READ Judges 4:8-10

The core of this story is about a man who baulked over faith in God. Barak was told by Deborah what to do and what would happen but he cops out and insists that Deborah goes with him, as some sort of insurance.

So today is about how you exercise faith.

Deborah says plainly to Barak “But because of the way you are going about this, the honour will not be yours”  Barak misses out because he is not prepared to take the risk of faith, to step out and do what he has been told to do. Is that you? Are you an enthusiastic Christian until God calls you to tell your friend or neighbour about Jesus? Are you afraid to say what God says when having a discussion with friends?

We may have heard of Deborah and Jael, two very different women but Barak gets forgotten, except that the Obama’s thought it a good name for their son! He was in Wales last week!

Anyway, lets look at the context of this exchange about faith.

 

The book of Judges  is so called because the Greek translation of it called it Judges.  

Joshua, Judges,  Ruth 1&2 Kings and 1&2 Samuel  are referred to as the Former Prophets as they speak of men God raised up to guide the children of Israel.

 Judges were leaders God raised up in difficult times to rescue his chosen people from disasters. There are 13 leaders in Judges. We are just looking briefly at 3 in the coming weeks. Helpfully the book has a summary at the beginning so lets read it:

READ Judges 2: 6 -19

So today’s hero, Deborah appears in the context of  a Putin –like empire-builder, called Jabin who had a rather brilliant general called Sisera. Israel was vulnerable and remains vulnerable as a nation. it has always been a buffer state between warring empires. Egypt, Babylon, Assyria,  Persian, Greek, Roman, Ottoman, British Empires have all played war games over this land and people. Today lets get the context:

READ Judges 4:1-5

The military situation was a consequence of the apostasy of the nation.

After the conquest of the Promised Land we are told that pockets of people were not removed from the land and they became a thorn in the side of Israel.

I want to spiritualise this because our battle is spiritual not physical. When you came to Christ you entered a new life but have you allowed God to drive out the residual evil in your life?  The problem for us is quite simple, we have choices but too often we live like sinners instead of living as new-born, spirit-filled saints. We like evil, we sometimes prefer sin. We battle with temptation but too often we give in and let Satan have a strangle-hold on our new-life.

Israel was giving in to sin. And the price was an ISIL type upsurge which apparently had  nine hundred iron chariots which probably came from Egypt or another empire. But it was militarily vastly out-equipping Israel. Chariots were the tanks of their day, they moved fast and carried heavier weapons and armour. So this Jabin was overwhelming and you couldn’t  take him on. Ever feel that about our world? Temptation?  Is it all too overwhelming? The Christians in many parts of the world live with it all the time. Boko Haram, Islamic State, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, there is little prospect of resisting these forces. You may think that the secularists or the rise of  extreme Islam in this country, how can we resist these pressures?

 In the middle of this disaster sat Deborah.

4 Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading  Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah

Not much to go on. But in a war-zone, the idea of this lady holding court under a palm tree suggests that she was known for her wisdom. She was leading without a grand house or prowess in battle. In fact the whole point of what we read earlier is that Barak was the military man and she was the leader. An unusual state of affairs in the tribal power structures of the day.

And then there is Lappidoth.  He was married to her but did not figure in the narrative beyond that. He lived out his life taking into account that Deborah would be holding court. That does suggest they had servants as the economy of the day would make it virtually impossible for both to have jobs without a number of servants doing the many basic tasks required to survive. Poor people are busy people trying to do all the jobs as they cannot afford the luxury of servants, decorators, plumbers, and the like. In the song of Deborah there is a hint she had children in 5:7. So this great lady managed to have the charisma and integrity to lead a federation of tribes and draw them together. Her judgement was considered good enough to seek. She may well have been involved in inter-tribal disputes as well. 1200 BC Israel consisted of 12 tribes without a specific leader. God was their leader and he led by inspiring people like Deborah to give the quality of leadership needed for the time and the circumstance.

The tribes had spread out but had not taken all the towns and villages so the land was a hotchpotch of  Canaanite settlements and Israeli settlements.

 Most of the action in our story takes place in northern Israel although the Palm of Deborah is ‘down south’ not far from where Jerusalem would be some centuries later!

 The story is that Barak moves his forces to Mount Tabor and meets Sisera coming across the Kishon valley. The implication of 5:21 is that the Kishon had a flash flood as Sisera’s forces were crossing the river. God had a hand in the battle!  So confused is the situation that he flees east rather than west while his troops are driven back to their camp and destroyed. Sisera arrives in a camp of a Kenite and is treated with typical eastern hospitality, but while he sleeps Jael drives a tent-peg through his head!

 Then Deborah and Barak write a song about it. We will not have time to read most of the story but please do. The song is rated as one of the most ancient songs of the Bible, unedited since it was written, 3200 years ago!

There are some gruesome details that are hard to understand and we must accept that the Old Testament has some difficulties in terms of our understanding of God. I think we need to concentrate on the underlying problems rather than trying to justify some pretty violent behaviour.

Israel was meant to be the people of God. They had crossed the Red Sea and the Jordan and entered the promised Land. But rather than keeping themselves separate from the Canaanites they had settled for tolerating them.

 You are living in the middle of a society full of sin and unbelief. The question is are you allowing the pressure to conform – to let the world squeeze you into its mould – to surrender your freedom in Christ to a partial slavery to the very sin that you have been liberated from?

Is the Bible your guide or the Soap and films on TV? Is your understanding of rights and wrongs dictated by the politicians or Jesus?

Does your family ro your job or Jesus shape your life?

Judges is a very grim book because each generation needed a new revelation of the God who saves his people to keep them on track. God has no grandchildren. Each of us has at some time or other to make an individual choice to follow Jesus. Each of us needs to meet the risen Christ.

 Which brings us back to Barak. God’s man for the task. And yet he stumbles because he is afraid that God may not keep his promises. He takes Deborah the prophetess along as insurance. The good news for us stumbling Christians is that God continued to use him even though he was lacking faith.

God calls each of us to follow. We have to say “Here I am,” ready to do as you will.

 So there you have it.

 Deborah, the lady who the nation sought advice because she had the spirit of God. Barak, stumbling faith that gets there because God has plans that include him and he is not rejected for weakness.

 Israel, compromised by sin and idolatry needing to be rescued again. Which are you? The message this morning is that God is for Deborah he is for Barak and he turns to rescue Israel when they cry out to him. So do not be afraid to cry out to him. Abandon the idols of our society and follow Jesus, trust him and discover his will. The people around you need people like Deborah, trustworthy  and true to God.

 “May they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength”

Then the land had peace for forty years

Judges 5:31

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