[0:00] Ah, darn, I forgot to give those guys a map to put up on there so you guys could follow along. Oh well, I'll look at it and follow along for you. You won't know what I'm looking at, but that's alright.
[0:13] So we are in the book of Judges, and we are going to be looking at chapter 4 and 5. Quite a long section here.
[0:25] Again, lots of reading. Normally we do stand for the reading of God's Word, but because it is so long, like a couple weeks ago, maybe the last week, I don't know.
[0:40] But anyway, I ask that you guys stand in your heart, and that, in other words, you are alert and paying attention. So, you're welcome that you don't have to stand the entire time whenever you read it.
[0:53] I have to. You know. I'll do it. Anyway, no. Let's just ask for God's guidance this morning, and that the Holy Spirit would pierce our hearts.
[1:06] Father, we do thank you for your Word. We thank you that you have written down things for us that we need to learn your lessons, that you're trying to teach us.
[1:17] And we just want to have open hearts and open minds this morning, that we would hear from you and not rebel against it, like we can have a tendency to do or think that it's not for us.
[1:34] But we see where you are trying to talk to us this morning. So, we ask for eyes to see also. And thank you, Holy Spirit, for opening up our eyes.
[1:48] And we say this in your name, Jesus. Amen. Amen. So, chapter 4. First of all, the book of Judges is filled, as we are seeing, just full of failure.
[2:03] It's at times difficult to teach out of this book because of all the failures that are there and how it mirrors our own life to some degree.
[2:16] And so, for some reason, the Lord always takes me to these. When I get the privilege of presenting his Word, I seem to get the ones that are exhortations, shall we say.
[2:31] And I'm just asking the Lord, I can't wait until he lets me do the ones that are really uplifting and stuff instead of sometimes the downer ones. But we also need to be challenged from time to time.
[2:43] And we need to be confronted with our sins. We need to be confronted with our laziness, our lack.
[2:55] And so, that's what we're going to be really looking at today. So, the book of Judges is filled with failure. But, of course, we also know that it's full of hope.
[3:07] Because every time the children cry out, the nation of Israel cries out to the Lord, He immediately raises up a deliverer. And so, hope.
[3:19] It's all there. All we have to do is turn to Him. We know that it's also full of the redemption, our sin-redemption cycle that continues to happen.
[3:33] They sin, a series of things happen, and then they cry out to the Lord, and then the redemption. And so, that cycle, we'll see it again in here.
[3:44] But we're not going to be focusing on that so much this time, because it's, again, throughout the entire book of Judges. But I think there's a bigger picture, at least that I see, that is trying to be spoken to us today in our passage.
[4:04] I will say that God always warns before He acts. So, He always gives a warning before He's going to administer some punishment or discipline.
[4:19] And so, that's what we need to listen to, is what is He warning us about today? What is in there for us? And in the book of Judges, the warning is, don't forsake me and go after other gods, or punishment will come.
[4:40] He'll sell you into, He'll turn you over to your enemies. And then you get oppressed. You get, basically, you're in slavery to them.
[4:52] And then you cry out. And then there's that redemption that comes along. But, He always warns first. And then also remember that judgment always begins with the house of the Lord.
[5:08] How is He going to judge a world if He hasn't judged His own children, disciplined them? So, I want you to see if you can identify what the warning is in today's message.
[5:24] And what are we going to do about it? Let's just do a real quick recap. Our first judge was Othniel.
[5:37] And we learned that he was 91 years old when God called him or raised him up, which was pretty impressive to me. Because usually, we get into our older years and we say, I'm done.
[5:52] I'm just going to kick back, sit back, not do anything. I've been there, done that. I've already done my time, put in my time. And yet, Othniel was available.
[6:04] And so, God used him. God raised him up and used him. And he was a man that had a rich spiritual heritage. Because he was raised up in the family, so to speak, of Caleb.
[6:17] So, anyway, that's our first judge. Our second judge was Ehud. Ehud. And you guys were going, wait a minute, we didn't hear about Ehud. We heard about Othniel last week.
[6:28] What happened to Ehud? Well, Ehud I taught on about, I don't know, six months ago or so. So, if you're interested in listening to that sermon, it's online or whatever.
[6:39] But in that situation, God used a man who was left-handed, which was unusual for that time. And he used it.
[6:50] So, I'm sure that Ehud, growing up, was thinking, why am I left-handed? This is, you know, I'm singled out, that type of thing.
[7:00] And yet, God used him. It could have been also that his right hand was deformed. And so, he was forced into using his left hand. We don't know for sure. We just know that he was left-handed. But God used that.
[7:10] And the point was that God makes no mistakes. So, we may think, why am I like I am? Well, God's going to use you like you are. He has a purpose.
[7:22] And he's giving you your personality and your abilities and stuff. Just, he designed it, designed you that way. And just relax in that. And say, God's going to use me.
[7:33] It's okay. And however he chooses. But you have to be available. It still goes always back to that thing. You have to be available. And with the story in, with Ehud and Eglon, the king, that I just found it interesting that in there we see that Ehud made a double-edged sword.
[7:55] And as Bible students will remember that the double-edged sword represents the word of God. And so, Ehud took the double-edged sword and he thrust it into Ehud, I mean, into Eglon.
[8:11] And what came out? The guts and everything came out. So, that represents to us in our life that when we are struggling, that if we get the word of God into us, the sin will come out.
[8:27] That's what it's trying to demonstrate, trying to show us. And that, in itself, will give us deliverance. Our third judge is Shamgar.
[8:37] And we see that in chapter 3, verse 31. He gets one whole verse. We didn't even talk about him at all. That's because I was able to do this right now and put him in as the third judge.
[8:52] So, he, in his situation, it says, after him came Shamgar, meaning after Ehud, the son of Anath, who struck down 600 Philistines with an ox goad.
