Rahab, Achsah, Jael, Deborah: June 2020
Table of Contents
Rehab, Achsah, Jael, Deborah
It is evident from Scripture that women were anciently held in much more honor and esteem than they are now in Eastern countries. Solomon, speaking of women, said that such as his soul sought for he did not find one in a thousand (Eccl. 7:28). This tells of fallen human nature, but the true thought of woman is that she is the glory of the man, his true helpmeet. This is fulfilled in the relationship of the church to Christ.
In the New Testament the true place of the woman in subjection to the man is plainly stated, as indicated in creation, and in the assembly the woman is to be silent and not to teach. Her bearing and deportment are expressive of what she learns as taught of Christ. Women were greatly honored in ministering to the Lord, and they are accredited as helping on the work of the Lord in the gospel and among the saints.
Concise Bible Dictionary
The Faith of Rahab
Jericho, situated in the beautiful plains of the Jordan, was a city of vast strength in a position of exceeding loveliness, but it is a figure of this world headed for judgment. Christ will come from heaven and execute judgment on this earth, and after that He will set up His kingdom and reign. Also, the god of this world will be arrested and imprisoned in the pit during the reign of Christ (Rev. 20:1-3).
In the purposes of God, the world’s ways must reach their development, and certain characteristics of evil must progress to completion, before Christ comes to the earth in judgment. Hence, since the judgment tarries, it may be said, “The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Gen. 15:16). However, the Christian has to keep the eye on Him whose coming in the air may take place at any moment, while rejoicing in the long-suffering of God in His mercy to sinners by His gospel. The development of events is not the polestar whereby the Christian directs his steps. “What saith the Scripture?” guides him.
The Spies Find a Prepared Heart
With these considerations we follow the two spies whom Joshua had sent secretly to spy out Jericho. The two spies were directed (Josh. 2:1) by God to the very house in the city where a prepared heart was to be found. Standing with Rahab upon the flat roof of her house and looking around, we learn a lesson for our own times. Mark the development of the city, with its great and high walls. Look at the face of nature; the valleys are golden with ripening wheat, for it is the time of harvest. Prosperity and the hope of increasing greatness abound. How little does the world dream that the sickle, which is about to reap the harvest, is one of judgment!
The ancient Jordan flows on, its banks covered with deep waters. The sun, which they worship, calm in the heavens, sinks beneath the mountains, shedding its rich glow over the scented valleys. The business of the city, its commerce and its luxury, go on as in former generations. To the scoffers in the city, the tale of judgment has grown old; there is nothing now for them to fear!
The Coming Judgment
The testimony as to Christ’s coming and His world kingdom is already ridiculed. “Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:4). Be it so, but “when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them” (1 Thess. 5:3). The scoff of infidelity and its destructive effects cannot be denied, but when a believer, in the power of faith, testifies by his manner of life to the reality of Christ’s coming, men tremble. Doctrinal intelligence convinces no man; practical behavior is unanswerable.
The two spies were the exponents of their expectations; they came to Jericho not to make it their home, but to spy it out and to be gone. The Christian is sent into the world to be a witness for God and to Christ’s coming and kingdom. While the two spies were conversing with Rahab and listening to her strange tale of melting hearts and departed courage because of Jehovah’s might, the king of Jericho heard that they were in his city. At once there arose direct opposition between him and Rahab. Alliance with enemies is madness to nature, but there must be breaking with the world and Satan by God’s people. Security can be had only by taking sides with God alone.
The wisdom of faith invariably outwits Satan. Rahab “hid” the men (Josh. 2:4) as soon as they were inquired after. If a believer takes to planning, let him remember that Satan is a craftier planner than he. If the believer trusts his Father like a little child, then Satan is beaten before the battle begins.
Her Faith and Falsehood
Because of the lie Rahab told, those wishing to argue would cast a slur on the veracity of the whole story. But God tells the truth about her character and her ways, as about everything; it is man who hides what is not to his credit. Her faith, not her falsehood, is commended, for Rahab had no right to tell her king a lie. Had her faith in Jehovah gone further, she would have trusted in Him for deliverance, instead of in her deception.
By faith Rahab believed that the days of her city were numbered, and in the two spies she beheld the messengers of the God in heaven. Her conviction was, “I know that the Lord hath given you the land.” Faith knows what God will do, simply because God has spoken. “I know” is an immovable assurance in the heart of the child of faith, which gives infidelity no point of attack whatever. The testimony of the spies filled Rahab with assurance as to her own salvation and with energy for the lives of her whole family. Her cry was therefore, “Save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death” (Josh. 2:13). For the fulfillment of this desire she sought a true token, and the spies gave her their solemn assurance, “Our life for yours.” In a similar way we have the Word of God for our confidence. On it we rely for our eternal good.
The Promise
Having received the promise to her based on the life of the spies, she “sent them out another way” (James 2:25), letting them down by a cord from her window, for her house was built upon the wall. Then they, being outside of Jericho, gave the outward token, the sign to Rahab—“this line of scarlet thread”—and they bade her bind that cord in her window.
