Today, we're on the 17th sermon in the series of Women on Faith, and it's Judges chapter 4. We're going to be looking at Deborah, a very, very interesting woman. I think we can learn a lot of lessons from her life. Judges chapter 4, and we'll be reading verses 4 through 10. Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. Then she sent and called for Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kadesh and Naphtali, and said to him, Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor? Take with you 10,000 men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun, and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude, at the river Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand. And Barak said to her, If you will go with me, then I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go. So she said, I will surely go with you, nevertheless. There will 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 arose and went with Barak to Kadesh. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kadesh, and he went up with 10,000 men under his command, and Deborah went up with him." Father, we thank you for your word. And I pray that as we study these two chapters, that you would be glorified, we'd be encouraged, and Father, that we would also grow in any areas that we are not yet conformed to your will. Bless this, the preaching of your word, in Jesus' name, amen. CBS News told a story about a Utah couple by the name of Ben and Jackie Benlap. Actually, Belknap, not Benlap. And they'd been saving up money all year long to pay back his parents for season football tickets that his parents had bought for them. And they were ready to deliver that, and they put the envelope with $1,060 up on the counter so that they would not forget. And just a little bit later, they came back to pick up the envelope, and it's gone. And they were hunting high and low, getting more and more frantic about where in the world is this money. And suddenly, Jackie had a sickening feeling. She remembered that the day before, she had let their two-year-old son help them shredding papers. And she said, surely he wouldn't have done that this morning. So she rushed over to the shredder. And sure enough, their little son had been helping mommy out and had put the, you know, shredded the money into a zillion little pieces. And they just sat there stunned, not knowing what in the world to think. And after a little while, Jackie finally said, well, this will make a great wedding story. Ben was not humored, not at all. They couldn't get mad at the kid, because he didn't even know what money was. And after all, the day before, they had sort of given him permission to shred papers with her. So they thought, this is just an absolute total loss. Well, on a whim, Ben Belknap contacted the Treasury Department, which he discovered actually has a mutilated currency division. They redeem, that's the word that they use, they redeem mutilated currency, you know, rat eaten and insect eaten and in various ways, dilapidated currency. Apparently they've got about 30,000 applications a year amounting to about $30 million that's given by the government back to people for their mutilated money. And so he called them up. They said, yeah, go ahead and put all the shredded pieces into Ziploc bags and send it into the treasury. And so this story actually ended up with a happy ending. Well, brothers and sisters, we live in a culture that has completely shredded the values of our founding fathers. Only unlike the two-year-old son, This has been very deliberately done with a high hand. As Psalm 2 says, we have cast off the bonds of Christ as a nation. It's very, very disheartening. It is sickening, very sickening to see the state of our nation. But thankfully, the Bible tells us that redemption is still possible. Jesus delights in redeeming mutilated lives, mutilated families, even mutilated cultures. and he can redeem your shredded life, and he can actually use you, previously shredded, to bring redemption to our shredded culture, and Deborah shows us exactly how. Deborah was a woman who was disheartened over her own shredded culture, and God used her faith, her courage, and her prophetic messages to restore things for a generation. And by the way, Judges is a book that is just filled with this cycle of shredding and then redemption, shredding and redemption. It doesn't have to be that way, but it tends to repeat. And for those of you who think, hey, I'm only a mom, there's not much of anything that I can do, I want you to look at chapter five and verse seven. Chapter five, verse seven, it says, and this is, Deborah and Barak speaking, but it says, village life ceased. It ceased in Israel until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel. Now we'll look later at what it means to be a mother in Israel. There was a lot that you women can imitate Deborah on as a as a mother in Israel. You're not a prophetess, so you can't imitate her on that, but there is a lot that we can do. But before we get into that, I want to look first of all at Israel's shredded culture. Verses 1 through 3 indicate that during the first 20 years after Ehud's judgeship, Israel was being harshly ruled by Jabin the Canaanite. He ruled over most of Israel, other than some Philistine holdings on the western side. And he ruled over Israel between the years 1298 and 1278. Any time strong leadership is absent, as was the case when Ehud died, Liberty does not flourish, contrary to the theories of anarchists. There is always a tyrant to fill the gap. It's just human nature. And anarchism and most forms of libertarianism completely miss the implications of the doctrine of total depravity, at least as it applies to politics. Fallen humans will always need strong leadership. Not tyrants, but strong, godly leadership. But there is a deeper reason why this tyrant came, and verses 1 through 3 give us that reason. This is not a fluke of geopolitical meanderings. It says, 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 Herosheth Hagoyim. This was not some fluke of history. It was God himself who was using these Canaanites to discipline his people. He sold Israel into the hands of Jabin. Verse 3, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, for Jabin had 900 chariots of iron, and for 20 years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel. I fear that increasing oppression will come in America for exactly the same reason. It's because the Church of Jesus Christ has been backsliding. And people cry out, you know, for deliverance from certain areas of tyranny, but God's not going to send deliverance without repentance, and there's not going to be widespread repentance until the church begins to bring God's Word back into the public arena. The story of Deborah is a story about the power of inspired revelation. Yes, even in the hands of a mother. Well, what kind of oppression did Jabin bring? Let me outline some of the aspects of oppression. Chapter 5 verse 8 says that he completely disarmed Israel. That is one kind of oppression. It says they chose new gods. So that's the reason for the oppression. And then comes Deborah's