[9:06] And he also saved Israel. So, what that shows us, to me, is that Shamgar, he wouldn't have been carrying around an ox goad. And an ox goad, by the way, is a stick that is about approximately 10 foot long.
[9:19] And it's got a very sharp point on one end. And because he used it as he was, the ox were plowing the field or going along, that he would use it to prod them.
[9:31] Keep going. Go in this direction. Go in that direction. Anyway. So, there we go. He used what he had in his hand. That was his occupation to be like a herdsman or a plower, whatever, farmer.
[9:46] And so, he had in his hand an ox goad. And at some point, God raised him up. And he struck down 600 of the Philistines.
[9:57] So, again, the point being that God can use you wherever you're at. Whoever you are, whatever your problems are, and then also whatever you have in your hand. So, these are just stories that are coming out.
[10:10] Which brings us down to our fourth judge. And to me, it's a question, who is the judge in this story? Let's see if we can figure that out as we go along.
[10:22] Because we have main characters here, which is Deborah, of course. We have Beric. And we have another person that we'll look at a little bit, too.
[10:33] So, I just want you to think, who actually is the judge? And with that, let's get going. All right.
[10:44] Chapter 4, verse 1. Then, of course. Then the sons of Israel did, again, did evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died.
[10:55] So, apparently, Shamgar and Deborah, or this time that's happening, is approximately the same time. Because Shamgar came after Ehud died also.
[11:09] And now we're also told the story we're looking at is also after Ehud died. So, apparently, these things are happening simultaneously at different parts of Israel.
[11:20] Okay. So, anyway. No surprise there. They did evil in the sight of the Lord again. Verse 2. And the Lord gave them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.
[11:34] And the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in whatever town that is. I can't even pronounce it. So, the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, for he, Sisera, had 900 iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for 20 years.
[12:02] Now, when we read about Othniel, and we read how long they had been oppressed before they finally cried out to the Lord, it was only 8 years. My gosh, this generation that has come along after Ehud, man, they are stubborn.
[12:20] It takes them 20 years for them to finally cry out to the Lord. That amazed, I was amazed last time that it took 8 years. I'm really amazed this time that it took 20 years.
[12:33] And it's not just being oppressed to be severely oppressed. So, you can imagine, this guy, Sisera, could not have been a very good guy.
[12:46] And yeah, he's doing it in the name of his king, his king Jabin, but he's also wielding with an iron fist, so to speak. And he is not, anyway, who knows all what he's doing, how he's oppressing them and stuff.
[13:03] So, again, 20 years, that just amazes me. So, Israel is severely punished or oppressed for 20 years. Verse 4, now Deborah, we're getting introduced to her, and we learn here that she is a prophetess.
[13:19] The wife of Lapidoth, I don't know how to say his name again, was judging Israel at that time. So, Deborah was judging.
[13:31] So, was she the judge? Is she the one that God raised up? Could very well be. It doesn't say here that God raised her up specifically, like it talks about other judges, that God raised up a judge, and then it names that judge.
[13:46] And then it also says that the Holy Spirit came upon that judge. And we know that this must be true, because she wouldn't be a prophetess without God raising her up, first of all.
[13:59] And she wouldn't be able to prophesy without the Holy Spirit being on her. So, we can understand that that's, that the, it still is following the pattern of the other judges.
[14:13] Anyway, she was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah. So, everybody apparently knew, hey, under this palm tree, that's where Deborah's at.
[14:25] And that was between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. And the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. Now, the judgment that we're talking about here in this case is where people would have disputes, issues, and she would solve those, she would resolve them, or that she gave advice.
[14:48] I don't think that it was advice. It was just like, hey, this is what you need to do. And that was that. So, in that sense, she was judging Israel. She was well-known.
[14:59] People came to her for that advice. Let's see. Verse 6. Now, she sent and summoned, and now we're going to get introduced to the other guy, Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kadesh Neftali, and said to him, I don't know what your version reads.
[15:25] Some of them say, behold. Some say, has not. Begins it with that. Mine starts it out as, has not. And I looked it up in the original. It actually says that it's supposed to be has not.
[15:38] So, anyway, she summons Barak, and she says to him, Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded, Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you 10,000 men from the sons of Naphtali, and from the sons of Zebulun?
[15:57] Okay? We'll look at that a little bit later. I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his many troops to the river Kishon, and I will give him into your hand.
[16:14] Now, the many troops that they're talking about, because I look at that and I go, wow, God's going to bring 10,000 men.
[16:25] How many men are the ones that he's going to be fighting against? And because God always likes to make the odds not seem so good, so that he gets the credit, right?
[16:37] We learn that in the next judge here of Gideon. And, anyway, Josephus, who was a historian, that he said that Jabin Sisera had at his disposal 300,000 men.
[16:57] So, somewhere in that vicinity, that number, that you've got 10,000 going up against, you know, up to 300,000 men. That's some pretty crazy odds.
[17:10] But God, of course, loves to do that, and he says that I will give them into your hand. Verse 8, Then Barak said to her, If you will go with me, then I will go.
[17:24] But if you will not go with me, I'm not going. She said, I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take.
[17:38] For the Lord will sell, give, Sisera into the hands of a woman. Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh.
[17:50] At this point, we don't know who this woman is when she says that into the hands of a woman that God's going to give Sisera. We think it's going to be Deborah.
[18:01] It sounds like it's going to be Deborah. She seems to be who the judge is. Or is it Barak? Barak? Sorry, I keep struggling with that name, and I want to say Barak, and I can't say that.
[18:14] It's Barak. Anyway, so we don't know who this woman is. We're going to. Verse 10, Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali, like he was told to, and together to Kadesh, where he was told to go, and his 10,000 men went up with him.
