SERIES H --- THE JUDGES --- LESSON 04
DEBORAH
THE WOMAN WHO DEFEATED A GENERAL
From Judges 4
After Ehud had died, the people of Israel began to do evil again. Because of that, Adonai let Jabin, a Canaanite king who lived in Hazor, overcome them and rule over them. King Jabin’s general was Sisera, whose home was at Harosheth of the Gentiles. General Sisera had nine hundred iron chariots. For twenty years he made life miserable for the people of Israel. At that time Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was the judge and spiritual leader of Israel. She set up her court under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the people of Israel came to her. On one occasion she called for Barak, the son of Abinoam, whose home was at Kedesh-Naphtali. ‘Adonai of Israel has some marching orders for you,’ she said. ‘Go to Mount Tabor with ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun. Adonai has promised that when Jabin’s army and chariots come out to the river Kishon, He will give you the victory over them.’ ‘All right, I’ll go,’ said Barak. ‘But you must go too.’ ‘Yes, I’ll go with you,’ Deborah answered. ‘But you must understand now that the honour for the victory will go to a woman, not to you.’ Deborah left her court under the palm tree and went with Barak to Kedesh-Naphtali. At Kedesh, Barak gathered his forces from Zebulun and Naphtali. With ten thousand men, he and Deborah marched to Mount Tabor. But there was a traitor in the neighbourhood. Heber the Kentia had withdrawn from his clan, which had descended from Hobab, father-in-law of Moses and had moved as far from his clan as the oak in Zaanannim, near Kedesh. Heber betrayed Barak’s movements, telling Sisera that Barak and his army were marching toward Mount Tabor. Sisera called his forces together, with their nine hundred iron chariots and sent them from Harosheth to the Kishon River. ‘Rise Up!’ Deborah said to Barak. ‘Today Adonai has given Sisera into your hands. Adonai is marching before you.’ Down the sides of Mount Tabor Barak led his ten thousand men into battle against Sisera. Adonai went with them and brought confusion to Sisera’s forces. Sisera’s army fled from the forces of Israel and was thoroughly defeated. When Sisera realized that he had been defeated, he jumped from his chariot and ran away. Barak in the meantime, pursued Sisera’s army all the way back to Harosheth, destroying every one of his soldiers. Sisera fled to the tent that belonged to Jael, Heber’s wife. He felt safe there because Heber was at peace with King Jabin of Hazor. Jael went out to meet Sisera and greeted him. ‘Come here!’ she called. ‘Come into my tent where you will be safe. Don’t be afraid.’ Sisera ran into Jael’s tent to hide and she covered him with a blanket. ‘Please give me some water to drink,’ Sisera asked. ‘I’m very thirsty.’ Jael brought some milk in a skin container and gave him a drink. Then she covered him again with the blanket. ‘Stand in the doorway of the tent,’ Sisera asked. ‘If anyone comes along and asks about me, say that I am not here.’ It wasn’t long before Sisera was sound asleep. Then Jael took a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly over to Sisera. While he slept, she drove the tent peg through his temples and into the ground, killing the general. Later, when Barak came looking for Sisera, Jael went out to meet him. ‘’Come here,’’ she called. ‘I will show the man you’re searching for.’ When Barak went into her tent, he saw Sisera lying there dead with the tent peg through his temples. That was the day when Adonai used Israel to defeat King Jabin the Canaanite. More and more the forces of Israel increased in strength until at last they destroyed Jabin and his armies completely.”
