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7.14.21 Empowered Session #5 Sara Schaffer · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, as we get into our lesson tonight, we're going to be talking about empowered women. Specifically, God led me to Judges 4 and 5. Now, when I was little...
• 0:12
  I had this special, we had this special technology in my Sunday school class called a flannel graph. Who knows what a flannel graph is? Oh, good. Way more than who knew this morning or who admitted they knew this morning. Yes, a flannel graph. And for some reason, the story of Deborah and JL never made it on a flannel graph, which if you know the story, there's a good reason for that. So I thought...
• 0:36
  Well, there's no chance. I was just looking for maps and that kind of thing to kind of give us some visual aids for tonight. And imagine my surprise when I found that these people said, hey, we have a visual aid for you. We made a slideshow of this story. Yeah, all right. So thanks to Free Bible Illustrations or FreeBibleImages.org, this is Deborah and Barak go into battle, the story of Judges 4 and 5. Once upon a time.
• 1:07
  Long, long ago in ancient Israel, the people of God had turned back to him and were once again offering sacrifices and praising the Lord. But soon the people began to worship and praise idols instead of God. They turned their hearts away and God was not at all pleased. So he sent King Jabin of the Canaanites to rule over the people.
• 1:35
  And Jabin sent his commander Sisera to be ruling over them cruelly. Now Sisera had an army, a massive army, and 900 chariots of iron with which he ruled. And he oppressed people cruelly. He lived in Herosheth Hagoyim, which was in the northern part of the country of Israel. And farther north in Hazor is where King Jabin resided. As I said.
• 2:05
  Sisera was cruel, and he kept people out of the villages and off the main highways. People were scared to go anywhere for 20 years. Now, Deborah was a judge of Israel at that time. She was a prophetess and a wife, and she sat under the palm tree of Deborah and ruled the people who would come up to her and ask her to settle their disputes. Well, one...
• 2:33
  One advantage that Deborah had underneath her palm tree was that it was located between Bethel and Ramah, just north of the city of Jerusalem, on the southern side of the nation of Israel. And she had her finger on the pulse of what was going on everywhere. So one day, she sent a message and summoned Barak from Kadesh, which was far north where the people of Naphtali lived, and asked him to come down and see her.
• 3:02
  So Barak went down and met with Deborah, and she said, now let me read your palms. No, she didn't say that. It just looks like that. It just looks like that. No, she didn't say that at all. She said, now hasn't God told you that you need to go up against Sisera, gather 10,000 men from Naphtali and Zebulun, and get on Mount Tabor and go after him? And he said, okay, I'll do this, but you better go with me.
• 3:31
  And she said, I will definitely go with you. But spoiler alert, God will be putting Sisera into the hand of a woman, and she will get the victory for this fight. I don't care, he said, just come along. Great. So they went up to Mount Tabor, just between Lake Galilee and Herosheth Hagoyim, with the river Kishon between them.
• 3:58
  And the people from Zebulun and Naphtali gathered along with Deborah and Barak and prepared for battle. And God called out Sisera, and he brought all 900 of his chariots and his whole army and met with them in battle. But what he didn't expect was that the people of God...
• 4:18
  had God on their side. And an invisible rain fell that you can't see in this slide, that you have to just imagine a big rain falling down on these people. And God rooted Sisera and Sisera's army all the way back to Herosheth, Hagoyim, from the Kishon River. But Sisera got off of his chariot and ran north to Zananim. And at Zananim,
• 4:46
  Haber the Kenite had pitched his tent, and he lived there with his wife, Jael. Now when Jael saw Sisera, who was dripping wet from all the invisible rain, and probably sweating a lot from all the running he did to get to her tent, she said, turn aside, my lord, turn aside and come into my tent, and don't be afraid. And he said, thank you. And he went into the tent, and he asked for some water, and she gave him some milk, and he...
• 5:15
  was so tired that he laid down and she covered him up and took care of him. And he said, now if anybody asks for me, I'm not here. And she said, whatever, okay. And she softly, as he's falling asleep, grabbed a tent peg and a hammer and went to Sisera, who had fallen fast asleep, and put the tent peg to his temple and hammered it through his skull into the ground.
