Bible Commentaries
Judges 4

Verses 1-31

XXVII

DEBORAH AND BARAK, DEBORAH’S SONG

Judges 4-5

The oppression that we are to consider in this section came from Jabin, another king of Hazor. You have learned in the book of Joshua that a king of the same name and over the same city was defeated and slain and the city taken. Some people are troubled about his reappearance at a later date. I have explained to you that Jabin is the name of a dynasty like Pharaoh of Egypt, and that when Israel did not occupy conquered territory, in the lapse of time the inhabitants would take possession; so that accounts for this king, Jabin, and in the same place, Hazor.

The oppression in this case lasted twenty years and his power came from his having 900 chariots of iron, which Israel dreaded to meet on any open plain. They had a general, Sisera, who seems to have had complete management of all of the martial affairs of his kingdom.

Our lesson introduces us to another one of those crises when no man rose up to meet it and where God put power in the heart of a woman. I am always glad when men fail that some good woman comes to the front. And instead of criticizing her, I lift my hat to her, and we ought to take shame to ourselves that no man could be found to stand in the breach and meet the exigencies of the occasion. Of what tribe was Deborah? Locate the tribe of each one of the judges. She was a prophetess, an inspired woman and it is easy enough to tell where her habitat was at the time this story commences. The record states that she dwelt under the palm tree between Ramah and Bethel. She was in the territory of Ephraim, but don’t be too sure that she belonged to the tribe of Ephraim. It may have been that the oppression under Jabin drove her, as it did others, from the tribe where she belonged and that she came down to a safe place in the territory of Ephraim and there judged Israel.

There is no question but that many of the people of the tribes being in the dark, having no prophet during the entire horrible oppression, would come to this woman upon whom God’s inspiration rested, to know what to do. The pitiable condition of the nation I shall let her describe later in her magnificent song. Anyhow, there was one woman whose heart was not cowed, that believed in God.

She believed that if her people would come together and ask God for help that they would receive it, and she sent orders to Barak and commanded him to take 10,000 men out of the two tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun, and take possession of Mount Tabor. Mount Tabor was not a big mountain, but as it was in a level plain it was a very conspicuous mountain and it commanded the plain where this battle was to be fought. She sent word to him through the inspiration of God resting upon her. He hesitated. He was not inspired and he wanted somebody along who was inspired and he said, "If you will go with me I will go." She had not intended to accompany the army, but if he would not go without her she would go. So she went. A number of the tribes did furnish contingent troops; so she gathered a considerable army. In the battle which followed, Sisera’s army was completely defeated, his chariots of iron availed him nothing, and he himself turned aside from the crowd and fled in order to escape death.

The record states that Heber, the Kenite, the brother-in-law of Moses) had separated from the rest of the Kenites who had gone away down in the south; that particular one had withdrawn from the rest of Hobab’s children and had taken his station on the northern plains, Kedesh, not Kadesh-barnea. It is a fact that this Heber had had an agreement with the oppressor by which he did not bother them and they did not bother him. Bear in mind what Moses said to his brother-in-law. He said, "Come thou and go with us, for we are going to a place which God has promised to give us and we will do thee good." How often I have heard a country Baptist preacher preach from this text: "We are going to the place that God has promised us." Well, anyhow, they went and God did bless them.

Now, this particular one of these descendants separated from the others and went up into this northern section of the country. When this fleeing king turned eastward, he went to the house of this Kenite, Heber, and the man was not at home but the woman was, Jael, and she invited him to come in and gave him refreshment and covered him up, and while he slept she took a tent pin and a hammer and drove the pin through his head and pinned him to the ground. So that was the last of the great Sisera.

We will discuss the morality of that when we come to the song. I am just giving you an historical outline. But what about the morality of the act of Jael in driving a tent-pin through the head of a man that she invited into her tent and who accepted her hospitality, and she slew him while he slept? In one of Sir Walter Scott’s novels, The Talisman, Saladin, the Sultan of the Mohammedans, says to King Richard of England, "If my worst enemy were received in my tent under the law of Arabian hospitality he would be as safe from any harm as if he were in his own castle." That is their ethical theory of hospitality. If you take salt with him, then you are safe as long as you are in his tent. Now, Jael invited this man in the misfortune that was on him, if we may call it that, and slew him while he trusted her hospitality. So what about the morality of that act? But the victory was complete and the oppression ceased.

