Judges 4:1-10 - The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the
Lord, after Ehud died. So the Lord sold
them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander
of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for
help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the
Israelites cruelly twenty years.
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. She sent
and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him,
“The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor,
bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of
Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops;
and I will give him into your hand.’”
Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will
not go with me, I will not go.” And she
said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going
will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a
woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to
Kedesh; and ten thousand warriors went up behind him; and Deborah went up with
him.
Today, we circle back
from the time of the exile (Esther) to the time before Israel had Kings. After Joshua led the Israelites into the
promised land and they defeated all the enemies there, the Israelites were led
by people called Judges (hence the name of the biblical book). There is a predictable pattern for each judge
that led Israel. The Israelites did evil
and strayed from the covenant with God.
This would lead to them being defeated by enemies and becoming captives. They would cry out to God once more and God
would send them a deliverer, a judge.
Most of the judges were deeply flawed people themselves, but God used
them anyway. Only two of the judge’s
stories are told without referring to any negative character traits. One of them was Deborah.
Just the existence of
a female leader in the Old Testament is miraculous. For all the men in Israel to acknowledge her
leadership and for men to later include her in the story of the history of the
judges says volumes about how exceptional Deborah must have been. While it is still true in many segments of
our society that women have to excel over their male peers in order to be
noticed or celebrated, for Deborah to have taken a place in this written
history of ancient Israel, she must have been incredibly impressive.
So read Deborah’s
story in Judges 4 and then read her song of victory in Judges 5. Deborah brought peace to the Israelites for
forty years. Her story is often
overlooked. I have to confess that I
have overlooked it in the past. But
today, I celebrate Deborah and I take time to celebrate great women leaders
like her that often get overlooked – people like Harriet Tubman (the only black
woman to ever lead an American military regiment into battle), Mother Teresa,
Marie Curie, Rosa Parks, Ada Lovelace (first computer programmer), Margaret
Thatcher, and many, many others. Perhaps
you are aware of some truly exceptional women in your own life that you have
overlooked. Maybe you could remedy that
today.
Prayer: Lord
God, thank you for your Spirit that has manifested itself powerfully in so many
women throughout history and in our own lives.
Help us place the same value on them as You do. Amen.
Prayer Focus:
Pray for the significant women in your life today.
Song: Helen
Reddy – I am Woman
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