Judg 4:1-9 | KingComments | STEP | In this chapter God uses two women for the deliverance of His people. They are Deborah and Jael. He thereby shows that His power is accomplished in weakness ( ). Women represent weakness ( ). This fact also indicates that at that moment there is no suitable man in Israel who can be used by God. If God has to use women for such services, it is to the shame of man. At the same time, this history is a great encouragement for all women who fear God and want to be used by Him. They are taught here how God wants to use them as a blessing for His people. Again the truth is proved of what is said in Judges 2 ( ). The man who led the deliverance of the people has died. The good influence he had on the people has thus disappeared. If good leaders are lacking, the people become rudderless and give in to all kinds of evil. The eighty years of rest ( ) did not make the situation better, but worse. For the fourth time we read the expression that the Israelites “did evil in the sight of the LORD”.

‏ Judges 4:1-9

Introduction

In this chapter God uses two women for the deliverance of His people. They are Deborah and Jael. He thereby shows that His power is accomplished in weakness (2Cor 12:9a). Women represent weakness (1Pet 3:7). This fact also indicates that at that moment there is no suitable man in Israel who can be used by God. If God has to use women for such services, it is to the shame of man.

At the same time, this history is a great encouragement for all women who fear God and want to be used by Him. They are taught here how God wants to use them as a blessing for His people.

After the Death of Ehud

Again the truth is proved of what is said in Judges 2 (Jdg 2:19). The man who led the deliverance of the people has died. The good influence he had on the people has thus disappeared. If good leaders are lacking, the people become rudderless and give in to all kinds of evil. The eighty years of rest (Jdg 3:30) did not make the situation better, but worse. For the fourth time we read the expression that the Israelites “did evil in the sight of the LORD”.

Jabin and Sisera

The enemy now used by God is in the north of Israel. For twenty years, from 1257-1237 BC, the people were oppressed by this enemy. About 130 years earlier Joshua had to deal with the same enemy (Jos 11:10-11). Apparently this enemy was then completely destroyed. Here he appears to be alive again. An old enemy revives.

Therein lies an important lesson. Satan knows exactly how to revive old errors and evil, and he also knows how to use them to bring the people of God back into slavery. This is also true in our lives. We are dealing with a defeated enemy, but he is still alive and trying to subdue the people of God. He will only be definitively eliminated in the future. That’s how it will be with the devil.

In the names mentioned in this verse, we can find out more about this enemy. The meaning of the names is always about his character, his way of working. The enemy can take many forms. Each time he adapts to the situation. Fortunately, God always has an adequate answer to all these methods. Jabin means ‘insight’, ‘intellect’, ‘wisdom’. It is a wisdom that is contrary to God’s, a wisdom that is not from above, but that is “earthly, natural, demonic” (Jam 3:15). It is the wisdom of the world which is made foolishness by God (1Cor 1:20).

It seems that the name Jabin is a kind of title that indicates a position, like ‘pharaoh’ in Egypt and ‘Herod’ in Israel and ‘Abimelech’ with the Philistines. It is not the same man as in Joshua 11, but another person with the same name. Hazor means ‘enclosed’, ‘enclosed area’. Sisera means ‘battle-order’.

In connection with the names, we can see this enemy as the wisdom of the world, the human intellect, which rules in its own closed area and which rejects and excludes what is of God. As soon as the reason of the human intellect is given free rein in the things of God, God is shut out of the equation. Usefulness reasoning assert itself while there is no longer asking what God says about a particular matter in the Bible. An example of this we have in the meeting together of believers, to which different people give different interpretations. Many things have been arranged there by people who are not to be found in Scripture.

Whoever does ask for God’s standards will find ‘Sisera’ opposite him. They are people who act in ‘order of battle’ to silence the ‘obstructers’. This is a recognizable situation in large parts of professing Christianity. We can read in 2 Corinthians 10 how Paul, that is to say the Holy Spirit, deals with enemies like “Jabin” and “Sisera”, an example which can be imitated by us (2Cor 10:5).

Crying to the LORD

After twenty years of oppression, the people recognize the need they find themselves in. The enemy has ruled with an iron hand (chariots). In Judges 1 we already talked about those iron chariots (Jdg 1:19). We have seen that, if there had been faith, these chariots would not have been a problem. Now it must take twenty years before they cry to the LORD to be delivered from the enemy, from the ‘enclosure’. Fortunately, this moment comes. God already has His instrument ready.

Deborah, the Prophetess

Deborah is a prophetess. Her name means ‘activity’ or ‘bee’. Another meaning stems from the connection that exists between the names Debir and Deborah. Both names have the meaning ‘the word’ in them. For the application of the name Deborah, I use this meaning. The fact that she is a prophetess fits in with this. A prophet or prophetess is someone who communicates God’s thoughts, someone who speaks “utterances of God” (1Pet 4:11).

The Bible has a number of prophetesses: Miriam (Exo 15:20), Hulda (2Kgs 22:14), Anna (Lk 2:36) and the daughters of Philip (Acts 21:8-9). These examples are just as many exhortations for women to let God use them.

There are only two limitations that God imposes on the service of women:

1. “A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet” (1Tim 2:11-12).

2. “The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says” (1Cor 14:34).

The first text states that she may not teach and may not exercise authority over a man. She does not possess the gift of a teacher and is not allowed to exercise authority. The second text speaks about her attitude in the church. There she must be quiet, which means that she cannot raise her voice in order to lead the church to do anything or to say anything to the church.

We will see that the attitude and the service of Deborah, as they appear in this chapter, are a helpful illustration of the teaching about the service and the attitude of the woman in the New Testament.