Now we come to Judges 5, which is the interesting part of this section. I suppose one hundred times in my life I have read over this triumphal song of Deborah and compared it with the triumphal song of Miriam and the triumphal song of Mary and other great songs that are mentioned in the Bible as coming from the lips of women. And many times in my life I have compared the act of Jael with that incident in the apocryphal Old Testament, where Judith slew Holofernes under similar circumstances and became the deliverer of the nation. During the war, in Kechi, Louisiana, the ladies of that city, who were very patriotic, gave a number of tableaux in order to raise money for the soldiers. I happened to be there, wounded but able to be carried in a hack, and I attended, and one of the most striking scenes was Judith and Holofernes, Judith cutting off the head of Holofernes while he was asleep. A young lady friend of mine entered into controversy with me as to the morality of her action, and I put this controversy on to you with reference to the action of Jael.

Now we look at this song. Nearly all of the Old Testament poetry is lyric poetry, yet it is intensely lively. The first part commences with praise to God for avenging Israel, and it is filled with doctrines that you can use now as well as she did then. The second line gives the doctrine, "Praise ye the Lord for avenging Israel, When the people willingly offered themselves." The Lord will deliver his people every time if the people will offer themselves.

An one of Aesop’s fables we find this story: "A countryman’s wagon stuck in the mud and he kneeled down and prayed to Hercules to help (Hercules being the god of strength) and Hercules replied, ’When I see you put your own shoulder to the wheel yourself, I will help you.’ " The thought is the same. Jehovah will avenge his people when the people offer themselves. We have no right to call on God to get us out of our troubles and just sit still and do nothing ourselves. The thought is expressed by a proverb that I will ask you to tell who said: "Trust in the Lord but tie your camel." Don’t just turn your beast out and trust in the Lord to have him hanging around in the morning. Who said, "Trust in the Lord but keep your powder dry"? The thought is the same. The Lord avenges Israel whenever Israel offers himself.

A great meeting was held in Waco conducted by a Yankee evangelist of some note and the first sermon that he preached was on what Martha said to Mary: "The master is come and calleth for thee." And he commenced with his peculiar Yankee nasal twang by saying, "The Lord had come to help that family but that Mary sot thar, not goin’ to do narthin’." He made a great sermon out of it. He said, "I have come to help you in the meetin’; now are you goin’ to set thar and do narthin’?" In all of these things that I am telling you is a great thought. If you ever hold a meeting, it will be a good thing to take that text, "Praise ye the Lord when the people willingly offer themselves." Brother Truett has preached some wonderful sermons on consecration, and he shows that the grace of Jehovah grew out of the fact that the people offered themselves willingly.

The American Revised Version changes the thought. Now, the change of thought is this, that you may shout praise to God when leaders will rise up and people offer themselves willingly. It is a fact, though, that no leaders rose up until this woman stirred them up, and she was very glad that somebody, when she gave out the word, did rise up. That only shows that what is necessary to success is a leader, some man of God, somebody that has the courage of his convictions, somebody that will blow the trumpet and unfurl the flag, and the people will rally around a true leader. To illustrate: When we were retreating before the oncoming of General Banks coming up Red River, and knowing that another army was coming from Little Rock, Arkansas, and the two armies converging where all the war supplies were, at Shreveport, Louisiana, when we were falling back before Banks’ army without cavalry, and the Federal cavalry enclosing us and shooting into the column, I stepped out and said, “One blast of Tom Green’s horn is worth 1,000 men." He was our great cavalry general in the West, but was absent at the time; a few days later he joined us and at Mansfield, Louisiana, captured their train and while our infantry went into Arkansas to defeat Steele, he kept Banks retreating herded around their gunboats in Red River. Every man felt that what we needed was a competent man, a leader on that rear guard.

