Women of the bible: Deborah

you hello and welcome to our new series on women in the Bible for many women the Bible offers a different lens in which to view ancient womanhood deborah ranks among one of the of the most famous women in the Old Testament not only is she known for her wisdom but she is praised for her courage Deborah pictures and illustration of leadership one that was it normally seen of women in the Society of her time with me today to talk on the topic of both the spiritual and civil leadership of Deborah is my friend and fellow servant Suzy fanny welcome Suzy pleasure to have you thank you it's pleasure to be here who is a servant at st. Mary San Antonio's Coptic Orthodox Church in Queens New York hello hello so it's good to be with you and talk about this wonderful topic of Deborah indeed so to start Susie can you just set the scene for us before we even discuss on who Deborah is where do we read about Deborah in the Bible and what was going on during this era in Israel okay so Deborah has found her story in the book of Judges in the Old Testament and you really start to talk and hear about her in chapter 4 and 5 predominantly but this is an era if you can imagine it was a pretty vicious cycle for the Israelites it was a cycle of them rejecting God in favor of idols suffering at military Kuan conquests of the enemies crying out to the Lord to save them for deliverance and then God sending them a deliverer and then then following the deliverer who is usually a prophet or a judge until that person you know no longer existed you know and then forgetting their ways and going back into the cycle of rejecting God asking and so this repetitive cycle is recorded in the book of Judges which refers to a time again when as they say quote in the Bible judges 21 verse 25 every man did that which was right in his own eyes so again during this period God used the judges the delivers to deliver his people from afflictions and the Serpent's that God used to judge his people were typically men except for this one woman who were going to discuss today and her name was Deborah and just to reiterate what was the role of the judge again know you mentioned judge was to be the deliverer to actually help give the message to help in civil disputes and to do what typically judges do today but their highest command was God himself right now who is Deborah Deborah was number one a wife she was a prophetess and she was a judge again as said in judges for for as a prophetess God used her to deliver his message to the people as a judge God gave her the authority to render civil court cases and decisions and in Deborah's case Israel lacked leadership it lacked courage it lacked wisdom it lacked faith and it lacked zeal for God's ways they were tired of constantly struggling to uphold the law to uphold the commandments after a while they just gave in and said you know we'll just tolerate our neighbors the pagans the idolaters and God knew that his people needed a wise judge who would render just decisions someone who would reject the folly of human reasoning and placed their trust in him and she happened to be the only woman judge in the era of time that we're discussing so she had three roles as you said she was a wife a prophetess and a judge exactly now why Deborah and what did she do so in judges 4 verse 5 it tells you quote Deborah dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Rama and Bethel in mount ephraim and the children of israel came up to her for judgment note that she didn't go to the people the people came to her so she must have been known for her sound mindedness and her sense of justice the Israelites came to her to receive decisions you know they believed in her they trusted her she was easy to talk to she was also recognized for her sense of decency we know this because as a prophetess she was very careful to the voice of God's will and not her own she was yielding to him and she always referred to God's will God said God you know it was who was leading her it wasn't her it wasn't her pride so giving him and foremost all the credit exactly because alou it wasn't her that was ruling the message exactly her relating it but taking it from God to the people absolutely and so let me tell you a little bit about what she did right so God commanded Deborah to call a man named Barack coincidentally whom he planned to use for a special military mission when Barack came before her and again he was the head of the military at that time she said to him and I quote from the Bible listen to the words of the eternal God of Israel this is in judges 4 verse 6 go gather 10,000 warriors from the tribe of Naphtali ands a balloon and get ready to do battle at Mount abour I shall bring Sara the commander of Japanese army against you that's the commander of the Canaanites okay so I'm going to just stop you right there just so we paint this picture so we have we have Deborah calling Barak calling Barack so Deborah and Barak kind of Arum we could say t1 team and then we have job in and cetera right who are another team and both of them exactly ultimately will they're at odds but right and so the message continues that she's talking to Barack she said God is telling you I shall bring you victory over his church over his chariots of iron and his fighting force and I will deliver Sisera into your hands sister again is the military lead of Jabba into your hands at the river Kish Don so again for years the Israelites remember they were intermarry being with these idol-worshipping pagan nations and again God commanded them a long time ago that's not what you should do if anything you should get rid of them you should destroy them anything pagan related so again God comes to the situation which he's found himself in many times he has to teach his people a lesson and he uses this situation of basically job then of the king of Canaan to destroy it really to punish the Israelites they were they