Rahab bound the bright color in her window in faith and in hope of the coming of her saviors. Its indelible hue, the color which arises from death, proclaimed the kingdom, for the crimson dye is due to the death of the little creature whence it comes, and points to the blood of Jesus, whose kingdom shall be established in the virtue of His reconciling death. Her dwelling was on the wall, and her house was the only place in the city of destruction where salvation could be had. Her window faced out of Jericho, and the scarlet cord was bound in it. This should be true of the outlook of every house where Christ is known; its windows should not look toward the world, but toward the coming One.
Salvation to Individuals
No message of mercy came to Jericho, and it is written, “Now is the judgment of this world” (John 12:31). No good news is sent now by God to the world as such, but rather to individuals in it. The gospel is “to every creature” in “all the world” (Mark 16:15), but not to the world as a system. A false gospel inverts this truth, for it cries, “Make the world good, improve society, educate man up to holiness,” and refuses to admit the fact that sinners need salvation out of this world, as did Rahab out of Jericho.
May God stir up His people to faith in Christ’s appearing and kingdom and to the certain end of this world; then there will arise real earnestness for the salvation of souls from the coming wrath! Wherever the reality of Christ’s appearing and kingdom possesses the soul of a believer, that man is marked off from the rest as a Christian soldier. Already the night is far spent, already the Morning Star shines in the hearts of His own; “yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:37).
The Good Report
Upon the return of the two spies to the camp, they brought a good report to the people of Israel — that sort of soul-inspiring report which stirs up energy for God. They spoke of victories yet to come: “Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us” (Josh. 2:24). Their hearts had melted like wax before the face of Israel. Strong faith makes strong hearts.
Forty years previously, the fainthearted spies had brought discouragement into the camp of Israel; they had judged by the testimony of their own eyes, and unbelief makes hearts to melt. They did not know the real state of the people of the land. This secret was declared by Rahab, which had been hidden from Israel for 40 years, because of their murmuring and unbelief.
With what different eyes will two servants of the Lord look upon the same battlefield! One regards all as lost, seeing only giants, and cities walled to heaven; the other sees God. One regards himself as a grasshopper, is frightened away from the field, and infects all he meets with the same fear; the other, strong by reason of faith, stirs up the courage of his brethren. What kind of spies are we? What is our testimony?
H. F. Witherby (adapted)
Rahab: Safety, Salvation, Citizenship, Union
There is probably no case in Scripture that (in type) illustrates the riches of God’s grace more fully than Rahab’s history. Her history begins in Jericho, a type of this world, and like this world, it was marked out for judgment. Jesus, when about to go to the cross, said, “Now is the judgment of this world,” adding, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die” (John 12:31-32). The doom of the world was sealed at the cross.
Rahab tells us what testimony of God was used to bring faith to her soul. She says in Joshua 2:10 that they had heard what Jehovah had done at the Red Sea, which was the place where the power of God was displayed — a type of the death and resurrection of Christ. Many in Jericho heard it besides Rahab, and how many there are now that know of the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ. But there was faith in Rahab, and “faith cometh by hearing.” Whereas on the part of them that believed not, “the word ... did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it” (Heb. 4:2).
Safety
Her home, Jericho, seemed secure. To all appearances it was impregnable, just as the world today boasts of progress, while going on to judgment. But “faith is the . . . evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1), and so Rahab says, “I know that the Lord hath given you the land” (Josh. 2:9). What then? She wants a place of safety for herself and her father’s house when the judgment falls. She wants a token that if she acts on the word spoken, their lives will be spared. She is told to “bind this line of scarlet thread in the window.” The “scarlet line” is a type of “the precious blood of Christ”; and God says, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7), like Israel in Exodus 12, where Jehovah says, “And the blood shall be to you for a token... and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.”
Rahab also thought of the blessing of others, but there must be a test for them. “Thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee” (Josh. 2:18). What, must they come under the roof of one who had been a disgrace to the family? Yes, for “there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22-23). Pride in the heart and utter ignorance of the awful havoc that sin has made have led many to reject God’s way of being saved. Simon, the Pharisee in Luke 7, and the elder brother in Luke 15 are illustrations of this.
The Scarlet Line
Joshua 6:23 shows us that Rahab’s family availed themselves of God’s way of safety from the judgment about to fall. Though safe under the shelter of the “scarlet line,” the power of God had not yet acted on their behalf. We are told “the gospel . . . is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom. 1:16), showing that salvation (or “deliverance”) is connected with the display of power. In Exodus 12 we get the blood of the lamb as the ground of security, but when we come to Exodus 14 we find God’s power displayed against the enemies of God’s people and in their favor, placing them on the other side of the Red Sea.
Salvation
God displayed His power in resurrection (Rom. 1:4; 2 Cor. 13:4). Paul desired that the saints might know that they stand before God according to the display of His power which was put forth when He raised Jesus from the dead (Eph. 1:19-20; 2:6). Only after the power of God had been displayed against the enemy on Rahab’s behalf, is it said, “And Joshua saved Rahab,” bringing her out of what had been judged and putting her into an entirely different place. So it is now with the believer before God. He is no longer seen as “in Adam,” where death holds universal sway, but “in Christ,” where there is “no condemnation.” (Rom. 8:1). Rahab was safe when she bound the scarlet line in the window, but she was not “saved” until the action in Joshua 6:25 had taken place.