COMMENTARY
DEBORAH’S WAR
Not all the judges in Israel were men. Deborah a prophetess, was a leader everyone respected and honoured. Even General Barak looked to Deborah to guide him with messages from YHVH. With YHVH’s help, Israel defeated a massive army of nine hundred chariots in the days of Deborah and Barak. For twenty years, the Canaanite ruler from Hazor maintained a harsh rule over the Israelites. King Jabin and Sisera, his skilled general, had little difficulty getting the Israelites to pay whatever tribute they demanded. During this period, a woman named Deborah from the hills of Ephraim served as Israel’s judge. She was a prophetess who often relayed YHVH’s messages in song. YHVH instructed Deborah to call a man named Barak to the palm tree where, as judge, she was consulted by the Israelites. YHVH was ready to lead the tribes to victory over the Canaanites, said Deborah and Barak was to head the Israelite army. No doubt remembering the earlier slaughter of the unarmed Israelites under the iron weapons of the enemy, he refused to go unless Deborah went with him. She agreed, telling him that a woman would be credited with the victory even though YHVH had promised that Barak would win. Barak then summoned the Israelite army and volunteers from the various tribes met at Mount Tabor. Meanwhile Sisera’s army gathered in an empty riverbed southwest of the mountain. The Kishon River gully, where he stood, would lead his troops directly to an Israelite town called Tanaach. The river flowed with water only during the spring rains; the rest of the year it was a safe and dry route through the countryside. When Sisera marched on Tanaach, Deborah ordered the Israelite soldiers down from Mount Tabor. At that moment, dark storm clouds rose in the sky and a torrential downpour flooded the riverbed where Sisera’s army was assembled. The heavy chariots bogged down and the terrified horses made them capsize and sink. Thousands of Sisera’s soldiers were thrown into the water and killed as they struggled to reach the riverbank. Sisera tried to escape, but a woman named Jael drove a tent peg through his head as he rested in her tent. As Deborah had predicted, Barak won no credit for Sisera’s defeat. Through Deborah’s leadership, the Canaanites were utterly defeated. Once again, a judge had brought peace to the land.
Hi Mishpahhah. I don't post frequently, but I wanted to share this song. Somehow it is piercing spiritually and emotionally.
Enjoy your cry.
Okay, maybe "Amen" isn't the name of a pagan deity, but what about "God"? Doesn't Isaiah 65:11 say that "god" is the name of another pagan deity, so we shouldn't say it?
No, not really. This is the same essential error as the "Amen" argument.
https://soilfromstone.blogspot.....com/2020/02/is-god-
Impeaching a witness's credibility in court is a valid legal strategy and Biblical too! Consider #proverbs 12:17...
https://rumble.com/v24j662-pro....verbs-1217-truth-and
I've had the same dream twice in a row now. 4 planes going down consecutively and a monster type thing rising out of the ocean.
Please send a donation of any amount as often as you can to your homeless brother. Here is my video petitions from Sheetz which is 24 hours here in Roxboro, North Carolina.
Video petition
If you are able to donate please send donations to:
cash.app/$ShaulYisrael2
paypal.me/ShaulYisrael2
venmo @marquest-burton
Zelle ministerforyah@gmail.com
Be a blessing and help to your Beloved Brother Guard me in your prayers!
Thought for Today: Tuesday February 14:
May you choose to be grateful when you would rather be grumpy. May you choose to rejoice in YHVH’s Goodness when you are tempted to rehearse human badness. May you sing into your empty well, trusting that Elohiym will soon fill it. May you live with the expectancy that any day now, Adonai will bring the breakthrough. Find peace today in the knowledge that more rests on YHVH’s Shoulders than on yours. He Loves you.
