Deborah and Barak

Thunder rolls over the plain. Rain hammers down. Nine hundred iron chariots, the most feared weapons in the land, are churning in mud. And a river is rising.

After Ehud died, Israel drifted away from God again. And so a Canaanite king named Jabin, ruling from the city of Hazor, took control of the north. His army commander was Sisera, and Sisera had nine hundred chariots of iron. For twenty years he cruelly oppressed Israel. The roads were empty. Villagers stayed hidden. In the hill country of Ephraim, under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel, sat a woman named Deborah. She was a prophet, and she was leading Israel as a judge. People came to her there to settle their disputes.

One day Deborah sends for a man named Barak, from Kedesh in the territory of Naphtali. When he arrives, she speaks for God. “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: go, gather ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun, and take them to Mount Tabor. I will draw Sisera, with his chariots and his army, to the river Kishon, and I will give him into your hand.” It's a clear promise. But Barak hesitates.

“If you go with me, I will go. But if you won't go with me, I won't go.”

“I will certainly go with you. But the honour of this journey won't be yours. The Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman.”

So Deborah goes, and ten thousand men climb Mount Tabor. Sisera hears about it and rolls out all nine hundred chariots to the Kishon valley below. From the mountain, the iron army looks unbeatable. Then Deborah turns to Barak. “Up! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Hasn't the Lord gone out ahead of you?” And Barak charges down the mountain with ten thousand behind him. The Lord throws Sisera's army into panic. Deborah's song later tells us the sky itself fought that day. The clouds poured down water. The river Kishon swept the enemy away. Chariots built for hard ground were useless in the flood. Sisera leaps down from his chariot and runs for his life on foot.

He runs to the tent of a woman named Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Heber's clan was at peace with King Jabin, so Sisera thinks he'll be safe. Jael comes out to meet him. “Come in, my lord, come in. Don't be afraid.” She covers him with a blanket. He asks for water, and she gives him milk. “Stand at the door,” he says. “If anyone asks if a man is here, say no.” Exhausted, he falls asleep. Then Jael takes a tent peg and a hammer, the everyday tools of her tent. She goes softly to him and drives the peg through his temple into the ground, and the man who had terrorised Israel for twenty years dies in his sleep. When Barak arrives in pursuit, Jael goes out to meet him. “Come, and I'll show you the man you're looking for.” He goes in, and there lies Sisera, dead, with the tent peg in his temple. Deborah's words have come true.

That day God subdued Jabin, and Israel grew stronger until his power was broken. Then Deborah and Barak sing a song of victory. “Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song!” They praise the volunteers who came, and the Lord who marched out ahead of them. “The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.” And the land had rest for forty years.

Judges gives this victory twice, first as a story in chapter 4, then as a poem in chapter 5, the Song of Deborah. Many scholars regard that song as one of the oldest pieces of poetry in the whole Hebrew Bible, with very old forms of the language. And the poem adds a detail the story doesn't spell out: the earth trembled, the heavens poured, and the Kishon swept the enemy away. Chariots were the tanks of their day, but a sudden flood could turn the plain into a trap.

Deborah and Barak. You'll find it in Judges chapters 4 and 5. Deborah listened to God and spoke up. Barak, for all his hesitation, did charge down that mountain, and the New Testament later names him among the heroes of faith. So here's the question to carry with you. When God's way is clear, what would help you take the first step down the mountain?