Taken from Judges 4-5
If I could be one person from the Bible, I wish that I could be Deborah.
She is everything I desire to become as I grow older and more mature.
- A great woman of faith
- A well-respected leader
- An individual who cares so much about a person that they will lovingly confront their sin
- A rock to those who are afraid
- Humble, even if she did something praiseworthy.
She was a woman who, in a culture dominated and run by men, was looked to as someone even they wanted to follow and be around.
She is never depicted in the Bible as a woman who comes from a famous lineage or has monetary or intellectual prominence or high status in society. She was common folk, just like most of us. Someone we can relate to and actually, aspire to be.
She was no one special, but she knew the one that could make her special. The one that gave her strength, power and wisdom. She knew God and He knew her.
The greatest word I can use to describe Deborah is confidence. She seems confident and unshaken no matter what is thrown her way. But where does that confidence come from?
And not only that, but how can we be so confident? How can we be confident against a fallen and sinful culture? How can we be confident in the words God speaks and asks of us? How can we be confident and not fear when a large army is hunting us down to kill us?
How can we have as deep a love and friendship with God as Deborah does?
Well, to understand a hero we must look at their story and learn from it.
The Culture Deborah Found Herself In
When the Israelites finally had their own land and home, they were given a grave warning by their leader Joshua.
If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
Joshua 24:20
And while they had a great leader, they followed God. But as soon as Joshua died they slowly began to allow sin and disobedience to God to creep into their lives. They began to do that which was right in their own eyes.
They became the masters of their choices, morals, and faith.
They began to forget or, simply, care less about God. They didn’t talk to him during the day, or look for His guidance in their decisions. They didn’t teach their children about God’s commands or remember the holidays God gave them to remember their past.
They began to mimic those around them, the part of the world without God. The people that they were supposed to remove from their land, not live happily with.
And as they removed God from their lives, he began to remove himself from them as well.
And just as was promised, God’s blessing not only left the people of Israel, but God’s wrath was also upon them. They were overtaken by a different culture and country. They were mistreated, oppressed, and abused by people God allowed to be in power. And all because Israel didn’t make it a priority to know and love their God, the God who had proven himself over and over again that He was the one true God.
Sounds pretty familiar to today, doesn’t it?
In the world at large, we have become the masters of our lives and are doing what is right in our own eyes.
We are not looking to God for guidance, we are not in communion with Him daily and we do not hold Him in high regard. And although we might be good at pretending, God knows the truth.
We have forgotten who He is, what He loves/hates, or that He exists at all. We are not teaching our children about Him. We are not remembering what He has done for us. We have had so much wealth and so much prosperity and so many distractions that, in our minds, there is no more time or need for God.
We are instead looking to those around us and mimicking them. We are seeing our culture as a basis for what is right and wrong. We are learning our morals from people who don’t know God, and are creating false religions and sinful beliefs. We are not just turning away from God, but we are sprinting towards destruction.
And just like the Israelites, if we forsake God and follow after something else, God will consume us and cause us pain. We will no longer have His blessing.
For where sin dwells and is celebrated, God’s wrath will come.
God spoke through Joshua a very simple and straightforward command. Stay with me and I will bless you, leave me and I will harm you.
We must never forget to learn from others’ mistakes or we are doomed to repeat them and regret the consequences of those choices.
And Israel did repeat it. Many times.
The whole book of Judges speaks about the repetitive cycle Israel had.
- 1st, Israel intimately worships the true God
- 2nd, They abandon Him when they are safe and secure
- 3rd, They face hardship in captivity
- 4th, They admit to sin and repent from it
- 5th, They enjoy deliverance by God
- 6th, They have a restored fellowship with God again.
By the time we get to Deborah, this has already happened three times.
And this time, God allowed a man named Jabin, king of Canaan, to overtake Israel and oppress them. He oppressed them so much that they cried out to God to save them.
And although you can choose your sin, you cannot choose your punishment. God allowed them to be oppressed for 20 years before he decided to deliver them.
It was during this time of oppression that God used Deborah to guide Israel towards Him and His faith again.
