WWUTT 239 Deborah the Judge?

Deborah as a Judge and the Misuse of Her Story

Deborah was one of the greatest judges in Israel's history, and a figure that is often used to talk about how women deserve the same positions in the church that men receive. But that's not the point of Deborah's story, When We Understand the Text.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. We are in Judges chapters four and five today. If you wanna open up your Bible and join with me there, we'll be reading about Deborah, perhaps the second most famous judge in Israel after Samson.

Now, some would argue that Gideon and Samson were the two most famous judges. I don't know. I think Deborah's more popular than Gideon, particularly this day and age, when there's a big debate in the church as to whether or not a woman can be a pastor.

Deborah is one of those biblical figures that gets referenced because if she can lead Israel, then a woman can lead a church. That's a pretty far stretch. That's not what we're supposed to understand from this story.

In fact, it was actually to Israel's embarrassment that Deborah was a judge. That's to say nothing against Deborah. She was a godly woman and a very good leader, but the reason why she was a judge in Israel is because there was not a man fulfilling the role as God had intended the men of Israel to fill.

We'll talk about that some more as we continue with the story. So first, let's do some recap from what we talked about last week. We went through the first three chapters in Judges and understood the book as being about the canonization of Israel.

It was Israel turning from the covenant that God had made with his people. After delivering them from slavery in Egypt and giving them the promised land, they were told that if they remain faithful to the Lord and worshiped and served him only, that they would receive blessing in the land.

But Israel very quickly, within the next generation, turned from God and worshiped the Baals, the false gods, the Ashtoreths, and so God would turn them over to their enemies. He was no longer blessing them with the conquest of the land.

Instead, he would send an oppressor upon them. Israel would cry out for deliverance and God, in his mercy and grace, would send them a judge, somebody who would lead a military campaign to deliver them from their enemies, and then Israel would rejoice and there would be a period of peace.

But then Israel falls into complacency and the same pattern repeats itself. Israel starts worshiping the false gods, God sends an oppressor to punish them, and then they cry out for deliverance and in comes a judge.

So the judge that we last read about at the end of chapter three was Shamgar. In fact, he only gets one verse, the shortest reference to a judge in the book. After Ehud was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an ox code, and he also saved Israel.

Now, we don't have a period of peace in reference to Shamgar, but that's probably because there was a little bit of overlap between Ehud, Shamgar, and Deborah. So Shamgar probably overlapped and maybe had enjoyed the period of peace that Ehud had brought about, but also fought the Philistines during that particular period of time.

Then we get to Judges chapter four, and right at the very beginning, we read, "'The people of Israel again did what was evil "'in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. "'And the Lord sold them into the hand "'of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.

"'The commander of his army was Sisera, "'who lived in Herasheth, Hagoyim. "'Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, "'for he had 900 chariots of iron, "'and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly "'for 20 years.'".

900 chariots of iron. I mean, that was military might. You think about the United States of America being a military superpower in the world today because of all of our technological advancements. Well, that would have been Sisera's army in this period of time with 900 chariots of iron.

It would have been like having 900 tanks. We read in chapter one about an army that Judah was unable to drive out from the plains because they had chariots of iron. And likely it was this army in particular that Judah couldn't drive out, and God would eventually use them to oppress Israel because of their sin.

Reading in verse four, "'Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, "'was judging Israel at that time. "'She used to sit under the palm of Deborah "'between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, "'and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment.'".

Now, Deborah was a very excellent judge. In fact, she probably executed the office of judge better than any other judge in Israel that we read about in the book of Judges because she was actually a judge.

Now, we read about Ehud and Jephthah and Gideon, and these men were all military men and very successful at what they did, but that wasn't the primary role of a judge. Specifically, a judge was supposed to do what?

Judge, and Deborah did that very well. She didn't lead an army or military campaigns. She judged, she issued judgments, and she was also a prophetess. She loved the Lord, she worshiped God, she revered him as holy, and the Lord blessed her and her time of judging in Israel.

In verse six, she sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinom from Kadesh Naphtali and said to him, "'Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you? "'Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, "'taking 10 ,000 from the people of Naphtali "'and the people of Zebulun, "'and I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, "'to meet you by the river Kishon "'with his chariots and his troops, "'and I will give him into your hand.'".

So Deborah, as a prophetess, is saying, here is what the Lord has said of you, and if you come up against Jabin and Sisera, you will be successful. But look at what Barak's response is. Verse eight, Barak said to her, "'If you will go with me, I will go, "'but if you will not go with me, I will not go.'".

So Barak is compliant with conditions. He's not directly obedient to what the Lord is telling him to do. He says, well, okay, if you go with me, then I'll go, but if you don't go with me, then I'm not gonna go.