war. Then there was war in the gates. But here is the problem. It says not a shield or spear was seen among 40,000 in Israel. They were completely disarmed. So what did they fight with? I believe that they had to fight with makeshift weapons. You know, sometimes you have to do with what you can find when weapons have been confiscated. But if you take a look at chapter three, verse 31, you'll see an example of this. Shamgar was a judge who fought in this war. It was exactly at the same time. And he used an ox goat, you know, a sharp pointy stick to kill 600 men. So sometimes you do have to make do with improvised weapons when weapons are confiscated. And I kind of picture Shamgar as kind of a Jackie Chan guy who's flying among these soldiers with his pointy stick. But even if he was a martial artist, which is what I picture in my mind, it's still a miracle. He's taking on 600 Philistines, and he kills them. Just astounding. But in any case, all weapons have been confiscated. In every age, weapon control attempts are attempts to be like Jabin, to control the population. This way, Jabin could raise the taxes as high as he wanted, to demand that people work on his projects, to divert all of Israel's governmental functions, and they did have government officials, but to divert those governmental functions to serve him rather than serving the people. And his confiscation of food reserves, because tyrants think you are an obvious threat to society if you have food reserves that you don't need, His confiscation of food reserves resulted in people starving and starting to steal and engaging in highway robbery, we find out in chapter five, making the roads unsafe. But because local officials were conscripted for Jabin's security, that's what police are always for, it's for the security of the state, not the people. Because they were conscripted for Jabin's security, not Israel's, they were not deployed to make the road safe. It was a mess. The Israelite leaders were not doing much of anything good. So chapter five, verses six through seven says, in the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of jail, so the jail of our story and Shamgar lived at exactly the same time, She says, the highways were deserted and the travelers walked along the byways. Village life ceased. It ceased in Israel until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel. And so during the first 20 years after Ehud, Everyone was under the boot of Jabin, and life was not very good. When you study chapter 5, you see crime went up, burglaries were rampant, people left their villages because they could no longer protect. It was just ridiculous. So they went to the fortified towns. Travel on the main roads was no longer safe, and so they went in the back roads, off-road, you know, in the woods, to try to escape from detection. She lived in tumultuous times, but I find it interesting that those tumultuous times didn't keep her from going outside. Okay? In Judges 4, verse 5, she judged cases under this palm tree. She did not live in fear. She was a courageous woman. And you might ask, where were the Israelite men during this time? And the answer is that most just went along to get along. Even the leaders of Israel just did whatever Jabin wanted them to do. It was much easier to make money that way. And if they did resist, it does not appear to have done much good. Shamgar being the one exception, although Floyd Nolan Jones believes that he arose only when Deborah and Barak arose. He was one of the valiant ones fighting in the West while they were fighting in the East and in the central regions. And so some commentators believe that he was biding his time as well prior to this war. Chapter 3, verse 31, after him was Shamgar, the son of Anaph, who killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox goad, and he also delivered Israel. Now it doesn't say when in that 20-year period that Shamgar arose, but the verse that I just read, chapter 5, verse 6, makes most commentators believe that Shamgar was a contemporary of Deborah and Barak. And some believe he either died in this battle or shortly afterwards. Josephus says he died a year later, of what we don't know. But here's the question, what was Shamgar doing during the previous 19 years? I think that's the loaded question. We'll shortly see in chapter 5 that Barak was also a governor who was allowed to continue to rule under Jabin, but he wasn't doing his governor's job very well, at least not on behalf of Israel. One of Deborah's tasks was to push and to push the men to lead. And when they did lead, she praises them, saying, When leaders lead in Israel, bless the Lord. Chapter 5, verse 2. We'll see that part of being a mother in Israel is not taking over the man's job, but helping the men and encouraging the men, and sometimes even goading the men into leading. This was what Deborah was doing. Now let's look at the pathetic job that other Jewish male leaders of the tribes were doing. They had really lost their manhood. Take a look at chapter five and the first phrase of verse three. Hear, O kings, give ear, O princes, So there were kings and princes who needed to hear the word of God. She was just a delivery girl, but she did deliver God's messages. In verses six through eight, she blames the bad situation in Israel on the leaders who did nothing. That's verses six through eight. In verse nine, she praises the few who did join with them in this battle. She says, my heart is with the rulers of Israel who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless the Lord. Verse 14, first part of verse 15 praises some other leaders of some tribes who came down to join, but apparently they had not been making much of a difference in the previous 20 years. And there were still some leaders who simply would not make the sacrifices needed to establish freedom. We won't get into it much today, but if you study the life of Jael, you know, the one that pounds the stake through Sisera's head, you study her life, you discover Jael's husband was rather passive as well. The men were not leading. They were taking the easy path of just getting along. Starting in the last clause of chapter five and verse 15, Among the divisions of Reuben there were great resolves of heart. Resolves of heart do not equal action, and without action they're useless. There were great resolves of heart. Why did you sit among the sheepfolds to hear the pipings for the flocks? The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan, and why did Dan remain on ships? Asher continued at the seashore and stayed by his inlets. They were more interested in pursuing their own agendas than in helping to restore a shredded nation. Their priorities were not right, and Deborah was not shy about pointing out those misplaced priorities. That, too, is what it means to be a mother in Israel. You do not ignore the sins of the men. You encourage them to lead in righteousness. But the point is that many of these verses speak of the presence of Jewish princes and nobles and tribal governors during that 20-year period. They were around. They existed. Their bodies were there. But where were