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SERIES H --- THE JUDGES |
BIBLE STUDY LESSON 04
DEBORAH THE WOMAN WHO DEFEATED A GENERAL ‘But you must understand now that the honour for the victory will go to a woman, not to you.’ Deborah left her court under the palm tree and went with Barak to Kedesh-Naphtali. At Kedesh, Barak gathered his forces from Zebulun and Naphtali. With ten thousand men, he and Deborah marched to Mount Tabor. But there was a traitor in the neighbourhood. Heber the Kentia had withdrawn from his clan, which had descended from Hobab, father-in-law of Moses and had moved as far from his clan as the oak in Zaanannim, near Kedesh. Heber betrayed Barak’s movements, telling Sisera that Barak and his army were marching toward Mount Tabor. Sisera called his forces together, with their nine hundred iron chariots and sent them from Harosheth to the Kishon River. ‘Rise Up!’ Deborah said to Barak. ‘Today the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. The Lord is marching before you.’ Down the sides of Mount Tabor Barak led his ten thousand men into battle against Sisera. The Lord went with them and brought confusion to Sisera’s forces. Sisera’s army fled from the forces of Israel and was thoroughly defeated. When Sisera realized that he had been defeated, he jumped from his chariot and ran away. Barak in the meantime, pursued Sisera’s army all the way back to Harosheth, destroying every one of his soldiers. Sisera fled to the tent that belonged to Jael, Heber’s wife. He felt safe there because Heber was at peace with King Jabin of Hazor. Jael went out to meet Sisera and greeted him. ‘Come here!’ she called. ‘Come into my tent where you will be safe. Don’t be afraid.’ Sisera ran into Jael’s tent to hide and she covered him with a blanket. ‘Please give me some water to drink,’ Sisera asked. ‘I’m very thirsty.’ Jael brought some milk in a skin container and gave him a drink. Then she covered him again with the blanket. ‘Stand in the doorway of the tent,’ Sisera asked. ‘If anyone comes along and asks about me, say that I am not here.’ It wasn’t long before Sisera was sound asleep. Then Jael took a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly over to Sisera. While he slept, she drove the tent peg through his temples and into the ground, killing the general. Later, when Barak came looking for Sisera, Jael went out to meet him. ‘’Come here,’’ she called. ‘I will show the man you’re searching for.’ When Barak went into her tent, he saw Sisera lying there dead with the tent peg through his temples. That was the day when the Lord used Israel to defeat King Jabin the Canaanite. More and more the forces of Israel increased in strength until at last they destroyed Jabin and his armies completely.” COMMENTARY DEBORAH’S WAR She agreed, telling him that a woman would be credited with the victory even though God had promised that Barak would win. Barak then summoned the Israelite army and volunteers from the various tribes met at Mount Tabor. Meanwhile Sisera’s army gathered in an empty riverbed southwest of the mountain. The Kishon River gully, where he stood, would lead his troops directly to an Israelite town called Tanaach. The river flowed with water only during the spring rains; the rest of the year it was a safe and dry route through the countryside. When Sisera marched on Tanaach, Deborah ordered the Israelite soldiers down from Mount Tabor. At that moment, dark storm clouds rose in the sky and a torrential downpour flooded the riverbed where Sisera’s army was assembled. The heavy chariots bogged down and the terrified horses made them capsize and sink. Thousands of Sisera’s soldiers were thrown into the water and killed as they struggled to reach the riverbank. Sisera tried to escape, but a woman named Jael drove a tent peg through his head as he rested in her tent. As Deborah had predicted, Barak won no credit for Sisera’s defeat. Through Deborah’s leadership, the Canaanites were utterly defeated. Once again a judge had brought peace to the land. TEST YOURSELF 1.) What king did Sisera serve? 2.) How many iron chariots did Sisera have? 3.) Who did Deborah summon that he might fight the armies of Sisera? 4.) Who betrayed the movement of the Israel’s armies to Sisera? 5.) What did Jael use to kill Sisera? 6.) Who did the credit for defeating Sisera go to?
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