Deborah: The Woman Who Led Israel

Again. “When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord” (4:1). While Ehud led them, they followed God. When he died, they turned away again. Sold. “So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan” (4:2). Israel's sin had made them the servants of a cruel king. Sin promises freedom, but it always ends in chains. Iron chariots. Jabin had “nine hundred chariots of iron” (4:3). A chariot was a fast war cart pulled by horses. Israel had nothing like that. Twenty hard years. “For twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel” (4:3). Oppressed means crushed and treated cruelly. A cry for help. “And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord” (4:3). They finally stopped trusting themselves and called to God. God hears. The Lord “was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them” (Judges 2:18). God's discipline is never the end of His love. What this means for you. Sin will never make you free. Jesus said, “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). If you have wandered from God, you do not have to stay stuck. Cry out to Him. He is listening, and He is ready to help.

When Ehud was dead (4:1). Israel's faith leaned on its leader. While Ehud lived, the people stayed with God; when he died, they went back to evil. Judges 2:19 describes it: “when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers.” Sold (4:2). The Hebrew verb is makar (say: mah-KAR), to sell. God handed His people over to the master they had chosen. The same verb returns in 4:9, when the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. The God who disciplined His people is the God who rescues them. Jabin of Hazor (4:2). Long before, Joshua had defeated a king of Hazor named Jabin and burned the city (Joshua 11:10-11). Now another Jabin ruled there. The enemies Israel never fully drove out grew strong again. Chariots of iron (4:3). Nine hundred iron chariots made a terrifying army. On the flat ground of the Jezreel Valley, chariots could run down soldiers on foot. Israel had no answer of its own. The pattern (Judges 2:16-18). Israel sins, falls under an enemy, cries out, and God raises up a deliverer. “The Lord was moved to pity by their groaning.” Israel's cry was not a good work that earned rescue. It was a turning back to the only One who could help. Slaves of sin (John 8:34). Jesus said, “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” Jabin's chariots are a picture of what sin does to every heart. The way out is not trying harder. It is crying out to the Savior, who hears and comes to rescue.

God's people turned away from Him again. Turning away from God is called sin. Sin always leads to trouble. God let a cruel king named Jabin rule over them. Jabin's army had 900 iron chariots. Israel could not fight that many chariots. For twenty years Israel suffered. God was not being mean to them. He was calling them to come back to Him. At last the people cried out to the Lord. That was the right thing to do. God heard them and began to help. When you do wrong, cry out to God too. He is kind, and He always listens.

God's people did wrong again. Sin always brings trouble. When they cried out to God, He heard them. God loves to help.

A prophetess. “Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time” (4:4). A prophetess is a woman who speaks God's message. Under the palm tree. “She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah” (4:5), and the people “came up to her for judgment.” She helped them settle problems God's way. God's words, not hers. Deborah asked Barak, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded…?” (4:6). She did not give him her own idea. She gave him God's command. God's promise. God said, “I will deliver him into your hand” (4:7). Barak was told he would win before he took one step. Barak's fear. Barak answered, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!” (4:8). He wanted a person he could see beside him. Deborah's answer. “I will surely go with you” (4:9). But the honor would go to a woman, not to Barak. Faith that went. Barak did go. Hebrews 11:32 names him with the people who lived by faith. What this means for you. God has already spoken in His Word. Listen to it, trust His promises, and step out even when you feel afraid.

A prophetess (4:4). Deborah is called a nevi'ah (say: neh-vee-AH), a woman who speaks God's message. She is the only judge in the book of Judges who is also called a prophet. Her leadership rested on the word of God. Judging (4:4-5). The verb shaphat (say: shah-FAHT) means to judge, to set things right. Deborah settled the people's cases under her palm tree between Ramah and Bethel. Before Israel needed a battle, it needed God's truth. The command (4:6-7). “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded…?” Deborah put God's order as a question Barak already knew the answer to. God named the place (Mount Tabor), the men (ten thousand from Naphtali and Zebulun), the battlefield (the River Kishon) and the result: “I will deliver him into your hand.” Barak's condition (4:8). Barak did not refuse. He trusted God's message enough to go, but he leaned on God's messenger. Many Christians see here a faith that was real but still small. The cost (4:9). “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.” Barak would still win, but the honor of the final blow would go to someone else. The woman turned out to be Jael (4:21). Hebrews 11:32-34. “The time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak…” Barak is counted among those “who through faith subdued kingdoms” and “out of weakness were made strong.” God does not wait for fearless people. He makes weak people strong.

God answered His people's cry. He gave them a judge named Deborah. A judge was a leader God chose to help His people. Deborah was also a prophet. That means God gave her His messages to tell. Deborah did not make up her own plans. She passed on what God said. God told Barak to lead an army. God promised to give him the win. But Barak was afraid to go alone. He wanted Deborah to come along. Deborah said she would go. Barak still went, and that took faith. Being afraid does not stop God from using you.

God gave His people Deborah. She listened to God. She told Barak God's words. Barak was scared, but he obeyed.

