[MUSIC PLAYING] Calvary Church is
dedicated to doctrine. And we want you to
experience a life change that comes from knowing God's Word
and applying it to your life. So we explain the
Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. Let's turn in our Bibles
to the Book of Judges 4. I said when we began this
book that the Book of Judges is one of the saddest
books in the Bible, because it is a
story of failure. It is a story of a
nation that, at one time, was one nation under God,
but they have left that. They are fractured, and
fragmented, and largely defeated. And yet, it is one of
the most hopeful books, because at the same
time, it shows us how God can take failure
and work in the midst of it. So I really do love
the Book of Judges even though it is filled
with this sin cycle that we looked at the
last couple of times. At the same time,
it's filled with hope. Because in the midst
of their failure, God raises up these,
sometimes, ornery characters, odd, weird people and
uses them for His glory. It says in Daniel 11, those who
know their God shall be strong and shall do great exploits. It's great scripture, isn't it? Those who know their
God shall be strong and do great exploits. The Book of Judges
is filled with those who are strong and did
great exploits because they knew the Lord. Having said that, they
were far from perfect. When we get into
the life of Samson, especially, you will see
just what a weak, fleshly man this guy was. And yet, as we
said, God used him. Forgive me for this
diversion already, but this morning in my quiet
time, I was in Psalm 106. And you don't have
to turn there. You're in Judges, so I'll
make it easy on your hands. But in my devotions
this morning, I was reading this psalm,
Psalm 106 which is basically the psalmist rehearsing the
history of the people of Israel when they went through the
wilderness, when God delivered them from Egypt and
brought them to the rock that water came out of and
brought bread down from heaven, and quail, and fed them, and
the complaining of the people. But it's, essentially,
going through the list of failures of the people of God
way before the Book of Judges. So it just sort of
struck me, a couple of verses, in how parallel
it is to what we're doing in our study of Judges. So for example, in Psalm 106
in verse 6, the psalmist says, "We have sinned
with our fathers." In verse 7, he notices they
rebelled by the Red Sea. But then they believe God's
words and they sang praise but they soon forgot His works. Talks about how they made a
golden calf, how they murmured, et cetera. But here's the
verse or the verses that sum up that period
of the history of Israel in the wilderness. In verse 42 of Psalms
106, "Their enemies also oppressed them. And they were brought into
subjection under their hand many times. He delivered them, but
they rebelled against Him by their counsel. They were brought low
for their iniquity. Nevertheless, He
regarded their affliction when He heard their cry." Now, this is even before we
get to the Book of Judges. This is while they're
freshly delivered from Egypt. And already they are getting
into this behavior of rebellion against God, not
believing His promises, complaining against the Lord. And this is while they
had Moses as a leader. This is while they saw
miracles at the hand of God. They were already
doing this behavior. By the time they
get into the land and Joshua is now dead
in the Book of Judges, they go through these alternate
cycles of peace and war. And when they're in
peace and prosperity, they forget about God. God makes life
uncomfortable for them. God puts them under the
hand of their enemies. So in their discomfort,
they cry unto the Lord. They whine to the Lord,
God, please, we're sorry. Deliver us. God delivers them. And they're faithful to
the Lord till the next day. Then they forget about the Lord. And they go through this
cycle over and over again. So when we left
off last time, even though we dipped into Chapter
4, in 3:30, we are told, "So Moab was subdued that
day under the hand of Israel and the land had
rest for 80 years." And if you recall, I said this
was the longest period of peace that Israel, at that time,
had with its enemies. You know, Israel has always
been in a precarious position. There in the Middle East,
even up to the present time, Israel has been surrounded by
people who did not recognize its right to exist as a nation. Canaanites, Jebusites,
Girgashites, as well as modern-day peoples in
that part of the world have wanted Israel out
of the neighborhood. Yesterday, I had a
very unique privilege. I was at the White House in
Washington DC for a peace signing-- [CHEERING] --between the nation of Israel
and two of its Arab neighbors. [CHEERING] And I remember sitting in
the palace about a year and a half ago with the Crown
Prince of the United Arab Emirates. And he already
signaled then that he was ready to make a peace
agreement with Israel. Even though we couldn't disclose
it at the time, he said it. We're ready to do it. We want to do it. Yesterday, they signed what
is called the Abraham Accords. What a great title. The children of Abraham,
the Jews and the Arabs, are making peace. And the other day when
I got the invitation, I showed it to my wife. And she said, well,
you're going aren't you? And I said, I don't know if I
want to travel, do that again. I just got back from there. And she goes, you're nuts. Said, you've been praying
for the peace of Jerusalem for 50 years and God
answers your prayer in part and you're not going? I said, well, when
you put it that way, I guess I should go so. It was monumental. It was historic. And just think of it-- I remember in 1979 when the very
first Arab nation to make peace with Israel was Egypt. It was when Anwar Sadat
signed the peace agreement with Menachem Begin in the
presence of Jimmy Carter. Anwar Sadat was murdered because
he signed that agreement. He was assassinated. The second nation to make peace
with Israel was Jordan in 1994. So in the last 40 years, two
nations made peace with Israel. In the last week, two more