Citizenship
God’s grace to Rahab goes beyond her salvation from Jericho’s fall. We read, “And she dwelleth in Israel” (Josh. 6:25). Now, instead of being a dweller in Jericho, she becomes a dweller in Israel; her citizenship is entirely of a new country. When we turn to the New Testament, we find that we who were once “dead in trespasses and sins ... [and] walked according to the course of this world,” not only have peace and are saved (by grace), but we are “no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19). We belong to an entirely new order of things, as it is written, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [or, ‘it is a new creation’]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). We are “strangers and pilgrims” (1 Pet. 2:11) as to this world, and “our conversation [or ‘citizenship’] is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20).
Union
But Rahab’s blessing does not end with her new citizenship. In 1 Chronicles 2 we get the genealogical register of Judah, the royal tribe. Comparing verse 11 with Ruth 4:21 and Matthew 1:5, we find that she was married to Salma (or Salmon), the prince of the royal tribe. In Romans 7:4 and 1 Corinthians 6:17, 19-20, what wondrous and precious truth is brought before us! As believers we are not only safe and saved, but are citizens of heaven, “joined unto the Lord,” “married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” When we see the contrast between the “harlot of Jericho” and the “wife of the prince of the royal tribe,” we see a wonderful picture of what grace has done for believers today!
Mannerism
What manner of person ought Rahab to be now, and how ought she to conduct herself? Not only were old things passed away and all things become new, but she was a wife; her affections had been won. How would she prove that her heart had been won? Surely by seeking to please the one who had won it! Has Jesus won our heart? Then He gives you and me an opportunity of proving it in this scene where He was once rejected and cast out. Among the “all things new” is the motive of the heart, for it says, “The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). It is thus, having been united to the One who has been raised from the dead, and the affections of the heart being exercised, that we “bring forth fruit unto God” (Rom. 7:4).
“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” (Col. 3:17).
Christian Truth, Vol. 34 (adapted)
Rahab's Faith and Works
Rahab is not only an example of faith, but also of works. “Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?” (James 2:25). Works must follow faith. There is such a thing as dead works which are not the product of faith, and there is a dead faith which does not produce works, but Rahab’s works can only be the fruit of faith. An Abraham to offer up his son as a burnt offering, a Rahab to betray her country, or a Mary to break a costly box of alabaster to waste her all, an odor of great price — all these human wisdom condemns. The authors of such deeds are blamed or punished by the world, but what renders them approved of God is the faith which is the motive spring — faith which sacrifices all for God and which surrenders all for His people.
Rahab finds her recompense: A place of honor is reserved for her with those who, among God’s earthly people, form the lineage of the Messiah (Matt. 1:5).
Food for the Flock, Vol. 9
Rahab - the Royal Line
We observe that the genealogy of our Lord in Matthew differs totally from what we have in Luke, where it is not given until the end of chapter 3. Thus, in the latter Gospel we learn a great deal about the Lord Jesus before His genealogy appears. In Matthew we find ourselves on a narrower ground, circumscribed to a certain nation. Abraham and David are mentioned in the very first verse. “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” David was the king God chose, and he is here mentioned as the forefather of the Lord’s Anointed — “the son of David.” Abraham, again, was the one in whom, it was said, all the nations of the earth should be blessed. Thus the opening words prepare us for the whole of the Gospel. Christ came with all the reality of the kingdom promised to David’s son. But if He were refused as the son of David, still as the son of Abraham, there was blessing not merely for the Jew but for the Gentile. He is the true Messiah, but if Israel will not have Him, God will bring the nations to taste of its mercy.
The Four Women
We begin with Abraham, not tracing Jesus up to Him, but down from him. “Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar” (Matt. 1:3). What is the reason for bringing in a woman and naming Tamar here? There were women of great note in the lineage of the Messiah — persons whom the Jews naturally looked up to as holy and honorable. But there is no mention of them here. On the other hand, Tamar is mentioned. Grace, most rebuking to the flesh, lay underneath this, but most precious in its way. There are four women, and only four, who appear in the line, and upon every one of them there was a blot. To a proud Jew, with all these women there was connected what was humbling — something that he would have kept in the dark. Oh wondrous way of God! What can He not do? The Messiah was to spring from a line in which there had been dismal sin. These, on whom there were such foul blots in the judgment of men, are the only females brought specifically before us. Not at all as if the sin were not exceeding sinful, nor as if God thought lightly of the privileges of His people. But God, feeling the sin of His own people to be the worst of all sin, yet having introduced in this very Messiah the only One who could save His people from their sins, does not hesitate to bring their sin into the presence of the grace that could and would put it all away.
