DEBORAH AND JAEL
The more I study the bible the more I realize a woman’s place is not ALWAYS keeping the home fires burning and/or tending to the children. Those are great and important causes, but sometimes God leads women into other places.
The most important thing that any God-called woman can do is to live into her purpose. God will reveal your purpose if you ask Him. Today we will look at the lives of two women who had very unique purposes. They both were brave enough to live into their destiny from God.
WELCOME
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Hit the “submit” button at the top of this article if you wish to join us for an on-going, page-by-page, laymen’s walk through the scriptures from the perspective of a child who is learning more about his/her awesome father. Today’s lesson comes from Chapter 4 and 5 of The book of Judges.
WOMEN JUDGES, PROPHETS AND WARRIORS
Deborah and Jael appear inside these scripture passages discribing the days of the Judges of Israel. Their stories are told as if there was nothing at all unusual for Israel to have women as judges, prophets or warriors. Some women even fit all three descriptions at once. Deborah is one of those women.
Those of us living in the twenty-first century tend to think that women participating and leading in combat is a whole new phenomenon. Not so. All the way back to the days of the Judges of Israel, there were women in the army. Deborah was a great leader of a group of military women. Jael was a strong and courageous Kenite warrior woman who fought for the righteous in the land.
PROPHETESS, WIFE, JUDGE, WRITER, POET, SINGER
Women are great multi-taskers. They can juggle many responsibilities at once and still be successful with each one. Deborah is a prime example.
We first hear of Deborah in Judges 4:1-5 and Judges 5:1-11: At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment.
No one from Israel seemed to resent that a woman was a judge. As a matter of fact; Deborah seemed to be very well respected and honored by the people. They respected her also as a prophet who proclaimed the word of God. She was even considered to be an Oracle, or one who heard directly from God.
If you are a woman of today who has been called by God to participate in ministry and/or to preach God’s word; please pay attention. Do not let anyone tell you that you are out of order. If God truly calls you to speak up and preach or give prophetic words from Him; you would be out of order not to do so.
Should any such career path be called to question in your own life; you have the story of Deborah which will quickly come to your defense. God was with Deborah. He lead her through all that she did and each and every dicision she made in her time as Israel’s judge.
SHOULD WOMEN PREACH IN PUBLIC?
Deborah participated in most of the priestly tasks for the nation. The only thing she did not do was to offer sacrifices. The priest who served at the temple were the ones who handled those duties. Deborah, however, preached often to a crowd of both men and women who followed her advice faithfully.
SHOULD WOMEN PARTICIPATE IN THE MILITARY?
In those days there were many wars all across the land. Often the causes of these wars were pagan and/or savage in nature. The women of Israel stepped up and fought for many different reasons and causes.
It did seem that they only went into battle if they were called by the Great God of Heaven and Earth to do so. These brave and courageous women knew and honored the source of their victories.
Deborah and Jael are two great examples of women led into battle by God’s will and purpose for their lives.
I will be so bold to say that if the women fighting in the wars of today were all led there by God; we would have a lot less to worry about. Most likely, we would be much more successful in our battles.
FIGHTING THE CANAANITES
During the time that Deborah was Judge over Israel (around 1125 BC), Israel’s army was outnumbered by the Canaanites.
These vicious enemies of God’s people were also better trained for battle. Their equipment and weapons were of much higher caliber than what the Israelites had to fight with. They had hundreds of iron-clad chariots at their disposal at all times.
Deborah tricked these Canaanites into driving those grand chariots into marshy grounds. The heavy chariots bogged down in the mud. As they were sitting there trying to decide what to do, the Canaanites became a very easy target for Israel’s marksmen. The expert archers and sling men of Israel picked them off one-by-one.
THE ENEMEY RUNS TO HIDE
The Canaanite general named Sisera retreated from the battlefield, totally deserting his fallen men. He tried to hide in the camp of a Kenite woman named Jael. This woman lived with a ban of traveling tent-makers. They took tent-making to a whole new level and were sought out to create shelter by all populations in the area. They had done work for the Canaanites from time to time and perhaps Sisera did not fear their retaliation after the battles with Israel.
THE PLAN OF JAEL
Jael lured Sisera into her tent by pretending she would be glad to hide him, feed him and give him rest. She actually did those things, but as he lay exhausted from battle and sleeping; she drove a tent-peg through his head and killed him.
Though a Kenite woman, Jael was proclaimed a national heroine of Israel from that day forward.
Deborah wrote and sang a song about the victorious battle against the Canaanites and how Jael killed Sisera with a tent-peg.
A WOMAN OF MANY TALENTS
So; we can also add writer, singer and worship-leader to the other titles and many hats worn and attributed to Deborah.
She was a woman of many talents and great intellect as well as physical strength.
As Deborah performed the work of an Oracle from God, she sat under a palm tree. This particular palm tree was known as a landmark that noted the place to gather to receive her advice and decisions. It is interesting to note that Abraham also spoke the word of God under a Palm tree in his day. We have often discussed this.
Deborah was often inspired to speak out about the deteriorating state of her country. She pointed out that law and order had broken down in the land. She wanted to heal the fears of her people who no longer felt safe traveling on the major highways of the area. She knew that healing came from speaking the word of God.