nations made peace with Israel. [APPLAUSE] It is historic. And we think there
will be more to follow. Of course, as soon as I
mention this somebody, wants to ask me the
eschatological implications of this, but this is not the
place for that at this point. But let's use that to kind of
get into the Book of Judges. So last time when we
were in this book, we went through one chapter
and covered three judges, three leaders, three deliverers. In Chapters 4 and
5, now two chapters, it deals with only one. And it's not a prophet,
it's a prophetess. It's not really a judge, it's
a judge-ette, it's a judgess. It's a female judge, a gal
by the name of Deborah. She is celebrated
and highlighted in the next two chapters. I mentioned last week that this
fourth judge, Deborah, reminds me of the fourth prime minister
of the modern state of Israel, Golda Meir. Now, Golda Meir was
not born in Israel. She was born in Russia. She was raised in
the United States and then she
immigrated to Israel, became an Israeli citizen. She was a wife and a mother. She never had
political ambitions. She felt like the times in which
she lived got thrust upon her. And the responsibility
was thrust upon her. And she said, OK, I'll do it. Like Deborah, the
times demanded it. For we read in verse 1,
"When Ehud was dead--" that is one of the judges,
the one before Shamgar-- "when Ehud was dead,
the children of Israel again did evil in the
sight of the Lord. So the Lord sold
them into the hand of Jabin, the king of
Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his
army was Sisera who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim." Jesus said, you are
the salt of the earth. Have you ever thought
what that means? That you, like salt,
used in antiquity, you are used as a
preservative in your culture. If you are living right,
if you are speaking right, if you are doing right,
you by your presence retard the spread of evil. You stop the spread of evil. Somebody says something
or does something at work and you go, excuse me,
that's offensive to me, I don't like that. Or, this is what I believe in
and you share truth and light. You are the salt of the earth. Like salt, these judges came,
but when they left the meat got corroded, started decaying. So this judge is now gone. And the people revert
back to their actions. So, we're told in verse 2,
the Lord is behind this. The Lord sold them into
the hand of their enemies. Now, we're introduced to this
area called Harosheth Hagoyim. And that is an area
of Israel up north, in the northern parts
called the Galilee. It is either a village at
the base of Mount Carmel or since the name actually means
the woodlands of the nations, it is thought that it is
the whole northern part of the land, in other words,
upper Galilee that at that time was controlled by
these Canaanite powers. That's probably the idea. They just controlled
the whole upper region of northern Galilee. Verse 3, "The
children of Israel--" because the Lord sold
them in to their hands and now they're under servitude,
once again, in bondage-- "and the children of Israel
cried out to the Lord for Jabin had 900 chariots of iron. And for 20 years, he harshly
oppressed the children of Israel." We happen to have records from
the writer Flavius Josephus who tells us that this
King of Hazor, Jabin, had an infantry of 300,000
men, an army of 300,000. He had a cavalry of 10,000. And he had 3,000
chariots at his disposal. 900 are mentioned here,
but according to Josephus, he had a total of
3,000 iron chariots. What that means is he
literally dominated the entire northern
part of the land. Nobody could touch him. Because as we noted last
time, to have an iron chariot is like to have a tank,
a fully equipped tank. It's like an ancient tank. The children of Israel did
not have those implements. They have sticks, and clubs,
and ox goads, like Shamgar. But they have the Spirit
of the living God. Yes. And no weapon formed
against you will stand, as we'll see in the story. [APPLAUSE] So they're dominating
the valley. And we're told in
verse 3, they harshly oppressed the
children of Israel. I love that David said the
battle belongs to the Lord. Amen. And so what's going to happen
is though they're outgunned, though they're outnumbered,
though all the odds are on the enemy's side,
they will cry out to God. And God, even though
we sin, is merciful. God has a soft spot
in His heart for you when you cry out to Him. He doesn't fold His arms
and turn an eye away and say, well, you deserve it. Wallow in it. When you cry out to the
Lord, He starts moving. He starts acting to deliver you,
in His time, for His purpose. It might not be
immediately, but when they call upon the Lord in
their weakness, God will answer. The Apostle Paul
in 2 Corinthians 12 said that God's strength is
made perfect in our weakness. Have you ever
thought about that? The weaker you are, the
better off you might be. Oh, but I feel so weak. So? It's not going to be your
strength in the battle anyway. You have a commanding
officer that has far more power, far
more strength, than 900 or 3,000 iron chariots. The battle belongs to the Lord. God's strength is made
perfect in weakness. So they cried out to
the Lord in verse 3. "Now Deborah--"
here's the answer-- "Now, Deborah, a prophetess,
the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. And she would sit under
the palm tree of Deborah." I like that she sat under
a palm tree, first of all. I like that. Because I've always
thought that palm trees are one of God's favorite
trees, not just because I grew up around
them, but it says in Psalms 92 that the righteous will
flourish like a palm tree. So the fact that God
will contrast or compare the righteous with
a palm tree means it's one of God's
favorite trees. So I liked that she
sat under upon tree. I like her style. She's a girl after my own heart. But also that she's got
one named after her. Well, where is she? Well, she's under
Debbie's palm tree where you would expect her. So "she sat under the
palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and
Bethel--" that is right in the center
