The People’s Sin and Cry to Jehovah (4:1-3)

CHAPTER 4

1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of Jehovah; now Ehud was dead. 2 And Jehovah sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the captain of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth-Goim.

vv.1-2 Israel’s Relapse and Oppression by Canaan. After Ehud’s death, Israel again turned from the Lord, and the result was the revival of an old enemy. Jabin, king of Canaan, reigned in Hazor, a place once burned to ashes by Joshua, yet rebuilt and now ruling over God’s inheritance. His name means “understanding,” a fitting picture of human intellect exalting itself against faith and divine revelation. The very system once judged and destroyed has risen from its ruins to enslave God’s people. Thus the light once possessed is lost through unfaithfulness, and the mind of man, symbolized by Jabin’s “iron chariots,” gains dominion over those who should walk by faith. Spiritually, this portrays the Church yielding to worldly wisdom and the carnal reasoning of men who would rather be governed by intellect than by the Spirit of God. This very thing is addressed in 1 Corinthians (see 1 Cor. 1:18-31). What had been judged in the beginning is tolerated again, and the world, once condemned, becomes the master of those who were meant to overcome it.

3 And the children of Israel cried to Jehovah; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel twenty years.

v.3 Israel’s Cry Under Oppression. For twenty long years Jabin “mightily oppressed” Israel, and the cry of distress once more rose to Jehovah. Under the heavy yoke of human wisdom and proud confidence in reason, the people groaned for deliverance. They had learned too late that to turn from God’s Word is to come under the bondage of the very world they sought to imitate. Yet their cry, though feeble, reached the ear of grace. God always responds when His people acknowledge their helplessness. He waits until the pride of man is broken and the futility of self-reliance confessed. In the spiritual sense, it is when the Church feels the burden of human systems and doctrines, weary of their cold oppression, that the Lord begins again to revive faith through the power of His Word.

Deborah and Barak’s Victory over the Canaanites (4:4-16)

4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel at that time. 5 And she dwelt under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

vv.4-5 Deborah’s Character and Position. In that dark day God raised up an unusual instrument: Deborah the prophetess, a woman and mother in Israel. Her very presence was a rebuke to Israel’s weakness, for the men who should have led were silent. Yet in her we see the grace of God working beyond the failure of man. “Deborah” means “honeybee” and she represents moral energy when all else had succumbed to the weakness that worldliness brings. She judged Israel under the palm tree between Ramah and Bethel, between “the heights” and “the house of God”, perhaps individual and collective communion. Her place under the palm speaks of victory and peace; yet she did not leave her proper sphere. She does not ride circuit like Samuel did. Even though God calls on her as a woman, she does not leave her place as a woman. Though prophetess and judge, she remained within the bounds of womanly modesty, and the people came to her rather than she to them. The Word of God, quietly but firmly applied in “a little strenght”, begins the deliverance.

6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-Naphtali, and said to him, Hath not Jehovah the God of Israel commanded? Go and draw towards mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun, 7 and I will draw unto thee, to the torrent Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, and his chariots and his multitude, and I will give him into thy hand. 8 And Barak said to her, If thou goest with me, then I will go, but if thou goest not with me, I will not go. 9 And she said, I will by all means go with thee, only that it will not be to thine honour upon the way which thou goest, for Jehovah will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

vv.6-9 Barak’s Call and Weakness of Faith. Deborah sent for Barak, whose name means “lightning,” the fitting complement to her small but vital strength. God’s command was clear: gather ten thousand men from Zebulun and Naphtali, for the Lord had already drawn Sisera into His snare. But Barak hesitated; his faith was mixed with fear. “If thou wilt go with me, then I will go,” he said, seeking human support rather than divine sufficiency. When a man does not fulfill his place it tends to push a woman out of her place. However, Deborah does not allow this to happen. See Proverbs 19:10. Deborah consented to accompany him, but foretold that the honor of victory would go to a woman. Barak’s hesitation mirrors the Church’s tendency to depend on visible aids, organization, intellect, or gifted leaders, instead of resting simply on the Word of God. Yet grace accommodates weakness: God will still use the trembling servant, though the reward of faith must pass to another. In Deborah we see strength through dependence; in Barak, dependence through weakness, but both are used of God, for His power is perfected in feeble instruments.

