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1Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:
2"That the leaders took the lead in Israel,
that the people offered themselves willingly,
bless the LORD!
3"Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;
to the LORD I will sing;
I will make melody to the LORD, the God of Israel.
4"LORD, when you went out from Seir,
when you marched from the region of Edom,
the earth trembled
and the heavens dropped,
yes, the clouds dropped water.
5The mountains quaked before the LORD,
even 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,
and travelers kept to the byways.
7The villagers ceased in Israel;
they ceased to be until I arose;
I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.
8When new gods were chosen,
then war was in the gates.
Was shield or spear to be seen
among forty thousand in Israel?
9My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel
who offered themselves willingly among the people.
Bless the LORD.
10"Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys,
you who sit on rich carpets
and you who walk by the way.
11To the sound of musicians at the watering places,
there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the LORD,
the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel.
"Then down to the gates marched the people of the LORD.
12"Awake, awake, Deborah!
Awake, awake, break out in a song!
Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,
O son of Abinoam.
13Then down marched the remnant of the noble;
the people of the LORD marched down for me against the mighty.
14From Ephraim their root they marched down into the valley,
following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen;
from Machir marched down the commanders,
and from Zebulun those who bear the lieutenant’s staff;
15the princes of Issachar came with Deborah,
and Issachar faithful to Barak;
into the valley they rushed at his heels.
Among the clans of Reuben
there were great searchings of heart.
16Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds,
to hear the whistling for the flocks?
Among the clans of Reuben
there were great searchings of heart.
17Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan;
and Dan, why did he stay with the ships?
Asher sat still at the coast of the sea,
staying by his landings.
18Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death;
Naphtali, too, on the heights of the field.
19"The kings came, they fought;
then fought the kings of Canaan,
at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;
they got no spoils of silver.
20From heaven the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21The torrent Kishon swept them away,
the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon.
March on, my soul, with might!
22"Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs
with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.
23"Curse Meroz, says the angel of the LORD,
curse its inhabitants thoroughly,
because they did not come to the help of the LORD,
to the help of the LORD against the mighty.
24"Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
25He asked water and she gave him milk;
she brought him curds in a noble’s bowl.
26She sent her hand to the tent peg
and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;
she struck Sisera;
she crushed his head;
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27Between her feet
he sank, he fell, he lay still;
between her feet
he sank, he fell;
where he sank,
there he fell—dead.
28"Out of the window she peered,
the mother of Sisera wailed through the lattice:
'Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?'
29Her wisest princesses answer,
indeed, she answers herself,
30'Have they not found and divided the spoil?—
A womb or two for every man;
spoil of dyed materials for Sisera,
spoil of dyed materials embroidered,
two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?'
31"So may all your enemies perish, O LORD!
But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might."
And the land had rest for forty years.
Judges 5 is a poetic rendering of the events described in the previous chapter. The text holds a series of strong and dramatic contrasts. Perhaps the most striking one is that of the power of Yahweh and the weakness of the people of Israel. It is found in 5:4-8. First, we see Yahweh the warrior marching to the battlefield. All of creation is trembling and "wetting its pants," yes, Sinai itself, the mountain-throne of God is passing away. The Lord is going to battle! Woe to his enemies!
But next to this overwhelming show of strength and majesty, Israel is characterized as a helpless and pitiful people. Highways in Israel are deserted. The main trade routes do no longer see caravans traveling with goods from here to there. Instead, they move secretly, stealthily, through thickets and rough mountain terrain to avoid detection by the enemy. The country has been ravaged by war, and the unwalled villages have been turned into ghost towns. Everyone is in hiding for fear of the enemy. Israel's condition is deplorable: weakness and desolation summarize the picture. These people will not be able to deliver themselves. Their salvation would have to come from outside themselves—from God, or it won't happen.
But this stark contrast between God's power and the people's impotence should not sound like something extraordinary. We cannot save ourselves, but can only come to God through Jesus Christ, in relying on his power to save us from destruction and sin. Or how will we ever make any advances in the Christian life? How do we do battle with sin and fight against our personal weaknesses? Are we going to do that in our own strength? Then we will be doomed to fail, and we do not understand the first thing about spiritual warfare and the nature of the work required in healing a sinful heart.
We cannot accomplish anything were we to strive in our own strength. The proverbial leopard cannot change his spots, and the Ethiopian cannot change the color of his skin. Jesus told his disciples: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). He really meant what he said: Apart from him you cannot accomplish anything at all of lasting spiritual significance. Jesus does not say you could not go to work without abiding in him. A lot of people do so. He does not say you cannot mow your lawn, go to school, or fix dinner without him. But to bear real fruit (and God knows the difference between religion and real fruit) you cannot, not in your own strength, because we are weak and unfit for God's stuff.
The ghost-town picture of Israel in the time of Deborah is a sketch of the heart's landscape of any believer who has failed to keep contact with the Lord. He must be our strength, if we are to succeed in discipleship. Pray that you may understand this and that you may "pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thess. 5:17). These words capture the idea of a life of total dependence upon God's power.
The author of these devotionals, the Rev. Martin Emmrich, is an ordained OPC minister (Westminster OPC, Corvallis, Oregon) as well as the author of Pneumatological Concepts in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book on the teaching of Hebrews on the Holy Spirit. We are happy to make these devotionals on Ecclesiastes and other passages of Scripture available to you.
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