of the land-- "in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel
came up to her for judgment." The name Deborah means honeybee. And I think it suits
her because she's going to sting her
enemies, but she's going to provide sweet
refreshment to her own people. She's going to bring back
that sweetness of the land and bring them back to
a place of stability. So Debbie, honeybee. Notice here that she
is called a prophetess. Now, a prophet is somebody
who speaks for the Lord. The Lord speaks to them to
give a message to the people, then that prophet speaks
for the Lord to the people. There is a small group
of gals in the Bible-- they have their own
special club I suppose, because there is
not many of them-- of gals who are called in
the Bible prophetesses. The first one is
Exodus 16, that's Miriam the sister of Moses. She is called a prophetess. There's Deborah. There's a gal by the
name of Huldah, Huldah, in the time of King Josiah. That's 2 Kings 22. In the New Testament,
Luke 2, there's an old gal named
Anna in the temple. When Jesus comes in,
gives a blessing to him, she is called Anna
the prophetess. Then, finally in
Acts 21, there's Philips' four virgin
daughters who prophesied. So there's not many gals
who are called prophetesses, but Deborah is one of them. She's among that group. And notice that her
husband's name is given. Now, we have two
chapters on Deborah. We have a mention in a
verse of her husband. She is called the
wife of Lapidoth. Now, I think if I were
writing the story, I would say there was
a guy named Lapidoth who was the husband of
Deborah, because Deborah's the famous one, not Lapidoth. You know nothing
about him except he happened to be married to this
really cool gal named Deborah. But I think that this
shows us her place, that she understood her
place, that she wanted to be known as the
wife of Lapidoth rather than her husband
as the husband of Deborah. In Ephesians 5,
husbands are told to love their wives as
Christ loved the church. And then it says, and wives,
see to it that you respect or reverence your husband. I think the fact
that she probably insisted that she should be
noted like this indicates that she knew her place. She knew her place of
respect to her husband. Now, gals, you may have way
more talent than your husbands. I see some of you gals
going, yeah, I do. You're right. That's right. Amen. You may be highly
skilled and competent. But don't let
whatever profession you have to usurp the priority
of honoring, and loving, and respecting your
husband and giving yourself to the priority of the home. I think this is a beautiful
indication of that. Then verse 6, "She
sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam
from Kedesh in Naphtali--" now, he's going to be the guy called
upon to lead the armies-- "and said to him, has not
the Lord God of Israel commanded saying, Go deploy
troops at Mount Tabor, take with you 10,000
men, the sons of Naphtali and the sons of Zebulon?" Now, she's called a prophetess. Now, she's prophesying. She's saying, I have a message
for you, Barak, from the Lord. Lead the army. Win the battle. Take 10,000 troops
and win the battle. So that's the message from God. Notice his response. Now, before we get
into that, in verse 6, she says "deploy
troops at Mount Tabor." You that have been
to Israel, do you remember what Mount
Tabor looks like? It's an unmistakable hill. It looks like a cone
shape, almost a perfect-- almost like a half moon. But it's conically shaped. It rises 1,300 feet. So the northern part
of the Jezreel Valley, the valley of Armageddon-- in the valley of Armageddon,
the very northern tip, is this mountain. So because you've got an
enemy with iron chariots, you can't compete
down in the valley. So there's only one
place you can hide. That is the-- mountains. You flee up to the mountains
because the chariots can't go up the hill. So if you're going
to mount an attack, you're going to sweep down from
the upper parts of the hills down into the valley
and surprise them. That's what the
Lord told him to do. And verse 7, "And
against you, I will deploy Sisera, the
commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his
multitude at the river Kishon. And I will deliver
him into your hand." Cool. So that's the message from God. She's the prophetess. She's speaking for the Lord. Barak hears the message. Notice his response,
this brave man. "Barak said to her, if you will
go with me, then I will go. But if you will not go
with me, I will not go." [LAUGHTER] Wouldn't you just love to
have him commanding your army? Don't you just
feel the confidence coursing through your veins. He's our commanding officer. You can see his flaw. He gets a message from God. He should have just
said, I'm going to obey the voice of the Lord. If God said go, I'm going. If He said I'm going
to win, guess what? I believe I'm going to win. But he begins to bargain with
the Lord, actually, bargain with Deborah. Well, I'll go if you go. Mommy, I need my mommy. I need somebody to hold my hand. So "she said, I will surely
go with you, nevertheless, there will be no glory for you
in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera
into the hand of a woman." Ouch. "Then Deborah arose and
went with Barak to Kedish." Here's the deal, child of God. When the Lord wants
to do something, and He wants to use you to do
it, you might not feel like it. You may not want to volunteer. You may not want
to get involved. And if that's so, God's
work will not be stopped. If you say no to Him,
He's going to choose somebody else to do it. Because if God wants
to do it, there's nothing on earth that
is going to stop Him. Amen. But then you will miss
out on the blessing of being an instrument of God. That's right. So often we say, here I am
Lord, send somebody else. [LAUGHTER] Isaiah said, here I am, Lord. Send me. When Esther was in
the palace in Persia and there was a death edict on
all of the Jews of the land, her uncle Mordecai
came in and said, you got to go talk
to the king, Esther. And she was hesitating. And Mordecai, her
uncle, said, listen, if you don't go
