part of a broad group of people labelled as Canaanites
- The Canaanites were a sophisticated people
- They are culture much like our own with superior technological & scientific advancements, but morally & ethically bankrupt in the sight of the Lord
- Notice he had 900 iron chariots – being similar in technology to the Philistine people who could lord it over Israel because the Israelites only had weaker metals such as bronze
----------------
- Deborah, which means “Honeybee” was both a prophetess and judge of Israel
- People would bring their disputes to her to have her render judgement
- She would have been in that position by virtue of an acknowledgement that she was a prophetess of the Lord
---------------
- Through a prophesy of the Lord, she sends a message to the commander of Israel’s army, Barak, to go take 10,000 men & fight against Sisera to defeat him & his army with their 900 iron chariots
- The Lord has said that He will be with Barak & give him victory
Q. What was his response to Deborah, who he knew was a spokesperson for the Lord?
- Are no, I will not go “unless you come & hold my hand” – is the gist of it
8 Then 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.”
- This gives us an insight into the calibre of men at the time
Q. How do we know this? From Deborah’s response to him
9 She said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
- Make no mistake, this was meant to be a humiliation to men
- Deborah knew it & reminded Barak of the consequences of her going with him
-----------------
- She did not summon the people of Israel to battle - she encouraged Barak to do this
- Rather than asserting leadership and authority for herself, she affirmed the rightness of male leadership – of Barak to lead.
- She affirms to Barak the problem of his refusal to go without her
- In that it won’t be noted that an Israelite man saved the nation, but a woman
- Barak should have acted like a man & not insisted that she come with him
------------------
- Jeremiah speaks about the demise coming to Babylon for what they did to Israelites & the temple in Jerusalem
- He says that the armies of Babylon will become like women
37 “A sword against their horses and against their chariots And against all the foreigners who are in the midst of her, And they will become women! A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!
- It is the disgrace of a nation when its warriors become women
----------------
- Nahum takes up a similar taunt of judgement against the city of Nineveh
12 All your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit— When shaken, they fall into the eater’s mouth. 13 Behold, your people are women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes your gate bars.
- This is not to denigrate women, but to point out that this situation in Judges says something about the calibre of the men of that time
-------------------
- This is also reinforced here, in this passage, because another woman is noted as the one who finishes off the commander of their army
- She drives a tent peg right through Sisera’s temple & into the ground while he is sleeping
- Not much of a fair fight, but this is a different scenario when it’s wartime
------------------
- The woman here, Jael, is not even an Israelite
- She’s a Midianite that was living with her husband in the area & they were friends with the Canaanites & trading partners with them
- She has done a Rahab here & switched sides to join Israel
- In Deborah & Barak’s song of victory she is mentioned glowingly
24 “Most blessed of women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Most blessed is she of women in the tent. 25 “He asked for water and she gave him milk; In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds. 26 “She reached out her hand for the tent peg, And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer. Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head; And she shattered and pierced his temple. 27 “Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay; Between her feet he bowed, he fell; Where he bowed, there he fell dead.
- To our own culture, they think this passage is about the promotion & justification of the role of women in leadership
- But, if you read this correctly from its time some 1200 yrs BC then you would see that it is a matter of humiliation to the men of this time
- That God raised up women to achieve a victory in Israel
---------------
- One of the constant problems of men since the time of creation is that they sit back & don’t take responsibility
- Adam was the family “priest” who was to lead his wife in a life of faithfulness to God
- He abdicated that role to his wife who then fell into sin & led her husband into sin
----------------
- Joseph was told by an angel to protect Mary and baby Jesus by taking them to Egypt
- A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church & gave Himself up for her
- Many soldiers throughout history have gone to war to protect the freedom of their wives and children & their homeland
- The apostle Peter commands husbands to be understanding of their wives as “weaker” vessels & to show her honour or else God won’t answer their prayers
7 You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
- He doesn’t say this to denigrate women but to get Christian husbands to take responsibility for their wives & to care for them as God wills
- Male & female are different, but complimentary which is the plan of God right from creation
3. Getting Off the Merry-Go-Round
3. Getting Off the Merry-Go-Round
- As you read the history of the OT, you realise quickly that this same merry-go-round of sin, repentance, restoration is often repeated
- Unfortunately, it is also true of the NT, although, not to the same extent
- Christians’ sin, repent & are forgiven
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
---------------
- The real differences occur in the heart change
33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
- Through weaknesses we succumb to sin inadvertently
- Yet, wilful sin is a different matter
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
- In the law, there were no sacrifices for wilful, intentional, sin - your could say sin with the full consent of the mind & heart
- This becomes the great difference when a person has Jesus in their heart
36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. 37 For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. 38 But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
- The difference is in the fact that the Christian doesn’t waver between belief & unbelief
- Sure, we all have doubts from time to time & need to deal with those
- Even the great evangelist Billy Graham had doubts before he entered his ministry, but he dealt with those doubts & moved on with the Lord
-----------
- Christians may not choose to be in the faith one minute & out of it the next as Israel would do
4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
- What Jesus has done, He has done once for all
- He won’t be repeating His death because people chose to walk away from Him & back to Him again – which would mean that He would once again have to be crucified to bring forgiveness to the person
- God won’t let His Son be crucified more than once
-------------
- But God has not left us alone to struggle on our own
- We may be weak since we are of flesh, but He has bequeathed us His Holy Spirit – His powerful, enabling presence in our lives
- Remember when Paul was struggling with the “thorn in his flesh”, what did Jesus say to him…
8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
- In the acknowledgement of our weaknesses we find His strength
------------------
- As Jesus says to Nicodemus, “You must be born from above”
- You must have a changed heart, a renewed heart
- Remember Lydia, seller of purple fabrics – how listening to the apostle Paul preach, Luke records that “God opened her heart to believe”
- What a beautiful expression
-------------
- No doubt it can cause some people to fret – how do I know if God has opened my heart to believe – that He has changed my heart?
- To be honest, that is not for you to be concerned about
- Your concern is to move forward with the Lord & the test of time will show whether you have had a changed heart
- For those concerned, this is the reality here & what you can do
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Q. The question is have you received Him?
- If you have, then you need to testify to that through baptism so that the church can celebrate with you & support you
- Get off the merry-go-round by receiving Christ & moving forward in the strength of God’s Spirit