The Way You Are Going About This

The Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the Lord. So, the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan… The commander of his army was Sisera… Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help. (Judges 4:1-3, NIV 1984).

My Musings – “Once again” because three other judges had ruled previously, delivering the Israelites from Aram, Moab and Philistia. This time it was Canaan, and the Lord raised up Deborah as judge, along with Barak her commander, to deliver Israel. But with peculiar twist.

“[Deborah] sent for Barak…and said to him, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I [God] will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.'” (Judges 4:6-7, NIV 1984).

The twist? “Barak said to [Deborah], ‘If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.’ ‘Very well,’ Deborah said, ‘I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman.'” (Judges 4:8-9, NIV 1984). God’s word (like His word to Joshua) that He would deliver Sisera’s army “into your hands” should have been all the assurance Barak needed (“have I not commanded you be strong and courageous?”). He did not need Deborah accompanying him. “The way he was going about this” was not right. So, he was denied the glory of the victory.

As Barak advanced against Sisera and his army, “the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot. But Barak pursued the chariots… All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left.” (Judges 4:15-16, NIV 1984). A complete victory but lacking the big prize of capturing the commander of the Canaanite army. As foretold by Deborah, who was not just a judge but also a prophetess, the glory went to a woman instead.

“Sisera [had] fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. Jael…picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.” (Judges 4:18, 21, NIV 1984). A gruesome end to another adversary of God’s chosen people.

“On that day God subdued Jabin, the Canaanite king, before the Israelites. And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin, the Canaanite king, until they destroyed him.” (Judges 4:23-24, NIV 1984). God may use evil sources to discipline His people when they sin, but He will not destroy them. And when discipline has been fully served, God will deal with the evil.

My Advice – When God calls you to a task, be careful how you go about it. God may allow completion of the task to “arise from another place…[and] who knows but that you have come to [the task] for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14, NIV 1984). Missing out on “a time such as this” will result in the honor going to another.