Bible Talks

From: Messages of God's Love: 1953

Judges 5:1-6:10¹Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, ²Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. ³Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. ⁴Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. ⁵The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel. ⁶In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. ⁷The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. ⁸They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? ⁹My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lord. ¹⁰Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way. ¹¹They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates. ¹²Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. ¹³Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty. ¹⁴Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer. ¹⁵And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart. ¹⁶Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. ¹⁷Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches. ¹⁸Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field. ¹⁹The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. ²⁰They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. ²¹The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. ²²Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones. ²³Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. ²⁴Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. ²⁵He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. ²⁶She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. ²⁷At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead. ²⁸The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? ²⁹Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, ³⁰Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colors, a prey of divers colors of needlework, of divers colors of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil? ³¹So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years. ¹And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. ²And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. ³And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; ⁴And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. ⁵For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. ⁶And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. ⁷And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites, ⁸That the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; ⁹And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land; ¹⁰And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice. (Judges 5:1‑6:10)

Deborah and Barak then began to sing praises to the Lord for the wonderful deliverance He had wrought for Israel. We learn in this song more of the weakness that existed among the people of God. They had been walking in the byways instead of the highways, for there was fear on every hand—the fear of man. Now they rejoiced in the Lord’s mighty deliverance.

Some of the people had offered themselves willingly and hazarded their lives to fight the Lord’s battles, and this was not forgotten. Others, like the children of Reuben, were divided, and so did not come forward to help. Dan abode in his ships and Asher remained by the seashore. A curse came upon Meroz who would not come forward to help at all. Undoubtedly all these things have a voice for us, for it is a serious thing to refuse to help in the work of the Lord, or to be so busily engaged in other interests that we do not offer ourselves willingly. How many of God’s children there are like this today, who just leave everything to others. They show wonderful ability when it comes to the things of this world, and often have beautiful homes, but they have no time or energy to do any work for the Lord. They say it is a day of weakness, so have settled down to do little or nothing. What a solemn thing this is! And one feels we do well to have “searchings of heart,” as with Reuben in our chapter, (verse 16) concerning our part in the weak and divided state of the Church of God today. Is it not our laxity that is part of the cause? One feels it is.

The part that Jael, the wife of Heber, had in the victory was not forgotten, for many a woman remaining at home is fighting the Lord’s battles in her home and at the front door! What an effective testimony a mother can have, by speaking of the Lord to her children, her neighbors, and to the tradesmen who call. God does not fail to notice all that is done for Him, no matter how unnoticed we may be by others.

We now come to the very interesting and instructive story of Gideon. The children of Israel had departed from the Lord in spite of the wonderful deliverance through Deborah and Barak, and so the Lord gave them over into the hands of the Midianites, who oppressed them for seven years. When the children of Israel sowed their crops, then the enemy came up and destroyed them, so that they had no food for themselves or their cattle. At last the children of Israel cried to the Lord. When all was going well they worshiped their idols, but when trouble came they turned to the Lord. How often this is the case! Perhaps some unsaved one is reading these lines and you have good health and many blessings, but you are forgetting the Lord. Are you going to make it necessary for Him to bring trouble into your life before you will listen to His voice? Why not turn to Him now, dear reader, and, owning your sin and guilt, receive Him as your Saviour? He has said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37³⁷All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37).

Here we are told that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel who reminded them of how good the Lord had been to them, in bringing them out of Egypt and giving them the land of Canaan, but they had not obeyed His voice. Dear reader, if you are unsaved, God is speaking to you today. Will you hear His voice?

ML 08/30/1953

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