• 5:44
  Are we ready for the next slide? Meanwhile, Barak had run north as well, following Sisera and in pursuit. And Jael came out to Barak and said, hey, the man that you're looking for is here. Come in here. I'll show him to you. He's not sleeping. He's dead. And Barak reunited with Deborah, and they all lived happily ever after. Brought to you by Free Bible Illustrations and Sweet Publishing. All right. So that's the story.
• 6:19
  of Deborah and Barak. Oh, somebody changed my slides. Thank you. So tonight we're going to talk about being empowered for God's glory.
• 6:26
  Obviously, this is a talk where we're talking about what it is to be an empowered woman. So I'm going to tell you the story again and again of what happened in Judges 4 and 5, and we're going to pull out some nuggets as we go through. But this isn't the type of story where I can read five verses and say, and here's the main point, and then read five more and say, and here's the main point. It's all kind of interspersed and intertwined throughout the story. So I'm just going to go ahead and give you the main points.
• 6:51
  right off the bat tonight. So if you're a note taker, here you go. So we're empowered for God's glory, and here's what we're going to learn. Excuse me. Empowered women do the jobs given to them. Empowered women do the jobs given to them. Don't worry, we'll come back to this, although I tried to keep these short and sweet. Empowered women face problems head on. Okay, I did not mean to put a pun in there.
• 7:21
  It just worked out that way. And I didn't notice it until this morning when I was looking through my notes once again. Empowered women face problems head on. Empowered women trust God's word and obey it. They trust God's word and obey it. And lastly, empowered women give God the glory. Empowered women give God the glory. I'm just going to back up. Did we get all that? I'll go through those again. So as we go through the story, like I said,
• 8:02
  We'll pull those out as we go. So let's open our Bibles now. Judges 4. And now that you have all those lovely visuals in your mind, we're going to read through this story again and read the actual Bible account, not the Sarah account that I just gave you. This took place, by the way, Judges 4, happened in about the late 13th century BC. So we're looking at about 1275 BC. This is earlier than where...
• 8:32
  Carla was last week, she was talking about the 12th judge. This is in the time of the judges, but we're now looking at Deborah, who is the fourth judge. And I'm just going to back it up one verse to verse 31, because Shamgar is mentioned when we get to chapter 5. And I just want you to hear about him. After him, Shamgar, the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an ox goad, and he also saved Israel. So Shamgar was known as...
• 8:57
  a minor judge, and Deborah was known as one of the major judges. But neither here nor there, it's just that Shamgar got this much press, and Deborah has two chapters. So that's all that that means. All right, starting in chapter 4, verse 1. And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. Ehud was the second judge.
• 9:21
  And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Herosheth, Hagoyim. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron, and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for 20 years. Now, there is a lot of talk about this possibly being a myth, about being a made-up story.
• 9:46
  Maybe you've heard some people think this isn't a true story book, but it is. As crazy as these stories are, and they're all true, even crazier are a lot of these stories, and they are more than true. They are living, right? It's the living word. So what I think is so fun, and I'm not going to go through it too much tonight, but I just want to give you just a couple of little tidbits. Jabin is also the name of a king of Canaan.
• 10:11
  that lived about 125 years off from this story. And so some people use that as evidence that this wasn't really true, because how could he live then and live at this other time? Well, has anybody heard of, I know he's fictional, but has anybody heard of Lord Grantham? Anybody? Oh, I'm the only one. Give me a break. Okay, well, Lord Grantham, for those of you who aren't admitting it, is a character on a PBS miniseries, and that is not his given name. That is his title.
• 10:41
  That is his title. His name is actually Mr. Crawley. But he doesn't go by that. He goes by Lord Grantham. Well, in the same way, Jabin, king of Canaan, is a title given to the person in that role. And it actually dates all the way back to the 18th century BCE. So it's something that had been around for centuries before this particular king of Jabin. And if anything...
