At the time of Deborah, the
Israelites were oppressed by Jabin, king of Canaan and his general Sisera, who
commanded 900 iron chariots.
4 ¶ And Deborah, a
prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
5 And she dwelt under the
palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the
children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6 And she sent and called
Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not
the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with
thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of
Zebulun?
7 And I will draw unto thee
to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and
his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
8 And Barak said unto her,
If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
9 And she said, I will
surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be
for thine honour; for the Lord shall sell Sisera
into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
(Judges 4:4-9)
When we hit this story, we love that Deborah is a
prophetess, but it is not very clear to us how.
Recently, however, it hit me that this whole story
tells at least one big instance of her prophetic gift at work.
She summons Barak from Kedesh-Naphtali and tells
him, “Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded…?” This is interesting language. It is as if she
is telling him something that she
knows he already knows, but in the
story it is as if this is the first he’s heard of it (or at least Barak doesn’t
say anything about knowing something about it already).
What Deborah’s language tells us is that Barak had
already had promptings or impressions or dreams that the Lord wanted him to
save Israel, and that Deborah’s summons was confirming revelation that he
really was supposed to do this. The Lord had revealed to her that it was
supposed to be Barak. I don’t know
whether the Lord also revealed to her
that Barak already knew or whether she just trusted that the fact this had been
shown her meant he already knew too.
But I love that she talks to him with complete
assurance that he already knows this stuff. There’s no pussy-footing around the
fact they both know. There’s no saying, “So, I had this weird dream. I think
you’re supposed to do this.” No, she says, “Hasn’t the Lord said…?”
Also, she knows how many people are supposed to
fight alongside Barak—ten thousand—and she knows what tribes they are from—Naphtali
and Zebulun—and she knows where they are supposed to gather—Mount Tabor—and she
knows how Sisera is going to die—by the hand of a woman. It’s like she’s
already seen the battle happen, which very well could have happened in a grand,
sweeping vision or prophetic dream.
Later, in v14, once the army is gathered, she also
knows the day the battle will happen, and she lets Barak know that too, also
with language that assumes he has been shown this too.
When she prophesies that Sisera will be sold into
the hands of a woman, the reader tends to think, “Oh, that woman must be
Deborah, since she’s going into battle at Barak’s side.” But then we get the
surprise that it is Jael who kills Sisera, and by reading about how Jael is
associated with Sisera, it becomes clear that Sisera and Jael’s family were
actually in some sort of league with each other. So we are treated to the
surprise that Sisera was killed by one of his allies, not an enemy. That is not
what anyone would have expected, and prophecy is like that. It will tell
something that is unexpected.
One of the things this story about Deborah tells
me is that calls from prophets don’t come out of the blue. The Lord will give
individuals some indication that they are soon to do a work, and then the call
from the prophet confirms this revelation. This is how the individual knows he
or she is not just making it up, and the response of the individual shows the
prophet that the individual has been prepared by the Lord. This is why it is
important to have the Spirit with us so that we are open to the revelation God
has for us, whether it is how to deal with our challenges or whether it is an
upcoming course change we need to be ready for, or a work we are to do.
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