Judges 5:19-31
The Song of Deborah and Barak (Part 2)
19 “The kings came, they fought;
then fought the kings of Canaan,
at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;
they got no spoils of silver.
20 From heaven the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The torrent Kishon swept them away,
the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon.
March on, my soul, with might!
22 “Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs
with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.
23 “Curse Meroz, 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.
24 “Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
25 He asked for water and she gave him milk;
she brought him curds in a noble’s bowl.
26 She sent her hand to the tent peg
and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;
she struck Sisera;
she crushed his head;
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 Between her feet
he sank, he fell, he lay still;
between her feet
he sank, he fell;
where he sank,
there he fell—dead.
28 “Out of the window she peered,
the mother of Sisera wailed through the lattice:
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’
29 Her wisest princesses answer,
indeed, she answers herself,
30 ‘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?’
31 “So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!
But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.”
And the land had rest for forty years.
Our passage in Judges 5:19-31 is a continuation of yesterday’s Bible study. Today we are going to look at the four women in Deborah’s song, which includes, Deborah, Jael, the mother of Sisera, and the princesses in Hazor, the citadel or stronghold of the enemies of God.
Deborah is introduced in verse 5:1. She and Barak, the general of the Israelite army, are singing this song of victory to the Israelites, immediately the same day after the battle. In verse 5:7, Deborah, who is writing and singing this song, calls herself a mother in Israel. It was a dark time due to the Canaanite’s oppression. In the days of Shamgar, the victor over the Philistines who saved Israel as seen in Chapter 3, and in the days of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite in the city of Kadesh, the highways were so treacherous that people were forced to travel in stealth on the byways less traveled. Deborah came as a mother, a prophetess, and a judge over Israel. The days were so dismal, even the Levites neglected their duties to teach and be judge over Israel. Instead, a woman named Deborah took on the responsibilities of those who abdicated their position. Deborah gave instructions to the people from the words of God, during a time when Israel rejected the Lord and ran off to follow new gods. These were the false gods of idolatry that caused the Lord to be angry. In His anger, he raised up Jabin, the king of the Canaanites to oppress the Israelites. Additionally, it was Deborah who went with Barak to war, because Barak would not go without her. Again, Deborah had to step in when men denounced their duty in shame. In the same way, we may feel that we are alone in our walk with Christ. But never fear, Jesus said that he will never leave us nor forsake us. How can things go wrong with such an amazing promise? As 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Barak did not believe that the presence of God would be with him, even though Deborah prophesized and said He would. Instead, Barak needed to depend on Deborah. Therefore, the victory was not his.
The next woman is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Jael was at home in her tent in Kadesh. A deluge of rain was coming down from heaven causing the chariots of iron to halt at a dead stop. This allowed the Israelite army to gain leverage. Sisera, the general of the Canaanite army got down from his chariot, which could not move because of the mud, and ran. He ran as hard as he could until he found himself at the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber. This was not a coincidence. This was an act according to the divine providence of God. Sisera ran into Jael’s tent and demanded she hides him, which she did. So obviously, Jael had no knowledge of what was about to take place, nor did she have a premeditated plan on what to do. As a gracious host, Sisera asked for a drink of water, but Jael, with her cunningness, gave him milk and curds to satisfy this hunger and caused him to sleep under the blanket. He bid Jael to not tell anyone he is there. Sisera lay there in slumber throwing caution to the wind. As he slept, Jael took a tent peg and hammer. She penned Sisera down through the temple of his head and into the ground. Sisera who was hiding was now dead. How courageous and mighty is Jael? She was the heroin of the battle. We too need to be like Jael and be intentional and offensive in our service for Christ, not slack or defensive. It takes a person with wholehearted devotion to be quick and take a stand. We, as obedient children of God, are called to also stand fast. The Book of Jude is a book of warning and encouragement. We are warned about false teachers in Jude 1:4, which says, “ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” However, our encouragement comes in a great passage that teaches us to persevere during affliction. This passage is followed by one of the great doxologies in Jude 1:24-25,
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
Glory! Hallelujah! We are to trust and depend on our Lord. He will keep us from falling. “In God We Trust.”
The third woman is the mother of Sisera. In the passage, she does not have a name. Nevertheless, Deborah includes her in the song because she, Deborah herself, was also a mother, but in Israel. Therefore, she had empathy even for her enemies. Sisera lay dead, nailed to the ground with a tent peg and hammer. The mother waits for his return. Even though he is a man and the general of an army, he is still her son, her little boy. But the longer she waits, the more worried she gets. Oh, the pain a parent has when their children’s return is prolonged. We also have a lesson to learn from her. We can learn that lost people without hope in Jesus Christ are still just ordinary people like us. They have families, pain, sorrow, and love for their families too that we can relate to. With everything we have in common, we also can empathize and reach out to them in times of need to comfort and give them the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
Our last encounter with women in Judges 5 is with the princesses in the citadel. Sisera’s mother does not know where her son is and why he has not returned home. So she goes to the wisest of princesses and asks them. Their answer is alarming and tells us about the crude life that others without God may have. Where Sisera’s mother shows us the humanity of the ungodly, giving us reason to care, the princesses show us the depravity or the absence of holiness as seen in their answer to Sisera’s mother’s question. They assume the Canaanites with their chariots of iron had prevailed. But, instead, God caused a huge deluge of rain causing the chariots to be useless. Therefore, as we already know, Sisera died because of a woman. The princesses tell Sisera’s mother that the spoils of war are a “womb or two for every man,” and that is why he has been delayed. How crude, to imagine that the rewards of battle are to rape the women of the opponents. The lesson we can learn from this is to know and be aware of the fruit when one is absent from the holiness of God. They are depraved and their nature reveals the hideousness of their condition. How could the Israelites dwell among the Canaanites and worship their idols? Being without God causes one to be without his nature. For God says, be holy because He is holy.
In application, we see the condition of our world today. The world we live in is no different. For example. we have the heroes of our faith who are strong and bold. Strong godly people like Deborah proclaim the truths of God’s Word. Strong godly people like Jael, know how to live by faith. They are courageous and with faith, they take out the enemies of God. Then, there are those without God. Some are moral, decent people. They have families that they love and cherish. There are also those who are morally corrupt. Our job, in this lost world, is to live by faith, like Jael, and to proclaim the truth of God’s righteousness and his gospel message of salvation, like Deborah, did. We must be bold in our witness and stand for the truth!
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Precious Lord Jesus, I praise and thank You for saving me and giving me the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ my Lord and God. Thank You for showing me the truths revealed in this lesson in Judges 5. Give me a heart for the ungodly. Empower me with Your living Spirit in my life to go boldly and proclaim Your gospel message to all people, even to the ungodly. Open their hearts to Your message and give them the grace through faith to believe in the Your Son, Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen!
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I Love to Tell the Story, by Arabella K. Hankey in 1866:
