Judges 4: 8-9
Barak said, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go."
"Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kadesh
(Read Judges chapter 4 for the story.)
When the Israelites turned away from the Lord again, God gave King Jabin, a Canaanite king, power over them. The commander of his army was Sisera, and he had cruelly oppressed them for twenty years.
So they cried out to the Lord again, and He had Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, a prophetess, to call for Barak, and tell him to lead an army against this Sisera.
But Barak was lacking in confidence, and wanted Deborah to go with him. Women were not considered able to fight as warriors, so when Barak insisted that she go with him to the battle, he was depending on her for his confidence.
So God did allow him to defeat this Canaanite commander and his army, but Sisera himself got away, and went to Heber the Kenite because there were friendly relations between King Jabin and the Kenites.
Jabin's wife, Jael, welcomed Sisera into the tent, gave him a soothing drink, and let him sleep, as he was exhausted from the battle. In that society it was the women who pounded the tent pegs into the ground when they set up their tents, so while he slept, she just hammered the tent peg into his temple, into the ground, killing him.
So Jael got all the praise for winning the battle (see The Song of Deborah, chapter 5).
Today in Israel the women as well as the men are all drafted into the military to serve.
I wonder, would I be a Deborah, giving confidence to the man in the battle; or would I be a Jael, taking the tool in my own hand to execute justice?
There may be many battles ahead. But when Jesus returns to fight the Battle of Armageddon, I will be there; not to give confidence, nor to participate in the fighting, but to witness my Lord's great victory.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