• 11:02
  proves even more how true this story actually is. So he was reigning in Hazor, which, as we saw on the map, was really far north. And that's where the tribe of Naphtali was located. And the commander of his army was Sisera. Now, Sisera was not a nice guy. I mean, I think Jabin just kind of left all the nasty stuff to him. And he had these 900 chariots, which is another piece that people use as evidence that this story can't be true. Well, the most documented battle...
• 11:31
  of the 13th century BC is called the Battle of Kadesh. Remember where Barak was from? It's the Battle of Kadesh, and it talks about an Egyptian army and a Hittite army, an Egyptian army with light chariots and a Hittite army with heavy chariots that fought against each other. Now, there's a lot of dispute. Nobody really won the fight, but there would have been, after that battle, a bunch of heavy chariots available that probably then went on to Jabin and off to Sisera.
• 12:01
  from that battle. So again, there's historical evidence of these things happening. And probably the most convincing to a lot of the historians and archaeologists is that an iron linchpin was found down in Herosheth Hagoyim in what's called like a governor's house. That was discovered, and this linchpin would have been the thing that held the axle, the wheel onto the axle of a chariot. And it was decorated, and this piece has been found, I can't remember which museum it's in.
• 12:28
  I just think it's fascinating how God will reveal, and that was in 2010 that that was revealed, that through all these centuries, God says, uh, let me just show you. No, that was true. No, that was true. No, that was true. This is true. This is true stuff. Chapter 4, verse 4. We see the fourth judge.
• 12:47
  See how easy that is to remember? Deborah, the fourth judge in Judges 4, verse 4. Okay, now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Labidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kadesh, Naphtali, and said to him, Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you? Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the...
• 13:16
  people of Zebulun, and I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand. Barak said to her, if you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go. And she said, I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.
• 13:42
  Let's walk through this just a bit. Back in verse 4, we see Deborah is a judge. She's been assigned by God into that role, which we'll talk about in just a second. She's also a prophetess, which means she knew the word. She spoke the word, and she also foretold things that would happen. She was definitely a woman.
• 14:01
  And we'll see in chapter 5 that she can't stop talking about him. Almost every verse in chapter 5, she is praising God or referring to God or giving thanks to the Lord or blessing the Lord. This woman is a godly, godly woman. And she is doing the job that God has given her. Remember that? She's doing the job God gave to her. When Barak asks her to go along, let's just get this out of our minds. Barak is not a wimp.
• 14:31
  Barak is not a fraidy cat. Barak is a strong and very, very brave, brave man, which we're going to see as we go through this story. His name means lightning flash, and he is definitely that. But turn back for a moment to Judges 2.
• 14:49
  and we're going to look at verses 16 through 18. Carla read a little bit of this last week if you were here, but let's just remind ourselves of what it says. Chapter 2, verse 16. This is why and how the judges were appointed. Then the Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so.
• 15:17
  Now here's the key verse, ladies. Barak knew she had been appointed by God. Barak knew.
• 15:38
  The Lord was with her. Barak knew that the victory was going to be given to her as the one that God had chosen to lead the nation of Israel. And he wanted her and that presence of the Lord to go with them. He was not at all a wimp. In fact, he was very, very wise to ask her to go along. And she knew God's word and she obeyed it because she said, surely I will go with you.
• 16:05
  Surely I will go with you. The other thing that Deborah did here is this had been going on, if you remember from the end of verse 3, for 20 years. And she faced this problem head on. This was something that she could have probably let fester. She wasn't in the midst of the problem that was happening necessarily, but she knew this needed to be dealt with. So Deborah faced it, and she made Barak face it, and all the people up in Zebulun and Naphtali deal with it. And as she did that,
• 16:33
  She was trusting God's word, and she was obeying it. She was a true woman of God. And this whole word, nevertheless, she's not saying, you know, because you asked me, now just forget it. You're not going to get the glory. I mean, that's kind of how we can read it in the English, but that's not what's happening. It really just means at the end of this road, let me just tell you, like I said in the story, spoiler alert, Sisera is going to be sold into the hand of a woman.