they in terms of true courageous leadership? They were AWOL, absent without leave. They were not doing what they were supposed to be doing. At least that seems to be the implication of Deborah's words in chapter five. And we'll see that initially Barak himself started out very fearful of engaging in interposition. And by the way, my book on Divine Rights of Resistance has got about, what is it, 30 or 40 pages added. It's a new edition out there and deals with that subject. But when men won't lead, it sometimes takes Deborah's to goad those men into action. And you might wonder why people came to Deborah, the prophetess, in order to get their cases judged by her. And I think that there was very good reason. Chapter five, verses 10 through 11, is one hint among many that the established judges in the land and they were there, were really worthless during those 20 years. You need to remember that the chief judge both ruled and judged cases, but all of the other judges did not rule. They just judged cases. The chief judge would be kind of an appeals court, and that would be the case with Barack and Samson and others. Chapter 5 verse 10 refers to some of these wealthy judges who judged but did not rule. And the song says that now that roads are safe, and there is no more danger, there is no excuse but to speak and to judge by God's justice. She says, speak, you who ride on white donkeys, who sit in judges attire and who walk by the road, please speak. Okay, you have the opportunity now, but that command to speak implies that previously they were not giving good justice. And so that's the context in which Deborah lived. And God sent Deborah to fix this problem, and we'll look first of all at who she is, who she was, and then we'll look at who she was not, and then once we get a good picture of who she really is, and we're gonna spend a fair bit of time on that, then we're going to show how she beautifully models to women today what it means to be a mother in Israel. I think very practical lessons that we will learn from her. And yes, this is going to be a controversial sermon for both the feminists and the hyper-patriarchalists. But God valued Deborah's actions, and so should we. Chapter 4, verse 4. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoph, was judging Israel at that time. So first of all, she was a prophetess. There are eight passages in the Bible that speak of true prophetesses, and there are two passages that speak of false prophetesses, not just good prophetesses that occasionally made a mistake, no, false prophetesses, okay? And just like prophets, prophetesses could be judged as true or false by whether any of their prophecies had any error in them whatsoever at any time. Just like true prophets, true prophetesses received inerrant, inspired, infallible revelation directly from the Lord for the people. Second Peter 121 says this was true even when they just spoke, when they did not write. when they spoke a prophecy. If there was any error whatsoever in their prophecies, they were automatically considered a false prophet or a false prophetess. This means what she spoke came directly from God. You cannot criticize her words. What she spoke came directly from God. But this also puts the stamp of approval, God's approval on what she is doing here. This is what many conservatives miss. Like we saw with Anna last week, whatever it was that Deborah did, it had the stamp of God's approval upon it. And too many people write off Deborah as being an anomaly in history, having zero relevance for today. They are refusing to deal with Deborah. No, we need to learn from her life. We can't just write her off as a weird anomaly. We need to value the mothers in Israel in our own day. Second, verse four says that she was the wife of Lapidoth. In her day-to-day affairs, she was operating under the authority of her husband, and we can praise God when husbands allow their wives to serve in the broader kingdom. He obviously did not feel insecure in the fact that she was more gifted than he was, was more popular than he was, was more influential than he was, was more sought after than he was. No. He was secure in his own position, and he gives no evidence that he had anything but approval for what she did. And I think we men can learn from Lapidoth in this. Gifted women need to be able to use their gifts in God's ways. Now, feminists take this off in a bad direction, and they have women operating in ways that undermine their femininity. They're no longer mothers in Israel. They're trying to be fathers in Israel. They misread Deborah. But as we will also see, hyper-patriarchalists go too far in the opposite direction by hemming women and hemming women's gifts into an unbiblical box. Lapidoth was a man who was secure in his wife's enormous gifts, and she was able to use those gifts. And so a lot of today's sermon is going to be clearing away the underbrush and the rubbish that is accumulated through some of the books that are out there. And I've read a ton of books on this, and it's really discouraging. But once we've cleared away the underbrush, then I think we'll be able to see clearly the beautiful ways that Deborah models how women can be used to restore shredded homes and cultures. The next thing that we see is that she was judging Israel at that time. And verse 5 specifies what that meant. We'll be seeing shortly, she wasn't ruling. Instead it says, and she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. Now, when the uninspired judges of Israel were giving bad judgments, enriching themselves with bribes, and in other ways were being self-serving, it was so refreshing to finally find a person who not only was not self-serving, but who always gave infallible judgments. How cool is that? Well, unless you're in the wrong. I mean, who wouldn't want to go to a judge like that if you're in the right, right? She'd get it right first time. So she gave judgments by inspiration. Now, there are some who say that at a minimum, Deborah models how women can serve as civil judges. And on the surface, that seems like a legitimate application and conclusion. But let me explain why this actually misses six very, very important points. First, it makes their deduction concerning Deborah to flat out contradict repeated commands in scripture that civil magistrates had to be male. And say, oh, wow, OK, is this a contradiction? had to be male. I have 15 passages of my notes here, I'm not going to read them all to you, that show that the civil office of judgeship was a male-only office. And the same Holy Spirit who inspired Deborah inspired the law, and the Holy Spirit is pretty logical. He's not going to contradict himself, right? But We can't just ignore Deborah. Since the Holy Spirit obviously authorized Deborah to do this, we ought to look for an interpretation that does not contradict the earlier passages but still takes Deborah's work seriously. Second, she is not called a judge or a savior or a deliverer, as the other judges were. Yes, she rendered judgment or made decisions, as the word could be translated, but this could be done in three ways. Some commentators take it that she