Judges 4 "A Tale of Two Women"



For the next two weeks we will be looking a the same story from two perspectives.

This week we have the prose story of Deborah and Barak.

Next week we have the poetic story.



(Only Exodus 14-15 provides similar side-by-side parallel prosaic/poetic accounts.)

As we'll see next week, the poetic account does not give us a clear chronological narrative,

it celebrates God's triumph.

If we didn't have the prose narrative, we would probably have a difficult time understanding the whole story.



In general, prose accounts are designed to inform and instruct,

while poetry is designed to celebrate and commemorate.



Between the standard introduction and conclusion, the narrative has four basic parts,

each marked by a circumstantial clause (Now Deborah was judging, Now Heber the Kenite had separated, For there was peace, As Barak was pursuing)





Introduction (4:1-3)

We start with the standard introduction--

the people again did what was evil in God's sight.

The reference to Ehud ensures that we see a close connection between these two stories-

they are to be understood as close parallels.

Shamgar is something of a parenthesis

(Judges 5 will make it clear that Shamgar was a contemporary of Deborah).



Jabin is more interesting.

In Joshua 11, Joshua had defeated Jabin of Hazor and burned his city to the ground.

But now, probably 100-200 years later, we are told that Jabin, king of Canaan,

reigned in Hazor.

Jabin is not the problem-that seems to have been the dynastic name of the lords of Hazor.

(There are references to different Jabins or "Yabni" as King of Hazor in the 17-18th c. BC)

Hazor was the dominant city in the north of Canaan for 500 years before the coming of Israel.

But Hazor was razed to the ground by Joshua

(and the archeological record supports a 13th century destruction),

and not rebuilt until Solomon rebuilt it as a northern fortress.

So how can we now have another Jabin of Hazor?

Probably the best way to think of it would be like "the Emperor of Rome"

who after the third century hardly ever visited the actual city.

While Joshua killed the Jabin in his day,

it is likely that some member of the family escaped,

and now has set himself up as the new Jabin of Hazor,

no doubt with the intention of rebuilding Hazor.

In order to help him do this, he hires a mercenary general, Sisera,

and gave him lordship of Harosheth-hagoyim,

which literally means "forest of the nations"

but may also mean "fields of the nations"

With 900 chariots of iron, Sisera wielded a mighty force to crush his enemies.



Slow: The Call of Barak (4:4-10)

But a chariot-based army would not spend much time in the hill country,

and so we should not be surprised to find a judge

holding court in the hill country of Ephraim.

This is the place where in the structure of Judges 2:11-23 we expect to hear,

"And the LORD raised up a deliverer."

But as we said last time, this pattern is beginning to disintegrate.

Even as Israel is turning away from the pattern of the obedience of Joshua,

so also the narrative itself is crumbling.

But while we do not hear the words, "and the LORD raised up a deliverer,"

we do hear how God raised up a deliverer.



He called Barak.

But Barak does not appear until verse 6.

And God does not call Barak directly-as he will with Gideon-

nor does the Spirit of the LORD come upon him-as it does upon Othniel.

No, God calls Barak through Deborah.



Judges has a lot more women involved than most of OT history.

We've already met Othniel's wife, Achsah-

who seems to have been a pretty aggressive woman.

Here, Deborah is introduced in a manner that draws attention to her gender.

Deborah-plainly a woman's name from the "ah" ending-

a prophetess

the wife of Lappidoth.

Three feminine gender markers launch this section.



Deborah is the only prophet in Judges (not until Samuel does another one arise);

the wife of Lapidoth--torch (Baraq means lightning)--or could mean "a fiery one");

She sat under a palm tree, between Ramah and Bethel in Ephraim

(which appears to have been the tree planted for another Deborah--Gen 35:8)

Deborah is a fascinating character.

She is one of two characters in the book of Judges who come out looking good.

(The other being Othniel)

I've noticed a recent trend that focuses on how Deborah's calling

is something of a rebuke to Israel.

The men have fallen so far that God has to use a woman.

And there is some truth to that:

certainly Deborah's untarnished image compares favorably with any other judge,

and her faithfulness definitely contrasts with Barak's wimpiness.

But the net effect of that approach is to say

that women shouldn't really be doing what Deborah did.



Women should be at home with the children-

not out judging Israel!



But does Deborah do anything inappropriate to her gender?

1. She is a prophetess.

There are several other prophetesses in the Bible:

Miriam (Ex 15:20), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Isaiah's wife, and Anna (Luke 2:36)

There is nothing in scripture that suggests that prophesying is an exclusively male prerogative.

Indeed, Joel 2 promises that in the last days "your sons and your daughters will prophesy"

2. She "was judging Israel."

Judging in the book of Judges is never about deciding judicial cases,

but focuses on delivering the people of God.

So perhaps the best way to understand this is that Deborah was a prophetess

who had gathered around her a faithful remnant

of those who refused to bow to Jabin.

As one through whom the LORD spoke to his people,

she was the one to whom Israel came, crying out for deliverance (4:5).

