9. Staying on Higher Ground: Deborah – Offering of Praise

Hymns: 351 He Leadeth Me 354 God Leads Us Along 355 Day by Day 

Judges 5:1-31

¹ Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, ² Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. ³ Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel. ⁴ LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. ⁵ The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel. ⁶ In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. ⁷ The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. ⁸ They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? ⁹ My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD. ¹⁰ Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way. ¹¹ They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates. ¹² Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. ¹³ Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty. ¹⁴ Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer. ¹⁵ And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart. ¹⁶ Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. ¹⁷ Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches. ¹⁸ Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field. ¹⁹ The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. ²⁰ They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. ²¹ The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. ²² Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones. ²³ Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty. ²⁴ Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. ²⁵ He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. ²⁶ She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. ²⁷ At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead. ²⁸The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? ²⁹ Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, ³⁰ Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil? ³¹So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

Offering of Praise

OUTLINE

• From Willing Hearts (v1-3)
• For Great Deliverance (v4-13)
• The Manner of the Deliverance (v14-31)

INTRODUCTION

God gave Deborah and Barak victory over the Canaanite army. It was a great victory for the people of Israel were under the oppression of the enemy for twenty years.

Judges 4:1-2 (KJV) And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

Judges 4:3 (KJV) And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

Deborah stirs up herself and Barak to celebrate this victory in the most solemn manner, to the glory of God and the honour of Israel, for the encouragement of their friends and the greater confusion of their enemies (v12). 

Deborah, as a prophetess, must do it by a song, to compose and sing which she excites herself: Awake, awake, and again, awake, awake, which intimates the sense she had of the excellency and difficulty of the work; it needed and well deserved the utmost liveliness and vigour of soul in the performance of it; all the powers and faculties of the soul in their closest intensity and application ought to be employed in it. [Matthew Henry]

Judges 4:4-5 (KJV) And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

Deborah means “bee” (Strong 1683). A bee symbolizes constant activity, “a busy bee” showing industrious diligence and care in the work she was called to do.

Praising God is work that we should awake to, and awake ourselves to (Psalm 108:2). 

Psalm 108:1 (KJV) A Song or Psalm of David. O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.

Psalm 108:2-3 (KJV) Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.

For God indeed cares for His people and He hears their cry and arose to deliver them.

Psalm 108:4-6 (KJV) For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth; That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me.

It is the LORD, that clearly manifested His power and presence, showing forth His strength to save His people. Praise indeed is comely!

• From Willing Hearts (v1-3)

¹ Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, ² Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. ³ Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.

Judges 4:23-24 (KJV) So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

What great things God had done for Israel; in this we have the thankful returns they made to God, that all ages of the church might learn that work of heaven to praise God.

God is praised by a song, which is a very natural expression of rejoicing. Is any merry? Let him sing; and holy joy is the very soul and root of praise and thanksgiving. God is pleased to reckon himself glorified by our joy in Him, and in His wondrous works. His servants’ joy is his delight, and their sons are melody to him. [Matthew Henry]

James 5:13 (KJV) Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

The song led by Deborah and Barak and echoed by the people of Israel to His praise.

Psalm 145:3-5 (KJV) Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.

It is important that God’s people who have experienced God’s deliverance to give praise to His Name. It comes naturally to the lips.

The design of the song is to give glory to God; this, therefore, is put first, to explain and direct all that follows, like the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, Hallowed be thy name.

Two things God is here praised for:

The vengeance He took on Israel’s enemies, for the avenging of Israel upon their proud and cruel oppressors, recompensing all the injuries they had done to His people. The Lord is known as a righteous God and the God to whom vengeance belongs by the judgments which he executeth.

The grace He gave to Israel’s friends when the people willingly offered themselves to serve in this war. 

• For Great Deliverance (v4-13)

⁴ LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. ⁵ The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel. 

The deliverance that God wrought for Israel was very great. 

Reference was made to what God had done for Israel in the past and what He did now.

In v1-2, is given the triumphant march of Israel, with the Lord at their head, to take possession of Canaan, and the overthrow Sihon, Og, and the Midianites. This march commenced from Kadesh, and the victories which followed were an exact parallel to the victory of Deborah and Barak, accompanied as it had been by the storm which made Kishon to overflow its banks.

