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Nothing I have written about Deborah in recent days is the final word about her. So much more could be said. This will always be the case, wherever we are in the Bible. But I do want to share some final thoughts (for now) about her, before we move on. They are not mine, but they come from John Maxwell’s ‘Great Leaders of the Bible.’ I regularly find that, when God wants to show me something, the necessary ‘bits and pieces’ come together at the right time. As I was about to write about Deborah, I found, in my inbox, this excerpt from Maxwell’s latest book. I’ve already quoted one or two extracts, but here are some others that I think you will find helpful:

‘The account of God’s interaction with people is one story after another of him doing the unexpected. Time after time God showed his people that he doesn’t think the way they think and he doesn’t work the way they work.

Person after person in Scripture was surprised by God: Noah was surprised when God told him it would rain when it never had before. Abraham was surprised when God said he would be father of a nation when he had no child. Joseph’s brothers were surprised when the brother they sold as a slave ended up the leader of Egypt. Moses was surprised when God wanted a meek stutterer to lead the Israelites. Samuel was surprised when God told him David would be the next king. David surprised everyone when God gave him Goliath’s head in personal combat. Naaman was surprised when he was asked to bathe in the Jordan River and God healed him. And the list goes on. God likes to surprise us.

Deborah’s story is a fantastic illustration of how God does the unexpected. At a time when women had no rights and the rulers, warriors, and decision-makers of the world were men, Deborah was the judge of Israel. She held court, and Israelites from all over the country came to her so she could settle disputes, similar to how the children of Israel sought out Moses when they were in the desert.

Furthermore, Deborah was more than a judge. She was a prophet—unlike all the other judges of the Old Testament. Most of the other judges were warriors, and when God spoke to them, he did so through angels. But God delivered his messages directly to Deborah, which was very uncommon. The Bible has a record of only eight prophets before Deborah.

After the Israelites experienced 20 years of oppression, Deborah received a message from God that he wanted to help them. And God was very specific. He wanted Barak to command ten companies of soldiers and make them ready to do battle in the Kishon River Valley, while Deborah had responsibility for getting the Canaanite king’s army and Sisera, the commander, there. The question was how the Israelites would respond. After all, their expectations for themselves were low. They had been oppressed for a generation and had done nothing to free themselves.

The expectations of the Canaanites toward them were also low. On their own, the Israelites would have had no chance to win a battle. The Canaanites who ruled over them were well armed and equipped with 900 iron chariots—the equivalent of tanks against poorly trained foot soldiers today.

But God had different expectations for them. With his help, he knew they would win.

Deborah shared God’s confidence, so she may have been surprised when she delivered the message from God to Barak and he refused to go on his mission without her. Maybe he believed that they could not win without her presence, that she needed to watch the battle the way Moses had watched and prayed as Joshua fought the Amalekites. Maybe he wanted her to die along with him if their forces were defeated. Who knows? But she agreed to go. So we can add military commander to her list of unexpected titles, along with judge and prophet.

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “If you can explain what is going on, then God isn’t doing it!” God wants us to wait and depend on him.’

“Then the people of the Lord
    went down to the city gates.
¹² ‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah!
    Wake up, wake up, break out in song!
Arise, Barak!
    Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’

¹³ “The remnant of the nobles came down;
    the people of the Lord came down to me against the mighty.
¹⁴ Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek;
    Benjamin was with the people who followed you.
From Makir captains came down,
    from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s staff.
¹⁵ The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
    yes, Issachar was with Barak,
    sent under his command into the valley.
In the districts of Reuben
    there was much searching of heart.
¹⁶ Why did you stay among the sheep pens
    to hear the whistling for the flocks?
In the districts of Reuben
    there was much searching of heart.
¹⁷ Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.
    And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?
Asher remained on the coast
    and stayed in his coves.
¹⁸ The people of Zebulun risked their very lives;
    so did Naphtali on the terraced fields.

¹⁹ “Kings came, they fought,
    the kings of Canaan fought.
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,
    they took no plunder of silver.
²⁰ From the heavens the stars fought,
    from their courses they fought against Sisera.
²¹ The river Kishon swept them away,
    the age-old river, the river Kishon.
    March on, my soul; be strong!
²² Then thundered the horses’ hooves—
    galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.
²³ ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord.
    ‘Curse its people bitterly,
because they did not come to help the Lord,
    to help the Lord against the mighty.’

²⁴ “Most blessed of women be Jael,
    the wife of Heber the Kenite,
    most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
    in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
²⁶ Her hand reached for the tent peg,
    her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
    she shattered and pierced his temple.
²⁷ At her feet he sank,
    he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
    where he sank, there he fell—dead.

²⁸ “Through the window peered Sisera’s mother;
    behind the lattice she cried out,
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
    Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’
²⁹ The wisest of her ladies answer her;
    indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
³⁰ ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:
    a woman or two for each man,
colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,
    colorful garments embroidered,
highly embroidered garments for my neck—
    all this as plunder?’

³¹ “So may all your enemies perish, Lord!
    But may all who love you be like the sun
    when it rises in its strength.”