She is married to Lappidoth. His name means ‘burning torches’. That reminds to Acts 2, where the Holy Spirit is poured out. There we read about “tongues as of fire” (Acts 2:3).

Thus we see in the couple Deborah and Lappidoth the beautiful combination of the Word of God that is applied in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Deborah, the Judge

Deborah’s living and working environment are described in detail. She lives under a palm tree bearing her name. Thus she is, as it were, identified with the tree. The palm tree is a tree that was very widespread in ancient Israel and was appreciated for its size, providing shade, and for its fruits, the dates (cf. Joel 1:12). The palm tree can grow very old and bears fruit right up to the end. It has a slender, straight trunk and lush crown (cf. Song 7:7). This symbolizes growth, fertility, and victory. The righteous is compared with such a palm tree when it is said of him that he bears fruit in the house of the LORD until old age (Psa 92:12-14).

The thought of the LORD’s house is also expressed in the place where Deborah lives. She lives between Rama and Bethel. Rama means ‘exaltation’ or ‘height’ and Bethel means ‘house of God’. The combination of the palm tree and the names of the places tell us that Deborah is a righteous person, who bears fruit and lives at the height of God’s thoughts. She is also associated with the house of God on earth. This enables her to judge the situation in which Israel is. These conditions also apply to us to be used by God for the good of His people.

Deborah is a woman of faith who doesn’t leave the place given to her by God as a woman. She does not travel through the land, but the Israelites come up to her. This shows that she exercises her task and gift in the area God has given her.

With other prophetesses we see the same thing. Josiah sends messengers to the prophetess Hulda to hear through her God’s will (2Chr 34:21-28). The prophetess Anna is someone who “never left the temple” (Lk 2:37). In Acts 21 we read about the four daughters of Philip who were prophetesses (Acts 21:8-9). Yet God sends the prophet Agabus from Judaea to come there to bring a message to Paul and He does not use the daughters of Philip because that message must be communicated in a public meeting (Acts 21:10-12).

When we think about the gifts and the task of the woman, it is important to ask ourselves what God says about them in His Word. In today’s world, women are increasingly encouraged to assert themselves and take the same place as men. She is not his inferior, is she? She doesn’t have to let herself be shoved away, does she?

The background to these questions is the contemptuous treatment that the man has often given the woman. This treatment must be condemned. Yet all the abuse that has led to such an attitude does not take away anything from what God says about the position in which He has placed both the man and the woman. This abuse is not eliminated by women’s emancipation efforts or the efforts of all kinds of feminist movements. This abuse only disappears when both the man and the woman start to abide by what the Bible tells each of them about their behavior. This not only gives good relationships, but it also becomes a source of blessing. Deborah keeps to it and every woman who does so is blessed. In so doing, she brings blessing to all the people of God.

The Command of the LORD to Barak

In accordance with what we have just seen, Deborah lets Barak come to her; she is not going to him. When she must speak to him a word from the LORD, the God of Israel, she does so in the place where she dwells. She lets herself be led by the Spirit of God and acts with His insight. This action of God through Deborah is not His usual action and is to the shame of man.

Barak means ‘shining’. “God is light” (1Jn 1:5). Whoever shines the light of God will defeat the enemy. Barak must be summoned and encouraged to do so. He apparently forgot the meaning of his name, perhaps because of the long domination by the enemy.

The name of his father, Abinoam, means ‘father of sweetness’. Barak seems to have grown up in a family where a lot of love and kindness are found. This is how God wants to raise His children. In such an atmosphere, people are formed He can use.

The region he comes from is Kedesh in Naphtali. Kedes means ‘sanctuary’ and Naphtali means ‘wrestler’ or ‘warrior’. This indicates that Barak knows the sanctuary and knows what it is to fight. He resembles Epaphras, of whom we read that he always combats earnestly for the Colossians in the prayers (Col 4:12, Darby Translation). When we pray, we enter God’s sanctuary. Prayer is not an easy job, it is an exhausting activity. Barak developed in such an environment.

It seems that everything is present to become a deliverer, but that he lacks spiritual courage. How wonderful it is to see how Deborah brings him to activity – a previously mentioned meaning of her name. She made him part of her conviction that God will hand over the enemy to him. She has received this message from Him.

Barak has to go to Mount Tabor, that means ‘mountain of the purpose’. Is this not a great encouragement? We have to go to the mountain, so up, where we can see how God thinks and does, what He has purposed. If we keep looking at the situation around us, we might just complain. But if we engage in the purpose of God, what is in His heart, we will be encouraged. God’s plans and counsels cannot be affected by any enemy. Let us focus on this in particular, then we will see what strength this gives us to fight.

Being aware of God’s purpose and thoughts is the best basis for the battle to overcome. How good it is to encourage each other with this. Deborah says, as it were, to Barak what Paul says to Archippus: “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it” (Col 4:17). In this way sisters can encourage brothers. There is a great lack of such sisters.

Deborah Also Goes With Barak

Despite the beautiful meaning of the names connected with Barak, he doesn’t dare to go to the enemy alone. He wants to go, but needs someone he knows who trusts in God. He finds such a person in Deborah. In this he looks a little like Lot who also appears to trust the faith of another, namely that of his uncle Abraham. Deborah agrees, but she says that because of this the honor of the enterprise will not be for him, but for a woman. God rewards trust in Him; if this is lacking, He cannot give His rewards.

This may be an incentive for us to carry out the task that He gives us to do, without relying on the support of others. This does not mean that we do not appreciate support, but it should not be the condition for us to do what we are told to do. Yet Barak is a man of faith. It is not without reason that he is mentioned as a hero of faith in Hebrews 11 (Heb 11:32). He believes in Deborah’s prophecy and with a small army he goes to fight with a powerful enemy.