speak to the king, don't think you're
going to escape, being in the palace,
the fate that all of the Jews in this land
are going to experience. And he said, if
you remain silent, then relief and
deliverance for the Jews will come from somewhere else. He was so confident that God
was going to deliver His people, that he turned to his
niece and said, hey, the Lord may want
to use you in this. But if you don't avail
yourself to this, if you don't volunteer,
the Lord's going to do it, but it's not going
to come through you. But then he said this,
but, perhaps, you've been brought to this kingdom
for such a time as this. This could be your
finest hour, gal. And if the Lord chooses
to use you and you say, yes, then you're on the
journey of your life. When you step into
serving the Lord, it's the best adventure
you can go on. If you say no, God's work will
go on with or without you, but relief and deliverance
will come from somewhere else. It's interesting. Barak wouldn't go
without Deborah. By the time we
get to Hebrews 11, and we have the Hall of
Fame or the Hall of Faith, it talks about the
different people that did certain things by faith. By faith this person did this-- Jacob, Abraham, et cetera. He said, what more shall I say? For time would fail me to
tell of Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and
Jephthah, also David, Samuel, and the prophets." Deborah isn't even
mentioned in Hebrews 11. Barak is. Now, Barak did step in and
he did lead the armies, but he wouldn't have gotten
anywhere without Debbie at his side, honeybee. I believe behind every
good man is a good woman. I believe my wife
is my secret weapon. [APPLAUSE] Interesting that she's
not mentioned, but he is. So Barak, verse 10
of chapter 4, "Barak called Zebulon and
Naphtali to Kedesh--" these are the northern tribes. "He went up with 10,000
men under his command and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite of
the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses
had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched
his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which
is beside Kedesh. And they reported to Sisera
that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor." Let me just call to your
remembrance something happened in Chapter 1 where it
mentions the Kenites. Remember the Kenites were
related to the father-in-law of Moses, Jethro. And they came into the land
with the children of Israel. They were living
down in Jericho. And then they went and settled
the lower parts of the land near Arad down in
the Negev Desert, we're told in Chapter 1. Evidently, one family
decided, I don't want to be down in Jericho. I don't want to
be in the desert. I don't want to be down in the
Negev where it's hot and dry. I want to be up in Galilee. Now, I understand
their way of thinking. I'd much rather be in Galilee. Once you see it-- do I want to live out in
the middle of the desert? Do I want to live where
it's green and lush? And there's a big, old
stinking lake right there. That's where I want to live. So they did. And yet, it seems
like these Kenites, this family of Kenites,
Heber is his name, is friendly with
the Canaanite army. He's living in the land. He's known to the Israelis
as well as to the Kenites. So he has diplomatic
relations with both. It could be that he
was giving information to Jabin and Sisera. He seems to be that
close, because by the time we get down to verse
17 of this chapter, it says that he had made peace
with these Canaanite peoples. He had some kind of
covenant going on. So I'm guessing that
they were very close. And it could be because it
mentions that he was encamped by this terebinth tree-- which is a deciduous
oak in the land. It was one of the
trees that they would build pagan shrines by-- that he had built
a pagan shrine. So he had sort of left Judah,
left the worship of Israel, and was worshipping
alongside of the Canaanites and giving vital information
to the other side. Now, this proves interesting
because Heber's wife is going to be a hero or
a heroine in this story. She's going to be the one to
give the commanding officer a splitting headache before
this chapter is done. So it's interesting just to
see how this plays into it. So Sisera, verse 13, "gathered
together all of his chariots, 900 chariots of iron,
and all the people who were with him from Harosheth
Hagoyim to the river Kishon. Then Deborah said to
Barak, Up, for this is the day which the
Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord
gone out before you? So Barak went down
from Mount Tabor--" so here's the sweep
going from hiding out into the open with
10,000 men following him. And it says the Lord routed
Sisera, confounded them, confused them. They had to flee. They had to run in
different directions. "And all of his chariots
and all his army with the edge of the sword
before Barak and Sisera--" he's the commanding officer-- "alighted--" or got down from--
"his chariot and fled away on foot." The question, if you are a
careful reader of the text, is why would he do this? Why would you
leave your chariot? You had the advantage when
you're in an iron chariot and your enemy has
ox goads and clubs. You have the advantage. You have the speed. You can get safely at a
distance, use your arrows, and you can eliminate the enemy. Why would you flee
from your chariot? Well, you wouldn't unless
there was a rainstorm. And that's what the
text seems to indicate, because when we
get into chapter 5, the poetic language
that she brings up is that of water coming from
the sky and flooding the land. So probably what happened
is when they got down into the valley, there's
that brook Kishon-- you can see it to this day. When you stand on
top of Mount Carmel, you can see in the
distance the trees that are right on the
edge of the Kishon-- it's really a stream. It's not much of a river. It's just a little
brook of water today. But it's still there. So down in that valley, if
your chariot is on dry land by that riverbed,
which is typically where they would run their
chariots, if it rains hard, if you get a severe
