Judges 4.1-15
Delivered on Sunday 22 July 2007 in St Paul's, Whitley
Judges 4.1-15
Book Context
Our passage this morning is from the book of Judges, which tells us about what happened after Joshua died. In 2.10 it says, 'After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.' And it goes on, 'The Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight and served the images of Baal.'
The people forgot who God was and what he had done for them, and turned to worship idols. That is the story of the book of Judges. The people serve idols, and are punished. They cry out for help from God, and he sends a series of 'judges' to save them, but each time they turn back to idols again. The final verse in the book is this: 'In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.'
Passage Context
And so if you look at 3.30, just before our reading, it says, 'Moab was conquered by Israel that day, and there was peace in the land for eighty years.' God delivered them from a neighbouring country. But, it 4.1, the Israelites start sinning again, 'After Ehud's death, the Israelites again did evil in the Lord's sight.' This almost certainly means they started worshipping idols.
So God punished them once again, by allowing a Canaanite king, Jabin, to conquer them, with his general Sisera. Not only that, 4.3 tells us that he had 900 chariots of iron in his army. With these heavy, strong chariots, Sisera oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
It's amazing, but it took twenty years for the people to cry out to God for help. Twenty years. They really had forgotten who God was, and what he had done for them.
God's Prophet - Deborah
And so we come to Deborah, a prophet who 'led' or 'judged' Israel at that time. 4.5 says that she used to sit under a tree 'between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim'. That's basically in the middle of the country. The Israelites used to come to her to hear God's word to them for a particular situation.
You see, a prophet isn't the same thing as a seer, or a fortune-teller. Prophets are people who are given a particular message from God for a particular time, place and people. That may of course involve predicting the future, but usually it means reminding the people about who God is and what he's done, and the way they should be behaving.
That's what people came to Deborah for - not to get a prediction about their life, but to hear what God would have them do.
And so, 4.6 tells us that one day, she summoned Barak, and he came. That on its own shows how much this woman was respected by her fellow-Israelites!
The reason she has that respect is because she speaks the words of God, with his authority. In 4.6-7 she speaks God's command to Barak: 'Go, raise an army of 10,000 men and I will draw out Sisera and his chariots, and I will give you victory over them.'
God speaks to Barak clearly, through Deborah, promising to give the Israelites victory over Sisera, over his chariots and his soldiers. The victory will not be won by Barak or the Israelite army, but by God: 'I will give you victory over them.'
Barak's Faith
Here the NIV's translation goes a bit wrong.
In 4.8 Barak tells Deborah: 'If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go.'
And in 4.9 Deborah replies, 'Very well, I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honour will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman.'
This makes it sound like Barak doesn't trust God. It makes it sound like he trusts Deborah more than God. It makes it sound like his 'punishment' for lack of faith in God is that he won't be the one who gets the glory at the end of the battle: 'because of the way you are going about this, the honour will not be yours.'
But, it doesn't actually say that. A better translation of 4.9 is, 'Of course I will go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory.'
Barak has great faith, trusting God's words spoken to him through Deborah, leading his men out into battle, trusting that God will go ahead of them. He is not doing this for himself, for his own glory, but because God has commanded him to do it, and he trusts that God will give them the victory despite overwhelming odds. As a prophet, Deborah is a sign of God's presence, which is why Barak asks her to come too.
And so in 4.10 he mobilises an army of 10,000 men, and goes to Mount Tabor, as God commanded, with Deborah by his side.
God's Victory
The pace of the story picks up now. In 4.12 one of Sisera's spies comes to him and tells him that the Israelites had mustered up an army, and were camped at Mount Tabor. I can see how pleased Sisera would have been, given this opportunity to show the Israelites a lesson about who's in charge. So in 4.13 he calls together all his chariots, and all his soldiers, and marches out to the river Kishon, in the valley below Mount Tabor. Sisera thinks he is about to have a great victory, but really it's God drawing him and his army out, as he promised through Deborah in 4.7.
And so Deborah issues God's battle-call in 4.14: 'Up! This is the day the Lord will give you victory over Sisera, for the Lord is marching ahead of you.' And so Barak obeys. He and his men begin marching down to the river to make battle, trusting that somehow God will defeat Sisera... and he does. 4.15 tells us, 'At Barak's advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword.' Sisera leapt out of his chariot and fled on foot, but not to safety. The rest of chapter 4 tells the story of how he ended up being killed by having a tent-peg hammered through his head.
What this story makes absolutely clear, several times, is that the victory was not Deborah's, nor Barak's, but God's. He spoke through Deborah, he called Barak, he sent out the Israelite army, he drew Sisera out, he defeated the Canaanite army.
Trust in God
Recently I have been worrying. As you may know, at the moment Susie and I are looking for a job so we can be curates somewhere. As well as all this I've been thinking about applying to do a PhD somewhere. I don't know whether God is calling me to teach at a college, for which I'd need a doctorate, or if he's calling me to teach normal people, like you, in a parish, like this one. Or if it's both! So I've been worrying about all these different options.
And that has meant I've been losing sleep. I haven't been trusting God, I've been trying to work it out myself, usually overnight. Until last week, that is, when I spent a long time praying specifically about each of the things, and repenting of my pride, lack of trust, and so on. In each area I asked Jesus to take the burden of the future from me, and help me to trust him. And it worked! He did, I have much greater peace about the future, and I know he has my best interests at heart.
Barak trusted God, and God came through, he gave them the victory. He has the power to defeat entire armies. I'm sure he can look after little old me. And little old you.
The reason I'm telling you all this is because people worry. We all do. It's because we're all sinners, none of us trusts God as much as we should. But we should still try. What are you worried about, concerned about at the moment? What do you lose sleep over?
Let's spend a few moments bringing to mind the things we worry about, the things for which we need to have more faith. We need to ask God for faith like Barak's, who trusted God going into battle against overwhelming odds.
In a moment I'll pray a prayer, and then in silence, please repent of your pride and unbelief, and receive forgiveness and peace from the Prince of Peace. If there isn't anything you're worried about right now, please remember all this when you do start to worry about something, because I guarantee you will, sooner or later! This is a process we should go through each time we worry about something, especially if it costs us our sleep!
I'll now pray a short prayer, asking God to help us to trust him for everything, and leave a few moments of silence at the end.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we are sorry that often we don't trust you for the future. We try too hard to work things out for ourselves, and worry about what might happen.
We are sorry for our pride, for our unbelief, for our lack of trust in you. We know that you hold the future, and that you work all things together for the good of those who love you.
We love you, Father, please help us to love you more, and to trust you for everything.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
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