were under there very harsh ruling for so many years so again job and sends during this time right as as Deborah saying this he sends 900 deadly iron wheel chariots and a massive army to descend upon the Israelites at this time and of course panic and terror engulfs the country engulfs the people and of course Deborah is expecting the minute she tells um burro Barack this that he would immediately run out and do what she said but Barack was enslaved by fear and this kept him from fully trusting God's plan and God's delivery so he kind of gave Deborah an ultimatum and he I quote he says if you go with me this is in verse 8 then I will go but if you will not go then I will not go that's pretty straightforward now Deborah didn't do what you might think she is I mean she is a judge she's not a warrior she's a prophet she's not a warrior but she believed in God and she trusted in him and she didn't say what you would say look you know this is not my place the message was for you to do it she could have you know basically leveraged her her role and pushed him she didn't do any of that she basically filled the gap that Barack couldn't fill and left the rest to God um she was taken aback by the demand don't be mistaken but she answers quote I will surely go with you but this is the interesting part notwithstanding the journey that you take shall not be for your honor for the Lord shall sell Sisera again the commander the chief commander of the canaanites into the hands of woman so she's basically telling him you can have your way but just know it Barak that defeat will come in the hands of a woman not in the hands of the commander of the military no jeans you know think Barak at that point thought that she would be that key role to defeat he probably did because as the story unfolds we realized something fascinating that God used the most unsuspecting woman to bring the defeat of the Canaanites and specifically Sisera but again her big message to him is the glory will not be yours because you didn't trust so again she didn't take any of this as a limit she she could have said this is a limitation but she did not limit God and that was very powerful and she didn't think of herself Oh again I'm a woman well me God couldn't possibly use me she accepted her role as a judge and as a prophetess and she allowed God to do with her as he saw fit and again on the other hand so she and Barak were supposed to work together as a team and that is what happened they did work together as a team and he did lead the team in battle and Deborah was supposed to provide wise counsel and support and express God's will throughout you know this endeavor and again because Barak initially failed to provide strong leadership again Deborah because of him being of just just right it was basically big Elisha exactly Deborah had to stand in the gap and fill it so in the end it was Jail who's the wife of he bore pepper who defeated sister um and basically the way she did it sister I walked in to what he thought was a safe haven a tent where he saw gel gel and you know her family and there was what he thought peaceful between their families and his family but while he was sleeping teching taking refuge she basically took the the peg of the tent right and a hammer and while he was resting an undercover she basically bashed it into his forehead and killed him so he thought he was safe yeah resting there but it became like a trap basically yes his what looked and appeared to the human eye as a safe-haven was actually god's trapper so tell us about Deborah's character and strengths okay so she was first and foremost an exceptional servant she stood for courage in a time of fear she stood for godly wisdom in a time of human reasoning when everyman did like we said every man did what was right in his own eyes she stood for decency in a time of chaos in a time of sexual perversity and idolatry she was a leader who was an exception to the rule at the time and sadly an exceptional character like that was not only uncommon then but it's uncommon now today many people believe they have the right to do what they want and go where they want and and be who they want with no fear or consequence to their creator it's funny that you even mentioned that because we do live in a society where it's all about living in the moment and what makes me happy and whatever makes me happy at this long way is what I'm going to do we don't really think about consequences we don't really we are just living in the moment of what I want to do now not what are the consequences of what I do now and something else to know about Deborah when this victory came to her and Barack with the health of JL they didn't you know jump in pins you know they gave glory where glory was due there was the next chapter was this beautiful song that they sung which basically was giving praise and honor to their deliverer deborah and barak yeah their deliverer who is the Lord God of Israel and and they never forgot who brought them who delivered them and who helped them conquer so why do you think God chose a woman someone who was a relatively low status in the in the Israelite society to be his chosen agent of restoration well it is true the Bible clearly shows that God uses men to to head his work but this is not to say that God doesn't use women and in fact he does and we see many examples the most obvious of which is Saint Mary the mother of God I mean she had a very critical role for ourselves bation in he he has used you know lots of women throughout the bible and just as he's done with prophets like elijah and jeremiah and others god has worked through prophet isis and the bottom line is a prophet or a prophetess what is a servant of God who's got inspired to record his message to the people at large and to certain leaders and that you know anybody who is providing the message providing part of God's plan for anyone's salvation is all part of God's plan you know