thunderstorm, that little stream
is going to flood. And if your chariot
gets mired in the mud, you lose your advantage. And that's probably
what happened. Now, I'm bringing this up
because the chief god they served, the
Canaanites, was whom? Baal. Baal, Baal, Baal. Baal was called the storm god. He was the god who controlled
the clouds, controlled the rainfall, controlled
the weather patterns. So to have a rain storm
that mired their chariots was a failure on Baal's part. Their god failed them. And now they're running
for their lives. "But Barak pursued the
chariot--" verse 16-- "and the army as far
as Harosheth Hagoyim and all the army of Sisera
fell by the edge of the sword. Not a man was left." However, Sisera-- remember
he's the commanding officer-- "Sisera had fled away on
foot to the tent of Jael--" that's how you
would pronounce it. Jael-- "the wife of
the Heber the Kenite for--" notice this--
"there was a peace between Jabin the king of
Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite." Perhaps, as I mentioned, he
was helping out their army. Perhaps, he was giving
information to them because he was telling
them the movement of the troops of the
Israelites on Mount Tabor. Perhaps he was part of
their worship system because he was pitching his
tent by that terebinth tree. One commentator even
suggests that perhaps he was rehoofing the horseshoes on
the horses for the 900 chariot horses and making sure that
they were in good working order. So now you have the
wife of this character. And it says verse 18, "Jael
went out to meet Sisera and said to him, turn aside,
my lord, turn aside to me. Do not fear. And when he had turned aside
with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket." And that was to hide him. Obviously, he is running. He is in pursuit. They are in pursuit of him. She recognizes him perhaps
but invites him in. This is Middle
Eastern hospitality. They're really good
at being hospitable. When you go into
a person's tent, you are given full
protection in those days, even to this day
in Bedouin tents. And so he said to her, verse 19,
"Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty." I suppose if you're running
for your life, and it's hot, and you're sweating that
you work up a thirst. What I am certain of also is
when you're really, really thirsty because you've
been fighting a battle, only water will suffice. Nothing else will quench
your thirst like water. Notice what she does. So she opened a jug of milk. Ooh. If I'm really,
really, really thirsty and I want ice cold water
and somebody gives me milk, that's not going to
quench my thirst. But she gave him milk, gave
him a drink, and covered him. Now, the milk that
she would have given would have been like goat's
milk, warm goat's milk. No refrigeration in those days. And it would have been
slightly fermented. So it's more like kefir. Are you familiar with kefir,
kind of a fermented yogurt drink? And so he would
be drinking that. Now, if you're really,
really thirsty, I imagine even though
you're given milk, you want a lot of it. So he probably guzzled a lot. And what's
interesting about milk is it does have
tryptophan in it. And tryptophan is what regulates
the melatonin and serotonin in your brain to
cause you to relax. It's also what's in turkey when
you have a nice Thanksgiving dinner. You ever wonder
after Thanksgiving, why do I feel so tired? Because the
tryptophan is working. So she gives him
a bunch of milk. He lays down. "And he said to her, Stand
at the door of the tent. If any man comes and
inquires of you and says, Is there any man here? You shall say No. Then Jael, Heber's wife took
a tent peg, took a hammer in her hand, and
went softly to him and drove the peg
into his temple. And it went down into the
ground for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died." I told you this book was Rated
R. But what a cool story. [LAUGHTER] Now, she's a Bedouin woman. She is a tent dweller. She's a nomadic
person in her culture. So women were the ones
who kept the tents. Women were the ones who
drove the tent pegs. Women were the ones
who kept the animals. I've been in enough
Bedouin situations and been under the hospitality
of the Bedouin tribes to know just how
hard these gals work. So for her to wield a hammer and
a tent peg, she was good at it. She was used to it. So she saw a tent peg
hanging out there. He was asleep. Probably during the encounter
found out who he was. They had an agreement
with the Canaanites, but also the Israelites. And for whatever
reason, she obviously disagrees with her husband about
how important the relationship with the Canaanites is. Because on the one hand,
she is very copious in her Middle
Eastern hospitality, inviting him in, giving
him milk, covering him up. And then when he falls asleep,
I would say to understate it, this was a breach
of Middle Eastern hospitality to put a pin
through the guy's head. So that's why I say he died
of a splitting headache. [LAUGHTER] Now, there is a thought-- I just want to
bring it up to you, because I know you're
familiar with this story, but there's a thought by
a few commentators that said this probably went
a little bit differently. Because conquerors had
their way with women, they would use women
for their own pleasure. And they would do
whatever they wanted to. That for a conquering
commander to go into a tent and have his way
with a woman sexually was very common in those days. And, obviously, he breached
Near Eastern hospitality because no man would ever
enter into somebody's tent unless the husband were home
unless he had other intentions. So it is thought that
Jael, in this tent, believed that she was going
to be raped when she woke up. So as an act of
protection, she drove a hammer, drove a spike
into his head, killed him. Now, it's funny because
I'll read different books. And people have trouble with
the fact that she was not honest and didn't tell the truth. Really? That's what you have
problems with in this story? What about the fact that
she murdered somebody? Does that bother you at all? It's funny how you
