June 28, 2019: Day 62 – Judges 4

This has to be one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, and not because some guy gets a tent peg in his head.  I mean, that’s neat and all, but not why I like this chapter.  But I did include a Baroque depiction of it by Gentileschi.

But aside from that very powerful story which we find at the end of the chapter, we can’t overlook the beginning of the chapter which introduces to us to our next judge, my favorite judge: Deborah.  

We once again get the heads up that the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of God.  We then get a clear description of the people who were oppressing the Israelites, which would have been the Canaanites.  But not to worry, along comes my favorite judge, Deborah.  She was a prophetess who lead Israel with sound judgment and good leadership.  She called her primary general, Barak, to go and take out the Philistines, and he basically said: Not unless you go first.  And in short, Deborah said, okay, I’ll go first, but you just need to know that a woman is going to be the victor in all of this.  It may not be me, but it certainly will not be you.  

I love the part where she lays out the battle plan, you don’t often see leaders of the Israel lay out the battle  plan in the way that Deborah did.  They conquer the fierce Canaanites and their chariots of iron  and  Sisera is slaughtered by Jael.  This is a chapter that we should not forget, especially if you are ever in a discussion about roles of women in leadership.  Deborah was placed in that position by God and she governed and did all things  that God had asked her to do.