In the next paragraph of her song Deborah develops this thought, a thought that she commands even kings and princes to hear, that is, that the same Jehovah that went out of Seir, that shook the mountaintop of Sinai, that delivered the people in the days of Moses was just as ready to come to the aid of his people as he was then. Every now and then they would figure what God had done for them in their behalf. The victors knew about it, but the next generation didn’t know about it, and they would think that God would not intervene now as he had in the past. I tell you he will always intervene in behalf of his people if the people will trust him, and if the leader blows the trumpet and unfurls the flag, the deliverance will be just as signal now as it ever was in the heroic days of the Israelites. This is poetry of a very high order, lyric: "Thou wentest forth out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, yea, the clouds also dropped water. The mountains melted from before the Lord. Even you Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel." When you get over into the Psalms you will find that they almost quote that language referring to the same experience. It served to keep the minds of the nation about the tremendous power of Jehovah; over and over again you will find that cited in the Psalms and a number of times in the New Testament.

Now, in the next paragraph you come to the condition of the people, and you also come to the fact that Shamgar, the hero, and Jael, the heroine, were contemporaries. There was DO note of time when we discussed Shamgar; it was the same commander but a different country; it was in Judah. In the days of Jael the highways were unoccupied and the deliverer walked through byways. Now, the country was in a terrible state when even the rich were silent, when those who are troubled take to the brush, slip around in the bypaths. How shameful that God’s people, knowing Jehovah as they should have known him, were afraid even to walk in the big road! This is the first point that indicates the condition of the people. Now we come to the second indication of their condition: "The rulers ceased in Israel." No hero, no captain, no man to take the lead. And for twenty years this state of affairs was going on until Deborah arose: "Until that I arose a mother in Israel."

Now, the third condition is, "they chose new gods." That accounts for their condition, they turned away from Jehovah and worshiped these gods, then they had no leader, then the highways were unoccupied. The fourth item of their condition is, "There was war in the gates." Then we come to the next condition: "Was there a shield or spear seen among the 40,000 in Israel?" That is susceptible of two interpretations. That may mean either that out of 40,000 men there were no arms to be found, or it may mean that out of 40,000 men not one was willing to take a shield in his hand or a spear. My idea is that the first one is right. I think it shows the condition of the disarmed people; that among 40,000 men there would not be one spear. You come to something like that in another period where even the means of husbandry were taken away.

Look at the conditions: First, the highways were unoccupied; second, no leaders; third, they chose new gods; fourth, there was war in the gates; fifth, no means of making war, they were disarmed. Out of 40,000 there was not a spear. Now we come to an expression that indicates this woman’s gratitude. She says, “My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people; Bless ye the Lord." I know what that means. In 1887 I was made chairman of the Prohibition Committee and I saw the necessity of leaders. I issued an appeal that was published in every paper of any prominence in the state, an appeal for young men, an appeal for men who would look at the dreadful situation wrought in the homes and country by the saloon business, and who would put themselves at the head of the people in their section and take a stand. I don’t suppose I ever wrote a more fiery article, and I mailed with my own hands hundreds of copies to men that I picked out, and U. S. senators, Congressmen, Texas legislators and hundreds of others responded, and my heart was filled with joy and gratitude to God that they responded to my appeal.

Now she says, "My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people; Bless ye the Lord." She then anticipates the response of the people, and we will see who the people were that did respond. Her heart is affected with the news that such people did come. The dignitaries rode not on horses but on white asses, the most comfortable animal of travel that there is in the world. The Lord Jesus Christ rode such an animal. She says, "Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment and walk by the way. They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water. They shall rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord. . . . Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates." Before, there was war in the gates. The gate was a place for a man to get into the city and whoever saw him would invite him to his house. Job refers to that, and the same is in Genesis in the account of Sodom and Gomorrah. For a gate or portal of a city to be unfrequented was considered a terrible condition of the people. Now, the richest, most prominent will come together and discuss the marvelous achievements of Jehovah.

