The Unlikely Hero Sermon Notes 1--Deborah

This is the first of three posts each looking at a major character in Judges 4.

Remember the context:

The context for this story is the Israelite oppression under the Canaanites. The LORD "sold them" (4:2) into the hands of the king of Canaan because of the "evil" they did in the eyes of LORD. This evil occurred after the death of Ehud, which plays into the pattern created at least in the early part of Judges: the people commit evil before God; God turns them over to foreign rulers; they are oppressed and cry out for help; God hears their cries and send a judge to deliver them; they have peace in their land; they turn back to evil after the judge dies.

As expected, because of their oppression, and apparently also because of Sisera's nine hundred iron-fitted chariots, the people cried out to the LORD for help.

God hears their cries and answers (all this is inferred) by speaking through Deborah to Barak. Deborah is not the judge or deliverer in this story. Nowhere is God described as "raising up" a judge (see 2:16; 3:9, 15). She is a prophet who is described as "leading" Israel at that time. Since she was leading while Israel was under oppression she probably acted more like a judge as we would understand one--she decided disputes among the Israelites.

Yet she also received the word from the Lord that called Barak to be a deliverer for God's people and she was tasked with the responsibility of passing this on to Barak. He will deliver God's people by defeating Sisera in battle. Specifically, God will "give" Sisera into Barak's hands.

Interestingly, it is Deborah calling all the shots in this story even though Barak was called as the deliverer: she calls him, she delivers the message to him that he will be God's deliverer, she tells him he won't get the glory (because of his hesitation), then she orders him to go to battle ("Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands!")

Deborah is a leader. Even though she is never labeled in Judges as the deliverer in this story, by functioning as a prophet who brought God's word and as a leader who called and empowered the deliverer (even though the glory went to someone else), she is the example of what it means to stand for God in chaotic times:

Listen for the voice of God and when you hear his voice, act upon what he says.