So he's not going, yes, I'm going, because God has said for me to go, which should have been Barak's response. Instead, he wants Deborah to go with him. Now, all things considered, Barak should have been the judge in Israel, but because he would not listen to the direction of the Lord, he doesn't get to be the judge, Deborah does.

Now, the Bible tells us that when a woman is in a position of high leadership like this, it's because of a failure of the people. It's not because of the success of that woman. In Isaiah 3, verse 12, as Isaiah is talking about the judgments upon Israel because of their sin, he says, my people, infants are their oppressors and women rule over them.

Oh, my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths because the men are not God-fearing men and they are not doing the role that God had designated for them to do.

Women rise up into the position of leadership because of the failure of men, and this is the case in Israel. Now, again, Judges is not a flattering book for Israel. It is talking about their apostasy, their fallenness from the Lord, how they're becoming more and more like Canaan and less and less like the people of God.

So we see this also here in Judges 4 with a woman who is ruling over Israel because the man is not doing what it is that he's been told by God to do. He won't even go and fight this battle unless Deborah goes with him.

So Deborah's response in verse nine is, I will surely go with you, nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh, and Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kadesh, and 10 ,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

Now, remember, Deborah was a prophetess. So when she says here, because you're not willing to go when you've been told to go, then the Lord is gonna sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. She's not referring to herself.

She's referring to another because remember, she's a prophetess. So she is prophesying what it is that is going to happen, and we'll see this as the story goes on. Let me make a point here before we continue.

I'm gonna hit this here, and then I don't have to come back to it again later. Deborah, again, as I mentioned, is one of those figures that gets used to talk about how it's right for a woman to become a pastor because a woman was a leader in Israel.

Well, first of all, we're talking about a theocracy here when we refer to Israel in the Old Testament, and that's not what the church is. We need to follow the instructions as given to the church in the New Testament by the apostles, and in those instructions, it is stated quite plainly in 1 Timothy 2, verse 11, "'Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.

"'I do not permit a woman to teach "'or to exercise authority over a man. "'Rather, she is to remain quiet.'". And then what follows in chapter three are the instructions for elders of the church and instructions for deacons, and elders and deacons specifically are supposed to be men.

So here in 1 Timothy 2 and three are the instructions for the offices of the church, which are supposed to be filled by men, and Paul gives the reason for this in 1 Timothy 2, 13 and 14. "'For Adam was formed first, then Eve, "'and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived "'and became a transgressor.'".

So Paul goes all the way back to Adam and Eve to reason why the man is supposed to be the pastor and not the woman. A woman is not supposed to have the teaching authority over a man in the church, because Adam was formed first and because Eve was deceived by the serpent.

Those are the two reasons why. So even if you wanted to say, well, if the woman had not listened to the serpent, then she would be able to have positions of authority like that. So in a righteous and holy environment, she should be allowed to have a position as a pastor.

No, because Paul said, because Adam was formed first. So the two reasons given are he was formed first and he was not the one that was deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Now, there are things that a woman can do that a man cannot, but there are also things that a man is supposed to do that a woman cannot do.

It is in our strengths and weaknesses that we compliment one another and we are a fully functioning body of Christ, men and women together in the church. There are things that women are supposed to do that a man is not supposed to do.

So there are absolutely things for her to do that are unique for women, just as there are things that men are supposed to do that are specific and unique to men. So we must recognize what God has created and designed us for and honor his appointment, his design and calling, not what we would desire or want for ourselves.

So here in Israel, God had raised up this Judge Deborah who did a wonderful job and she was a godly woman, but she was in her position because of the failure of the men of Israel who were supposed to lead.

So we go on here in verse 11 of Judges 4. Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the Oak of Zananim, which is near Kadesh.

When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinom had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera called out all of his chariots, 900 chariots of iron and all the men who were with him from Herasheth Haggoyim to the river Kishon.

And Deborah said to Barak, for this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10 ,000 men following him.

We don't know how many men Sisera had, but we know we had 900 chariots of iron, so his army was likely very strong as well. Verse 15, and the Lord routed Sisera and all of his chariots and all of his army before Barak by the edge of the sword.

And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Herasheth Haggoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a man was left, except Sisera, of course, which fled on, or who fled on foot.

Now we don't know the details of that battle, exactly how Sisera's army was given into their hands, but we'll read about it in the Song of Deborah coming up in chapter five, so hang tight. Let's pick up where Sisera ran off.

Verse 17, Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, "'Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me, do not be afraid.'.

So he turned aside to her into the tent and she covered him with a rug. And he said to her, "'Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.'. So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him.