[18:34] Deborah also went up with him. Now we got a little background story happening in verse 11. Something that's going on behind the scenes. Meanwhile, back at the ranch type of thing, verse 11, Now Heber, the Kenite, had separated himself from the Kenites.
[18:53] Like, why are we going into this story? From the sons of Hobad, the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zananimum, whatever, which is near Kadesh.
[19:10] Then, what's he do? Then they told Sisera, so I guess his family was telling Sisera, or his clan was, telling Sisera that Barak, the son of Abednon, had gone up to Mount Tabor.
[19:27] So he's telling him, hey, there's some people coming along, they're going to fight you. So he's letting them in on it. And it seems kind of strange, especially if you know the back story of what's happening with Heber.
[19:41] And you actually can look that up in previous verses here, in chapter 2, it talks about it. But anyway, it just seems a little strange. It almost seems like he's a double agent type thing, because he's at peace with the Canaanites, this Heber guy, but he's also, he moved himself away from the area because he didn't want anything to do with them.
[20:01] But now he's giving them information, saying, hey, and it could be because Sisera, Sisera was such a dominating person that, man, you did not cross him.
[20:14] If you knew something, you better tell. Because if you didn't, it would not go well for you and your family. That's what it seems like. Could be that that's what's happening. I don't know. We'll also look at another possible thing that's happening.
[20:28] Anyway, so they told them, hey, Barak and the 10,000 people are going to be going to Mount Tabor and let you know. So, Caesarea, verse 13, Caesarea called together all his chariots, 900 of them, yes, iron chariots, and all the people who were with him from that place that he's from to the river Kishon.
[20:53] So, up on top, you have Mount Tabor, okay, there, going there, the Barak is, which is 10,000 men, and then down into the valley there where chariots would be useful.
[21:09] They're not going to be useful up on mountains and stuff, right? That just makes sense. So, you're able to drive the chariots quite skillfully and effectively down in the riverbeds and stuff.
[21:25] And, anyway, so, that's where he's going to go meet him, knowing that the Barak's going to be drawn down into the valley and now he's going to be able to wipe them out.
[21:38] Now, the iron chariots, they, I mean, you've got to think of, 900 iron chariots, not just simple wooden chariots or something like that.
[21:48] No, these things are fortified. These things are strong. These things have the advantage. They are the number one military machine at the time.
[21:59] It would be like an Abram tank going on right now. If you were going up against that or whatever tank is the newest, latest, greatest tank, I don't even know.
[22:10] But, anyway, it would be like that, a tank that you are going up against. So, not only all these infantrymen, but now you've got 900 tanks that you're fighting up against and what do you got?
[22:23] A little, nothing compared to that. I don't know. I'd be a little scared. But, anyway, moving on. Verse 14, Deborah said to Barak, Arise, for this is the day which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands.
[22:41] Behold, the Lord has gone out before you. He's doing it all. So, Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. Charge, we're going out.
[22:52] verse 15, what happens next? We know it. The Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak.
[23:06] And Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. Keep that in mind. He got off his chariot. Why would you do that? Why would you get out of your tank when it's the number one military tool out there?
[23:21] And so impregnable, so to speak. I mean, why would you get out of your chariot? Something's going on. We're going to learn what it was, what's happening here because we're only being told part of the story here.
[23:34] So anyway, he gets off and he starts running. He's hoofing it. And, but Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as where they're from.
[23:46] And all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not even one was left except for verse 17 because this guy ran away.
[23:59] Now Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of, and it says J-A-E-L, that's pronounced Y-A-E-L, not J-A-E-L, or J-A-E-L, but anyway, just a little something there, Y-A-E-L, the wife of Heber.
[24:17] We know who Hebrew is. We're just told about him in verse 11. He's the one who gave the information to Sisera that, hey, there is these Barak and the armies, they're coming up against you.
[24:28] You better be ready. Anyway, so now the wife of Heber, the Kenite, for there was peace, this tells us, there was peace between Jabin, the king of Hazer, and the house of Heber, the Kenite.
[24:40] So they were at peace with one another. Verse 18, Yael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, hey, turn aside, my master, turn aside to me, do not be afraid.
[24:54] And he turned aside to her into the tent and she covered him with a blanket. He said to her, please, give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.
[25:08] So she opened a bottle of milk and gave him a drink. Then she covered him, asked for water, gives him milk. Why would that be?
[25:20] You can imagine he's been running, he's on the run, he first was fighting the battle, now he got out of his chair, he's on the run for his life, he's thirsty. And they said, give me a drink, drink of water.
[25:33] She opens up milk. Strange. Well, be it part of her plan, I don't know, maybe it was, or maybe, yeah, probably. But anyway, milk, as we know, it has tryptophan in it, and, I got the word, didn't I?
[25:50] It has tryptophan in it, and when you drink it, especially if it's warm, back then they didn't have refrigeration, and so it was warm, and so he drinks it, and, oh, nighty night time, I'm very tired.
[26:03] And, it also did not quench his thirst, but hey, that wasn't the goal of Yael, so, so he drinks it. Oh, and here's another thing about the milk.
[26:15] It's not milk like we think, two percent, or whole milk, or something like that. No, this is like goat's milk, and because they, again, don't have any refrigeration, that it's kind of thick, like yogurt-y.
[26:29] Mmm, delicious. I would, closer to like buttermilk, maybe, I don't know, but anyway, nice and warm, mmm, yummy.
[26:40] Anyway, he drank it, and she gave it to him to drink, then she covered him. Verse 20, he said to her, stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be, if anyone comes and inquires of you and says, is there anyone here, that you shall say no.
[26:59] I look at that, and I'm seeing Sisera, and Sisera, and he is demanding, why wouldn't he? He's a commander, and he tells people what to do, so that's just his, that's how he operates, you know, he's commanding, and he's also telling her, lie for me, you need to protect me, so something's going on here, besides, you know, he just expects this, but something's going on, why he thinks he can do this and command people, he just must have already done that with this family, whatever.
[27:34] Anyway, verse 21, but Yael, Heber's wife, took, this is fun, this is always a good one to tell the kids and the grandkids, so Heber's wife took a tent peg and seized a hammer in her hand and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple and it went through into the ground, for he was sound asleep and exhausted, so he died, you can imagine, I mean, just a little back history, background history of the, the family of the Kenites, or the, yeah, the families of the Kenites, that they were like Bedouins, which were nomads, they traveled around and everything, and the women of that time were responsible for basically everything, the men just, the men just sat around and the women did everything, and so when they needed to move and stuff, the women were in charge of, of picking up the tents and gathering everything together, and when they got to their new place, they would be setting up the tents, so she is very familiar with tent pegs and hammers, and so she won another time when somebody just simply used what was available to them, and so there you have it.
[29:09] There are some thoughts on why, I mean, because you think, why would she do that? It just seems strange, because I personally have to stop and pause and say, why would she do that?
[29:23] Why would she want to kill this commander? There, there, nobody, you just don't think like that. Hey, yeah, come in in my tent and I'm going to kill you. I'm going to put you night-night and I'm going to kill you.
[29:37] So something else must be going on here, must have happened. We're not told what happened, however, we can possibly deduce by inference of what things went on in the culture during those times.
[29:54] When, you had a commander and that as they were traveling along and stuff, the higher-ups, the ranks in the military, that they were allowed to go into the women's tents or the tents and have their way with the women.
[30:20] and that's just the way it was and the husband would have to turn a blind eye to it because, hey, you don't, no, that's his right as being a commander and so you just let him do it and I could imagine the woman that this is being done to is going, this ain't right but you keep it to yourself and stuff but maybe one too many times it happened.
[30:47] obviously he recognized her because he said, hey, she said, you know, hey, come on over here, come into my tent. Oh, okay, I feel safe by going in there and maybe just one too many times where she was a little fed up with him and she, because she doesn't know about this battle and everything that's going on, she doesn't know about any of that stuff.
[31:08] She hasn't asked him any questions. She just, so, I'm just saying is that it just seems strange why would she all of a sudden, hey, go towards, hey, I'm going to murder this guy.
[31:21] This is possibly a reason. I kind of like it. Vindicates the women. Vindicates a wrong gun. So, I'm going with that one. Although it's not germane to the story or to what the lessons that we're supposed to learn, it's just fun to think about these things now and then.
[31:41] Anyway, so, the end of verse 21, so he died. Verse 22, And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Yael came out to meet him and said to him, Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.
[31:57] And he entered with her, and behold, Sisera was lying dead with a tent peg through his temple. Walk it into that. Whoa. Okie dokie.
[32:10] So, verse 23, God, who gets the credit? Who did it all? Really? God subdued on that day Jabin, the king of Canaan, before the sons of Israel.
[32:24] The hand of the sons of Israel pressed heavier and heavier, meaning they grew stronger and stronger upon Jabin, the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin, the king of Canaan.
[32:37] God will always win and he will deliver his people. That's the moral of that story. Right? So, there we have the story in a nutshell.
[32:50] Again, we're not giving details, but there is some stuff that's going on in there. And in order to discover some more of what's going on, we need to go into chapter 5.
[33:07] Now, when I first looked at chapter 5, to be honest, I'm looking at going, I could care less about some song they're going to sing. Whoopee! Yippee!
[33:18] I get to read a song that is usually in prose that means, you know, it's all hidden messages and stuff and you're just going, I don't know what this stuff means and I'm going to have to dig into this.
[33:29] I don't really want to. But it's, I'm reminded of times when I am watching a movie or reading a book and you're going, you're getting about halfway through it, at least this happens to me, you get about halfway through it and going, it ain't making no sense, this, I'm done with it, I'm going to turn it off or I'm going to stop reading it, it's just, no, no thanks.
[33:59] and the Lord always prompts me and he says, continue reading, continue watching, you'll see, you'll see, wait until the end, everything comes together at the end of the story.
[34:13] It's like, oh, okay, I'll do that and so I have to push through it and I did with this also and I was blessed by doing it so you too will be blessed because I'm going to force you to go through it.
[34:25] So, chapter 5, verse 1, then Deborah and Barak, the son of, I don't know why I have to keep saying the name, the son of, but anyway, saying on that day, saying that the leaders led in Israel, that the people volunteered, bless the Lord, bless the Lord that the leaders raised, rose up, that they did their job, the leaders did their job, bless the Lord, bless the Lord that there were volunteers too and we'll see who those people are here in a little bit, bless the Lord, hear O kings, give ear O rulers, everybody hear this, okay, everybody hear this, I, to the Lord, I will sing, not, I'm going to sing his praises, I'm going to do it, I can't help but do it, God is worthy of praise and that he should be praised in song, and apparently she likes to write songs,
[35:27] I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel, Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the field of Edom, the earth quaked, the heavens also dripped, even the clouds dripped water, the mountains quaked at the presence of the Lord, this, if you remember your history, that, where else did the earth quake, where, what was, one of the times that it quaked, and she says it right there, at Sinai, the earth quaked at Sinai, and she's just referring back to that, and she's just saying, this is another Sinai situation, where you, the earth quaked before you, and creation quakes at the Lord, and the presence, I mean, it just, even it is, not that it's fearful, but it does what God creates it to do, but going back up in here, it says, let's see, in the second part of verse four, the earthquake, the heavens also dripped, even the clouds dripped water, it's interesting in this, in that the
[36:36] Baals, the gods, that the Canaanites worshipped, were responsible for, as the Canaanites understood it, were responsible for the rain, the giving of rain, and so, it's just interesting here, as you see how this unfolds, because it's kind of neat, that, so here you have the Canaanites, Sisera, Sisera, man, Sisera, and he's leading his army, and his god, the Baals, that's supposed to control the rain, and it begins to rain, something's happening here, it's almost like a slap in the face, because, first of all, you never went out to war during the rainy season, you always went in the dry season, especially if you have iron chariots, right, think about it, what's going to happen, if you've got an iron chariot, nice and heavy, by the way, and you're going down the riverbeds, and everything, and fighting, and beating up the enemy, and subduing them, and all of a sudden, it starts to rain, well, it's not supposed to be raining right now, it's the dry season, their god will protect them,
[37:57] Baal will protect them, and it begins to rain, not good, it's just a slap in the face, I love that, when you actually see what's going on here, so, how else would you stop an iron chariot, bog them down in the mud, makes them useless, and now we know why Sisera got off the chariot, and started running, it's useless to them, it's, God completely made their war machines useless, I love it, anyway, so, verse 6, in the days of Shamgar, the sons of Anath, and this is how we also know this is going on at the same time, in the days of Yael, the highways were deserted, that's how oppressed they were, the people didn't even travel on the roads, and the travelers went by roundabout ways, they didn't go on the highways, the quick direct routes, they always went in the back countries, and stuff, and meandered around, because it was dangerous to go on the main roads, because this was waiting for you, and so anyway, that's what's going on, the, did it say peasantry on the next verse,
[39:21] I'm just wondering, verse 7, hey, verse 7, I'm just wondering, mine says, the peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel, I'm going, what the heck is a peasantry, I don't know, that doesn't say that, but that's the rural dwellers, I don't, anyway, doesn't matter, that's not out there, so, anyway, they ceased in Israel until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel, some versions say the mother of Israel, no, that's not what she's saying, she's a mother in Israel, and I find that interesting also, of all the things that Deborah was, a prophetess, a songwriter, there's other things, anyway, poet, whatever, anyway, there were many things that Deborah was, and yet, she identifies herself as a mom, and because she knows that's the most important role there can be, is to be a mom,
[40:38] I think that's kind of neat, just wanted to point that out, anyway, verse 8, new gods were chosen, meaning that they chose other gods besides Yahweh, then war was in the gates, not a shield or a spear was seen among 40,000 in Israel, wait a minute, I thought there were only 10,000, why 40,000, we're going to find out, my heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, the volunteers among the people, bless the Lord, there's the hint right there, there must be, we told about it in verse 2, there must be volunteers, there's something else that's going on here, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who travel on the road, sing, praise God also, sing about this great thing that the Lord has done, at the sound of those who divide flocks among the watering places, there they shall recount the righteous deeds of the Lord, the righteous deeds for his rule dwellers in
[41:45] Israel, then the people of the Lord went down to the gates, verse 12, awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, sing a song, arise, Barak, and take away your captives, oh son of Abinam, man, I'm bad with names, I could not be a linguist, verse 13, then survivors came down to the nobles, the people of the Lord came down to me as warriors, here's where we find out where all the extra people came from, it's kind of neat, and let me stop for a second, so if you remember back when the first judge, that the first time that God was calling the people to war, he called Judah to war, and Judah said, God said, or they asked, who shall go up and fight, and God said,
[42:47] Judah shall go up and fight, and Judah then turned to Simeon and said, hey, come along with me, okay, and that was a bad thing then, because God didn't call, didn't say, hey, Judah and Simeon go, he just said, Judah go, all right, this is different, what's happening here, so, because Barak was obedient, he took the two countries that, the two tribes that he was told to take, and that was Naphtali and Zebulun, so he took those two, like he was told to, with the 10,000, but something, now something interesting is happening, verse 14, from Ephraim, those whose root is in Amalek, came down, following you, Benjamin, with your peoples, from Makar, commanders came down, and from Zebulun, those who wield the staff of office, and the prince of Issachar, with Deborah, as was Issachar, so was Barak, into the valley, they rushed at his heels, so in other words, there's other tribes that are coming along going, hey, we want to join the fight, we're going to get in there and do it too, kind of neat, again, now, this, it's different because now they're volunteering, they see what's happening and they're volunteering, they're not told by somebody else, hey, come along and do this, so it's all on their own, they're not having to be told to do it, it becomes germane to the story here in a few, but it switches a little bit here, so verse 15, into the valley they rushed at his heels, and then it says, among the divisions of
[44:38] Reuben, there was great resolves of heart, why did you sit among the sheepfolds to hear the piping for the flocks among the divisions of Reuben, what's going on here, the tribe of Reuben, what did they do, they know about the fight happening, they know that their brothers are going to go fight, and what do they do, they were great, they had great resolves of heart, meaning they just sat there and pondered it, should we go help them or shouldn't we, I see that it would probably be useful, probably they would do better if we went and helped them, you know, I don't know, let's have a committee, let's have a meeting about this, let's talk about it, and so basically that's all they were doing, they were talking about it, and we can get, we can fall into that trap ourselves when we see our brothers and sisters doing something and they need help, we go, eh, let me think about it, let me pray about it, let me, and so we analyze it to this, to death, and in fact they call it paralysis of analysis, and that's what happens to us, man, too often, so that's what's happening with
[46:13] Reuben here, there were great searchings of heart, verse 17, Gilead, here's another one, remained across the Jordan, they didn't bother even coming back over across the Jordan to come help, and why did Dan stay in the ships, they're out on a cruise, yeah, I'm not going to come in, I'm out on the ships, now, that's a land battle that's happening there, I don't need to get involved in that, no, no, Asher, sit at the seashore, they were on vacation, eh, sitting at the seashore, just relaxing, kicking back, nice, nice, while your brothers, your brother tribes are going and fighting, yeah, we'll leave it up to them, so, Asher sat at the seashore and remained by its landings, verse 18, back to the good stuff, Zebulun, they were one of the ones called, was a people who despised their lives even to death, they were so sick of the oppression that was happening, they despised even their lives, it is better to die than to live under that oppression anymore, if we die in battle, so be it, it's worth the freedom, it's worth the freedom because then our children will be free, that type of thought is going on, and
[47:36] Naphtali also on the high places of the field, so they also, that they didn't, death was preferable than to live under that, so we have some people that are in, some tribes that are in the hall of fame, and of course we have some that are in the hall of shame, and just again, interesting, verse 19, the kings, excuse me, the kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan at Tannic near the waters of Megiddo, they took no plunder in silver, they didn't win in other words, this is also interesting, the stars fought from heaven, from their courses, they fought against Sisera, first look at that, what do you mean the stars fought from heaven, well they fought from heaven because the battle went into the evening, and the stars did their job, they shined light, and they were, gave light so the enemy could be routed, and here comes the part about the water, verse 21, the torrent of Gishon,
[48:47] Gishon was the river that they were, that Cicero wanted to fight at, because again it was supposed to be a dry riverbed this time of year, the torrent of Gishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Gishon, oh my soul march on with strength, then the horse's hooves beat from the dashing, the dashing of his valiant steeds, again pretty neat, oh something else is happening here, verse 23, curse morose, said the angel of the Lord, utterly curse its inhabitants, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the war, again another place that set out, so much so God was so angry with them that he said curse be the inhabitants and the city also, to this day nobody knows for sure, they don't not even not even for sure, they don't even know where this place morose was, there's nothing left of it, it's gone, it's been, it's cursed, it's gone, something again, something is happening here that we need to understand, what is going on that we need to think about, verse 24, most blessed of women is
[50:18] Yael, do you recognize who she is, I mean where she's from, she's not even a Jew and Israelite and yet God used her to kill Sisera, she was a Gentile, again, interesting, so, you had Beric that was supposed to be the commander and usually the commander is one that gets the glory and everything, but because of his attitude and everything, and that, as Deborah said, the glory is going to go to a woman, and not only just any woman, but a Gentile woman, so, she was more courageous than Beric was, so, most blessed is the woman Yael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite, most blessed is she of women in the tent, verse 25, he asked for water and she gave him milk, in a magnificent bowl she brought him curds, that's kind of neat, so he felt special,
[51:33] I'm going to bring it to you in a magnificent bowl, in a great cup, because you deserve it, Sisera, the commander, to see the sarcasm, again, I like it, verse 26, she reached out her hand for the tent peg, and her right hand for the workman's hammer, and she struck Sisera, she smashed his head, and she shattered and pierced his temple, between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay, between her feet he bowed, he fell, where he bowed, there he fell, dead, nice poetry there, anyway, now all of a sudden it turns to a little bit of compassion here on somebody else, because somebody else is involved in this, something else is happening, out of the window she looked and lamented, the mother of Sisera, through the lattice, why does his chariot delay in coming, why do the hoofbeats of his chariots tarry, her wise princesses would answer her, indeed she repeats her words to herself, are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoils, certainly he's one, and he's just busy dividing things, the spoils up and everything, a maiden or two, you know, for every warrior, they're busy right now, they're busy having their way, don't worry about it, to Sisera, a spoil of dyed work, a spoil of dyed work embroidered yet, dyed work of double embroidery on the neck of the spoiler, that's what's happening, that's where he's at, that's why he's delayed, new, thus let all your enemies perish,
[53:30] O Lord, but let those who love him be like the rising of the sun in its might, and the land was undisturbed for 40 years, so reads the word of God, now, we went through the story, and we say to ourselves, yeah, that's a cool story, but what's it got to do with me?
[53:58] Yeah, nice story. Did you guys pick up anything in there? Did you guys see what was happening? Do you see possible warnings for your life, for my life?
[54:14] First question we have to ask is, why did God have to raise up a woman? What's going on there? Why did a woman have to be raised up?
[54:27] Men were always raised up. Not that women can't do it, mind you, obviously, but apparently there were no men to step up to the plate.
[54:40] No men that wanted to fulfill their role. people. So, God says, fine, I'll raise up a woman.
[54:51] No problem. I can use a donkey for crying out loud. Not that a woman's a donkey. I can be real careful here because I'm not inferring that. Oh my goodness, no. This is where I want to be very, very careful that I want to speak God's heart and not my heart because I have my own very strong take on this and I know that it's for me and I don't want to project it on everybody else, so please don't take it that way.
[55:30] But something is going on here that needs to be addressed. So, God had to raise up a woman because men weren't doing it. and not only that, we even see that the commander of the army, Barak, he wasn't much of a man.
[55:50] I don't know how you take it, I don't know how you heard it, but in verse, chapter 4 verses 6 and 7, when she says, has not, oh, now she sent and summoned Barak, the son of whatever, and said to him, has not the Lord, the God of Israel commanded, go and march to Mount Tabor and take with you 10,000 men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun?
[56:20] I don't know what you hear there. What I hear is a chastisement. Hasn't the Lord said to go do this? He's already told Barak to go do this, and Barak said just sit back, not do anything.
[56:33] thing. So, God has to have Deborah do it, and chastise him, tell him, hasn't the Lord told you to go do this? Oh, yeah, well, and then what's he say?
[56:46] Verse 7, no, because verse 7 is when he's still, God is saying what's going to happen. I will draw out to you, Caesarea, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots, and I will give him into your hands.
[57:03] So, God is telling Barak that, hey, the victory's already there. I'm going to do it. You don't have to do, all you have to do is get the armies and go out there and fight the battle, because you need to learn about war, don't forget about that, but Barak just doesn't do anything.
[57:21] And in fact, in verse 8, he says, then Barak said to Deborah, I will go with you, no, I would say that wrong, if you will go with me, then I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.