Then the land had peace forty years. (NIV)

Someone observed that the problem many Christians have is that they listen to themselves rather than talking to themselves. We need to learn to preach to ourselves. Never more so than when we feel the heat of battle, and there are discouragements.

The more this wonderful song goes on, the more obvious it becomes that not all the people were ”willingly” offering themselves (2). There was, in fact, some holding back. Tom Hale writes: ‘Reuben thought about coming, but in the end didn’t (verse 16). Gilead (Gad), Dan and Asher also did not come to help (verse 17). No doubt the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Asher believed it was in their best interest not to join the battle against Sisera; they didn’t want to get involved, they didn’t want to take the risk, they had their own affairs to attend to, But in the end they were the losers; they incurred Deborah’s (and God’s) displeasure. Those who do not step forward and volunteer their services to God will always miss the blessings God gives to those who serve Him with all their heart and soul (Deuteronomy 10:12; 11:13-15).’

There are moments when you really do have exhort your inner man (or woman) and say, ”March on, my soul; be strong!” Yes there are very real discouragements, but you know that God has called you, and will cause you to triumph.

‘Pastor Jack Hayford observed, “Nothing is more limiting than the self-​imposed boundaries we clap around our own lives when we require God to fit our expectations.” Deborah certainly did not do that. She was open to what God wanted to do. Her story makes it clear that God wants to connect with us by coming down to where we are, but his desire is to raise us up to where we could be.’ John Maxwell

 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

² “When the princes in Israel take the lead,
    when the people willingly offer themselves—
    praise the Lord!

³ “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
    I, even I, will sing to the Lord;
    I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.

⁴ “When you, Lord, went out from Seir,
    when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook, the heavens poured,
    the clouds poured down water.
⁵ The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
    before the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁶ “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
    in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned;
    travelers took to winding paths.
⁷ Villagers in Israel would not fight;
    they held back until I, Deborah, arose,
    until I arose, a mother in Israel.
⁸ God chose new leaders
    when war came to the city gates,
but not a shield or spear was seen
    among forty thousand in Israel.
⁹ My heart is with Israel’s princes,
    with the willing volunteers among the people.
    Praise the Lord!

¹⁰ “You who ride on white donkeys,
    sitting on your saddle blankets,
    and you who walk along the road,
consider ¹¹ the voice of the singers at the watering places.
    They recite the victories of the Lord,
    the victories of his villagers in Israel. (NIV)

What a difference one person can make in the purposes of God (7). It could be either a man or a woman (or a child or young person), but there comes a point where, with a vision burning in the heart, they ‘arise’. It won’t happen while they remain seated. God has given them something to do, and taking the first step, they experience God in the doing.

But good leadership always requires good ‘followership’! (2,9), and the best leaders give recognition and affirmation to their ‘troops’.

Furthermore, godly leadership ascribes all the glory to God (3,11). Such leaders recognise that their ”victories” – the church’s ”victories” – are the Lord’s. They could not achieve anything apart from Him.

‘If you are a leader and you want your people to be blessed, be an example to them and obey God’s call on your life. Follow him wherever he leads. And don’t be afraid to let others get the credit. God is mighty, and there is plenty of his blessing to go around for everyone.’ John Maxwell

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. ² 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. ³ 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.

⁴ Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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.’”

⁸ Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

⁹ “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. ¹⁰ There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.

¹¹ 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.

¹² When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, ¹³ Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.

¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ 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.

¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ 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.

¹⁸ 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.

¹⁹ “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.

²⁰ “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”

²¹ 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.

²² 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.

²³ On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. ²⁴ And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him. (NIV)

‘The pages of church history record the names of godly women like Deborah who knew God’s will, rallied God’s people, and won God’s victories; and we are grateful for them.

In Hebrews 11:32, Barak is named as a man of faith, but Deborah enlisted him and saved the day. What a strange victory! God used two women, a jug of milk, a hammer, a tent peg, and a storm (Judg.5:4-5, 20-21) to defeat the enemy (See 1 Cor.1:26-29.)

One person’s faith and obedience can make a difference in history. Whether you are a leader like Deborah or a follower like Barak, be sure to be a believer; because faith makes the difference between defeat and victory.’ Warren Wiersbe

It has been said, ‘Without Him we cannot; without us He will not.’

Reading verse 15, the above came to mind. How many times do we find we have to take a step of faith, and God’s power meets us there? We step into the sea, and the waters part!

‘What a moment that was when Deborah summoned Barak to arise, because the Lord had already gone forth! who of us need fear and who need hesitate in the face of difficulty, if we are simply called upon to go in the wake of our Lord?’ F.B. Meyer

For the director of music. To the tune of “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” Of David. A miktam. When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.

¹ Be merciful to me, my God,
    for my enemies are in hot pursuit;
    all day long they press their attack.
² My adversaries pursue me all day long;
    in their pride many are attacking me.

³ When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
⁴     In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?

⁵ All day long they twist my words;
    all their schemes are for my ruin.
⁶ They conspire, they lurk,
    they watch my steps,
    hoping to take my life.
⁷ Because of their wickedness do not let them escape;
    in your anger, God, bring the nations down.