• 17:02
  And you're not going to get the glory for that. I just wanted you to know. And I think Barak's like, whatever. Let's just get this done. Let's get this done. So let's pick up the story in verse 9. I'll read that again. And she said, I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory. For the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Well, who's the only woman we know right now in the story? Deborah.
• 17:26
  So I'm thinking, what does she have up those, like, you know, fluffy robe, you know, judge sleeves that she's got on? I don't know what she's got on. But I'm thinking she must have something in mind, right? Well, I don't know. So we have to just wait and find out. Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh. And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kadesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went with him. Then we get to verse 11.
• 17:51
  Now Haber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the Oak in Zinanim, which is near Kadesh. Uh, what? Who? Why do we care? Don't know? Just tuck that away and let's move on with the story because we're just getting ready to go into battle and that's much more exciting. Okay, verse 12. When Sisera was told that Barak, the son of Abinuim, had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera called out,
• 18:20
  all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him from Heroshethagoyim to the river Kishon. He's probably thinking, easy fight. I'm going to go and squash these people and let them know again who's in charge. Verse 14, and Deborah said to Barak, up, for this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you? Well, for a moment, look over at chapter 5, verse 4.
• 18:50
  Chapter 5, verse 4, tells us a little bit more about how the Lord went out before them. And verse 4 in chapter 5 says, Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water. It was pouring.
• 19:09
  It was pouring, and these iron-heavy chariots were making their way across the plain of Megiddo, on their way from Herosheth Hagoyim to the Kishon River to fight. And Deborah said, this is the day. The Lord has gone out before you. So Barak went down from Mount Tabor. I'm back in chapter 4, verse 14.
• 19:31
  So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him, and the Lord rooted Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Herosheth Hagoim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a man was left. But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Haber the Kenite.
• 20:00
  Oh wait, I've heard of Haber the Kenite. I remember him from verse 11. Okay, so he moved. We find out Haber the Kenite had moved from the place of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and pitched his tent over under the oak of Zananim. Okay, so we know that Sisera is fleeing north. His whole army had been rooted south.
• 20:25
  And he's fleeing the scene. He has left his troops. He has left everything behind, even his fancy iron chariot, and gone north. Probably trying to aim at Hazor would be my guess. That's totally my guess, my speculation. But he's going north, and he sees this tent. Because there was peace, back to verse 17, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Haber the Kenite. And Jael...
• 20:51
  came out to meet Sisera and said to him, Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me. Do not be afraid. So he turned aside to her into the tent and she covered him with a rug. At this point in the story,
• 21:07
  We're looking at this. Sisera has probably run, from my calculations, if he ran from where the battle was, it was probably about 7 to 10 miles. So he's run quite a ways. And besides that, he'd been in battle before that and maybe been up all night the night before. I don't know. But he's probably super exhausted. And Jael, being smart, recognizes this man. Because her husband was friends with the king, she had probably even met or seen at least.
• 21:32
  who Sisera was, and knew he was one. Because remember, there's no Facebook. There's no news on at 11 or anything where she could get a picture of who this man was. But she knew exactly, exactly who stood outside her tent. And here's a woman alone. And she tells him, do not be afraid. She was incredibly brave. Because here was this defeated man.
• 21:58
  who's probably still looking for a conquest and probably thinking an opportunity had just arisen for him. And he goes into her tent, and she does an intimate thing in covering him with a rug, and he asks her for some water, and she gives him, wisely, some milk. She opens a vessel of milk and makes him nice and warm and sleepy, and he lays down, and let's just read it right out of the word.
• 22:27
  verse 19, and he said to her, please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty. So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. And he said to her, stand at the opening of the tent. Now I can imagine him like lying on the ground and just kind of still barking out orders like in his, you know, general kind of way. Stand at the opening of the tent. And if any man comes and asks you, is anyone here? Say no. But J.L., the wife of Haber, took a tent peg.
• 22:56
  and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. In case you didn't know, that was a fatal wound. It was. He was really dead. And we're going to hear that repeated a few times.
