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Judges 4:1-10
So we’ve done some background on the underlying themes within the book of Judges the last few days. We’ve looked at the Israelites cycle of sin, we’ve looked at God and His response to His Children.
When we read chapter 3, we see very little written about Othniel , Ehud, and Shamgar. Shamgar gets two sentences – and that’s all. They don’t seem to be men of significance in this part of Israel’s history, except they belong with the group of leaders we call the Judges.
The first judge we have some substantive information about is Deborah. Umm…what do you mean, was that a man’s name back then? No – it wasn’t she’s – a woman. Which brings me to what I’d like to talk about today.
Sometimes we predetermine what a leader should look like, they should have their hair cut and combed just so. How old they should be, our pastor should at least have pastored other churches, have gray hair, at least teenaged children, and on their way to obtaining a doctorate in theological studies. Oh, and then the big one, what gender they should be – male. Even all the way back then, God confronts our biased expectations we hold to what a leader should be like. Here in this chapter we will see where the real leadership comes from.
Judges 4:1-10 (NIV) Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.
Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”
Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”
“Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.
Now when you read these accounts of the judges you will find that none of them (especially Deborah), fits the mold of what we would expect of leaders in this period of history, and maybe any point in Israel’s history. But God drives home an important point. Ultimately, He is the one at work in and through those who are willing to be the instruments to further his will. And isn’t that what God still does today? Are you willing to follow Him?