Israel Prevails Against King Jabin

Judges 4:12-24 (KJV)

"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..." (v. 14)? Barak went down from Mount Tabor followed by ten thousand men while Sisera was driven along with his multitude by the Lord to come before Barak. Sisera then came down from his chariot and fled on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. Sisera served King Jabin who had peace with the House of Heber the Kenite.

"And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No. Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples. So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan" (vs. 18-24).

Barak and Deborah Leave to Deliver Israel

Judges 4:1-10 (KJV)

A pattern had developed for the Children of Israel. This pattern was that Israel would turn to serve other gods; God would become angry for their actions and sell them into the hands of an oppressive king; Israel would then cry out to God for deliverance; God would send a judge to deliver them; Israel would rest from their ways then eventually turn back to serving other gods.

So, in continuing with the pattern, Israel turned to evil again after the death of their deliverer Ehud. God then sold Israel into the hands of king Jabin of Canaan. Sisera was the captain of Jabin's host which had nine hundred iron chariots. Israel had been greatly oppressed for twenty years when they called upon the Lord.

"And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw to ward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Siser, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand. And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go" (vs. 4, 6-8).

Deborah agreed to go with Barak, but let him know that he would receive no honor for his journey because the Lord would sell Sisera into a woman's hand. "And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him" (v. 10).

Ehud Delivers Israel from Eglon

Judges 3:12-31 (KJV)

Israel turned again to their evil ways in the Lord's sight. As a result, the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab who went against Israel with the help of the Children of Ammon and Amalek and gained possession of the city of palm trees. Israel served Eglon for eighteen years.

"But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh" (vs. 15,16).

"And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out" (vs. 17-22).

Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them. When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath" (vs. 23-26).

"And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and before them. And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years" (vs. 27-30).

"And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: he also delivered Israel" (v. 31).

Israel Serves Baalim

Judges 3:5-11 (KJV)

Living among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites had a negative impact on the Children of Israel. For Israel "...took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods" (v. 6). Israel forgot the real God Who lead them out of Egypt and served Baalim.

"Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years. And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the Lord delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim. And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died" (vs. 8-11).

Judah Takes Lead Against Canaanites

Judges 1 (KJV)

After Joshua’s death, the Children of Israel asked the Lord, “Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them”? (v. 1).  The Lord answered, “Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand” (v. 2).  Judah had his brother, Simeon, to help him fight the Canaanites.  In return, Judah agreed to help Simeon in his fight against the Canaanites.

Ten thousand Canaanites and Perizzites were delivered into the hands of the brothers by the Lord in Bezek.  From Bezek, Judah went to Jerusalem  where the people had fought and taken the city.  Moving on to the mountain, south and valley of the Promised Land, Judah took the cities of Hebron, Debir, Hormah, Gaza, Askelon and Ekron.  Moses said for Hebron to be given to Caleb.  The people of the mountain were driven out, but the valley people were prevented from being driven out because of their iron chariots.

There were other inhabitants in the land who were not driven out by the tribes of Israel: Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites; Manasseh did not drive out the people of Bethshean, Taanach, Dor, Ilbeam and Megiddo or any of their towns; Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites of Gezer; Zebulun did not drive out the people of Kitron or Nahalol; Asher did not drive out the people of Accho, Zidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik or Rehob; Naphtali did not drive out the people of Beth-shemesh or Bethanath.  Israel did not drive the people out, but, in time, was strong enough to have them put to tribute.

The Children of Dan were forced into the mountain by the Amorites.  Yet, when the house of Joseph became stronger, the Amorites were put to tribute.

Faith Conversation Reflection #1

My Aunt Shirley and I have faith conversations from time to time. During one of our talks, Aunt Shirley made a comment along the lines that one day she will have a mansion. I came across a hymn called Mansion Over the Hilltop by Ira Stanphill in the hymnal Melodies of Praise that reminded me of our conversation. Here is a version sung by Elvis Presley:

We'll Have the Answers Down the Road

There is an excerpt from Joshua 24:15 that has weighed on my heart--"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord...". These are the opening words of Joshua in the verse when he gave the Children of Israel the choice of gods to follow. At that time, the people chose to follow the God Who brought them out of Egypt.

I believe that people today struggle with following God because they view Him as evil for allowing bad things to happen to good people or good things to happen to bad people. Here is an old hymn sung by Brad Paisley called Farther Along that will help shed some light on the situation:



My hope is that you choose to follow the real God and put your faith in Him. The answers to the difficult questions will come down the road.