When thou wentest out of Seir – Here is an allusion to the giving of the law, and the manifestation of God’s power and glory at that time; and as this was the most signal display of His majesty and mercy in behalf of their forefathers, Deborah very properly begins her song with a commemoration of this transaction. [Clarke]

Exodus 20:18-21 (KJV) And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

⁶ In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. ⁷ The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. ⁸ They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? 

The public roads were so infested with thieves and robbers, who stopped all they met with, and robbed them of what they had, that travellers and merchants with their carriages. Not only did those Canaanitish robbers go upon the highway, and robbed all they met with, which made travelling difficult and dangerous; but entered into the villages and unwalled towns, and broke into houses and plundered them; so that the inhabitants of them were obliged to quit their dwellings, and go into the fortified cities for security; by which means the villages were left empty, and in time fell to ruin, and ceased. [Gill]

For they were the villages which belonged to the Israelites that were plundered and not those that belonged to any of the Canaanites, and these were the unhappy circumstances Israel was under until God raised Deborah.

From then, things changed. There was a turnaround for them of their dire circumstances. 

She was given the wisdom to exercise authority as a judge by God to deliver Israel from their bondage of idolatry.

For Israel was very weak, the lack of weapons and readiness for their own defence put them in a very sorry state when the enemy attacked. They were not prepared, they capitupated.

Though the number of the Israelites was several hundred thousand, there were not to be seen among them shields and spears sufficient for 40,000; or not one among 40,000 was armed; which was owing either to their negligence and sloth in not providing themselves with arms, or not taking care of them in a time of peace; so that when war came into their gates, they had nothing to defend themselves with, or annoy their enemies; or to their cowardice, not daring to take up a shield or spear in their own defence; or to the enemy, Jabin king of Canaan, having disarmed them, that they might not be able to make a revolt, from him, and recover their liberties. [Gill]

⁹ My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD. ¹⁰Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way. ¹¹ They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates. ¹²Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. ¹³ Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.

There were those who will courageous, who came forward and offered themselves to the battle. Though the nation was weak yet there were men who were brave who came forward to do battle when their homes were plundered.

She gives good reason for this praise and triumph (v13). This glorious victory had made the remnant of Israel, and Deborah in particular, look very great, a circumstance which they owed entirely to God. 

The Israelites had become few and inconsiderable, and yet to them, God gave dominion over nobles. Many of them were cut off by the enemy, many died of grief, and perhaps some had removed their families and effects into foreign parts; yet those few that remained, by divine assistance, with one brave and generous effort, not only shook off the yoke of oppression from their own neck but got power over their oppressors. 

As long as any of God’s Israel remain (and a remnant God will have in the worst of times) there is hope, be it ever so small a remnant, for God can make him that remains, though it should be one single person, triumph over the proudest and potent. 

Deborah was herself of the weaker sex, and the sex that from the fall had been sentenced to subjection, and yet the Lord that is Himself higher than the highest authorized her to rule over the mighty men of Israel, who willingly submitted to her direction, and enabled her to triumph over the mighty men of Canaan, who fell before the army she commanded; so wonderfully did he advance the low estate of his handmaid. “The Lord made me, a woman, to have dominion over mighty men.” A despised stone is made head of the corner. This is indeed the Lord’s doing, and marvellous in our eyes. [Matthew Henry]

• The Manner of Deliverance (v14-31)

¹⁴ Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer. 

Out of Ephraim and Benjamin came eminent warriors. Joshua, who was of the tribe of Ephraim, routed the Amalekites a short time after the Israelites came out of Egypt (Exodus 17:10). Ehud, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, slew Eglon and defeated the Moabites, the friends and allies of the Ammonites and Amalekites. Machir, in the land of Gilead, produced eminent warriors; and Zebulun produced eminent statesmen, and men of literature. Deborah speaks here of the past wars, and not of any thing that was done on this occasion; for we know that no persons from Gilead were present in the war between Jabin and Israel. Gilead abode beyond Jordan. [Clarke]

Ephraim and Benjamin, those tribes among whom Deborah herself lived, bestirred themselves, and did bravely, by her influence upon them; for her palm-tree was in the tribe of Ephraim, and very near to that of Benjamin (v14): Out of Ephraim was there a root, and life in the root, against Amalek. There was a strong resolution in the minds of the people to make heads against the oppressors, which was the root of the matter. Herein Benjamin had set them a good example among his people. “Ephraim moved after thee, Benjamin;” though Benjamin was the junior tribe, and much inferior, especially at this time, to Ephraim, both in number and wealth, yet when they led Ephraim followed in appearing for the common cause. 