SERIES H --- THE JUDGES --- LESSON 03
THE FIRST JUDGES
THREE JUDGES FOR ISRAEL
From Judges 3:5-31
In the days of the judges, Israel lived in the Promised Land with the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. But the people forgot YHVH and married husbands and wives from these heathen tribes and worshiped their gods, the Baals and the Ashteroth. Because they did evil in YHVH’s sight, YHVH in His anger, let them be ruled by Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, for eight years. Then the people of Israel cried out to Adonai and He sent Caleb’s nephew Othniel, son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz, to rescue them. The Spirit of Adonai came upon Othniel while he ruled Israel as a judge and he led the Israelites to victory over Cushan-rishathaim. Then Israel lived in peace for forty years until Othniel died. Then Israel again did the things that were evil in YHVH’s sight, so Adonai permitted Eglon, king of Moab, to grow strong enough to conquer Israel. Along with the armies of the Ammonites and the Amalekites, Eglon defeated Israel at Jericho, ‘The City of Palm Trees.’ For eighteen years Israel served King Eglon of Moab, paying him a large amount of tribute each year. But when the people of Israel begged Adonai for help, He sent Ehud, the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a left-handed man to rescue them. Each year the people of Israel sent Ehud to deliver their tribute to King Eglon. Secretly, Ehud made an eighteen-inch dagger with double edges and strapped it to his right thigh under his clothing. After Ehud had given the tribute to King Eglon, he started homeward with the Israelites who had carried the tribute. At the quarries of Gilgal, he sent them home and went back alone to see the king. King Eglon, I have a secret message for you, he said. Immediately, the king sent all of his attendants away with one word; ‘Silence!’ Then Ehud walked toward this very fat king as he sat in the cool upstairs room that he had made for himself. I have a message from YHVH, said Ehud. As the king stood up to receive the message, Ehud pulled the dagger from its hiding place and thrust it into the king’s belly. The fat of his belly closed over the handle of the dagger as his insides poured forth. Ehud quickly closed the doors and locked them, then escaped another way. When the king’s servants returned, they found the doors locked. ‘He is probably relieving himself in the closet of his room,’ they thought. The servants waited for a long time until they were sure that there was some problem. When they found a key and unlocked the door, they saw their master lying dead on the floor. Meanwhile, Ehud escaped past the quarries to Seirah. When he arrived home, he sounded the alarm, gathering an army with the sound of a trumpet. Follow after me! Ehud shouted. Adonai has given us our enemies, the Moabites. The troops of Israel followed Ehud from the hill country of Ephraim. Having made their way to the Jordan River, they captured the fords of the river so that the Moabites could not cross. Then the Israelites killed about ten thousand of the strong fighting men of Moab. Not one escaped! That day Israel conquered Moab, bringing peace to the land for the eighty years that followed. The next judge of Israel was Shamgar, son of Anath. In one battle he killed six hundred Philistines with an ox goad, sparing Israel from a sure defeat.
COMMENTARY
TWO-STORY BUILDINGS
When trumpets blew in the days of the judges, the people of Israel assembled. YHVH sent new leaders, {judges} to save them from their enemies. Who were the judges? The judges were usually military leaders, who after victory would spend the rest of their lives leading Israel as a nation. In early Old Testament times, a building with more than one story was certain to be an important place. Apart from its luxurious furnishings, an upper floor might be all that distinguished a palace or rich man’s house from any other house. Like the simple one-story stone and mud brick village houses, larger homes were built around three sides of a courtyard. A thick layer of heavy logs, branches and packed mud formed the ceiling of the first story and the floor of the second. Near the ground, walls were several feet thick to support the great weight of the upper floors. Inside, stone or log pillars rising from the floor to the ceiling beams provided additional support. Despite these efforts to build a strong structure, multi-storey buildings were never very safe. The walls and roof needed constant attention, since a hard rain could wash away the mud and clay that held the whole framework together. High buildings were both difficult and expensive to build. As an alternative to adding a second floor, many townspeople built small rooms on their flat roofs. Such small upper rooms were popular before full two-story houses became common. They were built at the corners of the roof to take advantage of the strength of the buildings outside walls. These upper rooms served as cool bedrooms in the summer and quiet meeting rooms during the day. People could use them as places to think, to pray or just as restful rooms in which to escape the constant street noise and lower-floor activity. Often a kind of wind scoop on top of the roof caught cooling breezes and funnelled fresh air into the house. Some houses had holes cut through the upper-story floors to allow air and light into the lower rooms. But upper chambers were a luxury; the less rich used blanket awnings and palm-leaf booths to escape the burning sun. As time passed, many people who wanted larger homes built over more space rather than higher. But others, such as King Eglon, added upper rooms to buildings that already had at least two stories. In one ancient city north of Canaan, the king added several stories of government offices in his palace. By the end of the judges’ time, it was common for wealthy families to live in two-story dwellings. Servants usually slept on the first floor, next to storage rooms and an indoor kitchen. Family members enjoyed the luxury of private bedrooms and inside staircases that ran from the ground to the rooftop chambers.
https://firstcenturychristiani....ty.net/why-you-need-
TTN Music 
TTN Ads 