would even have that discussion about her honest
intentions and communication when she nails a
guy with a tent peg. And so it says in a very
understated economy of words, "so he died" I guess so. [LAUGHTER] And then verse 22, "As Barak
pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said,
Come, I will show you the man whom you seek. And when he went
into the tent, there lay Sisera dead with
a peg in his temple. On that day God subdued
Jabin the king of Canaan in the presence of the
children of Israel. And the hand of the
children of Israel grew stronger and
stronger against Jabin and the king of Canaan
until they had destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan." Now, I want to bring
something to your attention. Go back to verse 9 when
Deborah speaks to Barak. And she says, "Surely, I'm going
to go with you in this battle. Nevertheless, there will
be no glory in it for you in this journey that
you taking for the Lord will sell Sisera into
the hand of a woman." Deborah wasn't
speaking about herself. Remember, she's a prophetess. She may have thought she
was speaking about herself, but what she was
doing was prophesying that Sisera is going to die at
the hand of a woman named Jael. So the fulfillment of
her prophetic utterance in that verse is in the
killing of this commander by this woman in the tent. There's something
else you need to know. That to be killed by a
woman in those days-- I think you can imagine this-- is like the ultimate disgrace. To have a woman kill
you if you're a soldier, it's just like, OK,
you know, kill me now. Don't let anybody know this. So turn over to Chapter 9-- just for a moment. This just takes a second. It's painless. We're dealing with a guy by
the name of Abimelech, 9:52, "So Abimelech came as far as
the tower and fought against it and drew near the door of the
tower to burn over the fire. But a certain woman
dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech's head
and crushed his skull. And then he called quickly
to the young men--" Obviously, it wasn't
totally crushed, because he could still speak. He still had some
maneuverability left. "He called his armor bearer
and said, Draw your sword and kill me lest men say
of me a woman killed him." Ha ha ha. So his young man thrust
him through and he died. See, that's how bad it was. I don't want that on my record. I want anyone to know
that a woman killed me. So just nobly put
a sword through me. "So the hand of the
children of Israel-- 4:24-- "grew stronger against
Jabin and the King of Canaan until they had destroyed
Jabin and the king of Canaan. Now, Chapter 4 is the account. It's the account in prose,
the account in prose. Chapter 5 is the same
account in poetry. This is a song. These are lyrics
to a song composed by Deborah, probably sung
by her and, perhaps, Barak. And it is considered
a literary classic. I read some remarks
on this poem that it is among the finest of war
poems in ancient history. Now, when I say war poems,
you may remember back in Numbers 21,
there's this reference to the Book of the
Wars of the Lord. You remember that? Numbers 21, it says,
is that not found in the Book of the
Wars of the Lord? And you wonder what is the
Book of the Wars of the Lord? Evidently, it was a journal
of war hymns or war anthems that were kept from that era. And it is thought that
the Song of Deborah was part of the Book of
the Wars of the Lord found in Numbers 21. We have examples of ancient
war songs from the Egyptians and from the Assyrians
from the 15th century BC to the 12th century BC. We have fragments of them. They're on record. And this ranks up
there pretty high. And Deborah, Barak the son
of Abinoam "sang on that day, saying--" When leaders
lead in Israel, when the people willingly offer
themselves, bless the Lord. When leaders
actually do something instead of just talking
about doing something, bless the Lord. Praise the Lord. "Hear, O kings,
give ear, O princes, I, even I, will
sing to the Lord. I will sing praise to
the Lord God of Israel." This is the song
after the battle. Learn to do this. Learn after you
get through a time of harrowing difficulty,
personal battle, trial, temptation, to pause
and worship the Lord. Thank the Lord. Write your own worship
song, if you will. I think you should do
it before a battle. I think you should do
it during a battle. I think you should
do it after a battle. Yes. Joshua did it before a battle. He saw the Captain
of the Lord's hosts. He took off his shoes. He bowed down and he
worshipped, Joshua 5. Deborah does it after the
battle and I like that. See, in America, in
the United States, when we pray for food, when
do we pray for our meal? Before. Before the meal. Lord bless this food to the
nourishment of our bodies. We rattle something off. Amen. It makes us feel good about
what we're going to do and we chow down. Not the Jews. The Jews have been instructed
not to pray before the meal but to pray after the meal. It is still a
practice to this day. It's called [HEBREW] or
the prayer, the blessing, after the meal. And it is quite elaborate. But the idea is
from Deuteronomy 7, where it says, When you enter
the land and you have eaten and you are satisfied, then you
shall bless the Lord your God. So they take that
text very literally and they said, I guess God
wants us to pray after the meal. So I think it's a good practice. You ate your food. And then you say, Lord,
man, that steak was awesome. And thank you for providing
those potatoes along with it. And you know, whatever
you want to pray for. And then maybe pray for
relatives and pray for concerns that are going on. But I like the idea of
praying not just before but, especially, after a battle. The Lord has delivered and
then you pause and you praise and you thank Him for it. "Lord, when you went out
from Seir--" verse 4-- "when You marched from the field
of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured--"
notice this-- "the clouds also poured water. The mountains gushed
before the Lord, this Sinai before the Lord God of Israel." He's sort of rehearsing what