Grace to Save
What are we not taught by this? If the Messiah deigns to link Himself with such a family, surely there could be none too bad to be received of Him. He came to “save His people from their sins,” not to find a people that had no sins. Who might not now be born of God? Who is there that such a God would reject? Such a hint in Matthew 1 opens the way for the wonders of grace which appear afterward. In one sense, no man has such a position of ancient privileges as the Jew; yet, even as to the Messiah, this is the account that the Holy Spirit gives of His lineage.
But that is not all. “Phares begat Ezrom, and Salmon begat Booz of Rachab.” And who and what was she? A Gentile, and once a harlot! But Rahab is taken out of all her belongings — separated from everything that was her portion by nature. And here she is, in this Gospel of Jesus written for the Jew — for the very people who despised and hated Him, because He would look upon a Gentile. Rahab was named for heaven already, and no Jew could deny it. She was visited of God and made a part of the royal line out of which Jesus, the Messiah, who is God over all, blessed forever, was to be born. Oh, what marvels of grace dawn upon us, as we dwell even upon the mere list of names of our Lord’s genealogy!
Odious Gentiles Brought In
It might be said that Rahab was called in at some distant epoch. But no: “Salmon begat Booz of Rachab, and Booz begat Obed of Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse. And Jesse begat David the king” (Matt. 1:5). Ruth, loving as she was, yet to a Jew was from a source peculiarly odious. She was a Moabitess, and thus forbidden by the law to enter the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation. Even the Edomite or the Egyptian were held in less abhorrence, and their children might enter in the third generation (Deut. 23:3-8). Thus was given a still deeper testimony that grace would go out and bless the very worst of the Gentiles. “Jesse begat David the king, and David the king begat Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Urias.” With only a few generations intervening, we have these three women who would have been utterly despised and rejected by the same spirit which rejected Jesus and the grace of God. It was then no new thought—the divine mercy that was reaching out to gather in the outcasts of the Gentiles. It was God’s way of old.
To leave out what a Jew gloried in and to bring in what he would have concealed through shame, and all in tender mercy to Israel, to sinners, was indeed divine. We may see from this that the mention of these four women is particularly instructive. Man could not have originated it: Our place is to learn and adore. Every female that is named is one that nature would have studiously excluded from the record, but that grace has made most prominent in it. The truth that she taught thereby ought never to be forgotten, for He is a Messiah come in quest of sinners; He would despise no needy one, not even a poor publican or a harlot. The Messiah so thoroughly reflected what God is in His holy love, and He is so true to all the purposes of God, so perfect an expression of the grace that is in God, that there never was a thought, feeling or word of grace there but what the Messiah was come now to make it good in His dealing with poor souls, and first of all with the Jew.
W. Kelly (adapted)
Achsah - Valuing Her Inheritance
We are told very little about this daughter of Israel, but I think we may learn much from what is written in Joshua 15:16 and Judges 1:12, remembering that all Scripture has a voice to us.
Achsah was the daughter of Caleb, the man of faith, who could say without boasting that “I wholly followed the Lord my God” (Josh. 14:8).
The consequence was that there was no halting or wavering in him; instead, he possessed that keen purpose of heart that made him superior to apparently insurmountable obstacles and difficult circumstances. Thus He was maintained steadily in the pathway of God’s will for His people, until he ultimately became a victor and an overcomer. His words of encouragement to his dispirited brethren, “The Lord is with us: fear them not,” tell us the secret of his strength.
We are not surprised that Achsah proves herself a true daughter of this spiritual giant. She is given by Caleb as a bride to her cousin Othniel, when by his fearless bravery he captures the stronghold of Kirjath-sepher from the enemy, thus proving himself a fitting partner for her.
He seemed as keen as his uncle in making his own the inheritance God had given His people to possess. He was thus training for his later important position when he became Israel’s deliverer and judge for 40 years, during which time God’s people had rest from the constant harassing attacks of their surrounding enemies. It is on the occasion of her presentation as bride to the returning conqueror that Achsah shows that the present possession and enjoyment of the blessing of God has the first place in her heart also.
A Source of Constant Joy
At her father’s hand she had already received an inheritance, the south land, which without water would be unproductive and unfruitful. Therefore, she makes a further request: “Give me a blessing ... give me also springs of water” (Josh. 15:19). She goes a step further than the daughters of Zelophehad, as they asked merely for an inheritance. Achsah has an inheritance and requests, in effect, that which will make it a present source of satisfaction and pleasure to her. It needed only the bubbling springs of living water, upper and lower, that her father so readily granted, to make the inheritance everything she wished it to be to her — a source of constant joy.
If we have committed ourselves to Christ and form part of that bride given to Him, the true Overcomer of the world, we have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, reserved in heaven for us. It is God’s will that we should be in the present enjoyment of that heavenly inheritance and the blessings connected with it, which are centered in Christ at His right hand. The mere knowledge of this, however, will not bear fruit, nor bring joy to our own hearts unless made good to us by the power of the Holy Spirit — “the earnest of our inheritance” (Eph. 1:14). We, unlike Achsah, do not need to ask to receive this, for, as a wondrous gift from God, the Holy Spirit is sent to indwell all believers since the Lord Jesus has been glorified.
