seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Judges 4:1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. 2 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. 3 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.
4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 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. 6 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. 7 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.’”
8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”
9 “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. 10 There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
12 When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. 15 At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
16 Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. 17 Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”
21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
22 Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.
23 On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.
Here's the link to the commentary.She judged Israel at that time: Still more people consider it unexpected for God to raise up a woman to be a judge - a shaphat, a heroic leader for Israel. Deborah was a woman greatly used by God and she was also a woman who respected the people God put in authority over her - notably, Barak.
Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite: Here the story takes an unexpected turn. God promised that a woman would defeat Sisera (Judges 4:9). We would logically assume that this would be Deborah, but God had something else in mind. He instead used the wife of a Kenite to accomplish Sisera’s end.
Drove the peg into his temple: The gory detail of this matter supports the idea that this was an eye-witness account. Jael knew how to handle a tent-peg because it was customarily the job of women to set up the tents. She struck the peg so hard that it went down into the ground.
I would encourage you to go ahead and read Judges 5. It's "the song of Deborah". It goes through the history of the whole ordeal. At the end of Judges 5... it says the people were at peace for 40 years.There are three main human characters in this chapter, Deborah, Barak, and Jael. Oops then there's the king of Canaan.... so 4.
Deborah was a Judge. People came to her to settle disputes. That was extremely unusual.
Barak was her mouthpiece. I would have thought he was her bodyguard, but she had to send for him. So maybe he was just her sidekick.
Jael was the wife of a man named Heber.
The Canaanites were mean to the Israelites. They had been pushing the Israelites for twenty years. Ehud, my favorite lefthanded warrior, had passed away. Deborah took his place. Women weren't to lead armies into battle. She would have spent so much time explaining how a woman came to run an army, especially an outnumbered army, so she called on Barak.
Barak insisted Deborah take the lead. She warned him that if she went, it would be a woman bringing an end to the king of the Canaanites. A scandal, I'm sure.
But the king freaked out in battle, jumped off his chariot and ran for the hills. Coward! Let a girl beat you... ah ha ha.
Ah but Deborah would not be the woman who would bring about his demise.
Jael had a tent not too far from the battlefield. Her husband and the cowardly king were buddies. So, the king ran to Jael's tent and ordered her to hide him.
Well... She did give him a drink and she hid him in her tent, as ordered. But then she drove a tent peg through his head.
A woman beat the king of Canaan.
At the end of Judges 5, after the song of Deborah, it says the Israelites lived in peace for 40 years.
I guess the moral of this story is....
Don't mess with Israeli women!!!
