Deborah

Deborah is one of my favorite women in the Bible. 

We see her in Judges chapter 4 and 5.

Deborah  was awesome!  To set the stage, she was not only a prophet but also a judge, a warrior, a poet, as well as a singer and songwriter!  Wow, just wow!  Think about the time period!  A woman doing all this at this time is very unusual! She is the only female judge mentioned in the Bible and the only other person that was a prophet and a judge was Samuel.

Deborah was one of the only female leaders in the Old Testament.  Rulers at this time were called judges because Moses appointed them to help in resolving arguments among the people. Deborah was known for her wisdom so she was an excellent choice to help settling arguments whether big or small.

Let me set the stage before we dive into the Bible.  Israel has this pattern of worshiping other gods and doing evil, then crying out to God and wanting his help and turning back to him.  This is one of those times. God is going to speak to the Israelites through Deborah. 

Judges 4:4-8

Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading[a] Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali 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 them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”

Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

Let’s stop here for a second.  Directed by the Lord, Deborah summons a man named Barak. Barak lives in Kedesh in the territory of the tribe Naphtali. Deborah's command from God is to recruit "10,000" troops  Barak’s response is interesting. I will only go if you go with me. Let’s not judge Barak too harshly yet.  Let’s focus on Deborah.  This just goes to show what a strong and powerful woman she is!  Barak isn’t going to go and do this without her.

Barak might have worried that recruiting troops would be difficult without her. Things might be easier with a prophet, a woman of God. Barak knew Deborah was strong and powerful and he knew he needed someone like her, he wasn’t going to do this without her. It is clear that God was using Deborah so that was probably safer for Barak especially since Deborah already told him God had promised Israel victory. She agrees to go. 

In this story, Barak is reluctant.  God knows the only way this is going to happen is with Deborah.  In this lesson, we can learn to be obedient and patient.  Deborah was wearing many hats at this time being a judge and a prophet and now God wants her to lead an army and they tell her they can’t do it without her!  Does that resonate with you?  It certainly does to me!  At home and at work, I sometimes feel pulled in so many different directions.  What Deborah has taught me is to take a step back, be obedient and trust God to take on something new, ask for help, if needed but then own it and get it done.  That is not an easy lesson to learn and when we are in the middle of what is sometimes chaos, doing this will be hard.  But let’s try and be a Deboarh.

Let’s continue with verse 9 and 10

“Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.

Again, I love this passage.  If Deborah is going to do it then Deborah is going to take the credit.  Again, think of the times, there are not many Warrior women.  We don’t know her impact at the time but maybe she was encouraging other women at that time to take on a more non-traditional role.  Taking credit for things you do is not bad.  Sometimes when we do, people will see it as not being humble but it all is in our approach and the way we handle ourselves.

Ok, so they have their 10,000 men and the rest of this chapter focuses on victory against Sisera’s army and Sisera’s horrible death.  Please take the time to read this passage on your own to see the victory that God promised come to fruition.

Moving on to Chapter 5 of Judges, This entire chapter is the Song of Deborah.  Deborah is singing and celebrating their victory.  

What I love is the way this chapter starts out in verse 1, it reads

 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

We just talked about Deborah taking credit for the victory but she immediately recognizes her “team” if you will and include Barak.  There is always someone there helping us out in our lives whether in a big role or a small one, let’s make sure we are always including them in our celebrations.

I am only going to pull out some key verses in Chapter 5 but I encourage you to go back and read or sing it!

Let’s start with verse 3

 “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!

    I, even I, will sing to the Lord;

    I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.

She immediately starts with praising God.  She sings directly to God.  This is important.  We need to remember to always give the glory to God and we need to tell him that directly. 

The rest of this song, Deborah sings about how Israel  turned to idolatry and as the mother of Israel she wanted to lead them back.  She praises the commanders who helped with this victory.  She calls out various tribes and praises them but then she also scolds some tribes for not participating.

After this, Israel rested for 40 years.

Let’s think about these times.  Women in these times did not have this kind of authority or status, but God has respect for women and uses them throughout the Bible to complete his plan.  This is what he is doing with Deborah

How can we apply this story of Deborah to our own lives?  Remember, when we are overwhelmed or wearing too many hats, turn to God, ask for his help and be obedient to him.  Bring in help and surround ourselves with our own tribes to help us get through a battle but remember to give God the glory but to also give thanks and praise to our troops who help us out each day.