happened in the Book of Exodus when there was
lightning and thunder with the giving of
the law of Moses back in the Book of Exodus. And he's equating
that, comparing that, that great period
of their history, the giving of the law,
the quaking of Mount Sinai with what happened that
day of the battle at the Kishon when the heavens opened up. That's why I believe
that there was a rainstorm that broke out and
mired the chariots in the mud. "The clouds poured
water, the mountains gushed before the Lord." Verse 6, "In the days of
Shamgar, the son of Anath--" so this is the only
other mention of Shamgar. There are only two verses in
the Bible that mention him. One is Chapter 4 and
this one in Chapter 5. "In the days of Shamgar the son
of Anath in the days of Jael, the highways were
deserted and travelers walked along the byways." Why would they do this? They were scared. They were afraid. They didn't want to
go downtown on Central and walk around at night. [LAUGHTER] It wasn't safe. They were defunding
their police. [LAUGHTER] So people didn't feel
safe to get out and about because of the
bandits, the riots. So they had to find
the back alleys so that they would be protected. The village life, it says
in verse 7, "ceased." It "ceased in Israel,
until I, Deborah, arose a mother in Israel." We don't know if she meant
this literally or figuratively. I think it was both. I think, like Golda Meir, who
was a wife and a mother whose circumstances were
thrust upon her and she took the job as
the fourth prime minister, I think that Deborah
was a wife of Lapidoth. And she had children. They're not mentioned. They're not important to
the narrative of the story. So she was a mom. She was a wife. But she became a matriarchal
figure to the nation, a mother in Israel. Now, never underestimate
the role of a mom. There's some pretty
famous moms in the Bible-- Hannah, the mother
of Samuel, Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist,
Eunice, the mother of Timothy, Deborah, the mother of
whatever her kids were named, a mother in Israel. Somebody once said no nation
is greater than its mothers for they are the makers of men. I love the Jewish proverb. The Jews said, you know,
God couldn't be everywhere so He made mothers. Of course, God
can be everywhere, but the point is is that
God's presence often shows up through mom. I can attest to that. Verse 8, you would read
it and you would miss, really, the most important
part and that is the beginning. "They chose new gods." That's where the trouble began. They got tired of the Lord. They got tired of worshipping. They got tired of Bible study. They got tired of the
same old, same old. So they chose new gods. "Then there was
war in the gates. Not a shield or a spear was
seen among 40,000 in Israel." Wow. Get 40,000 together and
you couldn't find a shield. "My heart is with the rulers of
Israel who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless the Lord." The poetic picture
she is painting is that the people
of the land were so demoralized by this
time they didn't even bother getting weaponry,
didn't bother making a sword or getting a shield. And it's all because
they chose new gods. Once you start
marginalizing the Lord-- and some of you may
be guilty of that-- Book of Revelation,
the Lord Jesus said, I have something against you. You have left your first love. When you leave your
first love, it's going to end in frustration,
even depression. And in that frustrated state,
because you've chosen new gods, you're not worshipping
the Lord like you once were, you find yourself
very vulnerable. Maybe this is why. So she goes on to say,
"Speak you who ride on white donkeys--" those
were especially prized by the wealthy and by rulers-- "who site in judge's attire
and who walk among the road far from the noise of the
archers among the watering places. There they shall recount the
righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous acts for
the villagers in Israel. Then the people of the Lord
shall go down to the gates." Now, what you're going
to read following is she talks about those
who were faithful in the land and those who
were unfaithful in the land as participants in the battle. That is, some said, I'll go. I'll fight. That her example
and Barak's example inspired many others
to do the same. While others didn't
lift a finger, just watched others fight. And so she calls them out. "Awake, awake, Deborah. Awake, awake, sing a song. Arise, Barak. Lead your captives
away, o son of Abinoam." In other words, she
begins with the leaders because they inspired the
people to get into the fight. "Then the survivors came down,
the people against the nobles. The Lord came down for
me against the mighty. From Ephraim where those
whose roots were in Amalek. After you, Benjamin--"
she's going to go through the tribes
who got involved-- "with your peoples
from Machir--" that's way up north, half
tribe of Manasseh on the west side of the Jordan--
"from Machir, rulers came down. And from Zebulon, those who
bear the recruiter's staff. And the princes of
Issachar were with Deborah. As Issachar, so was Barak
sent into the valley under his command among
the divisions of Reuben. There were great
resolves of heart. Why did you sit
among the sheepfolds to hear the pipings
for the flocks? The divisions of Reuben have
great searchings of heart. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And why did Dan remain
on ships after Asher continued in the seashore
and stayed by his inlets. Zebulon is a people who
jeopardized their lives to the point of death. Naphtali also on the
heights of the battlefield." So there was a mix. Some people said,
I'll risk my life. I'll get into the fight. Others just sat around
to hear their flocks. Others had-- it
says in verse 16-- "great searchings of heart." Let's get together
and think about this. Let's have a committee
meeting over this. I don't like
meetings, by the way, because typically you
just talk about things but you don't do anything. Let's just talk about what
we did and what we might do. And just-- they were
having committee meetings. They talked and they voted. They just sat around