Deborah was brave enough to speak God’s word to all who came to address her under the tree. 2 Timothy 4:2 has been the motto of this blog for years now. Deborah was a woman who believed in our community motto. She spoke the Word of God in truth. It was always fresh on her mind, in her heart and upon her lips as she spoke aloud.
THE THREATS OF KING JABIN OF HAZOR
The Israelites living in those days were often oppressed by the uncivilized Canaanites who raided their towns and villages. The leader of most of these troubles was a King in Canaan named King Jabin of Hazor. He ruled in upper Canaan.
His aim was to exterminate Israel and restore Canaan’s power.
DEBORAH SUMMONS BARAK
When King Jabin threatened next, Deborah summoned Barak who was an able military leader in Israel. She told him to go to Mount Tabor with as many men from Israel as possible and draw King Jabin out. While he was doing that, Deborah would draw out Jabin’s general; Sisera. Deborah would challenge him to fight at the Wadi-Kishon.
Though he knew that King Jabin had the upper hand with the most men and the best equipment and the best of the trained military; Barak finally agreed to Deborah’s plan. He did challenge her first though by saying he would not go into this battle unless she went with him.
This answer to Barak shows what type of woman Deborah was. She would never ask of another anything that she was not willing to do herself. She agreed to go to battle with Barak and she already had the battle plan they would follow mapped out.
FAITH GIVES COURAGE IN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS
It appeared that Deborah had a way of inspiring people to attempt the impossible. She always used her influence for The LORD. Her complete faith in God gave Barak the courage to face an important challenge that no one else wanted to attempt. The army of Israel was not organized in those days. It was only Deborah’s inspiration that inspired Israel’s men to enlist and participate.
Sisera assumed an easy victory was coming. He had 900 iron chariots that he knew would do fearsome damage to Israel’s rag-tag army. His chariots were very heavy and fast. They could plow down men on foot with no problem at all. The technology of Canaan’s army was far superior. The only thing Israel had that Canaan did not was their faith in God. That was enough though!
GOD BRINGS THE VICTORY
The scriptures proclaim Israel’s victory in this way in Judges 4:12-16 and 5:19-23; Then Deborah said to Barak “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. The Lord is indeed going out before you. So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand warriors following him. And the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and all of his army into a panic before Barak.
Suddenly there had come a great downpour of rain from the sky. The chariots and horses pulling them became bogged down in the mud and could not move forward.
Again we see how much God loves to reverse things to teach us lessons about life.
A PAGAN GOD IS DEFEATED BY HIS OWN ATTRIBUTES
The Canaanites had worshipped Baal who was thought to be the god of storms and weather.
They also worshiped Anat who was supposed to be a fierce goddess fighting to protect her family.
Yet; the Canaanites lost this battle because of stormy weather. Anat didn’t show up to help either. Rain, thunder and lightning defeated all of the Canaanites in their fancy chariots.
Our God has a terrific sense of humor. He definitely showed the Canaanites His superiority over their false gods on that day.
It is also rather ironic for us to note that Barak’s name meant “lightning” a quality of the very pagan god that the people he defeated had worshipped. The God of Israel had turned their trust in lightning against them. It was Israel’s commander that the lightning responded to; because it was Israel’s God who created the lighting and controled the weather.
THE SHAME OF CANAAN
Perhaps it was shameful to the men of Canaan that their army had been defeated that day by the wisdom and obedience of two very brave women named Deborah and Jael.
Deborah had devised the battle plan (with God’s help of course.) Jael was waiting when Sisera abandoned his army and hid in her camp. She wisely devised the plan for how to kill him and carried it out with bravery and courage.
Jael’s heritage was from Jethro, the Kenite father-in-law of Moses. Her family was in the tent-making business.
The Song of Deborah speaks of Sisera’s mother standing by the window waiting on her son to return from battle. Of course she waited in vain, for Jael had killed him.
THE WOMAN WATCHING THROUGH THE LATTICE
This image of the woman watching through a lattice window has special significance. It was a common image used in the Canaanite religion. Archeologist have discovered clay statues at the site of Ugarit that show a woman’s face looking out from a lattice window.
The song that pictures Sisera’s mother at a latticed window linked her with the Canaanite goddess she had worshiped. This goddess had done nothing to protect her son in battle.
The point is made that she was the mother of someone already dead, though she did not yet realize the truth. Even the wisest of those around her, the other goddesses and pagan priests did not realize the truth.
Clearly this is an implication that the Canaanite religion was dead though its followers did not yet realize the truth of this fact. They followed in vain.
GOD GRANTS FULFILLED HERITAGE OF EPHRIAM
Deborah’s victory allowed Israel their first access to the fertile and prosperous plain of Esdraelon/Jezreel. God had proclaimed it was theirs long ago.
Their faith in God had brought them further into their rightful inheritance. Deborah’s inspiration had led them into their rightful place and purpose as a nation.
The name “Deborah” in Hebrew means “bee.” A bee is very small and hardly noticed until it stings.
Deborah’s victory was like that.
There is so much of the Song of Deborah that reminds us of The Song of Solomon. We will try to explore more of the meaning of this fact in our next lesson.