The Fruit of the Spirit
You will remember what the Lord said to the Samaritan woman: “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). And again, in John 7:38-39, He says to the Jews, “He that believeth on Me ... out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.” It is for us to see to it that there is nothing in our life and ways that would grieve the Holy Spirit, and thus hinder His work in us. He wishes to make the abiding joys of heaven so real to our souls that we anticipate them now, entering into those marvelous things that “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,” but which God has revealed unto us by His Spirit. It is only by His power that these things give us real joy or are made fruitful to our souls; without this our heavenly inheritance provides us little pleasure.
May we each, as man’s day is fast hastening to its close and Christ’s return draws nigh, be so subject to God’s Holy Spirit that we may increasingly enter into and enjoy by His power the reality of our portion in Christ, until that moment when we actually shall possess it to the full in His presence.
Author unknown
Achsah - An Example of Refreshing Waters
From time to time different assemblies are able to act on the Lord’s word to Moses. “Gather the people together and I will give them water.” Being so gathered, the saints are dependent on God and need to cry, “Spring up, O well” (Num. 21:17). This is a wilderness scene, and the nobles stand there with staves in token of their pilgrim character, and at the command of the lawgiver they dig the desert sand. This would be utterly futile under ordinary circumstances, but in the goodness of God the refreshing waters spring up and a song breaks forth.
Achsah was a woman of expectant faith, such faith as God delights to own by giving abundantly above all we ask or think. She moved her husband, Othniel, to ask of her father a field. Caleb gave them a goodly portion of south land. But a south land without water would soon be dried up, so she asks further. “Give me also springs of water” (Josh. 15:18-19). So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
Upper Springs
God has brought us into the sunshine of His favor, and He gives also upper springs and nether springs to maintain our souls in freshness and fertility in the enjoyment of that favor, despite all that would come in to wither them. We drink of the upper springs when we look up and find everything in God. The psalmist in Psalm 87:7 says, “All my springs are in Thee.” He was drawing unreservedly of the upper springs which are inexhaustible. So was also the Apostle James when he wrote, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
Nether (Lower) Springs
May God give us to drink deeply into our eternal springs, that we may “joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:11). But we are in a world that is contrary to us, where sickness, sorrow and suffering abound and sometimes affect ourselves and our loved ones. Then we need to fall back upon the nether springs and find God in everything. Paul was assured of this when he wrote in Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Our hearts should draw from that same blessed assurance. These things that seem most painful and sad, and we might think so unlike Him, are among the “all things” in which He is and which He is working together for our good.
Hezekiah learned that his sickness and bitter tears were among the things “by [which] men live,” and in which was the life of his spirit (Isa. 38:16). We think so much of our temporal blessings, but God, while supplying our necessities, has specially in view our spiritual welfare. He would have us find, in trying and sorrowful circumstances, those nether springs whereby our spiritual welfare is maintained and increased. This is blessedly evidenced in Psalm 84:5-7. The man whose heart is in God’s ways, while passing through the valley of Baca, or weeping, makes it a well. Being refreshed thereby, he goes from strength to strength, making the trials and sorrows, as it were, stepping-stones to greater nearness to God.
Digging Wells
We get words of warning and encouragement in Genesis 26:15-20. Isaac found that the wells which his father had dug, the Philistines had stopped with earth. The world would seek to occupy the believer with earthly things so as to choke up the wells of refreshment and instruction in the truths of God which the saints of previous generations, now at rest, have dug for us as recorded in their writings. Dig them again, so that we may get the good out of that which the Spirit unfolded to them. But do not stop at digging again the old wells; Isaac dug fresh ones. The enemy sought to oppose and hinder him, as he always does, but spiritual energy triumphed, and the well Rehoboth gave him peace and plenty.
Let me urge the young not only to read the valued writings of men taught of God, but to study the Word diligently with the Spirit’s guidance. The water of these fresh wells opened up by you, in dependence on and communion with God, will be even sweeter and fresher than those others have dug for you.
Springs of Water
“A spring shut up, a fountain sealed” (Song of Sol. 4:12). Such is the spouse to the bridegroom. Hitherto we have been considering what God is for us and what springs of living water He provides for us, but this verse gives us what we, as the spouse, are to Christ. The thought in “shut up and sealed” is similar to that of the “garden enclosed”: something reserved for His special delight, something to be partaken of and used when and how He pleases. In John 4:14 our Lord Jesus speaks of the well of water springing up into everlasting life. Here the well-spring that He has put within the believer is opened, or unsealed, and in the power of the Holy Spirit springs up to God its source, in that worship in Spirit and in truth which He seeks and which gives refreshment to His heart.
What a privilege that the overflowing of such hearts as ours, filled by Himself, can thus rise up in that which gives joy to Him, even our praises, worship and thanksgiving. In John 7:37-38 the Lord Jesus promises to give the thirsty one who comes to Him living water in abundance. When He opens the floodgates, “rivers of living water” flow outward to thirsty ones around in the power of the Holy Spirit that He was going to give them when He had been glorified. Thus, in the springing upward and flowing outward, the Lord is refreshed and glorified.
