AM Bible Study Group; April 15, 2015 from Judges 4:1-24
Theme: The short story of the judge Shamgar teaches us that God is able to rise up the most unlikely of instruments for the most remarkable of purposes.Theme: God sovereignly brings about His promised ends—but often through unexpected means.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
This is a story with a remarkable twist. In it, God makes a promise of deliverance to His people; and as we read the promise, we think we know how it’s going to be brought about. But by the time we get to the end of the story, we discover that God brought it about in a way we never could have expected. This should teach us that our God and Savior is always faithful—but never predictable. His ways are so much wiser and efficient than we might expect. It teaches us to always trust Him—but never to box Him in!
We can see this unusual story played out in seven acts.
I. THE OPPRESSION (vv 1-3).
After the time that the judge Ehud was dead, the people—once again!—“did evil in the sight of the LORD” (v. 1). The sad story of unfaithfulness can be so monotonous! And once again, God did as He warned early in this book, and sold His disobedient people into the hand of an oppressor. This time, it was a man named Jabin, king of Canaan who was the agent of oppression. He is from Hazor—and that was the land of another king that was conquered around a hundred years earlier by Joshua (see Joshua 11:1ff). Perhaps the name Jabin was a common name for Canaanite kings who occupied that area; and perhaps the connection was intended to show the irony of the two stories. Back then, God’s deliverer (Joshua) was bold and obedient. This time, however, the deliverer was timid and hesitant.
Note that Jabin had a commander over his army—a man named Sisera. He was from Harosheth Hagoyim (that is, “Workmanship of The Nations”). This is the region later known to us as Galilee of the Gentiles. Jabin was a Gentile oppressor of God’s people; and Sisera was his henchman. And the people truly were oppressed greatly. Jabin had at his command 900 chariots of iron—which would have been like tanks in those days; while the people of Israel had none. For twenty years, he “harshly oppressed” the children of Israel; and they cried out to the Lord.
II. THE JUDGE (vv. 4-5).
God heard their cry; and—as He does many times in this book—He raised up a judge for them. But this time, the judge is a woman. Her name was Deborah—the wife of a man named Lapidoth. We know nothing of him—except that he really knew how to pick a wife! She was a prophet; and she would sit under a palm tree between Ramath and Bethel (in the northern hill country), and the children of Israel would come to her for decisions and leadership. The place must have become famous in time; because her tree came to be called “the palm tree of Deborah”.
III. THE CALL (vv. 6-7).
She was a judge—but it was God’s call for another to be the deliverer. So, she called for the man that—apparently—God had instructed her was His chosen instrument. He was a man of the northern tribe of Naphtali; and she told him that it was God’s command for him to gather an army of 10,000 from the two tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun, and to deploy them at Mount Tabor (just south of the Sea of Galilee). Her prophetic message to him was that God would deploy the troops of Sisera and his chariots (note that they are ultimately under God’s command!) at the River Kishon; “and I will deliver him into your hand” (v. 7). Clearly, God had it all planned out. Success was sure.
IV. THE PROMISE (vv. 8-9a).
We probably shouldn’t blame Barak too much for what he told Deborah. “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!” (v. 8). He clearly could see that she was God’s appointed judge; and he felt inadequate without God’s clearly appointed representative. She agreed to go; but said, “nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman” (v. 9a). Perhaps, Barak thought that’s not a problem. He was, after all, asking this woman of God—God’s clear representative—to go with him. Success was sure, then; but the glory of military victory would belong to another—a woman, in fact.
V. THE DELIVERANCE (vv. 9b-16).
So; Barak went—with Deborah along with him. But it’s then that we’re introduced to a seemingly parenthetical element to the story. We’re told of how a man named Heber—“the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses” (that is, a Gentile), had moved from the Kenite people and “had pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh” (v. 11). We hear nothing more of Heber; but as we will see, this ‘move’ from his people was part of God’s sovereign plan for the deliverance of His people and the keeping of His promise.
The general Sisera got wind that Barak had gone to Mount Tabor, and so—exactly as God has said through Deborah—he gathered his 900 chariots and his army to the River Kishon. It was as if he was following God’s orders! Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand” (v. 14). And do you note how she said, “Has not the LORD gone out before you?” Clearly He had—as is seen by the fact that all things were occurring just as God had promised.
Verse 15 tells us that “the LORD routed Sisera and all his forces before Barak! Sisera thought he was in command; but it was the Lord all along! His forces fell before the sword of Barak so completely that we’re told “not a man was left” (v. 16). This occurred at the River Kishon; which, we’re told in 5:21, swept them away with its torrents. God brought about a great victory; and as a result, Sisera—an utterly defeated foe—ran from his chariot (probably stuck in the mud), and fled on foot.
VI. THE TWIST (vv. 17-22).
Now, we see the amazing work of God. Sisera ran to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. The Kenites were apparently in a good relationship with Jabin the king of Canaan; so the defeated general thought he would be welcomed by her. And he was welcomed—so much so, in fact, that she went out to greet him and urged him to turn aside to her tent.
She assured him and comforted him. But it was all treachery! She covered the exhausted general with a thick blanket; and when he requested water, she brought him milk. He pleaded with her to stand guard and protect him; and she did. And as he slept, she took a tent peg and a hammer, and—well–you get the point. (He sure did, anyway.)
C. That’s when Barak came by—looking for this general on the run. She went out to greet Barak and say, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek” (v. 22). What a sight that must have been that greeted Barak! And note the remarkable irony of God. He kept His promise—that the glory of victory would go to a woman; but not to Deborah—as we might have thought. Instead, it went to a lowly Gentile housewife in a tent—who knew how to make an impression!
VII. THE OUTCOME (vv. 23-24).
We’re told that it was not Barak who did all this. Instead, “on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel” (v. 23). And as a result, the children of Israel grew stronger against Jabin until they had destroyed him. It was all done by God—but though utterly unexpected hands! Surely, ours is a faithful God who is full of surprises!