Amen judges chapter four judges chapter five. This is the third sermon in the series of the Book of Judges. And tonight we talk about Barack and Deborah and in the Hebrews chapter 11 that's the Hall of Faith. We have four judges that are listed there. And of the four judges, it's Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah. Baruch tried to teach me to do that little sound. I'm doing the best I can there. He liked that. I still can't do it right. He just would shake his head. But you can't pronounce Hebrew with a Michigan accent very well. That's the problem there. So I'll beg forgiveness on that. But Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah. Then there are twelve judges all together, but those four are mentioned in Hebrews 11. And let's just start reading the first three verses. Judges chapter 4. When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Herashath-Hegiom. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron and for twenty years he harshly oppressed the children of Israel. Now you can look on your outline there and you can see the sad word again and what again happens to mean here once again. The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and once again the Lord sold them into bondage and the first time it had been a short bondage in Mesopotamia and they were delivered by Othniel and they had 40 years of rest after that and then Moab was the enemy the oppressor and they had 18 years of bondage and They cried out to the Lord. He delivered them through Ehud and Ehud's mentioned here as we saw in verse number one after he was dead 80 years of rest and But then a new oppressor comes up, and this time it's the enemy from within. It's really rather ironic who it was that was oppressing them. It was a leader of the Canaanites, Jabin. Jabin may have been a name that's used much like the pharaohs. Pharaoh wasn't one person. And it's possible that Jabin was used that way, too, because we can read in the book of Joshua that when Joshua attacked this very same city, the city of Hazor, he defeated the king Jabin. Now, some, of course, that don't believe in biblical inspiration just say, well, look at how the history of the Bible is muddled. You know, they have Joshua defeating Jabin. And now here, they're talking about 170 years later, here's Jabin again being defeated. Well, obviously it's not the same Jabin, whether it's the man with the same name or whether it's a kingly name really is not clear at this particular point. But it is ironic, and it is something to note, that the people that should have been obliterated, the people that should have been destroyed, the people that Israel failed in their conquest, come back and become their oppressors now at this particular time. And like I said, Joshua himself had defeated the city of Hazor 170 years earlier, but because of unbelief, the Canaanites had not been totally eradicated. And now a new generation is on the scene and the Canaanites become the oppressors and they rule Israel for 20 years. And this was in fulfillment of prophecy, if you remember, because the Lord had said that he would make the Canaanites to become thorns and briars in their side. And it was all with an eye of making them turn back to God. Well, verses 4 through 10, we see Deborah, the prophetess, and she judges Israel. There's a few things we're going to say about that, but let's read the scriptures first. Verses 4 through 10. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel and the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came to her for judgment. Then she sent and called for Barak, the son of Abinuam from Kadesh in Naphtali, and said to him, Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor. Take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun, and against you I will just deploy Sisera Notice how God says that. That's why I got mixed up a little bit. But note the language is different. God's going to raise up Sisera to attack him, actually. And against you, I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabod's army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishan, and I will deliver him into your hand. And Barak said to her, if you'll go with me, then I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go. So she said, now Mark verse 9, verse 9 is a very interesting verse here. She said, I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, there'll be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Then Deborah rose and went with Barak to Kiddush. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kiddush. And he went up with 10,000 men under his command. And Deborah went up with him. OK, we'll stop reading there. Now, Deborah, a godly woman and a mouthpiece of God, is kind of unusual. Some have tried to twist the scriptures and tried to show that Deborah is a good example of a woman preacher and why women ought to be allowed to preach, and that would certainly be twisting the scriptures. Deborah Weal Grant was a prophetess. We find they're called that in the Bible here. We find others called prophetesses in the Bible, too. You can look up the verses later, just take a concordance and you can see that. And another thing we say about Deborah is that Deborah is a proof that God does use women. Very much so. And another woman we're going to see, as I already mentioned in verse number nine, was used of the Lord that way. It's one of the more interesting verses in the Bible, by the way, because if you don't know the story and you don't know what they're talking about, when Deborah says a woman will receive the honor that you should have received, you naturally think it's going to be Deborah. You know, it would appear to be that's the way that it would be. But this is just another example that whenever prophecy is given in the scriptures, The prophecies are always true and they always come about just the way they're supposed to. But they often have a little twist and a little surprise in them. And often you cannot really fully understand prophecy until it has come to pass. And then it makes all kinds of sense. And then you realize exactly what it was about. It came out 100 percent, but it didn't always go 100 percent the way you would have expected it to go. So when Deborah says a woman will receive the