THE BOOK OF
JUDGES
CHAPTER 4 & 5
DEBORAH JUDGES IN THE BIBLE
DEBORAH JUDGES IN THE BIBLE
STUDY ON
DEBORAH JUDGES IN THE BIBLE EVENTS WITH
DEBORAH JUDGES IN THE BIBLE MESSAGE
Glad to have you here to share
another slice of Daily Bread. In our last study, we learned about three of
the twelve judges of Israel that we're studying in the Book of Judges.
Today's story is about a woman,
who was a prophetess, that the Lord chose to judge Israel. After the death
of Ehud and Shamgar, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the
Lord again. This time, the Lord let them become slaves at the hand of Jabin,
the king of Canaan. The captain of his army was Sisera and a well equipped
army it was, with a multitude of soldiers and with iron chariots (which were
probably considered "state of the art" stuff in those days). For twenty
years, Jabin oppressed Israel.
Deborah
was the name of the
prophetess that judged Israel at that time, and the children of Israel turned to her for
justice, so God worked through her to deliver Israel. Deborah send for Barak,
who was the captain of Israel's army and gave him the Lord's command to take
10,000 men from the tribe of Naphtali and Zebulon and go to Mt Tabor. Then
God would bring Sisera and his army and his chariots to the river Kishon,
and Barak would defeat him.
Barak said to Deborah, If you'll
go with me, then I'll go, but I won't go alone. In a heartbeat, Deborah
agreed, but not without telling Barak that the destiny of Sisera was not
that he would be killed by Barak, but rather that he would die at the hand
of a woman.
Now, there was a man named Heber,
who was the son of Moses' father in law, and he had a wife named Jael. They
were in good standing with Jabin at that time, and Heber told Sisera that
Barak and his army had gone up to Mt. Tabor. So Sisera gathered his soldiers
and 900 iron chariots and headed for the river Kishon.
At this point, Barak grew a
little hesitant at the thought of Sisera's mighty army, but Deborah ordered
Barak to fight, assuring him that this was the day they would defeat Sisera
with the hand of the Lord assisting them.
DEBORAH JUDGES IN THE BIBLE LESSON WITH DEBORAH JUDGES IN
THE BIBLE EXPLANATION AND DEBORAH JUDGES IN THE BIBLE
SUMMARY
The battle engaged and Sisera
fled on foot ... Why? Because the Lord (you've got to love His humor) sent a
torrent that turned the battleground into a quagmire, rendering Sisera's
horses and chariots stuck in the mud and ... Useless! As for the rest of
Sisera's soldiers, the Angels of God assisted Barak with them.
|
Judges 5:21-22
The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river
Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. Then were the
horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of
their mighty ones. |
When all was said and done,
there wasn't a man left, so Barak pursued Sisera, who looking for refuge
came to the tent of Jael, Heber's wife, and she persuaded Sisera that she
would hide him. She gave him some milk to drink, then covered him well and
fell asleep.
Now, Jael wasn't your run of the
mill hostess, as one might think her to be. No sir, while Sisera was getting
his much needed twenty winks (because cowardice is tiring business y'know),
Jael was busy tending to details of being hospitable. She took a tent nail
and a hammer, tiptoed up to Sisera, and pounded that nail clean through his
temples, pinning him to the ground ... He died.
So along comes Barak, looking for
Sisera, and Jael encounters him and says, Come with me and I'll show you the
man you're looking for. And she showed him Sisera, with his head nailed to
the floor ... Just as Deborah had foretold, the victory was gained by a
woman. Israel pursued Jabin until he was destroyed as well.
Chapter 5 of the book of Judges
is the song of Deborah, which is a victory song about this battle, but there
is one verse in particular, that was briefly mentioned in our story, that
I'd like for you to take note of when you read it:
|
Judges 5:20
They fought from Heaven; the stars in their courses fought against
Sisera. |
This is referring to the host of
the Lord, or in other words, the army of Angels that fight on behalf of the
Lord. We also learned about this in the book of Joshua:
|
Joshua 5:14
And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now
come. And Joshua fell on his face to the Earth, and did worship, and
said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of
the LORD's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot;
for the place whereon thou standest is Holy. And Joshua did so. |
DEBORAH JUDGES IN THE BIBLE INFORMATION WITH DEBORAH
JUDGES IN THE BIBLE MEANING AND DEBORAH JUDGES IN THE BIBLE DISCUSSION
There is no other explanation of
how the army of Israel could defeat such a multitude of soldiers as Sisera
had and his iron chariots, unless the Lord's hand was with them. The same is
true of the taking of Jericho. The same is true of every battle that the
children of Israel were victorious in ... The Lord plainly told them that HE
would deliver them into their hands.
If you'd like to find out the
TRUTH about "stars" as they are called in the song of Deborah, be sure to
check out the
Angels study.
So, after Jabin was defeated,
Israel had rest for 40 years, and that ended the 3rd cycle of sin to
deliverance for Israel in our study of the book of Judges.
Be sure to come back soon and
we'll be studying a story that may be familiar to you ... Gideon's Trumpet.
You know where ... Right here at Daily Bread.