gave divine guidance for the issues that Israel was facing. Some take it that she gave private arbitration or public private arbitration or, you know, binding arbitration or conflict resolution. That's the way I take it. And then some take it, no, she was a public judge. But only the last way really contradicts the law of God, but it is significant. She is not called a judge. In fact, in Fruchtenbaum's commentary, he gives 13 exegetical contextual arguments that clearly distinguish her from all other judges. Completely, completely different. In addition to those 13 arguments, which I don't have time to get into, Others argue that this is the only place in Judges where this form of the word to judge is used, indicating that this may be a different kind of judgment. Third, the text is quite clear that Deborah did not make these judgments in the gates of a town or in the gates of a city. And this is very significant because the law of God mandated that this be the case for all civil judges. They were not allowed to have, you know, roving courts that people couldn't find or secret star chambers. It always had to be judgments in the gates of the city. Let me just give you a couple of examples. Deuteronomy 16, 18. You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God has given you according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment." Deuteronomy 17 verse 5 says the execution or the punishment that resulted from that judgment also had to take place in those gates. Couldn't be secret. It had to be public. It had to be in the authorized place. Zechariah 8, verse 16, commands the males to, quote, give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace. So all civil, public civil cases had to be done in public, not in private, in the same official place, not a randomly changing place, and be done by males. And I've got some other scriptures here as well. But just take a look for now at Judges 4, verse 5, and see the deliberate contrast with these laws of God that regulated official civil judges. It says, and she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. So it was under a palm tree, not on the gates of the city. It was under the palm tree of Deborah, emphasizing her private area, not a public area of the city. So this makes it a private place. And it explicitly says it was not in the two nearest towns. It was between those nearest towns, between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains. In other words, these judgments of Deborah are clearly and deliberately done in a setting that was different from that of the official civil judges of Israel in chapter 5. The writer goes out of his way to make it clear. She is not one of the civil judges that chapter 5 will reference. She's clearly being distinguished. Now, this makes her judgments fit one of two possibilities. As one commentator worded it, prophetic guidance for a nation in distress, Or second, and this is the way I take it, to engage in conflict resolution, arbitration, and or binding arbitration. So when the question comes, could women use scripture to engage in conflict resolution, arbitration, binding arbitration today? I see that as far less problematic. That's much closer to the parallelism here. But even that application fails to account for the next clearly stated clarification in the text. The fourth clarification is that the Hebrew grammar for verse 4 shows that it was as a prophetess that Deborah made these judgments. She was giving God's judgments, not her own judgment. And as such, she was a passive vehicle for God's word to speak through her. And as we'll see a little bit more clearly in a bit, That contrasts her with any woman today. There are no inspired prophetesses today. Fifth, by sitting way out in the remote mountains of Ephraim, about as remote as you could get, between the only two towns, it's clear she's doing this ministry for individuals. And then six, the fact that the children of Israel came to her voluntarily rather than being brought to her by force, as might be the case in some civil judgments, shows that this is in the realm of either guidance or arbitration, not civics. So there are a lot of hints in verses four through five that help us to understand this. She is not a civic judge. I think the view that she was judging cases via binding arbitration is probably the most likely, where parties had contracted themselves to be bound by her inspired decisions. By the way, if people want to use a woman for binding arbitration today, that's up to them. It's not my jurisdiction, the church's jurisdiction, or a state jurisdiction to rule that out. Just be aware. She's not going to give infallible judgments like Deborah did, OK? So that's up to you. But there is not a one-to-one parallel. But the next unusual thing about Deborah is that in verses 6 through 7, we also see that as a prophetess, she had the authority to command male leaders to do things. What's with that? Is that not exercising authority over a man? I mean, that's what feminists conclude. But it wasn't the woman, Deborah, who was giving this command. It was the prophetess, Deborah. What difference does that make? Well, it was God speaking the command through her. And let me just use a similar example to try to explain this. Samuel was a prophet, even as a little kid. And when God spoke through Samuel, in fact, bringing rebukes of Eli, To Eli through Samuel doesn't mean that Samuel's ruling over Eli. Eli's still the authority over Samuel. It's just God speaking to him. And in the same way, Deborah is not exercising authority. If you take a look at chapter four, verse six, I'll demonstrate this. And she sent and called for Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kadesh and Naphtali, and said to him, has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor Take with you 10,000 men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun, and against you I, this is God speaking, I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude at the river Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand." So notice the operative words, has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, and then she gives a verbatim message from the Lord. So this in no way shows a woman's authority over a man. 1 Peter 3 verse 1 says that when women share God's word with their husbands today, they're not violating this command of submission, as long as they're not nagging, he says. You know, that's what it means without a word, they're not nagging. They're just sharing what God has said. But in the case of Deborah, it's even more obvious since it shows the beauty of prophecy. 