Chariots at the river. Sisera gathered “nine hundred chariots of iron” and brought them “to the River Kishon” (4:13). Chariots need flat ground, so the valley looked like the perfect place for Sisera. Up! Deborah said, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand” (4:14). This is our memory verse. God goes first. “Has not the Lord gone out before you?” (4:14). Barak was not leading God. God was leading Barak. Down the mountain. “So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him” (4:14). He left the safe high ground and went where the chariots were. God fought. “And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army” (4:15). Routed means beat and scattered in a panic. Rain and river. In her song, Deborah says the clouds poured down water and the River Kishon swept the enemy away (Judges 5:4, 21). Even iron chariots could not stand against the Lord. On foot. Sisera “alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot” (4:15). Alighted means got down. What this means for you. “The Lord will fight for you” (Exodus 14:14). Whatever is in front of you, the Lord has gone out before you.

The Kishon (4:13). The Kishon is a small river that runs through the Jezreel Valley. Most of the year it is a shallow stream, but heavy rain turns it into a flood. The valley was where Sisera's chariots were strongest. Gone out before you (4:14). This is how a king marches at the head of his army. Moses had promised, “the Lord, He is the One who goes before you” (Deuteronomy 31:8). Barak followed a God who was already on the battlefield. Off the mountain (4:14). Mount Tabor was safe ground for men on foot. Chariots could not climb it. Coming down into the valley meant meeting Sisera where he was strongest. Faith moved Barak onto the enemy's ground. Routed (4:15). The Hebrew hamam (say: hah-MAHM) means to throw into panic. It is the same verb used at the Red Sea, where the Lord “troubled the army of the Egyptians” (Exodus 14:24). The God of the exodus was fighting for Israel again. The song (Judges 5:4, 20-21). Deborah's song says the clouds poured water, the stars fought from heaven, and the torrent of the Kishon swept the enemy away. God used His own creation to win the battle. Psalm 20:7. The psalm says some trust in chariots and some in horses, but God's people remember the name of the Lord. Sisera trusted iron; Israel was taught to trust God. Not a man was left (4:16). The army that had crushed Israel for twenty years was gone in one day. Sin and death look strong, but at the cross Jesus “disarmed principalities and powers” (Colossians 2:15).

Sisera brought all his iron chariots to the river. Barak's men stood on Mount Tabor. They had no chariots at all. Then Deborah told Barak to get up and go. She said the Lord had already gone ahead of him. God was leading the way into the battle. The Lord threw Sisera's army into a big mix-up. Deborah later sang that the river swept them away. The chariots could not save them. Even Sisera jumped down and ran away on foot. The battle belonged to the Lord. God goes ahead of you too. You never face anything alone.

Barak's men went down the mountain. God went first! God mixed up the enemy. God won the battle for them.

Running to hide. Sisera “fled away on foot to the tent of Jael” (4:17). Heber's family had made peace with Jabin, so Sisera expected to be safe there. A welcome. Jael said, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear” (4:18). She gave him milk and covered him. The end of Sisera. While he was fast asleep, Jael killed him with a tent peg (4:21). The cruel commander who had crushed Israel for twenty years was gone. God's word came true. Deborah had said, “the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman” (4:9). It happened exactly as God said, through a woman nobody expected. Barak sees. Jael told Barak, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek” (4:22). Barak arrived to find the battle already finished. God did it. “So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel” (4:23). Subdued means brought under control. Rest. Deborah's song ends by saying the land had rest for forty years (Judges 5:31). What this means for you. God is the hero of this story. Every promise He makes, He keeps. You can trust Him with your biggest fears.

Heber the Kenite (4:11, 17). The Kenites were relatives of Hobab, Moses' father-in-law. Heber had moved away from the other Kenites and made peace with Jabin. His tent near Kedesh is why Sisera ran there. Jael's choice (4:18-21). Her husband's house was at peace with Jabin, but Jael sided with the people of the Lord. Deborah's song later calls her blessed above the women in tents (Judges 5:24). The end of the oppressor (4:21). Jael took a tent peg and a hammer while Sisera slept, and he died. This was war, and it was how the Lord ended the man who had crushed Israel for twenty years. Exactly as spoken (4:9, 22). Barak arrived to find his enemy already defeated by a woman. Deborah's word from God came true in every detail. When God speaks, nothing He says falls to the ground. God subdued (4:23). The Hebrew kana (say: kah-NAH) means to humble or bring low. The verse makes God the subject. Not Barak, not Deborah, not Jael: God. Genesis 3:15. God promised that the woman's Seed “shall bruise your head.” Many Christians see an echo of that promise when the enemy of God's people is brought down by a woman. The full answer is Jesus, who defeated the devil at the cross (Hebrews 2:14). In Him God “will crush Satan under your feet shortly” (Romans 16:20). Rest (Judges 5:31). The land had rest for forty years, but that rest ended when Israel sinned again (Judges 6:1). The rest Jesus gives does not run out: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Sisera ran to the tent of a woman named Jael. Her family was at peace with King Jabin. So Sisera thought he would be safe there. Jael gave him milk and covered him up. He fell fast asleep. While Sisera slept, Jael killed him. Jael chose to stand with God's people. Do you remember what Deborah had said? A woman would defeat Sisera. God's words came true exactly. The Bible says God defeated King Jabin that day. Barak, Deborah and Jael were not the real heroes. God was the hero. God's people were free at last. Every word God says comes true.

Sisera hid in Jael's tent. There Sisera died. God did just what He said. God always keeps His word!

Deborah: The Woman Who Led Israel

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