• 23:18
  Verse 22, and behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, now here's Barak, we knew from the end of verse 16, he had gone all the way down to Herosheth Agoyim, and now he's running on foot. This lightning flash had run all the way as far as Zananim, and Jael catches him and says, hey.
• 23:34
  and says this to him, and behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, I mean, this is a brave man. Did I mention that? He was pursuing this coward who had fled from his entire army. Jael went out to meet Barak and said to him, come, I will show you the man whom you are seeking. So he went into her tent, and there lay Sisera, still dead, dead, with a tent peg in his temple. So on that day,
• 24:00
  God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel and the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. This whole event from the time when Deborah set up and they were going till this point all took place in the span of a day. God did it all in a day. They had been oppressed for 20 years and God took care of it.
• 24:28
  all at once. And he did it through two very unsuspecting characters. And we're going to see again in verse 5 that they gave the glory. But let's just look for a second at Jael. Jael, I don't know how far it is. I tried to find out in all of my study.
• 24:45
  from verse 11, how far it was from the Kenites over to the Oak of Zananim, because it says he went as far away as, which kind of implies that they probably had to pitch that tent at least once, if not multiple times, on their way from wherever they were going, you know, moving from Brighton down to Arvada, or whatever it was. So they had to probably put that tent up several times, and guess whose job it would have been to pitch the tent?
• 25:10
  Yes, JL. She would have been the one who every time the tent went up or every time something needed adjusting, she would be the one pounding in those tent pegs. She was a housewife. She did the job that God gave her. And she put the tent up. And she had the milk bottles. And she took care of the tent. And she was home. The other thing that JL did, as we know, is she faced this problem. She could have pretended she wasn't there. She could have run to a neighbor's tent.
• 25:37
  She could have done all sorts of things that we would have said were much safer, maybe even wiser than what she chose to do. But she didn't do them. She trusted God and whatever he was saying in her spirit at that moment and obeyed him. She trusted him and obeyed him. And she used this really kind of, to us it's not like a common way that you would hurt somebody, but she took a common task that she had and used it to take care of the terrorist of her day.
• 26:07
  Now, I don't know. I was trying to imagine, like, for me, if Osama bin Laden had showed up near my house and for some reason I had invited him in, what ordinary task do I do? All I kept thinking was I'd probably have to just invite some bad guy into my laundry room. That's the scariest room I know. I'd probably be smothering or choking or something. I don't know.
• 26:28
  A friend this morning said that it would probably be something with a butcher knife because she's always preparing food, always preparing food. So, you know, I don't know. But the point is, is that this was something that God took an ordinary task, something that was not glamorous, and he made it something glorious. He gave the whole victory to this housewife who diligently just did her job day by day by day. And there are a lot of unglamorous things that can become glorious.
• 26:58
  once they're in the hand of God. I also love that in verse 23, it says, on that day, Jabin, the king of Canaan, had been subdued. I think once Sisera was out of the picture, Jabin had nothing. You know, he was really standing behind all the force of those chariots and the evil demeanor of his general. And once the troops were defeated and that was all gone, Jabin was just vulnerable. And it says the people pressed in.
• 27:24
  harder and harder against Jabin, king of Canaan. Now, historical evidence, just really quick to tell you, happens to show that at this time in history, about the late 13th century, the city of Hazor was burned and destroyed. Hmm, I wonder who could have done that.
• 27:43
  The Israelites, right? They totally destroyed the king of Canaan, and there is historical archaeological evidence of that happening, again proving that this is not fiction, but it is fact. Now, chapter five of Judges. Don't get nervous. We're not going to be here till midnight. Chapter five is exactly the same story that you've now heard at least twice.
• 28:06
  but it is told instead of being told through slides or through prose as a narrative, is told in a song. And this song was something that Deborah and Barak wrote. They wrote it saying, you know, those of you who are on rich carpets sitting on the backs of donkeys, and those of you who are walking by the way, we want everybody to remember what happened in this battle on this day as you sit around campfires, as you go to the watering holes, and sing praise to the Lord. So I'm going to read this to us, and I love...
