The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/judges/4.htm

The Bible is full of scripture that makes it sound as if man dominates woman, but that is certainly not the case.

I can start to ramble about my beliefs of the relationship between man and woman, but that is not what this chapter is about. The only reason I mention it is because this is the first time in the Bible we see a woman taking a lead position. It doesn’t mean women haven’t played a huge role in Biblical times, certainly not, if Eve wasn’t created, it would just be Adam still, and none of us would be hear. Noah’s wife had to have the patience of Job (pardon the cliche) to get aboard a large ship your husband built, and riding at sea for a year with a largo cargo of stinking animals. Noah could not have done what he did without his wife’s help.

Sarah played a huge role in helping Abraham (although she led him astray by urging him to reproduce with Hagar, and Rachel helped steer destiny towards Jacob instead of Esau.

But mostly, the Bible focuses on the Patriarchs, until now.

The fourth “official” judge in the Bible was a woman, a woman named Deborah. And for God to appoint Deborah as judge, she had to be extremely wise, knowledgeable, and a God fearing woman. She had to be a leader, with the ability to lead men in an era when men were in charge. She had to be able to command respect, earned respect, and to stand her ground. The Bible doesn’t say, but one can assume she had many confrontations and had to win many debates. But on Deborah’s side, she was a prophetess who spoke with God.

Now Deborah called for her army commander, and asked him if he had followed God’s commands. The children of Israel sinned yet again (we never seem to learn our lesson, do we?), and God removed His hedge of protection and allowed them to fall under the rule of the Canaanites. God had given a command to fight against King Jabin of Hazor, but Deborah’s commander, Barak, had not yet done so.

Notice the name Barak…we’ve heard it before, but it is not the same Barak we’ve previously studied. In those days, you didn’t have a surname, but were referred to by your father’s name, in this case, “Barak the son of Abinoam”. Just like today when there are many “Johns”, you will see many of the same names in the Bible over and over, and they might be the same person, and they might not.

So Barak said he would go to war if Deborah went with him. Why do you think he said this? Did he not have enough faith in God to go and command Israel’s army himself? Did he trust that he would be victorious if he had Judge Deborah with him? Or was this one of those “you’re a woman, if you want to go to battle, step right up yourself”. That’s another one of the questions we can ask God when we get to Heaven.

Deborah didn’t hesitate, and said “I will go”, then she prophesied and commented, “God said he would give Sisera (the enemy) into the hand of a woman. And her prophesy was corrected.

As you can read, Sisera fled from the battle and stopped by a house in which a woman named Jael occupied. She was the wife of a Kenite, and the Kenite’s were at peace with King Jabin. And Jael invited him into rest.

Sisera asked for water as he was thirsty, but instead she gave him milk. How many drink a warm glass of milk at bedtime to help fall asleep? And that is exactly what Sisera did.

And once he was resting peacefully, Jael crept to him quietly with a hammer and a tent peg, and drove it into the temple of his skull, killing him.

Why did Jael do this? There is no mention of her motive. By the description, her family was at peace with the Canaanites, and by all accounts, she should have been an ally to Sisera. But instead, she killed him, then even called out to Barak to show him what she had done.

Do you supposed God motivated Jael to do this? I doubt God spoke to her and gave a direct order to kill Sisera, but did the Spirit move her to help the children of Israel?

That’s another question we can ask when we get to Heaven.

All I know if that this chapter of the Book of Judges shows how important women were back then, and how important they are today. And while this book focuses on Deborah, one of the few female prophetesses the Bible speaks of, but also a judge, but it also speaks of the actions of Jael which were quite important to the history of Israel, and I might add, Jael is one of those unsung heroes of the Bible that are forgotten. There are only a few passages that mention her, but no doubt she played an extremely important role or she was not have received mention at all.

Let’s not forget about Deborah or Jael, two very important Biblical people.

Hurray for women!