Judges
4:2b-3a, 7-10, 17, 21 (NIV) The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in
Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly
oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, . . . 7 (God says through Deborah) I
will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his
troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.'"
8 Barak
said to her, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I
won't go."
9
"Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of
the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord
will hand Sisera over to a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh,
10 where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and
Deborah also went with him.
. . .
15 At Barak's advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by
the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot. 16 But Barak
pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. All the troops of
Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left.
. . .
21 But
Jael, Heber's wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him
while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into
the ground, and he died.
NOTE: God was
planning to work through Barak and save Israel. But Barak lacks the faith in
God. He requires Deborah by his side in battle. Obviously not to fight, but as
a symbol of God's presence. The book of Judges is a story about spiritual
leadership and its effect on the people. By this time in Israel's history,
there are no men to lead Israel, so God turns to a woman. Deborah is perfectly
capable of doing the job, but that is not the role that God has called women
to. Neither are the women to be the warriors, but the person who ultimately
kills Sisera is another woman, Jael. She is not even an Israelite, and her
husband is a friend to Sisera, but she must have seen his cruelty to be willing
to strike against Sisera. Her action is very brave. Too many things can go
wrong trying to kill a man with a tent peg while he is asleep. The men have
failed to lead the country spiritually. They have also failed to have faith in
God during the battle. It takes two women to show the men their failure. There
is nothing wrong with the women leading--scripture makes no negative comments
about these actions. The only thing wrong, if anything, is that the men have
failed to step up and provide the spiritual leadership in the country, and by
implications, in their families.
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