Judges 4:1 – 10 “After Ehud died, the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. And she would sit under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites would go up to her for judgment. She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera the commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his troops to the River Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hands. “I will certainly go with you,” Deborah replied, “but the road you are taking will bring you no honor, because the LORD will be selling Sisera into the hand of a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh, where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali; ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.”
Deborah is one of my favorite people in the Bible. Both a judge and a prophetess, Deborah obviously was a true worshiper of the Lord. People were traveling great distances to seek Deborah’s guidance and advice. Everybody knew Deborah.
Who was Barak? We really know nothing about Barak before this story begins. We only know that God used Deborah to call Barak to gather an army of ten thousand men and go to Mount Tabor. God promised that He would lure Sisera and all his army with nine hundred iron chariots to the River Kishon, where Barak was to attack them. The name “Barak” means “lightning,” and God was assigning Barak to strike like lightning.
By ordering Barak to march to Mount Tabor, God was strategically positioning the Israelites so that they would have the higher ground. The slopes of Mount Tabor were probably quite rocky, making the terrain nearly impossible for anyone using chariots. Were the banks of the River Kishon swampy or was the River Kishon one of those seasonal rivers which would suddenly become a torrent after heavy rains? God had created both Mount Tabor and the River Kishon; certainly, God would know the best way to incapacitate those enemy troops.
Poor Barak! Barak had a golden opportunity to be a hero, and he completely blew it! Instead of trusting that God was speaking through Deborah, Barak insisted that Deborah had to accompany him. Deborah shrugged her shoulders and said, “No problem! But since you insisting on relying on a woman, God will give the victory to a woman.”
Why did Barak insist that Deborah go with him? It’s quite likely that Barak didn’t want to fight in the first place. Perhaps Barak actually wished his parents had named him something else. Perhaps Barak was superstitious and believed that he needed Deborah there at the battle praying before he could succeed. Perhaps Barak thought that if Deborah did not go with him, the men of Zebulon and Naphtali wouldn’t come either. But give Barak credit; he did summon those men and they did go forth to the battle.
APPLICATION: There are many times when we might feel like Tevye, the milkman in “Fiddler on the Roof.” “Lord, I know we are your chosen people, but couldn’t you choose someone else for a change?” Barak would probably have been perfectly happy to be a follower; he just didn’t want to be a leader. Having leadership thrust on you is no joke!
In the course of my career as a missionary doctor, I have found myself heading two district hospitals and upgrading a health center to a district hospital. I never wanted to head an institution; all I wanted to do was to be a surgeon. But there was nobody else available. At that point, all I could do was to beg God for strength, for wisdom, for courage, and for fortitude. I can really sympathize with Barak!
If we continue to follow God, we WILL be tested. Recently, I viewed a video interview with Dr. Kent Brantley, who survived a bout with Ebola while working in Liberia in 2014. Kent and his wife are now working at a mission hospital in Zambia. Kent’s whole testimony was based on the faithfulness of God and the things he and his wife had gained through this trying experience. Experience teaches compassion, and Dr. Kent’s patients benefit enormously from the empathy he has gained from his brush with death.
Corrie Ten Boom told how she came to her father, worried about what might happen if their family was apprehended by the Nazis for hiding a Jewish family. Mr. Ten Boom asked Corrie if she was taking a train, when would she need the ticket? She would only need the ticket when she was ready to board the train. In the same way, Mr. Ten Boom advised, if the time came for the Ten Boom family to suffer, God would give them the strength to endure the suffering. And God did so. Corrie was the only Ten Boom to survive the concentration camps, but she spent the rest of her life traversing the globe as she testified to God’s faithfulness.
PRAYER: Father God, help us to be like Deborah and not like Barak. Help us to follow the example of the Ten Boom family and remember that if You bring us into a test, You will also bring us through it. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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