Hands of a Woman: Deborah and Barak
God has a way of surprising us. Unlikely characters getting leading roles. Improbable plot twists when the narrative seems predictable. Even word play on expected tropes. Today’s story has all three! Good television and exciting books have nothing on Bible!
Last week, we began the Game of Judges, a month-long dive into the biblical book of Judges discovering the good, the bad, and ugly, and honest look at Israel’s judges. Israel followed God’s law, then turn from it, fell into sin, and begged for a deliverer – Just like us! Their story is our story! How can we break the generational cycle of sin?
And again, people forgot about the ways of God. Today’s passage from Judges begins with the refrain. As the people forgot the ways of God, they experienced oppression under the heavy hand of the Canaanite king, Jabin. The people cried out to God! And God heard their cries!
Enter Deborah. Deborah held court under the palm trees, offered judgement between conflict as well as spoke prophetic wisdom in military battle. Her wisdom extends beyond the land. The wisdom of the Lord rests upon her, and she takes the authority to share that with others. Deborah summons Barak to hear the vision of military victory God has given her. He receives the battle plans obediently. Deborah and Barak make for an unlikely pair. Barak is a competent and knowledgeable military general. However, he is not the judge. In another story, he might have been the protagonist, the judge, as being a male military general. But this narrative reminds us that female leadership is a gift and hand us distinct ways to be a young man. Deborah is the visionary who accompanies Barak in battle, and Barak is the general who leads the troop. This story is one of revising expectations and assumptions.
The book of Judges resonates with us today, because we know a world in which there is violence and chaos, political intrigue and oppression. Game of Thrones captured the imagination of over 19 million viewers, that is how many watched the final episode this May. With a complex cadre of characters and intricate series of plots, Game of Thrones reflects a similar world as the one the judges inhabited.
One of the story arcs includes a family called the Starks, who carry the title Lord Protector of the Realm. The family has multiple children including a female child, Arya, shown from the beginning, interest and talent in conquest and battle. Arya nurtures this unlikely calling for a female child through training and real-world experience. As she grows into herself, Arya receives prophecy from a prophetess, Melisandre, that is later fulfilled. I want to show you a clip from the show that splices together seasons 3 and 8, both the prophecy and the result. There are no spoilers for those of you who are yet to see it.
(show clip)
Arya receives a prophetic promise about her own her own leadership through the prophecy of Melisanhdra. She was not who they originally expected. Viewers had not expected Arya to grow into such a powerful woman of influence.(1) You can almost hear a gasp as she finishes up. The twists and turns in the plot, just when you believe you understand how the story will unfold.
Deborah promises to accompany General Barak into battle but declares that the Lord will give victory into the hands of a woman. Lest you think that Deborah is merely speaking pridefully about herself. General Barak’s victory is not given into Deborah’s hands. As the King of the Canaanites retreats, he decides to rest in the tent of his friend Heber the Kenite’s wife, Jael. Kenites are a relation of Moses’ father-in-law. Jael offers him hospitality. Sisera has something to drink and a place to rest.
When all is at rest, Jael drives a tent peg through his skull. I bet you didn’t see that coming. She fulfills the prophecy that the victory of the battle will the hands of a woman in an unexpected and morally questionably way.
The story continues in the next chapter as Deborah sings of God’s great greatness and how God moved through God’s people in Judges 5. She does so in the style of Miriam and Hannah, David and many unnamed psalmists, Elisabeth and Mary. Each sings of God who turns our assumptions of who we know God know to God to be upside. God who feeds the hungry and leaves the haughty and proud still hungry.
The challenging of our assumptions is not just that women have always had a place in leadership, but that there is more than one way to lead as male. General Barak leads out of his strengths in collaboration with others. He quietly redefines masculine leadership increasing the forms of leadership of male role models to include sharing the airtime, revising the roles, and willingness to curious.
As we were walking back from the bus stop Peter asked me, Is Daddy older because he is taller? No, I told him as we looped around the neighborhood. I am older, because my birthday comes first. When I get big and I am taller than you, will I be older than you? He wanted to know. No, sweetheart, I answered. I will always be born before you.
We often look up to those who are taller. Pun intended. The prophet, Samuel was on the same page as Peter as he first went to Jesse’s tallest sons, when looking for the next king of Israel. God ultimately reminded Samuel that, “God does not look on the outside appearance, but on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) as the Spirit of the Lord rested on the small and ruddy David. How many in Barak’s day wrote him off as General because a real general should need a woman to come with him to battle? They missed the very presence and glory of God.
There were those who have left every church before I came as soon as they heard a woman was coming to serve that congregation, even though I have not been the first female clergyperson in any church that I have served. There are often times when I introduce myself as the lead pastor, that people will ask me, where is the male senior pastor? But this is not limited to female clergy.
We imagine that God only works through the confident, well accomplished, and knowledgeable in all major areas. When we sense a tug in our hearts to help in some way, we tell ourselves that we cannot help, because we are not (blank) enough. We are not tall enough, do not know enough, confident enough, can not pray quickly and with confidence well enough. We assume that good will not use us. We carry assumptions, and we have assumptions carried about us. Our sexism, racism, homophobia, anxiety about ourselves, classism, and concerns take over.
How often, we are sure that we can anticipate who God will and will not use, who God will and will not call. Spoiler Alert! God is not limited by our assumptions! God used Deborah and Barak, both considered lacking by human standards, to be ideal candidates of leading the people of faith. God calls us to reevaluate our assumptions that leaders who speak on behalf of God will always look a certain way, talk a certain way, and act a certain way. God reminds us that the one thing that God requires is a heart for God, everything else is negotiable.
Deborah sat beneath the palms adjudicating disputes, and Barak lead a people into battle even when he did not carry the skills of combat general. When God calls you to invite you neighbor to Open Market or share the bible study book you read, silence your inner critic to step into the call to which you have been called! Relinquish your grip on assumptions about others and open up the movement of the Holy Spirit!
This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.
(1) Kohn, Natalia, Quiñones, Noemi Vega, Robinson, Kristy Garza, Heremanas: Deepening our Identity and Growing our Influence. Illinois, 2019.
Old Testament Lesson: Judges 4:1-9
The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.
At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’” Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
New Testament Lesson: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, September 8 ~ Saturday, September 14
Sunday: “So then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober;” 1 Thessalonians 5: 6. Consider that our assumptions of who can be a leader limits how we understand that God is working. Let God open your heart to the fullness of God’s creativity and way.
Monday: “For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Thessalonians 5: 9. Salvation is wholeness in Jesus Christ. Pray for wholeness for creation and humanity. Listen for how God is calling you to live out that salvation.
Tuesday: “Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5: 11. Our assumptions tend to break one another down, not build one another up. What if you assumed generously? What if you imagined that God gave abundantly to each person you came in contact with today? Encourage and build one another up!
Wednesday: “Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years. At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel.” Judges 4:3-4. The answer to our prayers does not always come in the form we expect. The Israelites waited for twenty years and were expecting a military leader. Deborah surprised and exceeded their expectations. Wait on the Lord.
Thursday: “Deborah used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment.” Judges 4:5. Consider that Deborah was a female judge. Her expertise and giftedness were highly valued. God gifts all people. We all have assumptions around who can do tasks well and poorly. Where is God calling you to re-evaluate your assumptions?
Friday: “Deborah sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun.” Judges 4: 6. Deborah gave military command to the General Barak. Barak worked faithfully under her leadership and in collaboration with her. Pray for civilian and military collaborations.
Saturday: “I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’” Judges 4:7. Pray for the safety and wisdom of armed services. May God grant them the wisdom of Deborah and collaboration of Barak.