But how did Deborah keep her confidence and faith when it seemed the rest of the world had lost it?
- She always held God and her faith in a place of utmost importance.
- She believed God was who He said He was.
- She trusted the stories of her ancestors in God’s miracles and judgments.
- She knew His laws and what God required of her.
- She made a daily choice to not go astray.
- It was through her faith in God that she gained the confidence to persevere when it got hard. Her confidence came from God, not within herself.
- She knew her strength and confidence grew stronger with God, not away from Him. And that to be confident in a fallen and sinful culture, she had to rest in God, because only He could get her through it.
In other words, she had to know God, love God, trust God, and realize she couldn’t get through life alone. That is how Deborah kept her faith and confidence in a culture that had changed for the worse.
Her spirit remained unchanged, just like her God.
The Woman That We Know
There is not a whole lot known about Deborah.
But with what little we know, we can gain a lot of knowledge about who she was.
First, she was a wife.
The only thing we know about her husband is that his name was Lapidoth. We don’t know what he did or if he had faith as strong as she did. We simply know of his existence. We are not even aware if they had any kids.
Some people believe he and Barak are the same person, but I do not believe there is enough evidence to believe that. Many people believe this because their names have similar meanings, but don’t many different names today have similar meanings, and they are still different names and different people?
Although her being a wife is a small phrase in a verse, I think it’s really important.
Many people in this world believe the only purpose of a wife is to serve her husband and take care of her kids.
To an extent I agree, and to an extent I disagree.
Now hear me out before you hate me.
- I agree that God did create women specifically for the purpose of helping her man. That is a biblical fact. (Gen. 2:18-23)(I Corinthians 11:8-9)
- I agree that women are given the responsibility by God to be in charge of the household and every one that dwells within it. That is a biblical fact as well. (Prov. 31:10-31)
But I disagree that every woman’s only purpose is to serve her family.
To believe this would be believing that Deborah had overstepped her boundaries as a woman. Boundaries that God had placed over her thus making her sin against God by taking part in her other roles. Her roles as a prophetess and a judge over Israel.
But God didn’t see it that way. How do I know that?
Because it was Him that called her to be a prophetess. That isn’t a career someone can just decide to have. You cannot start spouting out prophecies and proclaiming what God says without Him telling you and He only tells those He has chosen. That would make you a false prophet, and indeed a person sinning against God. But that was not Deborah. God was with her and in her and truly did prophecy through her. He gave her that role.
And it was also God that called her to be a judge. Judges 2:16 says that God raised up judges to deliver Israel. God chose the people that He would use, and God chose Deborah. God chose a married woman.
Neither of these had anything to do with her family or role as a wife. And this is where I believe women have another purpose. To follow the calling that God has for their lives.
For some women, God’s calling might be to only take care of their family and loved ones. Many times that is a big enough burden and has no more room for others. For some, it might be to remain unmarried and devote their lives to God. For some, it might be to run a business together with their spouse. And for some, God has a special mission that only they can do, regardless of their marital status.
I do believe God calls certain married women to be full-time in His ministry, and not the spouse. But I also believe there are prerequisites that He requires before He will use these women.
I believe He only calls married women who are already able to take care of their first duties to family and spouse before He calls them to service anywhere else.
If they can do both, He will give both. If they are struggling with the first responsibilities of a woman, then they have God’s blessing to step back from His work and focus on their first calling. It was His design for a woman, so wouldn’t He bless her in her desire to do it well?
If we strongly feel that God is calling us to work for His honor and glory, then shouldn’t this be an encouragement to work hard to get our house in order? That might mean decluttering, not being as social, or sacrificing certain comforts. And that might be hard, but it will be worth it when we can finally do both well.
And for Deborah, she was able to do both. Be a good wife to her man and a vessel for God’s service.
Second, she was a prophetess.
If we know what had to be done to be a prophetess, that would show us the type of woman Deborah was. As I said before, one does not simply decide to be a prophetess.
- She had to be called by God to prophesy.
- She had to have God’s spirit within her, guiding and leading her.
- She had to have a very strong relationship with God and be in constant communion with Him.