• 28:35
  I just love the Word of God for so, so many reasons. But I love the fact that this poetry that is written in Hebrew is still poetic, translated into English. So enjoy the poetry and listen to the story and the further details that it gives us. Chapter 5. Then sang Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinuim, on that day.
• 29:09
  She cannot stop giving God the glory. She cannot stop herself from giving God all the glory. Verse 4.
• 29:48
  When new gods were chosen, when war was in the gates,
• 29:51
  Was shield or spear to be seen among 40,000 in Israel? My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the Lord. Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys, who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way, to the sound of musicians at the watering places where they repeat the righteous triumphs of the Lord, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. Then down to the gates march the people of the Lord.
• 30:20
  Awake, awake, Deborah. Awake, awake, break out in song. Arise, Barak. Lead away your captives, O son of Abinoam. Then down march the remnant of the noble. The people of the Lord march down for me against the mighty. From Ephraim, their root, they march down into the valley. Following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen, from Machir, march down their commanders. And from Zebulun, those who bear the lieutenant's staff. The princes of Issachar came with Deborah and Issachar, faithful to Barak, into the valley they
• 30:49
  rushed at his heels. Among the clans of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart. Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds to hear the whistling for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan and Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher sat still at the coast of the sea, staying by his landings.
• 31:11
  Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death. Naphtali, too, on the heights of the field. The kings came, they fought, then fought the kings of Canaan at Tanak by the waters of Megiddo. They got no spoils of silver. From heaven, the stars fought. From their courses, they fought against Sisera. The torrent Kishon swept them away. The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon, march on, my soul, with might.
• 31:34
  Then loud beat the horse's hooves with the galloping, galloping of his steeds. Curse Moroz, said the angel of the Lord. Curse its inhabitants thoroughly, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Haber the Kenite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed. He asked for water, and she gave him milk.
• 31:58
  She brought him curds in a noble's bowl. She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workman's mallet. She struck Sisera. She crushed his head. She shattered and pierced his temple. Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still. Between her feet he sank, he fell. Where he sank, there he fell, dead. Out of the window she peered. The mother of Sisera wailed,
• 32:26
  through the lattice. Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots? Her wisest princesses answer. Indeed, she answers herself. Have they not found and divided the spoil, a womb or two for every man, spoil of dyed materials for Sisera, spoil of dyed materials embroidered, two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil? So may all your enemies perish, O Lord, but your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.
• 32:55
  And the land had rest for 40 years. In verse 7, we're just going to talk through a couple of highlights because there's so much that we could say. And if you want to come back for the late night session, just kidding. Just kidding. Let's just talk about a couple of key things. In verse 7.
• 33:19
  Deborah talks about herself. We know she's a prophetess. We know she was married. She and Jael were both married. They weren't women who just kind of struck out on their own to be all they could be. God had given them kind of these other roles as wives, but he also put them in these other positions as well. So I just think that affirms that they were fully women and they were fully where God wanted them to be. I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel. I'm so sad that the word mother is so...
• 33:50
  It's just not what it should be in our culture today. It's not honored as it should be. And what does a mother do? Of course, a mother nurtures, a mother cares, but a mother grows people up. And Deborah came on the scene to grow her country up. She arose as a mother in Israel and said, it is time to stand up and face the enemy and deal with it. And she was a mother to those in Israel. I love that.
• 34:18
  And then when it talks about awakening, and then in verses 14 through 18, it goes through this whole list of the nations of Israel. Yeah, the nations of Israel, Ephraim and Benjamin. Makir would have been Manasseh.
• 34:32
  which is the other half tribe. And it would have been those particular people in the region of the Jordan. So that is kind of, you know, if you're like looking for the names of the tribes, Machir would be equal to like Manasseh and Zebulun. And then it says something very interesting about Reuben. It says there were searchings of heart. They didn't get up and fight. They just kind of thought about it. And the thing is, in God's country, you're not just a citizen. You are a soldier.