[57:39] Again, what is going on here? I'll go if you go, but if you don't go, I don't want to go. What a mouse. I'm sorry, but that's how I see it, that's what I see.
[57:52] And so I say to myself, what are you trying to tell me, Lord? Am I like that? Do I shy away from things? You tell me to go do something, and I don't go do it, because if somebody else comes along with me, then I'll go do it.
[58:09] If I got to do it by myself, I don't want to go. Again, only you can answer that for your own life. I can't answer that.
[58:21] But that's what I see is going on. You know, it's different. When I first read that, I will go where you will go, it immediately came to my mind was Ruth.
[58:32] When Ruth was telling Naomi that wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you sleep, I'll sleep. Wherever you die, I'll die. Your God will be my God. So I was thinking that direction in the beginning and it's like I reread it and it's like, no, that is not what's going on here.
[58:48] He's a mouse. So, um, I hear in there when he says that to Deborah, I need my mommy, mommy, please come with me, or in some of our cases, I need my wifey to go with me.
[59:07] She needs to hold my hand and help me out in this. God gave him his marching orders and told him he would succeed, yet he didn't get moving.
[59:18] That shows a lack of faith and he didn't want to put his talents to use.
[59:32] In Isaiah 6, 8, we know the passage where Isaiah is being asked by God, who shall I send and who will go?
[59:44] And how does Isaiah answer? He says, here am I, send me. what do most of us say when God says that?
[59:55] Here am I, send someone else. That's the truth of it. That's what we do. I see a need. I'm ready, Lord.
[60:06] Send somebody else. I'm available. No, you're not. You know, I don't know, at some point I gave a message in looking at statistics and stuff, learned that 80% of the work that needs to be done in a church is done by 20% of the people.
[60:34] along with that, I learned because of this message, researched it, that out of that 20% of the people who do the work, 80% of the people are who?
[60:54] Women. Who? Women. Women. 80% of the work that needs to be done in the church by the 20% that are doing it are women.
[61:05] What's that say to you and me, guys? What's that say? 20% is being done. What's that?
[61:17] Slacker. Slacker. Hey, that's exactly it. Our church, because I ran the figures, I ran to see, you know, I put in place the men versus the women who do this and that and everything.
[61:32] Ours is 70-30. Does that shock you? Shocked me? A little bit. 70% of the women do the work in this church and only 30% of the men do it.
[61:46] Where are the men? Man, here I am talking to this small group right now and it's, but I'm hoping that online when this gets put out online and the recording of it and stuff that the rest of the body that listens to this that it will convict, be challenging.
[62:10] So, I'm hoping that's what happens. It's staggering to me. We have to make ourselves available and that simply means to be at one's disposal.
[62:23] You have to be available. available. We have to make ourselves available. And, by the way, when I say this and you know that there's needs that are out there, if you're already serving, don't worry about it.
[62:41] It's not meant to throw another thing on you, although that's your tendency. I'll fill in the gap. I'll plug the hole. I'll do it. If you're already working, you're working.
[62:52] The Lord's waiting for other people that he has called to step up, to step into those positions. It should be 100%, 100% of what's going on with the men and the women to fill the needs of the church, of the local body.
[63:08] And, again, this isn't just this body. This is churches as a whole. There's three types of people when it comes to things that need to get done. There's those who make things happen.
[63:20] There's those who watch things happen. And then there's those who have no idea what's even happening. That's the way that it is.
[63:35] You know, if you're faithful in the little things, no, we'll get into that in a second. Men, not standing up to do the work, we have needs in the church.
[63:46] And I just want to point out a few things. we have a sister in our body who has been tasked, has been, something else in her life has thrust upon her a lot of, a lot of things outside of the church that she needs to take care of.
[64:08] But she's instrumental in this church in doing things. and nobody has noticed, maybe they have, and if you have, shame on you for not stepping in, nobody has noticed that the sister of ours is under this type of burden.
[64:28] I talked to you, Diana, in the things that you are going through, and I don't mean to point you out by name, but the stuff that you are going through is very heavy and hard.
[64:40] But the other things you do for this church, nobody is stepping in to help her. Nobody is stepping in to take her place. Again, Diana, please don't take it like this in any way, okay, other than my heart for you, God's heart for you, okay?
[65:00] He hears your cries. Who's stepping up to help? Do we even know that that is happening? Do we even know the things that Diana does for this church?
[65:13] Give her some relief. We had somebody here who doesn't even come here anymore because he was the sound guy for many, many years, and he needed to break desperately.
[65:35] You could hear it in the way that he would talk and try to get people. Hey, will anybody come back here and help me? Is there anybody that will help come along beside me?
[65:48] And I've got to do this Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. You think, oh, big deal, it's just sound. Who cares? No, it gets wearing, it gets taxing. Nobody would step up to help him.
[66:00] you start hearing it in his voice when he became short with people and things. What do you expect, family? I'm speaking direct now because this is important stuff.
[66:16] The men aren't stepping up. Wow. So now he doesn't even come to church anymore. Don't we miss him?
[66:27] Do we call him? Do we say anything to him? Do we try to, and once in a while he makes an appearance, but he's afraid that if he comes, I'm going to have to go back in there and do the sound again.
[66:41] It's going to be dumped on me again. Man, as soon as somebody did stand up and started to take over the sound, he was gone. Why did we let it get to that point?
[66:53] Golly, wrong, wrong. going to church is important. Now I'm talking to people who just listen to it on the internet and that's it.
[67:08] They don't come to church any longer. COVID did a horrible thing to us. It made people comfortable. I can listen to it at home whenever I want.
[67:19] There are times when we need to do that. Thank God for technology for that reason. I'm not dissing that at all. There are times I get that, but not every Sunday. It's important to come to church because one of the reasons, besides that we're gathered as a family of believers, is that we need to get involved.