2 Peter 1 21 talks about those Old Testament prophets and says, prophecy never came by the will of man. But holy men of God spoke, notice this is not just writing the Bible, they spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And so her prophecies did not come by her own will, which means her will is not over a man's will. Hopefully that's clear. She was simply the vehicle through whom the Holy Spirit spoke. Well, that means there's no one-to-one parallel with even binding arbitration today. Nevertheless, this was a true gift to Israel and it was also a rebuke to Israel because the judges and Israel itself had abandoned the law of Moses. So God was giving new revelation through a woman to put them in their place. But she would do it in a way that did not in any way violate her role as a mother in Israel. But I think we can understand who Deborah was better if we understand what she was not. Feminists of today are not acting as mothers in Israel. They are acting as fathers in Israel. They act as if Deborah was a father in Israel when they insist that she justifies women being pastors, civil judges, governors, presidents, soldiers, generals, or anything else that they want to be. That is reading way more into the passage here than is there. And it's also ignoring her constant prodding of men to be men, right? We can hugely benefit from Deborah and encourage women to be true mothers in Israel when they understand what she was not. First, she was not told by God to lead the armies. Praise God. You women do not have to join the army, okay? The exact opposite is true. Chapter 4, verse 6 commands Barak to do so. Now we've already read that, so I won't read it again. Chapter 5, verse 15 says he did indeed act as commander of the armies. So she rightly refuses to be the general of the army. And the enemy general Sisera saw Barak as the leader of the army in chapter 4 verse 12. Now, all of those verses clearly show Barak is leading the armies, Deborah as not. She's on top of the mountain, even during the time of fighting. It makes it clear. Take a look, for example, at chapter 4 and verses 14 through 16. It's Barak, not Deborah, who leads. She doesn't even fight. Well, she especially doesn't fight. 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, notice it's not women, 10,000 men following him, and the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all 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 far as Herosheth, Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a man was left." Now, if you flip down to verse 22, you'll see the same. And then as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, she's already killed him, and said to him, come, I will show you the man whom you seek. And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera dead with a peg in his temple. So it was Barak who led the armies, not Deborah. By the way, even though Jael was not in the army, Deborah has nothing but praise for her not allowing Sisera to escape. She had a supportive role, but not as an active soldier. The law of God repeatedly made the military a male-only domain. I have 20 passages in my notes here that show that only men were allowed in the army, okay? But that doesn't mean that women cannot shoot. to kill when defending themselves or their home. I think women should be taught how to use weapons for self-defense. And even beyond that, Judges 4 through 5 shows that during times of war, women are allowed to kill enemy combatant soldiers when the need arises. But none of that was being part of the army. The protection of the nation and the protection of a home is primarily the man's job. And Deborah definitely reinforces that with her inspired commands. She didn't even want to be on the battlefield. Now, she does go, because Barak needs her moral encouragement. But she says, basically, he ought to be ashamed of himself. But it was Barak alone of the two of them who went into battle. So don't let people say that this justifies female soldiers or generals. Chapter 4, verse 10 shows that she was not even involved in drafting soldiers. Barak conscripted recruiters, and they only recruited men. Don't use Deborah to justify adding females to the military draft. Chapter 5, verse 14 reiterates that point. It uses the masculine for those who bore the recruiter's staff. Third, she was not told by God to lead Israel as a nation. God commands Barak to lead. Cannot show a single place where Deborah is commanded to lead. In chapter 5, verse 2, she praises male leaders when they are willing to lead, using the masculine for leader, as she says, when leaders lead in Israel, when the people willingly offer themselves, bless the Lord. In verse 12, the inspired song commands Barak Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, O son of Abinuwam." And interestingly, in Hebrews 11, verse 32, looking back on this time, it only mentions Barak as being a judge in Israel. It does not mention Deborah at all. And interestingly, there's not a single record to Deborah continuing to be a judge after this time. Now, she may have judged in some way, but But after Israel was restored, there's no evidence of that. And that may be why Hebrews 11, 32 mentions Barak, but not Deborah. Again, history is not normative. God's law is, and God's law makes it crystal clear that it's only males, ish, who can be heads, raish, over tribes and nations. Deuteronomy 1, 13, 15, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. In fact, women are not even allowed to vote in the Bible. I've got a whole book written on male vote and how universal suffrage destroys the family. Isaiah 3 verse 12 says that it is a shame and a sign of God's abandonment of the nation, is a sign of oppression when women rule a nation. There is nothing whatsoever good about female governors or any other female in politics. I will never vote for a woman in any political office because I think it is a curse. I do not think it is good. Even if the woman is as good as Deborah, I would not vote for her. Wait a minute, if she was as good as Deborah, she would resign. She would not run for office. She would tell the men, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. And then finally, as was already mentioned, she was not using her own words when giving orders on how the military should function. She was not interpreting revelation. She was giving revelation. She says, has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, then gives a verbatim quote of God to Barak. Human judges today would have to interpret revelation. That would be different. So, let's get into application. How did she see herself? This really gets to the heart of how we can apply Deborah, and now the hyper-patriarchs are going to start to squirm. Chapter 5, verse 7 says that she saw herself as a mother in Israel. What does that look like? were Israelite mothers, helpless damsels who didn't dare get their feet muddy and they needed a knight in shining armor to lay a coat down on the puddle so that they could walk across, not on your life. Women in Israel had no problem stepping in the manure as they are milking the cows and the goats. They had no problem butchering animals. They had no problem holding their own in theological conversations in the home. They were not wallflowers. They were strong, okay? If the phrase mother in Israel means anything, it must be consistent with the only two times that that phrase occurs in scripture. The other time is 2 Samuel 20, where the wise woman of Abel took matters into her own hands when the leaders of the city were too stupid to see that tact and diplomacy were needed, not manly brawn. Okay, she was a Deborah, was