We all learn the story of the prophetess Deborah in Sunday School. Deborah has a message of victory for the Hebrew general Barak, “God has appointed you to emancipate the children of Israel from the tyranny” of the Canaanites. Barak refuses. He demurs until Deborah pledges to accompany him; she pronounces that the glory of victory will be given to a woman.
The background of this story is one of political authorities neglecting their responsibilities to be courageous, moral leaders for the people of Israel. This is the root cause of political and moral disorder in their day.
Deborah’s story continues: Israel smashes the enemy army, causing the weary Canaanite general, Sisera, to seek sanctuary in the tent of a nearby nomadic tribe. The matron of the household, Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, slays Sisera while he sleeps, using a tent spike and mallet. The moment of deliverance is told in both prose and again in elegant verse from a poem we call The Song of Deborah, in Judges chapter 5:
24 “Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,
her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 At her feet he sank,
he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell—dead.
The Song of Deborah relates far more than just the death of General Sisera. It is a portrait of near-anarchy, when leaders refused to lead and the citizenry lived in fear. At the root of the problem was the recurring sin of Israel: a generation would grow up that refused to serve the Lord and went “whoring” after the deities of Canaan. The spiritual lessons of the book of Judges are well known, but we rarely focus attention on the political situation. When the Israelites left their moral center (“When new gods were chosen”) then “war was at the gates.” In other words due to a lack of moral and societal unity, and, of course, sin, Israel was no longer secure.
Let’s start by taking a look at the rest of The Song of Deborah and then focus our attention on two things. First, the political anarchy that resulted from spiritual weakness, and, second, the restoration that resulted when political authorities re-oriented themselves toward morality and justice, re-establishing a secure peace.
1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:
2 “When the princes in Israel take the lead,
when the people willingly offer themselves—
praise the Lord!3 “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
I, even I, will sing to[a] the Lord;
I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.4 “When you, Lord, went out from Seir,
when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook, the heavens poured,
the clouds poured down water.
5 The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
before the Lord, the God of Israel.6 “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned;
travelers took to winding paths.
7 Villagers in Israel would not fight;
they held back until I, Deborah, arose,
until I arose, a mother in Israel.
8 God chose new leaders
when war came to the city gates,
but not a shield or spear was seen
among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart is with Israel’s princes,
with the willing volunteers among the people.
Praise the Lord!10 “You who ride on white donkeys,
sitting on your saddle blankets,
and you who walk along the road,
consider 11 the voice of the singers[b] at the watering places.
They recite the victories of the Lord,
the victories of his villagers in Israel.“Then the people of the Lord
went down to the city gates.
12 ‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah!
Wake up, wake up, break out in song!
Arise, Barak!
Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’13 “The remnant of the nobles came down;
the people of the Lord came down to me against the mighty.
14 Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek;
Benjamin was with the people who followed you.
From Makir captains came down,
from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s[c] staff.
15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
yes, Issachar was with Barak,
sent under his command into the valley.
In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
16 Why did you stay among the sheep pens[d]
to hear the whistling for the flocks?
In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.
And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?
Asher remained on the coast
and stayed in his coves.
18 The people of Zebulun risked their very lives;
so did Naphtali on the terraced fields.19 “Kings came, they fought,
the kings of Canaan fought.
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,
they took no plunder of silver.
20 From the heavens the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The river Kishon swept them away,
the age-old river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul; be strong!
22 Then thundered the horses’ hooves—
galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.
23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord.
‘Curse its people bitterly,
because they did not come to help the Lord,
to help the Lord against the mighty.’24 “Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,
her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 At her feet he sank,
he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell—dead.28 “Through the window peered Sisera’s mother;
behind the lattice she cried out,
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’
29 The wisest of her ladies answer her;
indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:
a woman or two for each man,
colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,
colorful garments embroidered,
highly embroidered garments for my neck—
all this as plunder?’31 “So may all your enemies perish, Lord!
But may all who love you be like the sun
when it rises in its strength.”Then the land had peace forty years.
For our purposes, I am not trying to draw a direct spiritual parallel between Old Testament Israel (the Chosen People) and any country or government today. But, the condition that Israel found itself in was one of disorder. This was characterized by the “highways being abandoned and travelers keeping to the byways,” so that even “village life ceased” to function normally. We see these conditions again in the next chapter when a young Gideon is hiding in a winepress to mill grain.
A universal principle, rooted in the Bible, is that government authorities should provide law and order to their citizenry. We see this all the way throughout the history and wisdom literature of the Old Testament and the principle of governance is commended to us in Romans 13 and elsewhere in the New Testament. It is clear that the leaders of Israel shirked their duties and the nation lay in anarchy. But, at the crucial moment of this story, Deborah rejoices that “The leaders took the lead in Israel.” She later observed that the “remnant of the nobility” marched to battle and it appears that the tribal leaders of Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, and Naphtali answered the call and mobilized their people for self-defense. In contrast, the leaders who did not do so, in Reuben, Dan, and Asher, are castigated for their sloth or cowardice.
When the leaders led, then “the people offered themselves willingly” (v.2). Deborah praised their valor: “My heart goes out to the comrades of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people.” There must have been considerable anxiety because the people were poorly prepared to fight a professional army like Sisera’s. Deborah reports that there were few “war shields or spears among 40,000 in Israel.” Yet, “down to the gates march the people of the Lord.”
When the battle was won, Deborah rightly praises this as God’s triumph but also the triumph of the villagers in Israel (v. 11). The Israelites had acted responsibly to secure their defense and repel invaders.
What was the result? “The land had peace for forty years” (v. 31b).
Again, let’s look past the well-known cycle of sin, judgment, and redemption in the book of Judges, focusing instead on what occurs when rightful governing authority forsakes its duty to provide law and order. Human societies do not “fall into” a libertarian peace, nor do they self-organize at the grass-roots level into peaceful communes. No, they fall into anarchy, which is an open invitation to tyranny. Thus, we have a portrait here where the normal rhythms of community life, travel, and commerce ceased: “the highways were abandoned, travelers kept the byways, village life ceased.” What was needed was for leaders to “take the lead” (v. 2) and rebuild a political order that would provide security and justice for the common people.
This little story is just one instance of a human drama that plays out again and again in world history. As you read this, consider the warfare of recent decades. Where it has been most vicious is in those places without robust political order: Afghanistan and other parts of Asia, Libya, Sudan, and parts of West Africa. Bullies like Iran and Russia actively seek to destabilize their neighborhoods, such as by funding illicit armed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine, and Georgia. The Song of Deborah from the book of Judges should remind us of how fragile a secure peace is and that justice and many of the fruits of civilization cannot be accomplished without basic peace and security.