⁸ Record my misery;
    list my tears on your scroll —
    are they not in your record?
⁹ Then my enemies will turn back
    when I call for help.
    By this I will know that God is for me.

¹⁰ In God, whose word I praise,
    in the Lord, whose word I praise—
¹¹ in God I trust and am not afraid.
    What can man do to me?

¹² I am under vows to you, my God;
    I will present my thank offerings to you.
¹³ For you have delivered me from death
    and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
    in the light of life. (NIV)

In the past I have quoted something I heard years ago, ‘Fear knocked at the door; faith answered, and there was nobody there.’ It has a nice ring to it, and there is, of course, a real truth to it. Winston Churchill said, ‘When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.’

But sometimes, when fear knocks at the door, there really is someone there – armed and dangerous and out to get you! David regularly found himself in tight corners, as when he wrote this psalm, and whereas trust in God did not always remove the threat from his door, it drove the fear from his heart.

”When I am afraid (3)…I will not be afraid (4). This paradox expresses the heart of the psalm.” Alec Motyer.

 Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman’s witness: “He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!” They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, “We’re no longer taking this on your say-so. We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!” (The Message)

”And they went to see for themselves.” (30)

We hope that people will look at Jesus for themselves, but how wonderful if God uses our words to move them in His direction!

It was the woman’s testimony that spurred many of her fellow Samaritans to cross those fields to see Jesus. But once they’d met Him, once they’d heard and encountered Him, they knew. There is no substitute for personal experience. Now they would have their own testimonies to share.

‘There are many ways of coming to know Christ. In some cases he comes to us, as to the woman by the well, and reveals himself in a direct and illuminating manner, so that the soul can never afterward entertain a doubt as to his reality or its own experience. In other cases, the report of some associate or friend is the arresting and converting factor.’ F.B.Meyer

PRAYER: Lord, please will you use even me, to tell the story of what you have done in my life.

Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman’s witness: “He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!” They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. (The Message)

What struck me about this short reading is the wonderful truth that Jesus responds to our prayers. Note the little word ”so” in verse 40. It’s a small word with big significance. Jesus is God, and where people genuinely seek Him, He welcomes such seeking.

”You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer.29:13 NIV)

I once read that when David Livingstone was struggling with doubt and loneliness in an African jungle, he wrote about the text, printed below, in his diary: ‘That is the word of a Gentleman of the most strict and sacred honour. He would never break His word to me.

”All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37)

As you look around right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time!

^36-38 “The Harvester isn’t waiting. He’s taking his pay, gathering in this grain that’s ripe for eternal life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the Harvester, triumphant. That’s the truth of the saying, ‘This one sows, that one harvests.’ I sent you to harvest a field you never worked. Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others.” (The Message)

When Jesus told His disciples to look at the ”ripe” fields, maybe they saw the Samaritan people making their way across those fields towards Jesus (30).

Evangelism takes a team. When we see a ‘harvest’ in our ministries today, who can say how much we owe to those who came before us and faithfully ‘sowed’ in these self-same ‘fields’?

”And although I see few results, future missionaries will see conversions following every sermon. May they not forget the pioneers who worked in the thick gloom with few rays to cheer, except such as flow from faith in the precious promises of God’s Word.” David Livingstone

‘The whiteness of the harvest appeared in the crowds that were coming down the valley; but at harvesttime we are sometimes apt to forget the sower who passed home without seeing the result of his labour. That is not the divine method. The sower is rewarded for his share, as the reaper for his – they rejoice together.’ F.B.Meyer

As Paul says, whatever part we may play in the process, it is ultimately all God’s work:

”What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. ⁶ I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labour. ⁹ For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:5-9 NIV)

In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, “Rabbi, eat. Aren’t you going to eat?”

³² He told them, “I have food to eat you know nothing about.”

³³ The disciples were puzzled. “Who could have brought him food?”

^34-35 Jesus said, “The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. (The Message)

Once again the disciples took Jesus literally when He intended to be understood spiritually. What ‘nourished’ Jesus above all else was doing the will of God. Essentially He had come to earth to do one thing: the will of the Father who sent Him.

One preacher used a helpful analogy. He said something like this, ‘Imagine an artist working in his studio on some masterpiece. Someone brings him coffee and sandwiches for lunch. When they return, later in the day, to collect the empty cup and plate, they find the food and drink untouched. The artist has been so immersed in his work that he has lost touch with any other appetites. He has been lost in his painting; absorbed in his task, focussed on finishing the great work.’

‘The only way we can freely participate in a discernment process is if we trust that God is good, not merely as a general attribute but as it relates to us specifically. Many of us will need to work at getting this building block set in the foundation of our discernment process. In order to surrender to the discernment process, we need to go beyond intellectual assent to cultivating a deep, experiential knowledge that God’s will is the best thing that can happen to us under any circumstances.’ (Ruth Haley Barton, in ‘Pursuing God’s will together’)

PRAYER: Teach me Lord, to love your will, and warmly embrace it.