An enemy showing up with 900 Chariots is not a good day for the children of Israel. Then God shows up. The commanders would never have fielded the wheeled army in a wet season, God apparently does something that they did not see coming and seemingly out of season. He sends a rainstorm. The wheels get stuck in the mud and the mounted units become easy pickings for the Israelite army. What a turn of events!
Who cares about the odds when God is fighting for you? In life we have a tendency to measure whether we will succeed based upon earthly things. When beginning to follow God’s plan we count our money, number our allies, and do our “due diligence” in every way we can think. I am not disparaging us for doing so. Even Jesus said it was wise to count the cost before beginning a venture. But, everything changes when God is with you.
Judges 4:1–5:31 (MEV)
1 When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel once more did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
2 The Lord sold them into the hands of King Jabin of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera. He lived in Harosheth Haggoyim.
3 The children of Israel cried out to the Lord, for Sisera had nine hundred iron chariots and had forcefully oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years.
4 Now Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophetess. She judged Israel at that time.
5 She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. The children of Israel would go up to her for her to render judgment.
6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord God of Israel commands you, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor, and take ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun with you.
7 I will draw Sisera, the commander of the army of Jabin, with his chariots and large army to you at the River Kishon and give him into your hands.’ ”
8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go, but if you will not go with me, then I will not go.”
9 She said, “I will indeed go with you. However, the way you are going will gain you no glory, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. Ten thousand men went up on foot with him, and Deborah went up with him also.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, who were descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. He pitched his tent at the oak in Zaanannim, near Kedesh.
12 Then they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13 So Sisera summoned all his nine hundred iron chariots and all the people with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the River Kishon.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Get up, for this is the day that the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men behind him.
15 The Lord routed Sisera and all of his chariots and all of his army with the edge of the sword in front of Barak. Sisera dismounted his chariot and fled on foot.
16 Barak chased after the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. The whole army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a single man survived.
17 Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord. Turn aside to me. Do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.
19 He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a leather milk container, gave it to him to drink, and covered him.
20 He said to her, “Stand in the entrance to the tent, and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ then you say, ‘No.’ ”
21 Then Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand and went quietly to him, for he was fast asleep and tired. She drove the tent peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground, so he died.
22 Now as Barak had been chasing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” When he came in, there was Sisera fallen dead with a tent peg in his temple.
23 So God humbled King Jabin of Canaan before the children of Israel that day.
24 The children of Israel grew more and more powerful over King Jabin of Canaan until he was no more.
1 On that day, Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang:
2 “When the leaders in Israel lead, when the people freely volunteer, bless the Lord!
3 “Hear, O kings! Listen, O rulers! I will sing to the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
4 “Lord, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the ground shook and the skies poured, indeed, the dense clouds poured water.
5 The mountains quaked before the Lord, this very Sinai, before the Lord God of Israel.
6 “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, main roads were abandoned and travelers used roundabout paths.
7 Village life ceased. It ceased until I, Deborah, arose; I arose like a mother in Israel.
8 They were choosing new gods, and warfare was at the city gates, but not a shield or spear was to be seen among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart is with the rulers of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the Lord!
10 “You who ride on white donkeys, you who sit in judges’ attire, you who walk on the road,
11 consider the voice of those who distribute water among the watering places. There they tell of the righteous deeds of the Lord, the righteous deeds of villagers in Israel. “Then the people of the Lord go down to the gates.
12 Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Stand up, Barak, and capture your prisoners, son of Abinoam!
13 “The survivors came down to the nobles; the people of the Lord came down for me against the mighty.
14 Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek, following you, Benjamin, with your people. From Makir rulers came down, and from Zebulun those who carry the staff of a scribe.
15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah, and Issachar was with Barak; they were sent into the valley on foot. Among the clans of Reuben there was great resolve of heart.
16 Why do you sit among the sheepfolds to hear playing of pipes for the flocks? In the clans of Reuben there was much searching of heart.
17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. As for Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher stayed by the seacoast and settled by its bays.
18 Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the point of death, Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.
19 “Kings came to wage war. The kings of Canaan waged war in Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; they took no money as profit.
20 From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The torrent of Kishon swept them away, that ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. My soul, march on in strength!
22 Then horses’ hooves pounded, the galloping, galloping of his steeds.
23 Curse Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse its inhabitants, for they did not come to the aid of the Lord, to the aid of the Lord against the mighty warriors.
24 “Most blessed of women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water, she gave him milk. In a magnificent bowl she brought cream.
26 Her hand on a tent peg, her right hand on a workman’s hammer; she struck Sisera, she crushed his skull, she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay; between her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell, overpowered.
28 “The mother of Sisera looked through the window, and cried out through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so late? Why is the sound of his war chariots so delayed?’
29 Her wise attendants answered her, indeed, she replied to herself,
30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils: a girl or two for each man; dyed garments as plunder for Sisera, dyed and embroidered garments, two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?’
31 “May all Your enemies perish like this, O Lord! But may those who love Him rise like the sun when it rises in full strength.” “Then the land was at peace for forty years.