10 And Barak called together Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and there went up at his feet ten thousand men; and Deborah went up with him. 11 (Now Heber the Kenite had severed himself from the Kenites, from the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak of Zaannaim, which is by Kedesh.) 12 And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to mount Tabor. 13 Then Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth-Goim to the torrent Kishon. 14 And Deborah said to Barak, Up; for this is the day in which Jehovah hath given Sisera into thy hand! Is not Jehovah gone out before thee? And Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. 15 And Jehovah discomfited Sisera, and all the chariots, and all the army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera got down from his chariot, and fled on foot. 16 And Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth-Goim; and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not one was left.

vv.10-16 The Battle and Victory. Barak gathered his small army to Mount Tabor, a symbol of spiritual elevation and divine purpose. The hosts of Sisera, with their nine hundred iron chariots, advanced to the river Kishon, the “winding stream,” emblem of human craft and subtlety. Yet when the Lord fights for His people, the proud wisdom of man is turned into folly. At Deborah’s word—“Up! for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand”—Barak descended the mount, and the Lord discomfited Sisera’s host. Nature itself joined the battle; the river swept them away. Faith, though slow to act, finds its strength in obedience. The victory was wholly of God: “So God subdued Jabin.” The mighty reasoning of the world collapses before the simple force of divine truth. When the Word of God, like a thunderbolt, flashes forth from the mountain of purpose, every boast of intellect must bow before the majesty of divine revelation.

Sisera Killed By Jael (4:17-24)

17 And Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And he turned in to her, into the tent, and she covered him with the quilt. 19 And he said to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. And she opened the flask of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. 20 And he said to her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be if any one come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No. 21 And Jael Heber’s wife took a tent-pin, and took the hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and smote the pin into his temples, and it penetrated into the ground; for he had fallen into a deep sleep and was faint; and he died.

vv.17-21 Jael’s Action. Sisera fled on foot and sought refuge in the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Though her husband was at peace with Jabin, Jael’s heart was with Israel. This shows that a woman whose husband was allied with the enemies of God’s people (an unbeliever) could be used by the Lord for a great victory. Her name means climbing—one who seeks the things above—and her tent speaks of pilgrim separation from the world. In the weakness of faith she welcomed the enemy to her tent, yet in the power of faith she struck him down. With her own hands she drove the tent-pin through his head—an act that, however strange, expresses the spiritual truth that the believer overcomes the proud reasoning of the flesh by the lowly life of a stranger here. The weapons of her victory were not those of a soldier, but those of a pilgrim. The tent-peg and hammer—symbols of the believer’s walk and of the Word of God—are sufficient to overthrow the most subtle foe. These were the tools available in her sphere – she used what was in her hand. See Exodus 4:2. It is through a life of practical separation, not argument, that the intellect of unbelief is slain.

22 And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And he went into her tent, and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the pin was in his temples. 23 So God subdued on that day Jabin king of Canaan before the children of Israel. 24 And the hand of the children of Israel ever advanced, and prevailed against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had cut off Jabin king of Canaan.

vv.22-24 The Final Overthrow of Jabin. When Barak arrived, the deed was done—Sisera lay dead at Jael’s feet. The humbling of Israel’s mighty enemy by a woman was God’s answer to man’s pride. Thus the Lord’s hand, not Barak’s sword, gained the victory. The people, once paralyzed by fear, now found courage to rise and destroy Jabin, the king of understanding. The rule of human wisdom was broken, and peace returned to the land. So it will ever be when the Word of God triumphs over the reasonings of men. Faith, humility, and obedience are the instruments through which God vindicates His truth. The song of Deborah in the next chapter will celebrate not human prowess, but the glory of a God who works deliverance through weakness, that all the honor may be His.

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