The Women of the Bible Speak--Judges 5:28-30

Day 7

The overwhelming sense that I get from Shannon Bream’s The Women of the Bible Speak: The Wisdom of 16 Women and Their Lessons for Today, so far, is the weak position most of these women start from.

From the tawdriness of family life in Genesis (Sarah and Hagar), to the sibling rivalry of Rachel and Leah (still tawdry),to the plotting of Tamar, to finally the righteousness of Ruth, weakness in their societal position–at least to my modern eyes–seems to be the common thread.

Deborah, the judge and prophetess from the book of Judges, is the first woman that Bream covers that has a position more elevated than the men around her.

I’m not sure where in the timeline Deborah fits, but I think at least 800-900 years after Sarah and Hagar.

Historically, I think Ruth and Deborah lived in the same time–so maybe women’s position in Israel was improving?

Or maybe the fact that Deborah was a judge speaks to how sorry the men of Israel had become. 🙂

Whatever the case, Deborah had more guts than the men around her and she was the one that set the wheels of war in motion against Jabin, the King of Canaan, and his commander Sisera, who had subjugated Israel for over 20 years during Deborah’s time.

Bream characterizes Deborah and her belief that the men of Israel needed to take up arms against Jabin and Sisera:

“Deborah spoke truth with confidence. She didn’t try to minimize the reality of the situation, but she did choose to believe in God’s faithfulness.”

I think a lot of us pop off about what our nation or our government should do as if we have any inkling as to the complexities of our modern world–but I don’t think any of us are prophets.

We aren’t receiving the word of God and if we say we are, then that’s a pretty sound marker that we are suffering delusions of grandeur.

But I’ve always struggled with the notion of prophets and prophetesses in the Old Testament–how does anyone REALLY know that the person, like Deborah or any of the others all the way through Malachi and John the Baptist, weren’t just in a position of influence because they got a few things right, with flowery language?

(Sounds like I’ve identified another path to explore in these reflections, doesn’t it?)

Besides all of that, Deborah receives a message from God that she should enlist Barak to gather up thousands of men and attack Jabin and Sisera at Mount Tabor–which happens in due time, after much hemming and hawing from Barak and the other leaders in the area who were being asked to join in battle against Jabin.

But the battle isn’t what interested me in Bream’s depiction of Deborah–it was Deborah’s recognition that there was a need for battle in the first place that is supported by a small vignette of evil after all is said and done with the battle.

Bream notes that Deborah’s faith in the Lord helped her recognize that Israel was listing badly:

“As the daily demands of life press in on all sides, we can forget just how closely we walked with God in the midst of our toughest challenges, how faithful He has always been and how much we need to cling to His integrity and His promises. The world is constantly trying to lure us away with something else, with temporary fixes that take our eyes off God’s steady goodness. Let’s face it, just like the Israelites, we’re all guilty of becoming untethered from the One who has always been and always will be.”

Our society is in the throes–right now–of untethering from God, but there seems to be a reignition of public professions of faith since President Trump’s reelection.

Where you stand on the phenomenon of sports figures and celebrities, (listen closely to Ohio State players, Texas QB Quinn Ewers, and others) publicly professing their faith again depends on what side of the untethering you are on.

But contained inside the victory song of Deborah and Barak over Jabin and Sisera (more on his death later), which is the entirety of Judges 5, is a snippet of evil that when I think about it, is still relevant today.

Deborah and Barak sing about Sisera’s mother, who is waiting by a window for her son to come home–unaware that her son has run into Jael (part of Deborah’s prophecy that Sisera would die at the hand of a woman) and won’t be coming home:

Judges 5:28-30 Out of the window she looked and wailed, The mother of Sisera through the lattice, ‘Why does his chariot delay in coming? Why do the hoofbeats of his chariots delay?’ 29 Her wise princesses would answer her, Indeed she repeats her words to herself, 30 Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoils? A concubine, two concubines for every warrior;

I wanted to gin up some empathy for Sisera’s mother because who wouldn’t sympathize with a mother who doesn’t know the fate of her child?

But contained inside those verses is the casual evil that Deborah and Barak were fighting against.

In verse 30, the advisors to Sisera’s mother offhandedly wonder if the delay in Sisera’s return is because he isn’t done pillaging the Israelites and raping their women.

You know, rape for fun and profit.

Remind you of any RECENT business over there in the promised land? You know, involving the rape and killing of innocent women?

And still those who rationalize the raping and killing of innocents in Israel by Hamas and Gazans on October 7, 2023 march in the streets of our country as if raping innocent women is justified.

I find it hard to get behind the plight of Gazans and Hamas when evil is justified as a way of life.

In Discover Judges, Marilyn McGinnis writes that Sisera’s mother had it coming:

“From this stanza we gain some insight not only into the perspective of the oppressing nation but also into the hopelessness of a life that subsists on trampling others for status and material goods. People who live that kind of life know that someday their own defeat will come, and the fear of it haunts them.”

Far from being the placid woman who is a victim to her society's standards, Deborah becomes the pointy end of Israel’s declaration of freedom from tyranny and terror.

Deborah is not just a vassal in the world of men or a vessel for the progeny of her husband, but a woman of valor who energized a whole country to fight for itself.

God chooses leaders by His standards, not ours.

Lord, teach us to seek peace rather than the spoils of war. Help us to value life and to understand our common humanity.

Lord, guide us to be peacemakers in our communities, in our nations, and among nations. May we always reflect your love and mercy.

Amen.