and didn't do anything. Verse 17, "Asher
continued at the seashore and stayed by his inlets." They settled on the
Mediterranean Sea and they kept up with their
commercial interests right off the sea coast. Zebulon, on the other hand,
jeopardized their lives to the point of death. Verse 19, "The kings came and
fought, the kings of Canaan fought in Taanach by
the waters of Megiddo. They took no spoils of silver. They fought from the heavens. The stars in their courses
fought against Sisera. The torrent of Kishon
swept them away. The ancient torrent,
the torrent of Kishon." Now, again, it's just
a small little rivulet. It's a stream. But if it's a heavy
enough rainfall for a long enough
time, it's a flood. It's a torrent. "O my soul, march
on in strength. Then the horsehoofs
pounded the galloping, the galloping of the steeds. Curse Meroz, said the
angel of the Lord, curse its inhabitants
bitterly because they did not go up to the help of the
Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty." Now, Meroz is a place
more recently known as Merome in Israel,
the waters of Merome There was a lake
just north of Galilee called the Lake Hula, Hula Lake. It was a place with a lot
of mosquitoes before 1948. The lake has been drained
by eucalyptus trees. So it's just an area
to the west of Hazor right up in this
lush verdant valley. They didn't do anything. They just sort of sat
around and watched. But in contrast to them,
from that town, verse 24, "Most blessed among
women is Jael." What's noteworthy about
Jael is she gets honor. She's not even one
of the people of God. She's not even an Israelite. She's a Kenite. She really is a Gentile, not
under the covenant of Abraham. "Most blessed among
women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Blessed is she among
the women in the tents. He asked for water,
she gave milk. She brought out cream
in a lordly bowl. She stretched out her hand to
the tent peg, her right hand to the workmen's hammer. She pounded Sisera
and pierced his head." These are the lyrics
of a song, folks. Let's find a melody for this. "She split and struck
through his temple. At her feet, he sank. He fell. He lay still. At her feet, he sank. He fell. Where he sank,
there he fell dead." You know, just when he
thought he was safe, bam. Right? Falling asleep,
ah, this is good. A little yogurt, a
little blanket, boom! [LAUGHTER] Now, I'll tell you
what it reminds me of-- the day of the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 5,
the day of the Lord will come as a
thief in the night. And when they say,
Peace and safety, then comes sudden destruction. Wow. Just like that tent peg. If you're not right with
God, get right with God because that peg of
judgment is coming your way. [APPLAUSE] And the Apostle
Paul said it's going to be like a woman in labor. You women know that,
what that's like. I can only talk about it. I've only seen it. I've not experienced it. "The mother of Sisera
looked through the window and cried out
through the lattice, Why is his chariot
so long in coming? Why tarries the clatter
of the chariots? Her wisest ladies answered
her, Yes, she answered herself, Are they not finding
and dividing the spoil, to every man a girl or two? For Sisera plundered,
plunderer of dyed garments, plunderer of
garments embroidered and dyed, two pieces
of dyed and embroidered for the neck of the looter." In other words, your son's
taking so long because he's enjoying the spoils of war. "Thus, let all your
enemies perish, Lord. But let those who love
Him be like the sun when it comes out in full strength." Beautiful way to end it. Let those who love
Him be like the sun. My prayer for you is that
you will be like the sun. Didn't Jesus say, You are
the light of the world. Yes. Don't hide your
lamp under a bushel. So shine your light
that men may see it and glorify your Father
who is in heaven. May we shine brighter and
brighter and brighter. So "the land had
rest for 40 years." There's three types of people. There's those who
make things happen. There's those who
watch things happen. And then there's those who
have no idea what's happening. [LAUGHTER] Among God's people
in the church, there are a few people
who make things happen. There's an awful lot of people
who watch things happen. God will keep a record,
like she kept a record, like Deborah and Barak kept a
record of those tribes who got involved and those who didn't. The Bible says that we'll
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And we all build our lives. Some out of gold,
silver, precious stones, some out of wood,
hay, and stubble. And we'll be judged
according to what we do with what God has given to us. Now, this is one of the reasons
why church is essential, why you can't just
go on watching it through a tablet or a computer. It demands involvement
of some kind. It demands service of some kind. You can't just watch somebody
else doing something. You have to get involved
in serving God's people. It's essential that we do that. We're not healthy
until we do that. So as we get back to normal,
part of getting back to normal is finding creative ways
to serve one another and not just becoming a consumer
mentality, consuming the media, getting it to us-- you know, OK, I got my fix. I'm fed this week. Great. How are you serving? What are you doing? How are you in the battle? Make things happen. By God's glory,
by God's goodness, use your gift for His purpose. Father, thank You that
the battle is the Lord's. It doesn't depend on us,
but we are part of it. And we are involved. And we want to say,
Here, I am Lord, send me, send us, not send
somebody else, but use us. And show us during
this time, Lord, as we are facing mandates, and
masks, and government, this and that, how we can obey
You and be the church and serve one another. By Your grace, for Your
glory, in Jesus' name, Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] For more resources from
Calvary Church and Skip Heitzig visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us during
this teaching in our Expound series.