- She had to keep sin out of her life so she did not lose that communion.
- She had to constantly throughout the day be searching for God’s answers and ask Him to lead and guide her.
- She had to become who God desired her to be, not just who she wanted to be.
Deborah did not have a Bible. She did not have anything written to help her gain wisdom on what God wanted her to do or say. She was told by Him directly.
A prophetess was a spokeswoman for God. She told the world exactly what God wanted her to say, regardless if they wanted to hear it or not. She was a light in the darkness, a light that did not quiver or quake, but shone brightly for all to see.
Besides Deborah, there are only 8 other prophetess’ mentioned in the Bible. And she was the only one who was also a judge.
For women in the time of the Bible, she was rare and greatly used by God.
Third, she was a judge.
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:1-2
She not only loved God and desired for people to hear about Him, but she also cared about the people.
She had compassion for them and cared about their problems. But she didn’t just feel sorry for them. She also wanted to help them solve those problems. She wanted to be part of the solution for them coming back to God and following His commands.
She wanted to see them do the right things as well and be treated the way God wanted them to be treated, with love and affection.
And she knew in order for that to happen, they needed God in their life as well.
And people could see that in her. They could see that she loved them and that she truly believed what they needed was God and His laws. Her faith was well-known amongst the people, and well-respected in her wisdom. She was seen as a mother of Israel. (Judges 5:7)
And that light brought people from all over. She didn’t have to announce that she was their new judge and that God had sent her. She simply became. Became the one who made the right judgments and, in a secular sense, became a ruler over Israel.
She would take whoever came to her. She did not need a fancy office or a beautiful dwelling to judge. She lay under a palm tree in the great outdoors. A place where she was easily accessible and easy to spot. A place without pompous and free to all. A place that didn’t look important but was important because of what was being accomplished there.
Deborah had confidence in these roles because she spoke directly with God. She didn’t ask other people around her. She didn’t read literature written by people who knew less than God. She went straight to the one that knew the future, present and past.
She was confident in the words He spoke and the truth He spoke because she knew who He was. She had seen His power and strength daily as she spoke to these people and she saw their lives change.
And when He gave her a prophecy, she knew to trust what He said. It had come true in the past and it would come true in the future.
But she needed to confront the person whom God had called because they did not trust and obey Him.
The Woman That Lifted Up Others
At some point, God had told Deborah that He wanted a man named Barak to fight against the oppressors of Israel. He wanted him to go to Mount Tabor and take 10,000 men from only the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun. That God would bring them Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, to the river Kishon where they would be camped. And that God would deliver them into the hands of Israel.
These were very specific instructions. He would have known exactly what to do. He was given the battle plan from God with a promise attached to it that they would have the victory.
But that wasn’t enough for Barak.
After Deborah had told Barak what God said, time passed and nothing happened. Barak did not follow the words God gave to Deborah, nor show any inclination that He was planning to.
We aren’t told how much time passed before she speaks to him again. But Deborah does meet him again and says, “Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded…” (Judges 4:6-7)
Didn’t you hear your calling?
She is lovingly reprimanding him and encouraging him to follow and trust what God said. She is pushing him out of his own place of fearful comfort. The place where he feels safe because he is not required to be brave and do something that sounds crazy.
And instead of showing disdain for Barak and his lack of faith, let’s try to understand him.
God was asking a lot of Barak.
Remember, they had been greatly oppressed for 20 years. He had seen horrible things happen to people. I’m sure he had seen people tortured, sold into slavery, taxed to death, and taken from the streets, never to be heard from again. He knew what their oppressors were capable of.
He also knew they were outnumbered and weaker regarding military prowess and equipment than Sisera’s army. Sisera’s army had 900 chariots of iron, chariots that were well-known and well-feared. Not to mention way more than 10,000 men in his army. Men who were confident in their numbers and had spent years intimidating these people.
Without God, they would be crushed.
God was asking Barak to do a hard thing. To have not only trust over his life, but the lives of his men and the lives of his fellow Israelites. If they did not win the battle, the consequences upon Israel would be great and painful.
