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“Deborah Leader A Mother In Israel”

Father God, let this touch someone’s heart today, especially those that don’t believe women can be leaders. Thank You for Your truths in this bible in Jesus Precious Name Amen.

Deborah Gave Judgments Under a Palm Tree. Unfortunately, details of her time as a judge of the Hebrews. Deborah ranks among the most famous women of the Hebrew Bible, known to Christians as the Old Testament. Not only known for her wisdom, but Deborah was also known for her courage. She is the only woman of the Hebrew Bible who gained renown on her own merit, not because of her relationship to a man. She was truly remarkable: a judge, a military strategist, a poet, and a prophet. Deborah was only one of four women designated as a prophet in the Hebrew Bible, and as such, she was said to transmit the word and the will of God. Although Deborah wasn’t a priestess who offered sacrifices, she did lead public worship services. Deborah lived somewhere about 1150 BCE, about a century or so after the Hebrews entered Canaan. Her story is told in the Book of Judges, Chapters 4 and 5. According to author Joseph Telushkin in his book Jewish Literacy, the only thing known about Deborah’s private life was the name of her husband, Lapidot (or Lappidoth). There is no indication who Deborah’s parents were, what kind of work Lapidot did, or whether they had any children. Deborah was one of the rulers of the Israelites prior to the monarchy period that began with Saul (circa 1047 BCE). These rulers were called mishpat—”judges,”—an office that traced back to a time when Moses appointed assistants to help him resolve disputes among the Hebrews (Exodus 18). Their practice was to seek guidance from God through prayer and meditation before making a ruling. Therefore, many of the judges also were considered prophets who spoke “a word from the Lord.”

I think it is amazing how women were dedicated in the old times that still encourage to this day bring encouragement to all women who believe in God, including myself. Praise God for Deborah’s courage and commitment to God. At this time, Israel’s judge was a woman named Deborah. Oh, don’t be surprised, well you could. She was a prophetess, yes, women, like Moses, and Moses’ sister Miriam; they were prophets. Judges 4 is an historical account of God’s deliverance of Israel through Deborah, Barak, and Jael. It began with the children of Israel once again doing evil in the sight of the LORD. They started again once the current righteous judge died, which was Ehud. When Israel stopped serving the LORD, the LORD would make them serve their enemies.

It reads in Judges 4:1-24,~

Again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help. Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading 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.” “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. Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh. When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron. Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up. “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’” But Jael, Heber’s wife, 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. Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple, dead. On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.
“She exclaims, “Awake, awake, Deborah!” With all of the turmoil in the world these days, we can relate to Deborah as a role model who lived in troubled times. After twenty years of oppression, while most of her people cowered in fear, God awakened within her a zeal to do something. The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.”
It reads in Judges 5:7-12,~ Villagers in Israel would not fight; they held back until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel. God chose new leaders when war came to the city gates, but not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel. My heart is with Israel’s princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. Praise the LORD! “You who ride on white donkeys, sitting on your saddle blankets, and you who walk along the road, consider the voice of the singers at the watering places. They recite the victories of the LORD, the victories of his villagers in Israel. “Then the people of the LORD went down to the city gates. ‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, break out in song! Arise, Barak! Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’

{Let’s Pray}
Father God, I thank You and praise You for the great example of Deborah who was ready and willing to be used by You in the most difficult of circumstances. I thank You and praise You for the truths of Your word and for the encouragement of Deborah, still teaching us that You are a faithful God Who is long suffering towards Your people and ready to forgive the sins of those that call out to You in humble repentance, in times of trouble. I thank You and praise You that Deborah was leading, she made clear the importance of glorifying You, in her actions. She knew that You God, used and elevated her to accomplish Your purposes, and she ensured that You would continue to be glorified. Use me, I believe in Your service, no matter what the cost may be, and keep me low at the Cross and broken before You and give You all the glory. I love You, thank You, praise You and give You all the honor and glory in Jesus Precious Name Amen.

{Power Verse}

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14

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