Excedrin Headache #1

Excedrin Headache #1
Judges 4

We have, at the beginning of this year begun a journey through a study of the great judges of Israel.
While this is no week-to-week series, we will, by the end of the year, visit every judge and see what challenge we can glean from their lives.
Today we come to a unique entry in the list of Jewish deliverers.
It is the only woman in the list.
Our text begins with a quick review of the condition of the nation of Israel.
Israel is once again in a backslidden condition and under the judgment of an angry God.

READ TEXT Verses 1-5
Judges 4:1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead.
2 And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
3 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
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 Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

PRAY

The scene is set for us with Israel under the control of a neighboring area within Cannaan.
King Jabin has reassembled a great army strengthened by nine hundred iron chariots.
Under the command of his general, Sisera, that army had put Israel to subjection.
It appears from the record here that Sisera has complete control of Israel and, for twenty years, has exacted heavy taxes of tribute.

Also, in our text, we were introduced to Deborah.
She was Israel's moral authority in a dark time.
She judged Israel from Mount Ephraim.
When people had civil issues among themselves, they brought those issues before her to decide.
As a prophetess, a woman whose special ministry was to declare God's words, she was eminently qualified to be a judge and a discerner among her people.

Some find it distasteful that a woman is here in a position of authority and great responsibility.
To them I say, "Your insecurities are showing."
God has often used a woman's wisdom to balance a world naturally ruled by men.
Note, it is not her womanhood that qualifies her for this task, but rather her relationship with God.
No woman or man whose actions betray their disrespect for God's word is fit to rule or judge.

From a practical perspective, it is possible that Sisera had allowed Deborah's rule when he would have been threatened, and rightly so, by a man in her position.
Certainly a man would more likely have the ambition to rebel against the enemy.
He sorely misgauged Deborah's courage, however.
Deborah had received a special revelation from God to call upon Barak and deliver a message to him.
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Judges 4:6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, 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.

The message from God was clear and demanded courage from Barak.
He was commanded to lead.
He was to go to mount Tabor with 10,000 men and fight with Sisera.
From the verses that follow, it seems Barak was not concerned with gathering the men.
He never questioned his ability to gather people around himself.
He questioned the aspect of leading them to battle.
Here was an appointed leader with a loyal follower-ship and not enough courage to take them where they needed to go.
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Judges 4:8 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.

Now God has given Barak the opportunity to lead.
Another reason why we find Deborah in the position of leadership is no man was willing to stand up and be the leader God had asked them to be.
Men, don't complain that women are usurping authority if you are unwilling to be a leader.

Perhaps Barak was so insecure in his own relationship with God, that he felt God's blessing would only follow if Deborah was there.
Whatever, the reason, clearly Barak missed an important opportunity to lead.
So often, the stories of the Judges are stories of opportunity.
The situations of need presented opportunities for leadership and heroism.
Here we see, more than with any of the other judges, that God is an equal opportunity employer.
This does not mean that He insists upon women and men doing the same type of work or surrendering to the same callings.
God is smarter than that.
He has obviously given woman many powerful abilities that men do not have, and to men He has granted certain tendencies that make him more apt in certain areas of life.
This is the beauty of His great plan.
He has opportunities of equal importance for both men and women.
Let us not shirk those opportunities for whatever reason the flesh or the devil may bring up.

Barak, was told that, since he was unwilling to take the lead as God had asked, he would receive none of the glory for the victory.
That is the way it works.
If we insist on having things our way we will find that God puts the spotlight on someone else.

Now the next few verses give a little background concerning another aspect of our story.
There was a man of the Kenites whose loyalties were with Israel.
Since most of the Kenites were neutral in their loyalties, this is not something Sisera would suspect.
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Judges 4:10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
12 And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.
13 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.

The battle is described for us in the following verses.
It looks like Sisera's army is soundly beaten and Sisera himself runs away on foot to hide from the victorious Israelites.
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Judges 4:14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15 And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

Now we see the last chapter of our story as Sisera hails what he believes to be an ally in his flight from Israel.
And once again we see the opportunity for heroism.
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Jg 4:17 ¶ Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
19 And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
20 Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.

So Sisera has come into the house of Jael.
This cruel and powerful man is hoping to live to seek retribution on Israel.
He hopes to rest in safety at Jael's tent and then escape home to rally more troops against Israel.

Jael has now a distinctive opportunity to do something great for her country and for God.
She plays her part well and doesn't miss the opportunity that God places before her.
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Judges 4:21 Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

Now we see that Sisera was completely shocked by Jael's actions.
You might say that nothing like that had ever entered his mind before.
In all seriousness, what Jael did was a gruesome task but one that may have saved Israel from twenty more years of servitude.
Her courage inspired Israel to throw off the yoke of the oppressor.
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Judges 4:23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

I wonder how many people you might impact by deciding to accept the challenge that God has placed before you this morning.

God may be asking you to surrender the ministry.
Whether you are a man or a woman, you can be sure of this, that God has a great plan for your life.
He is intent on doing great things with you if you will accept His challenge.

Maybe you are here today and you do not know Him personally.
You are merely an onlooker, one interested in a relationship with God.
The greatest challenge of all is the surrender of the heart.
You must trust in Jesus Christ alone as your Saviour and begin a relationship with Him today.

Will you accept the challenge?
Will you take the opportunity?