And I love how Deborah brings it back to Barak.
She didn’t see his disbelief and unwillingness and decide that she must take the calling to battle into her own hands. She didn’t force herself to lead the army just so someone would obey God. Yes, she had the faith necessary. But she would not have had God’s blessing because it was not God’s plan and desire for her to lead the army.
She knew that wasn’t God’s calling for her. She knew it was God’s calling for Barak.
And when we try to do someone else’s calling, we not only hurt ourselves, but also the person called. We will be sinning by going against God’s plan, and we will be stopping God’s pricking of their heart to do what He says because we already took care of it.
There is pressure and anxiety in your life when you know you are disobeying God.
A true Christian will step up and do what God has called of them. And if they still refuse, they will regret it forever. God could still use them if they repent. But they would have missed out on a huge opportunity to be used for Him.
But if we take that calling from them and do it ourselves, we remove that pressure and anxiety. Because then they feel like God isn’t calling them anymore and the problem is taken care of, and that is not always true.
If God decided to remove Barak from that calling and chose Deborah, He would have. And she would have known it and done just that. But she didn’t. She brought the calling back to Barak and said this was for him to do.
But Barak answers her, “If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.”
Judges 4:8
Barak was putting his trust in Deborah’s faith in God, not his own. But Deborah also knew that Barak needed someone to help him in his time of weakness. Someone to help him overcome his own lack of faith by looking to hers. And he wasn’t asking her to do the work. He was simply asking to be by his side while he did it. To support him.
And she was willing to do that. Lifting someone up as they do God’s will is not overtaking their calling. It is being a help. And if all Barak needed to obey was her presence, then she was willing to accommodate him.
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
But there was a consequence for his doubt in God. Because he could not put his own faith in God, but instead relied on Deborah’s faith, Barak would not receive the honor of killing Sisera and winning the battle.
It would instead go to a woman.
The Woman That Knew Her Place
Barak obeyed what God had said and got the Israelites ready for battle. He brought the right people to the right place and waited for God’s timing.
Deborah was with him throughout it all, silently supporting him. But finally, it came time and she pronounced a prophecy.
“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?”
And it was at this point that Deborah’s job was done.
God caused miraculous natural disasters to occur which strengthened and affirmed Barak’s belief in him as God. God also took out the majority of Sisera’s army by himself and even made the chariots useless, causing them to retreat.
But at this point, Barak was leading the way God intended, chasing and fighting the Caananites. And was Deborah fighting with him? Maybe. We don’t know for certain. The Bible doesn’t specifically mention her in combat but most other judges fought as warriors.
But she was the only female judge. She might not have been called to physically fight like the men had. But then again, maybe she did as well. That is something we will never know for sure.
And just as God prophesied through Deborah, Israel gained the victory and they gained it through a woman. A woman named Jael.
Deborah and Barak came together and wrote a song of praise to God and all those who had taken part in this amazing feat. But it also mentioned and immortalized those who did not help.
Their song is the story of what happened. The story and song that would teach and remind generations of people of God’s greatness.
And when all the excitement died down, Deborah went back to who she was before. She stayed strong in her calling to be a wife, a prophetess, and a judge. And there was rest for forty years.
Conclusion
If I could leave one thought with you it would be this.
We cannot choose the culture and times that we are born into. But God causes you to be born during these times to be a Deborah.
To be the one that He can use to remind the world that they need Him. To be the one willing to remain pure in a tainted world and not let it taint you as well.
To be always talking with Him and hearing what He says. To obey the words and callings that He has for your life. To not keep it hidden, but tell others.
Deborah was looked to because she stood out. Her faith made her different than everyone else. Her confidence came from the one she believed in, not herself.
Only when our belief and trust are in the strongest, smartest, all-knowing, never-changing stability of the one who rules the world, then can we have unwavering confidence as well.
Deborah was not a superhero, someone you can only look up to but never be. You can be a Deborah too. You just have to follow in her footsteps.
You have to want to be a Deborah and work to become like her. But do it in the way that God has called you to live.
He has a calling for you. Something only you can do.
Have you asked Him what it is?