honor that you should have received and Barak is saying, come with me, it's obvious that everyone that doesn't know the story is going to think that Deborah is going to be the one that's honored in this. And there's a third thing that we would say about this, and this is what I put on your outline. It's a it's from Isaiah, chapter three, verse twelve. As for my people, children are their oppressors and women rule over them. Oh, my people, which they lead. Oh, my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths. And the point I want to make there. is Isaiah is talking to the people of God, of course, many, many years later, almost 800 years later. And he says, as for my people or 500 years later, children are their oppressors and women rule over them. Deborah, one of the things we can glean from the story of Deborah and the account of Deborah is proof that these were very dark days in Israel. Now, I don't say that just to be politically incorrect, that women ruling over them proved that they were dark days. I don't mind being politically incorrect but I don't say it just to be controversial or even to be cute. We do need to remember there's an important principle here and the principle simply is this. Israel is a nation and certainly it is a nation but Israel pictures more than a nation. Israel is the church in the Old Testament. And so you think about what's happening here, and basically what you do have is you have a woman that's heading up and judging the covenant people of God. Now, we could be critical of Deborah for doing that, and we shouldn't be because the Bible doesn't condemn her. God used her and God spoke to her. But if we wanted to be critical at any point, and I think we can be, where we ought to point our criticism would be to the men of that day. Because where were the leaders? And who were the ones who were on the Lord's side. Now Barack is a godly man. And Deborah calls him to herself and commissions him for this job. But even he's hesitant. That's how dark the days were in Israel. Even he's hesitant. And so it often is in the church. I mean that's the way it was in Israel then. It's like that oftentimes in churches today. One of the things we try to do here, in fact, someone just asked me a question. I can't remember who it was. So if you're here and you asked it, I'm not trying to point at you. I don't remember who asked this, but they asked me a question. They said, why is it that you only have the men standing and give testimony on Communion Sunday? I said, do you believe that it's wrong for women to do so? The question really isn't whether it's wrong so much for women to do so. The question would be that men are to be the leaders. Men are to be the spokesmen. We don't have women pray publicly in church. Prayer meeting, that's a different story. But we don't have women come into the pulpit and pray. We don't have women teach men or to usurp authority over men. And we don't even have women give communion devotionals. Why? On a very practical level, without even talking about the theological issues involved. Okay, a very practical level, what would happen if we began to have women teach was that the men would begin to grow silent, and the men would stop speaking, and the men would be waiting for the women to speak. And if the women did speak up and began to speak out that way, the men would be content to sit back and relax. And over the course of years, that could become a real, real problem. And we see that happen in churches. Churches where men will not exercise spiritual leadership, Families where men will not exercise spiritual leadership and there's a void that's created and a void that's often fulfilled then by women And because of God's designed rules and we talked about rules in the church here a lot I I would urge women not to usurp authority not to take these positions not to become involved and usurp authority over the man. But instead the best thing a woman could do in a position like that would be to pray for God to raise up godly male leadership within the church. Now you know there are there are communities there are churches that really that's all they have in them are women. Women are not well that's all there is I know what you're going to do. But that'd be the advice that I would give is pray for God to raise up godly male leadership. God has divine roles for men and women. Roles have nothing to do with inferiority. I know you know that. They have everything to do with God's plan and purpose. So here we have Barack now. He's the man that's raised up for the hour. But he's afraid. So he asked Deborah to go with him. And I don't think that was totally a bad thing to do, because for the simple reason that God spoke through Deborah, and I think he wanted to have the presence of God, and Barak was a man of faith, it says so in Hebrews 11, and he was given the word of the Lord in verses 6 and 7, and his actions prove his faith in verse 10. So, we're not going to criticize him tonight too heavily for that. Barak did believe in God and he fought against incredible odds. You have to think about what's happening now. He's going to take 10,000 men and fight against 900 iron chariots. Now, you say, well, he's got them outnumbered. Yeah, he has them outnumbered, but these are iron chariots. And a common foot soldier could not hope to fight against an iron chariot. And remember how they did these. You know, they're horse-drawn chariots. And what they would do is they on the axle of the wheels, they would put the staves out that were sharp like swords. And so the battle plan of attack would be this. You have 10,000 foot soldiers with spears and shields. But here would come this wild chariot racing down, driven by a horse, and with lethal weapons on both sides, just drive right into the midst of them, plow them over, and cut up and chop up as many people as they could, just all in a row. And they could bring the chariots down in unison, and just make a form of a wall, and just plow right through the guys. So these were weapons of mass destruction of that day. And this is a formidable weapon. And how are you going to stop it? You know, how are you going to throw your spear at the horse and hope to kill the horse? You know, that's about your only hope. And we don't like those odds, right? That's