trying to help the men do the right thing. In fact, why don't you turn there with me to 2 Samuel chapter 20, and we're gonna read a good section of that. The context is that there was a rebel in the city of Abel who had previously tried to overthrow the kingdom of David, and Joab had chased this guy all over Israel. He ran into the city of Abel. Joab came, he's bringing an army against this city to besiege the city. And what do the men do when somebody comes to fight against them? Well, they just fight back. They don't stop to ask, what's this war about anyway? Emotions can many times cloud us men's minds. And so let's take a look, starting at verse 16. This is 2 Samuel 20. Actually, I'm going to start at verse 14. And he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and Bethma'aka and all the Baraites. And so they were gathered together and also went after Sheba. He's the bad guy. Then they came and besieged him and Abel of Bethma'aka and they cast up a siege mound against the city and it stood by the rampart and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. Then a wise woman cried out from the city, here, here, please say to Joab, come nearby that I may speak with you. When he had come near to her, the woman said, Are you Joab? He answered, I am. Then she said to him, Hear the words of your maidservant. He said, I am listening. So she spoke, saying, They used to talk in former times, saying, They shall surely seek guidance at Abel. And so they would end disputes. I am among the peaceable. and faithful in Israel, you seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel, why would you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? And Joab answered and said, far be it from me, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy, that is not so. But a man from the mountains of Ephraim, Sheba, the son of Bichri by name, has raised his hand against the king, against David, deliver him only and I will depart from the city. So the woman said to Joab, watch, his head will be thrown to you over the wall. Then the woman in her wisdom went to all the people, and they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. Then he blew a trumpet, and they withdrew from the city, every man to his tent. So Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem." That's what a mother in Israel does, okay? She doesn't take on the man's role, okay, but she knows how and when to intrude herself on behalf of her men. That's the point. Now, let's turn back to Judges 4 through 5. I want to take a look at 12 things that this mother in Israel courageously did. Now, I only put 10 in your outlines, but then I realized I made the outlines too quick. realized I need to add in a couple of more. They're not critical points, but the first omitted point, and it's an obvious point, is she's a mother. Okay? That's what chapter 5, verse 7, she is a mother in Israel. It does not say, by the way, she is a mother of Israel, as the feminists want to say. The preposition is quite clear. She is a mother in Israel. There's a big difference. So the phrase means she had children. We aren't told if her children were grown up or not, but she was a mother. Married women should aspire to have children. Because the children aren't mentioned, commentators many times assume she was older, that they were grown. We actually don't know that for sure. Second, she ministered outside the home. Chapter 4, verse 5 is clear on that. She ministered to Israelites under the palm tree. And you can't say that she was in sin doing so because she was prophesying these judgments outside the home and the prophets were not moved by their own will. Now, you might argue that this palm tree of Deborah was likely near their home. But the fact of the matter is she still ministered to Israelites outside of her home. Now, obviously, Paul calls women to be homemakers in Titus 2, verse 5, and to manage the home. That's a very strong word, by the way. It's got despot in there. It's a very strong lordship over the homes, 1 Timothy 5, 14. But here's the point. If women have taken adequate control of their duties, adequate care of all their home duties, there is no reason why a woman cannot minister outside the home. And the very passage that fundamentalists turn to to try to keep women penned up in the home proves the exact opposite. You know, Paul told Timothy that in Titus, in Titus chapter 2, that the older women should train the younger women how to be managers of their home, right? Well, have you ever asked how the older women did that? They didn't have iPhones back then. In order for the older women to be training the younger women how to manage their home and do all of these other practical duties, One of the two of them had to go outside their home, right, to be able to do that. And so the fact of the matter is, Deborah, with God's authorization, ministered outside the home. This is a necessary corrective to hyper-patriarchalism. Third, in verses 8 through 11, you can see that she doesn't appreciate cowardice in men. And yes, she's willing to be a moral support on the battlefield if he absolutely needs her. But notice her rebuke. And yes, women are allowed to bring rebuke to men. You could add that as an additional point if you want. Chapter four, verse eight. And Barak said to her, if you will go with me, then I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go. In other words, I'm not going to obey God unless you go with me. What kind of leadership is that? In effect, he's saying, I'm too scared to obey God, verse 9, so she said, I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman, and that would be jail, not Deborah, jail. Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh, and Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kadesh. He went up with 10,000 men under his command, and Deborah went up with him. Now, she didn't consider that the ideal, but hey, if it was necessary, she was willing to do it. She's willing to give moral support, and some men need that moral support. Next, she was an encourager, and I think all men need this. She encouraged Barak to lead, let's see, in verses, this is chapter four, verses six, nine, 14, and then again in chapter five, verse two. Mothers in Israel don't want to usurp the role of a man. They want the man to step up to the plate. And so when you men are encouraged by your wives to lead, lead. Don't get mad at them. They're not leading by asking you to lead. They're trying to be mothers in Israel, encouraging you, you know, I want to have your back, but let's try to lead. I'm not going to be bucking your leadership. Next, she let the rulers and all of the volunteer soldiers know that her heart was with them, and she greatly appreciated them. She didn't keep that appreciation of respect to herself. She verbalized it. She was generous with praise. Too many leaders get nothing but criticism, and they don't get the praise that they need. There's actually more to this point in chapter 5, verse 9. My heart is with the rulers of Israel, who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless the Lord." She loves it when the men willingly offer themselves