Now, here she stirs up herself and Barak; "Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, utter a song: Arise, Barak, and lead away thy captives, thou son of Abinoam." That sounds just like the blast of a trumpet where she rouses herself, where she rouses the leader Barak. Now we come (Judges 5:13) to the result of the appeal: "Then came a remnant of the nobles and the people." The remnant, who were they? I want to know how general was the response when the inspired prophetess called them to fall into line of battle. "Out of Ephraim, came down they whose root is in Amaiek; After thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples; Out of Machir came down governors, And out of Zebulun they that handled the marshal’s staff. The princes of Issachar were with Deborah," and also Barak. Now, there are four tribes specified under her appeal: Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Issachar, and "Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet."

Now you come to a trouble well known in Texas. It is a fine sarcasm: "By the watercourses of Reuben there were great resolves of heart. Why sattest thou among the sheepfolds, To hear the pipings for the flocks?" "By the watercourses of Reuben there were great resolves of heart," but that is all. I read that in an association once that had occupied years in making resolutions. They resolved in their hearts and then "did narthin’." They resolved but they never did turn. What is the use of finding out the wrong if they do not turn to the right way? They looked into themselves; they passed resolutions; they put themselves in line; then they listened to the bleatings of the flock. Not a man went from the tribe of Reuben.

Let us see the men above Reuben. "Gilead abode beyond the Jordan." Let us see that half-tribe of Manasseh. This war was on the western side of the Jordan. So Gilead sent no response. Let us take Dan. Dan was quartered on the Mediterranean Sea and he was very busy with his commerce. He had his goods of export to send out and his goods import to receive. Dan was busy in ships. No Danites came. Let us try Asher. They were going to sit still and "do narthin’." Asher crept up to the forks of the creek and went into the brush. Well, now what about Zebulun? "Zebulun was a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death, and Naphtali upon the high places of the field." Those tribes responded. Well, if one lone woman can rouse up that many tribes it certainly is a great thing.

Now she tells what the enemy did: "The kings came and fought; then fought the kings of Canaan. The stars from their courses fought against Sisera." A few tribes, but all heaven was on the side of the righteous. As the sun and the moon conspired to help Joshua in the battle of Beth-horon, so here the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. Now, whenever you get that thought into men’s minds, the thought that Patrick Henry has fired every schoolboy’s heart with, "Besides, sir, we shall not be fighting alone; there is a God of battles and He will fight for us," they will respond.

Whenever you can get a man to feel that the power of heaven will come down, he will say one is a majority if God is with him. Well, that is what heaven did. Let us see what earth did. "The river of Kishon swept them away. . . . O my soul, march on with strength." That Kishon River at times was as dry as a powder house, but Deborah selected the battlefield right where she did for the reason that the water spout, if it came, would beat all the chariots in the world. I have seen on the plains of Texas a dry basin of a river and a wall of water sweep down, twenty-five feet high and a mile wide, in thirty minutes. Here nature on the earth and nature in the stars was helping God’s people. It is real poetry. "Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones." What would a chariot do against Kishon when Kishon came down? It was like the sea, and swept over the enemy until they perished in the water.

Now we come to the theme of many sermons, "Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord." Heretofore we considered the tribes but here is a particular city that failed to come to the help of God. The stars came, the earth came, and a woman went forth and led in the battle, but this city, this city upon which, by the voice of the angel of Jehovah himself, a curse came, didn’t take hold. The sin of omission under certain circumstances is as fearful as the sin of commission. I have not preached less than twenty sermons myself on that.

QUESTIONS

1. Explain the reappearance of Jabin. How long his oppression? Who his general?

2. Who the deliverer? Of what tribe? Where did she dwell? Why there? Who led the army with her?

3. Give an account of the battle that followed and of Siaera’s death.

4. With what should one compare Deborah’s song for study?

5. Quote the text with which this song opens, and illustrate its application.

6. What does she invoke kings and princes to hear?

7. What were the conditions of the people as portrayed in this song?

8. What expression indicates the gratitude of Deborah? and illustrate.

9. Contrast the former condition with this.

10. Quote her appeal and give the tribes that responded; also the ones that did not and why.

11. Describe the effort of the enemy and the battle in general.

12. What city is cursed and why? Quote the text here.