Judges 4-5. Deborah, and Barak, part 2.

Title: Judges 4-5. Deborah, and Barak, part 2.         

 

Announcements / opening prayer:

 

 

JDG 4:1 Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died.

 

JDG 4:2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.

 

"There's nothing worse than insecurity. So many people live in fear because they are uncertain about what comes next and their standing before God, if they even believe in God. On the flip side, there's nothing better than being absolutely sure that the most powerful Being in the universe adores you as His own child. This is precisely the confidence the Holy Spirit offers us." [Francis Chan]

 

False religions promise fulfillment when they take everything and enslave a person. Not one of them promises fulfillment by grace. All of them are works based schemes in which the creature works for the approval of the false god and is never given any guarantees.

 

COL 2:9-10

For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.

 

 Only in Christ is a man truly free and in the dispensation of Israel, only in faith in the covenant of God and obeying the Mosaic law is the guarantee of freedom enjoyed.

 

Israel is delivered over to the power of Jabin, king of Hazor ("the discerning") and they are oppressed for twenty long years. Hazor should rightfully be in the possession of the tribe of Naphtali.

 

JDG 4:2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.

 

JDG 4:3 And the sons of Israel cried to the Lord; for he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

 

 

The threat of the 900 chariots was enough to keep the whole land in subject to Hazor. Sisera's home is unknown, but evidence points to the south-west coast of the Sea of Galilee. We would confidently assume that he controls the army with an iron fist and oppresses any place that there might be resistance against this Canaanite kingdom. His chariot army rolls along the plains and tyrannizes the country-side. The fact that the kingdom exists at all is an insult to the elect people of God.

 

Just as the kingdom of Hazor should not exist in the PL, so fear, worry, anxiety, anger, bitterness, revenge, self-pity, etc. should not exist in the soul of the Christian.

 

The Promised Land is a metaphor for the believer's soul. It should be a land flowing with milk and honey, and not because things are all going well. Whether in adversity or in prosperity, the believer's soul functions on things that cannot be effected by outside circumstances, the Spirit of God, the word of God, the knowledge of his position in Christ and the joy that brings, the plan of God and his work and service and ministry within it, his sonship, his process of maturing, his prayer life, his invisible life of spirituality. If every nation on the planet were to come against an Israel who had faith in Jehovah they would have been destroyed and chased away, and in fact, this will occur, and what a sight it will be.

 

REV 19:19

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army.

 

Israel had grown so weak that they possessed no weapons for war. It may be that Sisera confiscated all weapons.

 

We see this in the song of Deborah.

 

JDG 5:8 New gods were chosen;

Then war was in the gates.

Not a shield or a spear was seen

Among forty thousand in Israel.

 

This has been a common tactic throughout the history of tyranny, in that by removing the weapons that the citizens possess, you greatly diminish the opportunity for revolt against tyranny. Tyrants work relentlessly to maintain power.

 

Amendment II

Ratified December 15, 1791

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

 

All he had to do was to send delegates to each of the central and southern tribes and demanded tribute and it would have been paid. Again, the true reason for this is God's discipline upon their apostasy.

 

The conditions in Israel are dire, which we discover in Deborah's song. Roads are deserted, and the caravan routes that crisscrossed the country, especially across the Jezreel Valley, linking the tribes in the north with the tribes in the south, were disrupted so that the Jewish caravaners ceased to travel on their normal trade routes for fear of attack by Canaanites or to avoid heavy tolls and so they traveled the difficult mountain passes and would have scavenged on an emerging black market.

 

JDG 4:4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth [or woman of burning], was judging Israel at that time.

 

The Hebrew word for "wife" and "woman" are the same [ishshah]. Lappidoth means "lamp" or "burning". This may be a title for Deborah - the woman of burning (fiery speeches or war-like spirit)

 

Another theory is that her husband was Barak since his name means lightning. All they will be are theories until we get to heaven and find out for sure. 

 

She is called a prophetess. The only other before her with this title is Miriam, Moses' sister. There is debate as to who is the first prophet and who has a gift of prophecy and who has the office of prophet, but such things should not be argued very much. It's always the message that counts and never the man giving it. The truth is what sets men free, not other men, other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Deborah receives messages from God and then passes them on to the people. A prophet is a courier. However, when a prophet is opposed or is called to a great task of faith, then the strength of their faith becomes important and praised, yet while God gets all the glory.

 

JDG 4:5 And she used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.

 

The people come to her because she has the gift of prophecy and she is able to judge rightly in legal disputes.

 

It is amazing that throughout this entire book there is no mention of the Levitical priests being used by the people or ministering to the people. Shiloh, where the tabernacle containing the ark of the covenant lies is not used or referred to in a religious sense.

 

Apostate Israel seems to have no rightly functioning Levitical priests. It is likely that the people had lost all confidence in the priesthood to provide spiritual direction and answers.