Outflowing Rivers
In connection with rivers flowing from one center, see how in Genesis 2:10 we are told that Eden’s river flowed out, parting into four heads, carrying blessing and refreshment universally. This is the opposite of earth’s rivers where several small ones unite to form a large one. With God’s wells or rivers, the fullness is so infinite that it may part and yet flow with undiminished fullness and power. May we learn increasingly to rejoice in all that God is to us and for us! Thus we find, in both the upper and the nether springs, the satisfying and sustaining portion of our souls. As a result, Christ may receive the up-springing waters of adoring worship and be glorified by the outflowing rivers in service for Him at His bidding.
W. H. Fosbery (adapted)
Jael - Heroine or Treacherous Murderess
Most of us, even the younger Sunday school children, are familiar with the story of Jael and how she killed Sisera using a tent peg, which she drove into his temple while he was in a deep sleep. Doubtless it was a courageous act and allowed of God to dispose of a strong and brutal enemy of Israel. However, some have criticized her for the perfidious way in which the act was carried out, and they have questioned whether her action should be praised or condemned.
There were surely things connected with her encounter with Sisera that do not appear very upright. First of all, it is evident that Heber the Kenite, the husband of Jael, had “severed himself from the Kenites” (Judg. 4:11) and lived in a different part of the land of Israel. Heber was the son of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law, elsewhere referred to as Jethro, and apparently he and others had settled in the land of Israel, after Hobab had gone back to his former place. Being a stranger in the land, he had made peace with Jabin, the king of Hazor. Since Jabin was at that time oppressing the children of Israel, this alliance seems to have been a means of “saving his own skin,” while still enjoying the bounty of the land of Israel.
Second, because there was peace between Jabin and Heber, no doubt Sisera felt that Heber’s tent was indeed a safe refuge for him, at least until he had slept and regained his strength. Then he might have used Heber as a safeguard to help him escape capture by the Israelites. Jael did nothing to raise any suspicion or cause Sisera to question this trust in her and her husband. Rather, when the tired Sisera appeared at her door, she encouraged him by saying, “Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not” (Judg. 4:18). She then covered him with a mantle or quilt, and when he asked for drink of water, she gave him milk instead. All of this was surely calculated to make Sisera feel that he was totally safe.
Right and Wrong
Often in the Word of God we find events chronicled without comment as to the right or wrong of the actions recorded. This is especially true of things that happened in the Old Testament, before the light of Christianity had dawned on this world. God leaves us to judge of those actions in the light of the New Testament, where “grace and truth” have come “by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). No doubt this is why Paul told the Athenians that “God, having overlooked the times of ignorance, now enjoins men that they shall all everywhere repent” (Acts 17:30 JND). It was not that God’s standards changed from the Old to the New Testament, but rather that God did not hold men as responsible in the Old Testament. Considering the limited moral light that was given in Old Testament times, the Spirit of God refers to those days as “times of ignorance.”
In the case of Jael, it was surely morally wrong for her to act in a treacherous way, and especially when a known peace existed between her household and Jabin, of whose host Sisera was the captain. It was wrong for her to pretend that her home was a safe refuge for Sisera, when she knew well that she would betray that trust and murder him. In other situations in the Old Testament, we find lying resorted to by otherwise godly men, as in the case of Abraham, Isaac, David, Samuel and others. Many plural marriages involved godly men and women, and in King David’s old age, they even brought him a beautiful young woman, in order to keep him warm. None of these things are fitting in the presence of God, yet they are recorded in Scripture.
The Song of Deborah
So here with Jael; her act is recorded, together with the treachery and deceit that accompanied it, but without comment. However, the song of Deborah and Barak rather praises her actions, saying, “Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent” (Judg. 5:24). In considering this celebration of Jael and her actions, we must bear in mind that while the recording of the song is by inspiration, we cannot say that the song itself was necessarily inspired, at least not in its entirety. We can say surely that the end result was of God, for it was of God to destroy Sisera and deliver Israel. But the ways and means by which all this was accomplished bear the marks of mere human energy and even morally wrong behavior.
So it has been all down through man’s history, and perhaps even more so since the times of the Gentiles began with the kingdom of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar himself had to learn that “the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men” (Dan. 4:17). Another has commented that since that time, God has accomplished His purposes most of the time by allowing the basest of men to rule. We are thankful that there have been exceptions to this, but history supports the fact that often the basest of men (or women) have ruled since the times of the Gentiles began; yet God has carried out His counsels in spite of it. This glorifies God, while emphasizing that today God is not intervening openly in the affairs of men, and at the same time He is working “all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11).
Having said all this, we do not want to leave the impression that Jael was nothing more than an evil woman who was used of God to perform an act that furthered His purposes. No, she was doubtless a woman of faith, who counted on God as she played her part in destroying the enemy of His people. As we have already noted, it would seem that her husband had made peace with Jabin, king of Canaan, in order to protect himself and his family, while still enjoying the benefits of living in Israel. It is clear, however, that Jael’s sympathies lay with Israel, and not with Jabin. It is quite possible that she did not agree with her husband’s strategy of making peace with Jabin, although as a wife she submitted to it. Likewise, Jael recognized that the defeat of Jabin’s army was of God, and more than this, she recognized the necessity of getting rid of the captain of his army, so that further trouble would not ensue.