to the Lord for His kingdom service. David Guzik's commentary says this about that verse. Her vision was bigger than just getting her job done. She wanted to see the kingdom of God advanced. And mothers in Israel today should not hold back their husbands or other men by their domestic concerns. And yes, the kingdom includes their domestic concerns. But mothers in Israel have a broad kingdom vision, and they appreciate it when their husbands and other men have a broad kingdom vision. They are blessed when their men get involved in the cultural battles of today. Their heart is with them. They don't think, oh, no, my husband might get in trouble if he gets involved. You know, I might lose my husband. No, they don't allow their fears to dampen their husband's kingdom enthusiasm, even if there is danger involved. Mothers in Israel have a broad kingdom vision. Next, she was interested in justice and seeing judges judge rightly. And she was outraged. She was outraged when justice was not happening. Now that the war is over, she says in verses 10 through 11, this is chapter five. Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, who sit in judges attire and who walk along the road far from the noise of archers among the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous acts for his villagers in Israel. Then. the people of the Lord shall go down to the gates." Now that's what should happen in the gates. Now several have pointed out that a better translation for righteous there, and each phrase is just. So here's how four versions that I own have translated this. There they shall recount the just acts of the Lord, the just acts for his villagers in Israel, Then the people of the Lord shall go down to the gates." The reason that Deborah was just overwhelmed with all of these cases was because the other justices, the judges, were not giving justice. The people will go down to the gates. Remember, the gates are the places where the official judges are supposed to be judging. Not the palm tree, but the gates. They will go down to the gates when judges have a biblical worldview, when their decisions are defined by God's justice. It will automatically happen. But on the contrary, when official court justice looks less and less like God's justice, then righteous men are going to be less inclined to use the courts, right? The court system, they're going to revert to the church or to other forms of arbitration or binding arbitration. In fact, Paul says it is an absolute shame when Christians sue each other in a secular court. He said that ought not to happen. He says, is there not even just one person among you who can judge these things? Not even one? He's not talking about the elders. He's not talking about... Courts of the church are not the only place you can get justice. You can just seek out a person and say, look, we've not been able to come to agreement on this. Whatever you settle, we're going to agree to your judgment. I mean, you could actually save time, just flip a coin, right? But no, there is a place for that going to somebody wise who can settle judgments for you. And by the way, this is a sign of a nation going to the birds when a majority of the citizens refuse no longer believe in the justice of the courts in China. The average citizen usually doesn't bother to use the courts and instead uses the binding arbitration of friends or other people that they respect. Several journals have shown that the vast, vast majority of Chinese cases are tried privately by binding arbitration. They completely bypass the court system. Now, obviously, they aren't inspired like Deborah was, but they feel they're going to get a better shake for far less money if they get justice under a palm tree, in other words privately, rather than under the monolithic state facility. And that's actually what Deborah was doing. She was engaging in binding arbitration, at least in my opinion. Some think she was only giving guidance, but I don't think it does justice to the word judgment. In any case, she was not judging in the gates of the city. Notice that she wants justice of the civic judges to reflect God's justice when they actually judge in the gates. She was able to give God's justice by getting direct revelation from the Lord. But uninspired judges in every age can give God's justice by going to the inspired law of God in the scripture and seeking to the best of their ability to interpret it and to apply it. One of the blessings that was placed upon Gad in Deuteronomy 33 was this. He came with the heads of the people. He administered the justice of the Lord and his judgments with Israel. Zephaniah 2 verse 3 praises those, quote, who have upheld his justice. Since Hebrews 2 verse 2 says that every penalty in the Old Testament was a just penalty, to the degree that we deviate from the Old Testament law to that degree, our court system is unjust. Wow, that means the entire American court system is an unjust court system, plain and simple. Because like we see in Nebraska here, if you bring even a small phrase from Scripture to the court, it's gonna be thrown out. They have kicked God and the Bible out of our court system. Why on earth would you go to a court system like that to deal with your stuff? Far, far better if Christians and churches begin setting up arbitration panels, conflict resolution panels, and binding arbitration panels to deal with things like that. And actually, I praise God, these are springing up all over the states. It's a sign of the downhill slope of our country. But anyway, Deborah gave justice because she gave God's revelation. When courts reject God's word, you will not have justice, period. Next, she encouraged others through song. She broke out into this inspired song in verse 1, but verse 12 shows one of the goals. Awake, awake, Deborah. Awake, awake, sing a song. Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, O son of Abinuwan." She commanded herself four times to awake. To be awake is to be cognizant of what is happening. And a mother in Israel is very much aware of current events and knows how to pray and how to encourage others and how to speak into people's lives without undermining their authority. And yes, sometimes it's hard to navigate that. Sometimes you make mistakes, but that's what a woman in Israel tries to do. Next, a mother in Israel praises those who sacrifice a lot. She's got lots of praise in verses 13 through 15 and in verse 18. Then the survivors came down, the people against the nobles. The Lord came down for me against the mighty. From Ephraim were those whose roots were in Amalek. After you, Benjamin, with your peoples. From Makar, rulers came down. From Zebulun, those who bear the recruiter's staff. And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah. As Issachar, so was Barak sent into the valley under his command. Among the divisions of Reuben there were great resolves of heart. Down in verse 18 she says, Zebulun is a people who jeopardized their lives to the point of death, Naphtali also on the heights of the battlefield. Men will rise up to do great things, when their women respect them, encourage them, appreciate