If we are not so bold as to lead, yet we must not be so proud and sullen as not to follow even our inferiors in good work. Ephraim was at a distance from the place of action, and therefore could not send forth many of its boughs to the service; but Deborah, who was one of them, knew there was a root of them, that they were hearty well-wishers to the cause. [Matthew Henry] 

¹⁵ And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart. ¹⁶ Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. ¹⁷ Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches. ¹⁸ Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field. 

The ice being broken by Ephraim and Benjamin, Machir (the half-tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan) and Zebulun sent in men that were very serviceable to this great design. When an army is to be raised, especially under such disadvantages as Barak now experienced from the long disuse of arms and the dispiritedness of the people, it is of great consequence to be furnished, with men of courage for officers, and such the family of Machir furnished them with, for thence came down governors.

The children of Machir were particularly famous for their valour in Moses’ time (Numbers 32:29), and it seems it continued in their family, the more because they were seated in the frontiers. 

Numbers 32:39 (KJV) And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorite which was in it.

With men of learning and ingenuity for secretaries of war, and with such they were supplied out of Zebulun: thence came men that handle the pen of the writer, clerks that issued out orders, wrote circular letters, drew commissions, mustered their men, and kept their accounts. 

Zebulun and Naphtali – jeoparded their lives. 

Thus, must every man, according as he has received the gift, minister the same, for the public good (1 Peter 4:10); the eyes see, and the ears hear, for the whole body. I know it is generally understood of the forwardness even of the scholars of this tribe, who studied the law and expounded it, to take up arms in this cause, though they were better skilled in books than in the art of war. 

¹⁹ The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. ²⁰ They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. ²¹ The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. ²² Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones.

As the Canaanite army drew to the side of Mount Tabor, the rain came and the plain became a mud pool. The wheels of the chariots were stuck in the mud, rendering them ineffective for battle. This gave the soldiers of Israel easy targets. The shock of the overflowing banks of the Kishon River that rendered ineffective the deadly fighting machines of the Canaanites put them in disarray. Israel had a field day pursuing and defeating the enemy. How ineffective was Baal, the Canaanite god of the storm! The Canaanites were defeated on home ground! With God on our side, victory is assured!

The stars in their courses, according to the order and direction of him who is the great Lord of their hosts, fought against Sisera, by their malignant influences, or by causing the storms of hail and thunder which contributed so much to the rout of Sisera’s army

²³ Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty. 

The inhabitants of Meroz (a village 12 miles from Samaria) hung back, and gave no help on the day of battle, although it was the LORD who called them. Hence, the curse is pronounced by the Angel of the Lord.

Only six of Israel’s twelve tribes fought the battle against their enemies – Napthali, Asher, Zebulun, Issachar, Manasseh and Ephraim while the other tribes did not join in (Judges 5:15-17). Dan, Reuben, Gilead Benjamin, (consisting of half tribe of Gad and half tribe of Manasseh) did not fight. Dan was too busy trading, Reuben decided to stay home, Gad and Manasseh did not consider themselves part of the team since they occupy a territory at the fringe of the Promised Land. Their non-committal attitude was heinous in the sight of God. This is the same in the church today. There are those who are uncommitted, half-hearted, inactive and nominal members. 

²⁴ Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. ²⁵He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. ²⁶ She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. ²⁷ At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead. ²⁸ The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? ²⁹ Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, ³⁰ Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil? 

Judges 4:17-23 (KJV) Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No. Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples. So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.

CONCLUSION

³¹ So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

It was a great victory. The enemy was subdued and peace was restored in the land. All praise and glory to God. Amen.