Accordingly, she did what she could under the circumstances, as a woman, and exhibited a great deal of courage. She did not enlist the help of others, and humanly speaking, took quite a risk in what she did. One slip or wrong move would have been disastrous. For all of this she is to be commended. But again, we cannot commend some of the subterfuge and deceit that she used to accomplish all this.
God’s Approval and God’s Purpose
In the complicated and sinful world of today, we see much, even under the name of Christ, that could not meet with God’s approval. Yet He uses it to further His purposes and works behind the scenes to direct all according to His will. All is leading up to the time when our blessed Lord Jesus will have His rightful place — when, in “the administration of the fullness of times,” God will “head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth” (Eph. 1:10 JND).
Does this mean that God approves of the old proverb, “The end justifies the means”? By no means. Paul raises the question in Romans 3:8: “Shall we do evil, that good may come?” Concerning those who might advocate such a course, Paul comments further: “Whose damnation is just.” No, God expects and demands holiness and righteousness in His own in this world, and as we have already noted, especially in this dispensation of grace, when we have the full knowledge of God in Christ. Our lives as believers in this world ought to be characterized by godliness, and as read in 1 Timothy 3:16, the mystery (or secret) of godliness is found in Christ. Never do we see our blessed Master stooping to unrighteousness in order to bring about a right end.
In these last days, we will doubtless see an increasing exhibition of ways and means among men of which God could not approve, yet at the same time recognizing that God’s purposes are unfailingly being carried out. Our part is to recognize this, while at the same time to take scrupulous care in our own personal lives, that our conduct is “as becometh saints” (Eph. 5:3).
W. J. Prost
Deborah and Jael - Used of God
Up to this time, God had, in judgment, delivered the unfaithful Israelites into the hands of outside enemies. A further proof of unfaithfulness on their part is followed by more serious consequences. Jabin, king of Canaan, reigning in Hazor, conquered Israel and oppressed them. In Joshua 11 we find an ancestor of this very Jabin, and in those days Israel understood, under the mighty energy of the Spirit of God, that there could be nothing in common between them and Jabin. They smote him with the edge of the sword, after having burnt his chariots with fire, and they destroyed his capital.
Recourse to Worldly Power
Alas, all is now changed, and unfaithful Israel falls under the government of the world. Hazor, their ancient enemy, is rebuilt within the limits of Canaan, and the people’s inheritance becomes the kingdom of Jabin! This has its parallel in the history of the church, whose position at the beginning was one of entire separation from the world. But what road has the church traveled since then? In reality it is the world that governs the church. “I know,” says the Lord to Pergamos, “where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is” (Rev. 2:13). Even in the great revival at the Reformation, saints had recourse to the governments of the world and leaned upon them. In the present day there are Christians who, when persecuted, instead of rejoicing to suffer for Christ’s sake, claim protection from the powers that be. The judgment on the Hazor of Joshua is no longer anything but a remembrance.
The Faith of Deborah
Moreover, this was not the only symptom of Israel’s low condition in those days, for if outwardly they were ruled over by their enemy, what was the state of government within? Committed to the hands of a woman! But Deborah was a remarkable woman, a woman of faith, one deeply impressed with the humiliating condition of the people of God. She sees that it would be to the shame of the leaders in Israel that God should entrust a post of public activity to a woman in their midst. She says to Barak, “I will surely go with thee; notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor, for Jehovah shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman” (Judg. 4:9). But, in all her exercise of authority for God, Deborah maintains, in circumstances which might have proved a great snare to her, the place assigned by God in His Word to woman. She would not, otherwise, have been a woman of faith. This chapter gives us the history of two women of faith, Deborah and Jael. Each maintains the character in keeping with the position assigned by God to woman. Where does Deborah exercise her authority? The Word says, “She dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah .... and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment” (Judg. 4:5). Prophetess and judge though she was in Israel, she did not step out of the sphere God had assigned to her.
The Lack of Character
Barak was a man of God and accounted by the Word a judge in Israel. “The time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae” (Heb. 11:32). But Barak was a man lacking in character, moral energy and confidence in God. Lack of character in Barak made him wish to be the woman’s helper, whereas Genesis 2:18 makes her the helper of the man. He degraded the office in which God had set him, and what was worse, he sought to take Deborah out of her place of dependence as a woman. “I will surely go with thee,” she says, for this she could do consistently with her place according to Scripture. We read in later times of holy women who accompanied the Lord, becoming His servants in order to minister to His needs. Deborah’s act was right, but Barak’s motive was wrong, and Deborah rebukes him severely. What was Barak’s motive at the bottom? He was willing to depend on God, but not without a human prop as well. There are many such souls today. There is, on their part, so little sense of the presence of God that, in order to go on in the pathway of faith, they prefer leaning on another instead of direct dependence on Him only. But God, the Lord, His Spirit and His Word are infallible. Faithful Deborah does not encourage Barak in this wrong course, and Barak suffers the consequences of his want of faith.