And he said to her, "'Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, is anyone here, say no.'". I'm gonna come back to that here in just a second. So verse 21, Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand.

And then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was laying fast asleep from weariness, so he died. She hammered his head into the ground. And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, "'Come and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.'.

So he went into her tent and there lay Sisera dead with the tent peg in his temple down into the ground. So on that day, God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan until they destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan.".

Now, let me go back here to verse 21, where it says, "'But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg.'". Okay, and this was right after Sisera had said to her, "'If anyone comes to the tent and asks you, is anyone here, tell them no.'".

Now, remember at the beginning of this paragraph in verse 17, we read that there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. But I believe at verse 21, and this is kind of conjecture on my part, but there's kind of a turning point.

After Sisera asked Jael to lie for him, she realizes, oh, you've lost and you're trying to flee the scene. The victory has been given over to Israel and you're trying to get away. So she knew that she could deliver the final blow against Sisera and nothing would come upon her father's house for that because she was more sympathetic to Israel and she was fearful of the Lord.

And so she took a tent peg and hammered his head into the ground. And it was she who was given the final blow of the battle, not Barak, just as Deborah had prophesied that the glory would go to a woman and not to Barak because he did not listen to the command of the Lord.

Now, when we get to Judges chapter five, we have the song of Deborah and Barak, the victory song that Israel is singing after they defeated their enemies. And we see this pretty regularly in the Old Testament whenever there is some kind of a major victory or a major accomplishment, that Israel would sing a song to commemorate the event.

And this was a song that would have continued through Israel's heritage and they would sing that song to remember how God was faithful to them. We saw this, probably the most notable occasion of this up to this point would have been after the Israelites made it through or made it out of Egypt and through the Red Sea.

The Red Sea collapsed on the Egyptian army and destroyed them. When they got to the other side, there was the song of Moses and they sang a victory song. It was probably a very happy song. We have no idea what the music would have sounded like, but it was clearly something that you could dance to, celebrate and have a party.

Okay, so this song is in remembrance of the victory that they won against the Canaanites. And we hear about how that battle would have gone. We didn't get the details of the battle in chapter four, but we do get the details of how this victory happened with the song of Deborah.

Beginning in verse one, then sang Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinom on that day, that the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offered themselves willingly, bless the Lord. Hear, O kings, give ear, O princes, to the Lord I will sing.

I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel. Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.

The mountains quaked before the Lord, even Sinai before the Lord, the God of Israel. We're starting to get some details here as to how this victory was won by Israel against these 900 chariots of iron.

Apparently it involved a rainstorm. And we'll see more about flooding and waters and stuff like that coming up in this song as well. Now, when you had two armies go against one another, one army is on foot and another one is in chariots of iron and there's a rainstorm.

Who do you think has the advantage? The ones on foot or the ones who have horses and chariots with wheels in soft earth? Okay, obviously it's gonna be those who were on foot. So this rainstorm apparently gave the advantage to the Israelites.

And this was common of these kinds of songs to record the details of battles in this way. You had minstrels in England who would sing songs about the English conquests as they expanded the empire. Have you ever seen the movie Braveheart?

The movie has been the subject of much criticism by historians who said that none of the events concerning William Wallace happened the way that you see them depicted in the movie. But Randall Wallace, who's a descendant of William Wallace and wrote the screenplay for the film, said that he was not following the historical events, but rather a historical song that was sung about William Wallace.

And when you look at the lyrics of the song and examine the plot of the movie, you see that they're very much the same. And so that's what Randall Wallace was going by, not trying to be faithful to history, but more this song that was commemorating the accomplishments of William Wallace to set Scotland free from the tyranny of England.

So we have such a song that we're reading about here that is singing about the accomplishments of the Israelite army. Of course, this is historically accurate and the minstrel song about William Wallace was not historically accurate.

So we go on here to verse six. In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned and the travelers kept to the byways. So here we see a little bit of that overlap regarding Shamgar.

So Shamgar wasn't necessarily a standalone judge in which he accomplished a military triumph over a certain enemy and then Israel experienced years of peace, but the peace that Shamgar experienced was probably overlapped from Ehud.

And during the time that Shamgar was a judge, the armies of Jabin controlled the main travel areas. So in order to avoid being oppressed by Jabin's guys, Israel had to stay away from the main travel routes.

They had to go the long way around and it was a miserable time for the people as they were being oppressed by the Canaanites. Verses seven, eight, and nine, the villagers ceased in Israel. They ceased to be until I arose.

I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel, which is a great parallel considering that Deborah kind of took Barak by the hand and was like, okay, let's go. You won't go by yourself, so I'll go with you. So that's a good title for Deborah to have is she kind of mothered Barak.