a very difficult situation that Israel finds themselves in. But Barak is up to the challenge. And so he's commissioned by God and he says that he will go. Now, verse 11, the plan of attack is given. Now he were the Canaanite of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Canaanites and pitched his tent near the cherubim tree at Zanaan, which is beside Kiddush. And they reported to Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinuam, had gone up to Mount Tabor. So now spies have found them. And so the location has been found out. So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him from Heresheth, Hegoyim, to the river Kishan. Then Deborah said to Barak, Up, for this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all of his army with the edge of the sword before Barak. and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. But Barak pursued the chariots and the army, as far as Hershath-Haggoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a man was left." Now, to human reasoning, a tactical mistake had been made here, but you can see that the Lord was the one behind it all. Deborah basically told Barak to go fight Sisera in the valley. Now, Israel normally would have had the advantage in the hill country, and they were in the hills, but they came down from the hills down into the valley to fight. And of course, that's where you don't want to be fighting when you have chariots. That's exactly where you're going to get mowed over, right? At least in the hill country, the chariots can't follow you up there. So, Israel would normally have the advantage in the hill country, the chariots would be most effective in the valley, but God was fighting for Israel. We're told that plainly here in verse 15, and the Lord routed Sisera, and God was fighting for Israel. And their song of victory gives us a little bit of poetic insight into what actually happened and how the victory was won. Now, as you read verses, and we'll look over there, look at chapter 5, verses 4 and 5. As you read chapter 5, verses 4 and 5, this could be allegorical, and it's in the middle of a song. But we have a tendency to think that it's probably more literal than allegorical, what it's saying here. And that's the way the rabbis take it. And that's the way that Josephus takes it. And when Josephus gives the history of this, I'll recount that in just a second. But in Judges, chapter 5, verses 4 and 5, this is the song of Deborah. Lord, when you went out from Seir, When you marched from the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens poured, the clouds also poured water, the mountains gushed before the Lord, this Sinai before the Lord, God of Israel. And basically, the comment of Josephus is simply this, that when the battle started, God sent a torrential rain shower. It was done by God. And the chariots that were so formidable and so fast and so quick were sunk in the mud. And all of a sudden they're absolutely immobile. And now the Israelites had the advantage because without being able to run these massive weapons that way they were stuck in the mud and they were supposed to just go and start chopping away. The chariots behind see what's happening. Some of them managed to take off and escape and of course they're going the other way and Barak and his men get him from behind and capture them. and destroy them and we're told not a single one was left. So Israel's disadvantage or a supposed disadvantage no heavy weaponry became an advantage as they swung their swords and moved with rapid force against the outnumbered forces of Sisera. Now it is 10,000 against 900 and there wasn't much they could do and a great victory of course was won and this is Barak's honor. It's his victory and it's why he is included in the honor roll of faith. But the story wasn't done. Because you might remember that Deborah had prophesied that God would give Sisera into the hand of a woman. And so here we go with Sisera in Jael's house verse 17. However Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Canaanite for there to be peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Canaanite. Remember he was they were even spies that had helped them to know where the forces of Israel were. and told on them. You'd think they'd have been loyal to Israel being related to Moses and such but they weren't. They'd sold out to Jabin. Well anyway he goes into the house of a supposed friend thought that all would be well and Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him turn aside my lord turn aside to me do not fear. And when he turned aside with her into the tent she covered him with a blanket. And you might remember this sounds very similar to what Rachel Rahab the harlot did for the spies they came to her she hit him and God obviously directed the spies to her house by his providence. Well, you know what God directed Sisera to jail's house by his providence And it really tells us something about God and how his providence works because we need to think about the difference the spies part of the covenant people of Israel and God's chosen people used for his purposes. God directs the spies to Rahab's house to protect them. Because we know that God does all things for good to those that love God, to those that are called according to his purpose. His providence has worked all things out for good. But the flip side of that's true, too. For the lost, for those that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, for those that do not know God, all things work together for bad. All things work together for ill all things work together for their ultimate destruction. Problems of God works both ways the double edged sword it's good for the Christian but it's bad for those that are outside of his grace. So God would let the Jericho spies let the spies into Rahab's house to protect them but he leads Sisera to Jael's house actually to destroy him. So we could say three things about God's providence and this is true to this very day. It's true as you look around as you watch. God's providence always goes this way. It's for the good of his people. It's for the destruction of his enemies. And it's always for his own glory. It's for the good of his people, destruction of his enemies, and it's always for his own glory. And something we can learn from Sisera is when God is with you, you can do all things. But when God is against you, there's no place that's safe. And that's what he finds out as we read the account, verse 19. Then he said to her, please give me a little water to drink, for I'm thirsty. So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink and covered him. And he said to her, stand at the door of the tent. And if any man comes and inquires of you and says, is there any man here? You shall say no. Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple and it went down into the ground for he was fast asleep and weary. And not surprisingly, I might add, he died. I guess that's what you'd expect to happen under those circumstances. The Bible likes to let us know exactly what took place. And so he died. And then as Barak pursued Sisera, Jeal came out to meet him and said to him, come, I'll show you the man whom you seek. And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera dead with the peg in his temple. So on that day, God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. And then we have in chapter five, the song of Deborah. So Sisera had carried out the will of the Lord. Sisera had done God's purposes for some 20 years. The Canaanites had been the oppressors. Israelites were in bondage. Sisera did it because he wanted to. He was absolutely responsible for his own actions. But behind it all was God, who was using Jabin and Sisera to judge his people. But as always happens in the Bible, it's just full of stories that are just this way. He uses the lost to judge his people, but there's always a judgment day for them. God always judges them. And that's exactly what happened here. And it's not a pretty picture. It's almost shocking that she had the courage to do what she did, because all you got to do is think about the consequences. Number one, she's a woman. And that's not generally what you would expect a woman to do, you know, just by the very natural sense of who she is. But think of the consequences if her plan wouldn't have worked. What if she had slipped and missed as she tried to put that tent peg in his head or what if she got over there. The Bible says she walked softly but what if just when she was about ready to get there he woke up. I think you can imagine the problem that would have been. What if she'd lost her courage at the last moment? What if she just wasn't able to give it the good hard hit that it was going to take to drive it through its mark? It's an amazing thing because this woman probably was not a cold-blooded executioner by any sense of the imagination, just a common woman. But she executed the vengeance of God and was praised for it. Now, chapter five is an amazing song. We're not going to read it all. We could, but we're not going to read it all. But let me just make a couple of notes from chapter five, just in conclusion here. Chapter five, verse twenty four. This is the song of Deborah and Barack and the singing that they do most blessed, verse twenty four, most blessed among women is J.L., the wife of Heber the Kenite. Blessed is she among women in tents. He asked for water. She gave him milk. She brought out cream in a lordly bowl. She stretched her hand to the tent peg, her right hand to the workman's hammer. She pounded Sisera. She pierced his head. She split and struck through his temple. At her feet he sank. He fell. He lay still. At her feet he sank. He fell. Where he sank, there he fell, dead. That's a song. They're singing that as a song. Which tells us something also about the culture being a little different than what we expect in 21st century Western culture too, does it not? And to some extent, this is not an indictment against this here, but You know, we still have that kind of mentality today amongst a lot of your Islamic fundamentalists, you know, dancing in the streets when their enemies are destroyed and singing. And, you know, it's a different mindset than what we're used to and a different way of looking at things. Of course, here it's blessed by God because they're giving all the praise to God, giving all the glory to God and the will of God has been done here. And so, We can see that she's praised for what she had done and celebrated. And then as a final note of judgment, the very human element of all of this is recounted. Let's just read the rest of it. Verse 28. The mother of Sisera looked through the window and cried out through the lattice. Why is this chariot so long in coming? Why tarries the clatter of his chariots? Her wisest ladies answered her. Yes, she answered herself. Are they not finding and dividing the spoil? To every man, a girl or two. For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments. Plunder of garments embroidered and dyed. Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter. That's the hope that they had. That's how they comforted themselves of why he was so long delayed. He was too busy with the spoils of his victory. But of course, you know better, don't you? Thus, let all your enemies perish, O Lord, but let those who love him be like the sun when it comes out in full strength. So the land had rest for 40 years. You know, the enemies of God will perish. It's absolutely certain. David oppressed Israel for 20 years. He isn't oppressing Israel any longer, is he? You know, in fact, he hasn't been oppressing Israel for over 3000 years now. You know, God has time to wait. That's the thing we need to realize that when we look around, your blood can boil sometimes when you see the things that happen in this world and the injustices that take place. You know, yeah, we can be angry about that and we can get angry about the injustices. And if there's something we can do about it, we can try. But when it's absolutely hopeless and there's nothing that you can do and the things have just happened, you can rest assured of this. God has time to wait. He doesn't execute judgment immediately. He takes his time, but he always executes judgment, and he always does it right on time. And his people will be delivered. His people will gain the victory. By faith, we will conquer. That faith, of course, is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. So don't lose hope, even in difficult and dark situations. Let's look to the Lord in prayer.