their efforts, they will rise to do incredibly courageous things on behalf of a mother of Israel. Not on behalf of an ag. An ag will make them do the exact opposite. but a mother in Israel who truly cares for them, who truly has their back. When women become feminist fathers in Israel, the exact opposite happens. It emasculates the men and keeps them from the leadership that women wish they would exercise, okay? It backfires. Next, she spoke of her disappointment of leaders who were cowards. It's okay for women to be disappointed when men are cowards. Starting to read in the last phrase in verse 15, Among the divisions of Reuben there were great resolves of heart. Why did you sit among the sheepfolds to hear the pipings for the flocks? The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And why did Dan remain on ships? Asher continued at the seashore and stayed by his inlets. There was no good reason for these tribes to not have joined in the battle, but they were too busy with musical concerts and bonfires and business dealings to sacrifice for the cause. And she challenges them on that. Why? Because when you've got a big kingdom vision, you want others to have a big kingdom vision, you're disappointed when they do not. It's okay for women to be disappointed when men are cowards, so long as those women are not using their disappointment as a cloak for lack of submission. As long as they do indeed get behind their men and say, look, if you get involved in this political cause, I'll have your back. If you get sued, I'll have your back. If we lose our house and lose everything because of your involvement in society, I'll have your back if what you're doing is the right thing. I would rather lose everything under the leadership of a courageous man than maintain the status quo under a person who fears man more than God. I think that's in effect what Deborah would say. She would never undermine her man. But she would let him know that she totally has his back if he will courageously and righteously lead. But I believe that a big part of what she was doing was not just watching the armies clash. She was up on the mountain watching the battle, but I think she was engaged in spiritual warfare prayer. And this is only hinted at in one verse, but I cannot imagine she's just up there twiddling her thumbs. I think she's praying. Take a look at verse 20. About the angels, it says, they fought from the heavens. The stars from their courses fought against Sisera. Now stars are often symbols for angels in scripture. She knew that even physical battles are won in the heavenlies, and it would have motivated her to pray. Though a mother in Israel is not in the army, she is not disinterested in what the army does. She takes the army before the Lord of hosts, asks for deliverance, and God answered in marvelous ways. Verses 21 through 23. The torrent of Kishon swept them away, that ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. Oh, my soul, march on in strength. Then the horse's hooves pounded, the galloping, galloping of the steeds. Curse Meraz, said the angel of the Lord. Curse its inhabitants bitterly, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Now, one commentator spoke of how this would have instantly turned to the advantage of the foot soldiers, all of this flooding, and against the chariots. He said, suddenly, what had previously been an immeasurable advantage became a death trap. The heavens opened up, deluging the Jezreel Valley with rain and turning the placid and predictable Kishon into a mighty torrent, softening the ground for horses and chariots and sweeping the chariots away. But again, verse 20 shows that the biggest difference was the angels who were fighting on their behalf. Mothers in Israel, they don't have to be in the army in order to summon the armies of heaven on their behalf. Amen? That's far more powerful. Next, she celebrated the exceptionalism of jail in verses 24 through 27. Recognition of valor, both in men and in women, is a very important part of life. I was very disheartened to see the nasty comments that were stated about jail in so many of the women's books that I have, including Lockyer's book, you know, all the women in the Bible. He called her a murderer and said she was just a nasty woman, had nothing but negative things to say about her. And Deborah, In contrast, by inspiration of God, had nothing but praise for Jail. And I think if she were present right now, she would have nothing but disgust for these emasculated commentators. Beginning to read at verse 24, most blessed among women is Jail, the wife of Heber the Canaanite. Blessed is she among women in tents. He asked for water. She gave 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 Cicero. 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. Again, this shows a woman who is not squeamish about bugs, blood, or guts, right? She can operate in the man's world without threatening men or trying to take away their jobs. Instead, she glories in what the men and the women around her are doing. She is strong in her own sphere and pushes men to be strong in their sphere. And then finally, this mother in Israel sought God's glory. She mocks the goals of human enemies and exalts the goals of God. She sees super clearly what the real issues are and mocks the mundane and trivial issues and values of Sisera's woman. I mean, look at these verses. It's an incredible contrast between Deborah's values and the values of Sisera's women. Verses 28 through 31. As I'm reading this, just ask, which values do you identify with? Take a look at her mocking. The mother of Cicera 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 Cicera, plunder of dyed garments, plunder of garments embroidered and dyed. Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter. 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. If we are to see the shredded values of our nation restored, we're going to need more than courageous Baraks to take on the strongholds. Now, Barak himself did become very courageous. Hebrews indicates that. Very courageous when he saw that Deborah had his back. But we're going to need more than courageous Baraks. We're going to need strong mothers in Israel who will have the back of Barak, encourage Barak, speak into his life when he needs it, and be totally secure in their relationship with men. We may need a few jails to reload the muskets for the men and to shoot their own muskets when the enemy comes in over the walls. But let's value the strong mothers in Israel that God has raised up in our own generation. Amen. Father, I thank you for the testimony of Deborah. And I thank you, Father, for the testimony of Jael. And I pray that you would raise up a generation of men and women who would be mighty, who would have the faith of the heroes of Hebrews chapter 11, who would turn back and redeem, bring your redemption to the shredded values that are in our own nation. Please, Lord, do a mighty work in our midst and cause your word to triumph, starting in our lives, in our families, our church, and spreading out into culture. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.