Verse eight, when the new gods were chosen, then war was in the gates. Was shield or spear to be seen among 40 ,000 in Israel? How many Israelites were there that went out against Sisera's army? It was only 10 ,000.

Deborah is basically saying, why weren't there 40 ,000? When you go back to the book of Numbers, over 600 ,000 men were named in Israel that were capable of fighting in war. And it would have been at least that many that came into the promised land when they conquered Canaan and occupied the cities that they overthrew.

So where were all those people? Why were there only 10 ,000 that were willing to come up against Sisera's army? There should have been many, many more and there would have been no problem against this army, even though they had 900 chariots of iron.

Verse nine, my heart goes out to the commanders of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the Lord. Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way to the sound of musicians at their watering places.

There they repeat the righteous triumphs of the Lord, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. So there you have, once again, the musicians that are recalling the historical events through song.

Then down to the gates marched the people of Israel. Awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, break out in a song. Arise, Barak, lead away your captives, O son of Abinom. Then down marched the remnant of the noble.

The people of the Lord marched down for me against the mighty. From Ephraim, their root, they marched down into the valley, following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen. Now, before we go here, before we continue on here, where it says, then down marched the remnant of the noble.

So the noble would have been those 600 ,000 plus men that came into the promised land and took what the Lord had given into their hands. There is but a remnant of them who were faithful to fight this battle following the direction of Deborah.

And then going on from there, following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen. From Machir marched down the commanders and from Zebulun, those who bear the lieutenant's staff. The princes of Issachar came with Deborah and Issachar, faithful to Barak, into the city they rushed at his heels.

Among the clans of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart. Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds to hear the whistling for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart.

Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher sat still at the coast of the sea, staying by his landings. Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death. Naphtali too, on the heights of the field.

So you have the tribes of Israel that are being celebrated for their bravery, but in this song, they're also calling out those who were cowardly, those who were complacent and just sat by while these other men were faithful to fight in this battle.

Where were you guys? What was the deal? Okay, so a little bit of a rebuke going on here in this song as well. Verse 19, the kings came, they fought, then fought the kings of Canaan at Tanakh by the waters of Megiddo.

They got no spoils of silver. From heaven the stars fought. From their courses they fought against Sisera. The torrent Kishon swept them away. The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon, march on my soul with might.

Okay, so talking about Kishon, that river that was there and because of the rainstorm that had come, likely it had overflowed the river to the point that there was a flood that had even washed away some of these horses and the chariots and this was what helped Israel win this battle.

It was a battle that was fought with the hand of God against their enemies. Then loud beat the horse's hooves with the galloping, galloping of his steeds. Curse Meraz, says the angel of the Lord. Curse its inhabitants thoroughly because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

This is the same angel of the Lord we read about at the beginning of Joshua and the angel of the Lord we read about at the beginning of Judges that was a guardian of Israel and that angel would have been with Israel even in this battle.

Verse 24, most blessed be women of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent dwelling women most blessed. He asked for water and she gave him milk. She brought him curds in a noble's bowl. She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workman's mallet.

She struck Sisera, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple. Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still. Between her feet he sank, he fell. Where he sank, there he fell, dead. Okay, this is probably like a really hopping part of the song and everybody's just dancing and celebrating here.

Jael gets the honor. She gets the glory of the victory of the battle which Barak should have had but he was not obedient to the command of God. And you also see how tactical Jael was here. That's even discussed because it says that Sisera asked for water and she gave him milk and brought him curds in a noble's bowl.

What would that have done? Would have made him sleepy. And so he laid down and he slept and then she took the tent peg and hammered his head into the ground. And then she gets the awesome percussive part of the song there that everybody's dancing and celebrating too.

Out of the window she peered, the mother of Sisera wailed through the latice. Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoof beats of his chariots? Her wisest princesses answer. Indeed she answers herself.

Have they not found and divided the spoil? A womb or two for every man. Spoil of dyed materials for Sisera. Spoil of dyed materials embroidered. Two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil.

So may all your enemies perish oh Lord but your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might and the land had rest for 40 years. So that's Judges chapters four and five and we will continue with chapter six next week.

Our great God we thank you for these words that we have read in your scriptures recalling this great historical event and your faithfulness to a people that were unfaithful to you. May we continue to learn from Israel that we not repeat the same mistakes, not become complacent and laid back but that we know that God has called us to a great work that the church would be a pillar and a buttress of the truth presenting the truth to the world and also defending it from those who would try to come against it.

May we be active in this pursuit not passive in sitting back and comfort but answering the calling that has been given to the people of God that we would go out to all nations teaching all that Christ had commanded baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit making disciples of those that we minister to keep us faithful to these things by your hand in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

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