• 35:01
  And that is as true now for us as it was for them back then. And for all these clans, these four clans of Reuben and Gilead and Dan and Asher that did not show up to fight, they were not doing what they should have been doing. And I think Deborah's mourning that a little bit in here. And then we hear about the torrent Kishon sweeping them away. The Kishon River is actually kind of a lazy river that goes kind of north up into the
• 35:31
  up into the sea. But at this season, it would have definitely kind of been at its lowest and its slowest. And so it is an unseasonable rain with an unseasonable flash flood that God brings this torrent, Kishon, that comes and roots the people, stops those chariots, and stops those troops from being able to advance up Mount Tabor to take on
• 35:54
  the people of God. And so God, when it says in chapter 4, he rooted them. And even when he promised that while Deborah was talking to Barak early on, that's one of the ways that he did it. Not only the rain, but also the river. And on they go. And then we come to verses 24 to 27. And here again we have the account of Jael taking on the biggest terrorist in the land. Taking on Sisera. And I think...
• 36:23
  the thing I want us to remember the most in here is that Jael was an unlikely person in an unlikely place at an unlikely time who took on the enemy in an unlikely way and brought salvation to her nation. And I would be remiss, oh, before I say that, sorry, I'm going to interrupt my own self here, and say that Jael being weak,
• 36:47
  and Deborah being weak, but being put in places of strength, and being infused by the power of God for strength, show us this point, and it's simply this, that our weakness can reveal God's greatness. Our weakness can reveal God's greatness. And just as God revealed his greatness through the hand of Jael and her ordinary tent peg and hammer, that was just something she would have to travel with wherever she and that tent went,
• 37:18
  God can use whatever it is in our lives, our weaknesses, physically, emotionally, relationally, even spiritually. God wants to come in and say, let me be Lord there and watch what I will do. God, in his own way, brought an unlikely person to an unlikely place at an unlikely time to save the nation of Israel and the whole world in a very unlikely way.
• 37:51
  And when we think of Jael, I pray that we also think of Jesus. And we think of the fact that this God became a man. And he came from an unlikely place. He came from Nazareth at a time when the Romans were occupying the nation of Israel. And execution was one of the main forms of torture. And execution? No. The cross was one of the main forms of execution and torture at the time. And that God said, that's the way. That's the way.
• 38:21
  I want to save people. And in an unlikely way, God put his son on a cross and saved not only the nation of Israel, but all who would believe in him. Just like Ralph Lautenberg knew that he deserved death for the things he'd done wrong, we all deserve death for the things that we do wrong.
• 38:41
  But Jesus tells us, and we learn in Romans 4, that he wants to give us all of his right living, all of his righteousness, all of his perfection, and put it on us if we will believe in him. And it's not just for those in the nation of Israel. It is for all who will believe. We have this unlikely Savior who died in an unlikely way. And even more unlikely, he rose again in three days.
• 39:11
  And he is sitting at the right hand of the Father, praying for us and waiting for us. And the real truth is, the empowered woman is the redeemed woman. The empowered woman is the woman who's been set free. That her weakness can reveal God's greatness because she belongs to him. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for this beautiful group of women. I thank you for your word.
• 39:42
  I pray that you would speak to our hearts individually, very personally, about what you want us to remember from tonight. Lord, I pray that this would touch hearts and change lives, not because I have any ability to do such a thing, but because your spirit, Lord, wants to touch us, wants to transform us more and more into the image of Christ. God, I pray for any here who have not trusted you.
• 40:11
  as their Lord, who have not taken that unlikely route of salvation through the cross, who know that their living is not enough to say, I'm going to lay it all down. And maybe it's just as simple as a prayer of, Jesus, take my next breath and take my next breath. Whatever it is for us tonight, I pray that you would hear our hearts and save our spirits and touch us deeply, Lord.
• 40:38
  I thank you, God, that our weakness can reveal your greatness to the world around us. And I pray that it would be so, God. We are weak and we need you so desperately. And I thank you that you give yourself to us so very, very abundantly. Thank you for Deborah and Jael. Thank you for your word. And thank you for sending your son. In his name I pray and to his glory. Amen.