Jael in Her Sphere
Barak goes up with his army, and Deborah with him. Heber the Kenite had, in these troublous times, seen fit to sever himself from his tribe and pitch his tent elsewhere. Now “there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite” (Judg. 4:17). Heber’s act does not seem to have been one of faith. He separated himself from the people in their low estate so as to relieve himself of the responsibility of Israel’s sorrowful condition. Moreover, he was at peace with the avowed enemy of his people and had so managed as not to be disquieted by Jabin. But a woman dwelt under Heber’s tent—a woman who refused safety at such a price and did not acknowledge an alliance with the enemy of her nation. Israel had undivided possession of her heart. Barak gains the victory, and Deborah, this woman of faith and mother in Israel, plays no part in it. Sisera’s army is defeated, and he himself, forced to flee away on foot, comes to the tent of Jael, where he counts on finding a hospitable shelter. Jael hides him; he asks for a drink of water, and she gives him what was better, milk. She does not treat him at first as an enemy, but with pity; yet in the presence of the enemy of her people she becomes pitiless.
The instrument she used for Israel’s deliverance was even more worthless than Shamgar’s, for the only weapons she had were the tools of a woman who keeps the tent; it is with them that she deals the fatal blow to the head of the enemy. With what feelings of humiliation Barak must have gazed on Jael’s victory, seeing a woman thus honored of God, in a path in which he, though leader and judge, had not wished to walk. But God made use of both Deborah and Jael to arouse the children of His people to a sense of their responsibility, for once awakened, they “destroyed Jabin, king of Canaan” (Judg. 4:24).
H. L. Rossier (adapted)
Led Captivity Captive
The history of the expression, “lead thy captivity captive,” first found in Judges 5:12, strikingly illustrates the remark of a well-known writer, that “he who does not see Christ everywhere in the Old Testament, sees Him nowhere.” The above expression is here addressed to Barak. “Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.” After the victory over Sisera, the Holy Spirit put a song of celebration into the lips of Deborah and Barak, in which they are made to recall the former state of Israel, the gathering of the people, and the circumstances of the conflict. The words occupying our attention take the form of an exhortation in the prospect of the struggle, urging Barak to grapple with, and to bring into captivity, the power which had been holding Israel captive.
Description of Christ
Passing on to Psalm 68, we read: “Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men [or rather, in the man]; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them” (Psa. 68:18). Here in this psalm the conflict is over, but the words are not, as in Judges, an exhortation, but a description — a description of the victorious issue of the conflict in the ascension and exaltation of Christ as man. But there is more, as another has remarked, for “He has led captive the power of the enemy who ruined all — conferred blessing, and as man, and in His human nature, He has received gifts even for rebellious Israel, that Jehovah Elohim might dwell among them.”
Present Fruit of Victory
We learn, therefore, that the divine energy of the Spirit, that wrought in and through Deborah and Barak for the overthrow of the enemies of Israel, was but a foreshadowing of that divine power which was displayed in and through Christ. His conflict with the power of Satan was seen clearly in His death on the cross (see Col. 2:15), and will be exhibited through Him again when He returns for the deliverance of His people Israel in a later day. Psalm 68, though all is based upon and flows out from the virtue of His death, refers to Israel and the future; but if we now turn to Ephesians — the last place where the expression is found — the reference is to His past conflict and victory, when He overcame the whole power of Satan. “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men” (Eph. 4:8). That is, He brought to naught the power that held us captive; and Satan, as the enemy who has been overcome, now only waits for the execution of his sentence (See Rev. 20:1, 2, 10). Not only so, but we, freed from our captivity, are brought into the enjoyment of the present fruits of the victory in the gifts bestowed by the victorious and ascended Christ (Eph. 4:7-14).
The effect for Israel will be that their Lord God will once more dwell among them in power and blessing, while believers now have already entered upon the blessings won for them in the provision made “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,” and can joyfully anticipate the full result, in the future glory, of the victory.
E. Dennett (adapted)
What is in Thine Hand?
What hast thou in thy hand
Woman? “One handful” more;
Go feed the prophet, and ’twill last
Till famine days are o’er.
What hast thou in thy hand,
Widow? “A pot of oil”;
Go pour it out and find a store
Of rich and priceless spoil.
What hast thou in thy hand,
Mary? Some “perfume rare”;
Pour it upon His head; ’twill flow
In fragrance everywhere.
And Rahab, what hast thou?
“A cord of scarlet hue”;
Hang it in faith, gather your kin —
God’s blessings rest on you.
And, Dorcas, what hast thou?
“A needle and some thread”;
Give them to God, they’ll bless the poor,
And bring thee from the dead.
What hast thou in they hand,
Widow? “Two mites” — no more;
Give them to God, and they shall grow
To be a mighty store.
What hast thou in thy hand,
Mother? “A baby’s hand”;
Train it for Him, so shall thy life
Bear fruit in every land.
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