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 Heber the Kentia had withdrawn from his clan, which had descended from Hobab, father-in-law of Moses and had moved as far from his clan as the oak in Zaanannim, near Kedesh.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.