[67:42] You can't get involved from your couch. How do you get involved from there? No, you need to be here to get involved. Just so important. Nobody wants to say that anymore.
[67:53] Nobody wants to challenge that. It's like it's a taboo thing. Oh, don't make everybody angry. Don't make everybody upset. Don't beat the sheep. I'm not beating the sheep. I'm telling you like it is.
[68:04] This is what is happening. And again, it's not just in this church. It is happening across America. You want to pray for things about the church? These are things you can pray about.
[68:17] Esther, you were brought here for such a time as this, and yet, and what she told by Mordecai, if you don't step up, if you don't do it, God's going to raise up another, and you'll miss the blessing.
[68:31] Another thing to think about. Here's another thing to think about. God keeps a record, just like Deborah did, of who got involved and who didn't.
[68:43] What that means at the end, I don't know. But we're told here, she lists the people, the volunteers that got involved, and the ones that didn't, the ones that just thought about it, had meetings about it, the people who stayed on their boats, the people who stayed at the beaches.
[69:04] Deborah kept a record of it. That's how I know that God kept a record of it, because who directs what's written in Scripture? The Holy Spirit. Yeah, he's the one who kept the record of it.
[69:16] something to think about. Volunteers, don't be a spectator any longer. This praying about it.
[69:29] If today you hear his voice, if today you hear it, harden not your heart. It's not, I'll think about it, I'll pray about it.
[69:40] No, if he puts it on your heart, do it. Do it. It doesn't even take that much. Today, did you see Diana? She was the one collecting the offering, because there's nobody else that wants to step up to do it.
[69:55] There's people that when Diana asks for volunteers to do this thing or that thing, greeter or to do the morning announcements, that people say, oh, here I am, and then Diana sends out a message and trick it.
[70:16] they don't respond. You're not right. Why do we do this? You know, there's something that I also just really love in when Scripture says, consider your ways.
[70:36] I love that passage and the different times it talks about it in Scripture, because it reminds me, and I do this quite often, consider your ways.
[70:48] It means that consider what is going on in your life, what's happening with you, what's going on, consider it, ponder it. Why, if you're in turmoil, if you're in trouble, why is that happening?
[71:03] What is the Lord trying to warn you about? What is he trying to tell you? Do you need to correct something? And that's why your life is miserable for right now?
[71:15] Because he says, I can't move you any forward, any more forward until you are obedient in this area over here. You ask me, you know, use me, and I tell you, this is how I want to use you, and you don't do it.
[71:29] Anyway, so consider your ways. I love that. And it's also for our church, too. Consider your ways. And this is also where I want to be very careful because I don't want to project this onto the church and say, this is what's happening, but I am considering the way of what's happening with the church, this local body itself.
[71:53] And that is in, we're told in the book of Revelation, when Jesus is addressing the churches, the various churches, churches, and the last church he addresses is the Laodicea church.
[72:11] And it can parallel talking about the end-time churches, so we very well, this could be relating to us.
[72:23] I don't know. Again, it's something to consider. But where he says, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. Because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth.
[72:41] Let's hope that's not our church. But I wonder. I'm considering the way we see the dwindling that is happening.
[72:53] I don't know. I'm trying to understand. what God is trying to tell us what's happening. He also tells us, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.
[73:06] Therefore, be zealous and repent. We need to understand what God is trying to tell us in this story. Be not merely hearers of the word, but be doers of the word.
[73:24] another thought was, we're told that if you're faithful in little things, that he tells you you will be faithful in much because he will put you in charge of much.
[73:42] He also says that we know the story of the talents, where they're given talents and some bury it. In other words, they don't use it, they don't try to make it grow, and then you have the ones that do make it grow.
[73:56] Well, the one that buried it, his will be taken away and given to the one that made it prosper, made it grow. So again, it makes me wonder, I'm not saying this is what's happening, please don't misunderstand that, but I do wonder that taken away and given to another, is that beginning to happen in our body.
[74:24] We lost the bells, again, instrumental in this body, in doing things. Susan and Lance were important, we lost a big thing, they're being taken from us and given to another church wherever they got planted at, or wherever they're going to be planted at.
[74:48] Again, just a thought, I'm wondering, considering our way, I'm an elder, I'm supposed to consider the health of the church, of the body.
[75:02] We're going to be losing the weeklies, their last Sunday here. Again, an integral part of the body, whether they'd like to think it or not, sometimes we don't think we are, but they are.
[75:15] And the roles that they, not play, that they do in this church, who's going to replace them? I wonder, another one being taken away, given to another.
[75:31] Just thoughts. Just thoughts. I hate to be so heavy-handed, so, to give these types of messages, again, I ask the Lord, please, don't let me have to do this.
[75:47] I don't enjoy it at all. Why would I? But, it is what is happening. I can't, you know, ignore the scripture we come across.
[75:59] I have to present it the way that it's there, the way I understand it to be. If you don't understand it to be that way, disregard it. Mark doesn't know what he's talking about.
[76:11] what he's between you and the Lord. All right, with that, Father, we do, we thank you for your word, even though it's, at times, very hard to hear.
[76:30] When we read these types of stories, it's also easy to just look at that it's for that time, that period, for those people, but when we do stop and say, Father, what are you trying to tell me about my walk, about my obedience, in all these different stories that we read, that you just love us, you're mourning us, you don't want us to go down those wrong paths, you want us to be obedient, so that we can be blessed individually, and also that our church, our body can be blessed, and flourish, and grow, and so, Father, I thank you for your word, I thank you that you are bold enough to address these things, because you do love us, because discipline does start with your house, with your children, and thank you so much for your love, and thank you for your forgiveness, too, for our many failings, thank you for raising up our deliverer,
[77:52] Jesus Christ, and we say this in your name, Jesus, amen. to