It is worth noting that the language used of Sisera,

Sisera sat at Harosheth Haggoyim-is used also of Deborah.

Deborah sat under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel.

But whereas Sisera's power is the 900 iron chariots of Jabin,

Deborah's power is the Word of the Lord!

And Israel recognizes that God has raised up this woman to deliver them,

so they come to her seeking judgment against their enemies.



And she responds by summoning Barak of Kedesh-Naphtali.

And she tells him, (verses 6-7).



Barak is slow to believe the message.

In itself, this puts him in good company:

Moses and Gideon both hesitated and looked for signs.

But Barak has a really good reason to ask for a sign.

Mount Tabor is an isolated mountain.

If you go up Mount Tabor, and Sisera's chariots come into the valley below,

then you will never get down again.

They will trample you to death and cut you in shreds.

This is a suicide mission.

And so Barak, too, asks for a sign:

verse 8.

If you are really a prophet of God, then you come with me.

Because if I'm not coming back, then neither are you!



This is particularly interestings,

because in the book of Joshua, what did they take with them?

The ark of the covenant.

Where is Deborah located? (between Ramah and Bethel)

She has set herself up as an alternative authority near the ark of the covenant.

This is an indictment of Israel and Israel's priests.

They are not leading God's people against his enemies-

so Deborah hears the Word of the LORD and speaks it to his people.



But here she speaks to Barak (Verse 9)

the glory of this victory will come to a woman.

In the immediate context of the book of Judges,

the implication is clear: God will rescue his people by the hand of foreigners and women.



And so Deborah goes with Barak to raise 10,000 troops from Zebulun and Naphtali.

And they go to Mount Tabor.



The Defeat of Sisera's Army (4:11-16)

Verse 11 then sets the stage for introducing our second woman.

(Read)

We have heard in chapter 1 of the faithful Kenites who settled in Judah.

Now we hear of a renegade Kenite who sets himself up not far from Kedesh.

He has departed from Judah and has come into the hill country north of Ephraim.

Why is he here?



We're not told-not yet.



(Read 12-13)

Sisera immediately sees how stupid Barak's tactics are,

and so he calls out the chariots to go to the foot of Mount Tabor

and wait for the idiot general to come get slaughtered!



Jabin fights against Israel at the waters of Merom (waters of the heights)-in Joshua 11

In 1 Samuel we hear that the Canaanites thought that Yahweh was a

"god of the hill country not of the plain?"

And earlier in Judges we hear that Israel had trouble in the lowlands due to these iron chariots.

So it is not surprising that the pagans think of Yahweh as a god of the hills,

but that their gods will protect them in the plains.



So here we have Israel's army trapped on a mountain,

surrounded by iron chariots.

Sound familiar?

Israel at the Red Sea?

That was the last time the Israelites were surrounded by chariots!



And that time too, a foreign king mocked the God of Israel,

thinking that he did not have the power to deliver his people.



In chapter three we are told that Israel, under Ehud's leadership,

defeated the Moabites (because the LORD gave them into their hand).

Here Deborah starts the same way:

"The LORD has give Sisera into your hand."

But then it says that the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak

by the edge of the sword.

It is not Barak's sword that routs Sisera.

It is the sword of the LORD.



How?

Sorry-you'll have to wait til next week to find out!



But Sisera decides that fleeing on foot makes more sense than riding his chariot.

(At this point you are wondering-why?-but we are not told-not yet!)



And Barak pursued the army of Sisera and destroyed it all.

Barak's gets some glory-the glory of destroying the army.



The Death of Sisera (4:17-21)

But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite.

Now we discover why verse 11 told us of Heber the Kenite.

Heber has not only separated himself from the Kenites in Judah,

he has allied himself with Jabin, king of Hazor.

He has turned against Israel and Israel's God.



So Sisera thinks that he has found a safe haven.

The custom of hospitality was clear-

especially when you have "shalom" with your neighbor.

As the wife of Heber, Jael must protect Sisera.



(Read 18-20)



So far so good.

This sounds like proper hospitality!

(Read verse 21)



Do you remember where Heber the Kenite had moved from?

Geography always matters in the book of Judges.

Heber and Jael came from Judah.

We are not told explicitly that Jael is a Judahite,

but there is an implication.

Certainly she is faithful to Israel's God.

Rather than harbor the enemy of God's people,

she violates the laws of hospitality,

and strikes down the seed of the serpent,

crushing his head.



Late: The Arrival of Barak (4:22)

And then a second time, Jael comes out of her tent to meet a man.

She meets Barak and says, "Come, I will show you the man whom you are seeking."

As Deborah had prophesied,

the glory of this victory would go to a woman-

Jael, the wife of a traitor,

who deceived her husband's new ally with treachery of her own.



Such are the days of the Judges.

Through deception and cunning,

through foreigners and women,

in various times and in various ways,

God delivers his people.



Conclusion

read 23-24

Next week we will see more clearly what is going on here.

But we should not take lightly the image of the woman

crushing the head of the seed of the serpent.

The fact that the men of Israel are wimps and traitors

does not diminish the faithfulness of these women-it magnifies it all the more!