he really reminds us that women are not just going to be used but they're a critical use right and I think it's actually important to even note that women played a large part in our Lord's ministry not only were they we could even say the last people to leave the Lord at the cross but possibly even the first one to see him resurrected so they did have a strong role they weren't like a minority to our Lord he didn't forget them just because you know of them being of that gender exactly there's many examples in an old and the New Testament that speak to that so why do you think deborah was received being that she was a woman she was received as a leader by the people so she how do you think yes she was highly regarded and she was respected for her wisdom and her strength and her modesty and in general how she carried herself and again it was evident if you recall she didn't go to look and see who needs help people came to her and you know that in itself tells you of how people perceive you and in general even the military commander listened to her what can we learn about leadership and the way that God operates based on him choosing Deborah and her unique gifts and enroll basically in the life of Israel okay so I believe it teaches us threefold number one God does not always pick his servants the way we would pick you know he sees straight to the heart number two the best leaders are first and foremost the best servants and number three wisdom courage decency a servant's heart submitting to God are all signatures of a good leader just to actually add on to that I think like nowadays when we think of a leader we think of somebody who's who's famous we think of somebody with money we think of somebody who has this high position she didn't really have a high position in Israel like she didn't come from a family that was a royalty yeah whereas when we give this leadership title of nowadays we look at everything that's so superficial which is just all these tangible things and I think in the end probably what I could think of is when you just mentioned that is in the Gospel of even Matthew and they say when the disciples asked him who's the greatest and and he says actually the little kids and he takes a little child and he says this is the greatest our minds cannot understand fully but we have had many examples where we expect a and it's a totally different even the disciples being picked I mean it wasn't the rich and the famous it was the unlikely that that changed the world that were part of his great plan and it gives us a meaning that we we do all have a purpose and we all have a meaning of but we just need to give God that time and wait on his time to allow him to work through us so why do you think the high role of Deborah and judges should play a part in determining what role women can and should play in church today and why or why not so looming in today's church do play a critical role already and and and that may not be obvious to everybody but again roles in the church are not determined by the uniform you're wearing but by the service you're called to provide so be it a teacher of the word in your own home or in the church an organizer of functions a fundraiser a chorus director a negotiator a chef a defender of the poor and needy a talk show host I mean whatever it is that calling is going to be fulfilled by women and and and obviously men as well but it does not preclude women every you know I would say that for anyone to say women don't have a role in the church have haven't been noticing what's been happening right and I and I we all complete each other it's not just this one member that preaches but we do need that organizer we do need this person who's who's going to prepare the food who's going to clean who's going to be in charge of fundraisers who's going to help it's not just about I think sometimes we even limit the service to who's a Sunday school teacher yeah that's it no it's far from it but it would be a shame right and I think in the end sometimes we're so closed-minded as to service just being limited on whoever whoever saying the sermon right exactly I mean a call to action would be is that everyone not just women should look around and see where are the services lacking and which of those things can i fulfill versus which of those should I you know be complaining about so to conclude what can we learn from Debra's example so a that we can truly trust in the Lord to use us in his army as he sees fit and that his vision into our hearts and his plans for our lives are far superior than anything we can imagine for ourselves and really no person or era can stop God's plan for his children all things happen in the fullness of time and I would say no one is here by accident as you said and everybody has a purpose so our goal is to train our hearts and our ears to that calling so we don't miss it and to make sure that neither fear or latency laziness nor complacency guides us or the masses you know rather that we should stand firm to the teachings of God in His Word and no matter what the world tells us to constantly keep our ears open and to follow what it is he specifically asks of each of us individually because it is an individual ask and if we don't we're really hurting the entire body I thought that I think that was perfectly like perfectly well said Suzy thank thank you so much pleasure to have you my pleasure just as Deborah accepted her role as a judge and a prophetess and allowed God to do what is fit for her may we also allow God to work in our lives and allow him to shape his plan and vision and know and believe that his plan envisions is wiser and more superior than ours until next time have a blessed day you you

Channel: Christian Youth Channel

Views: 51,894

Rating: 4.8114753 out of 5

Keywords: jesus, church, bible, yt:stretch=16:9

Id: IyKo-rv0jXs

Length: 21min 52sec (1312 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 05 2014