The history of Israel, as recorded in the Bible, is rather unique in world history. There were other nations that had kings and there were even other nations that had judges as leaders. But what makes Israel unique is that they passed from being a theocracy that ruled though judges, to a kingdom. The time that Israel spent under the guidance of judges is unique to them alone.
The judges in the Bible were interesting leaders, in that they were not rulers in the normal sense of the word. Rather, they were messengers of God, raised up to lead the people in certain circumstances. They always operated under God’s authority, rather than being the authority, like a king would be. There were even times recorded in the book of Judges, where more than one judge could have been operating at the same time. The book, as it reads, is not fully chronological.
We have trouble understanding the Judges in the western world, because our concept of a judge is the western judge, as invented by the ancient Greeks. That judge sits in a court, judging between the innocent and the guilty. But the judges as shown in the Bible predate that time and are eastern-style judges. Rather than judging between right and wrong, it was their job to right wrongs. God would raise up judges, as necessary, to right wrongs and restore the nation of Israel. There is no place in the book where we see these judges sitting in judgment in a court of law.
We see this understanding of the work of Biblical judges shown in the Parable of the Persistent Widow, as told by Jesus.
There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, “Get justice for me from my adversary.” 4 And he would not for a while; but afterwards he said within himself, “Though I do not fear God nor regard men, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” – Luke 18:2-5
Notice that there is nothing mentioned in that passage about the judge determining right or wrong. The widow went to the judge seeking justice and he eventually decided to avenge her, apparently getting her the justice that she desired. This is how the judges in the Bible operated.
But the judges we find in the Old Testament book of Judges weren’t raised up by God to deal with a widow who was being treated unfairly. Rather, they were raised up for the specific purpose of overthrowing Israel’s oppressors. During the years following Joshua, the various people groups that still existed in Canaan were a problem for the people of Israel, at turns attacking them and leaving them in peace. How much of a problem they were was more due to Israel’s actions and faithfulness to God, than anything else.
Israel had a problem, throughout their history, with idolatry. They would serve Jehovah God for a while, then as their ardor for God waned, they would turn to worshiping the false gods of the people around them. This resulted in them losing God’s favor and protection, which ultimately led to their coming under attack and being oppressed by the various nations around them. The Moabites, Canaanites, Midianites, Amorites and Philistines all were oppressors of Israel at one time or another. This oppression caused the people to turn back to God, praying for deliverance from their oppression.
That’s where the judges came in. God would raise up a judge, as a leader, to overthrow the oppressors. They were not a permanent ruler, although most maintained some notoriety and prestige amongst the people for the rest of their lives. Even so, the part that the Bible records is their work in setting the people of God free from their oppression. This happened in a number of different ways, depending on the judge in question.
Who Was Deborah?
This leads us to Deborah, the first and only female judge recorded in the book of Judges and the fourth to be recorded in the book of Judges. Deborah was raised up by God to be judge over Israel, after the death of the Judge Ehud, who freed the people of Israel from the oppression brought to them by the Moabites. She was instrumental in freeing the people from oppression brought to them by the Canaanites.
Being a woman was not the only way that Deborah was unique, she was also a prophetess (Judges 4:4). There are no actual prophecies of hers recorded in the Bible, other than the instructions that she gave to Barak, which we will discuss in a moment. Not having her prophecies recorded in the Bible was not uncommon, as there are a number of people called by the title prophet in the Bible, whose prophecies were not recorded.
I mentioned a moment ago that the judges in the Bible didn’t sit in a court, judging between good and bad; but rather, righted wrongs. Even so, we see Deborah acting in such a way that can be misconstrued to be sitting in judgment, like a modern western judge.
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. – Judges 4:4-5
Deborah is introduced to us in chapter four of the book of Judges, after “the children of Israel had done evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judges 4:1), an Old Testament euphemism for falling into idolatry. As a result of their sin, the Lord sent Jabin, king of Canaan against them to oppress them. Canaan still occupied a strip of land along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea at this time.
There are a few key things that we find in these verses. Besides seeing that Deborah was a prophetess, we learn her husband’s name. But since his name is not mentioned anywhere else in scripture, we have no idea who he is, other than being of the tribe of Ephraim. Looking at a map of ancient Israel, it is easy to see that the territory still under the control of Canaan was close to the territory of the tribe of Ephraim, although slightly north of them. From this, it appears that the Canaanites were not oppressing all of Israel, but only the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, plus possibly Dan, Asher, and Zebulon.
It is clear that Deborah, in her office as judge, was held in high honor by the people of Israel, or at least by the people of Ephraim. It was apparently customary for people to go to her with their problems, looking for solutions. This was customary enough that a tree was named as “her tree” where she would meet with the people. Her reputation extended beyond her own tribe and included all of Israel.
It would be fair to surmise that Deborah’s judgments and actions as a judge were motivated by what she heard from God. She is introduced to us as a prophetess and her actions with Barak were mostly prophetic ones.
Who Was Barak?
Barak is introduced to us two verses after Deborah. Our introduction to him is through Deborah, as she sent for him to undertake a mission as commander of Israel’s army. As is the case with Deborah’s husband, Barak’s father is mentioned; but we are not told anything about him, other than he is from Kedesh in Naphtali. The Tribe of Naphtali had their territory to the north of Ephraim, with Kedesh being one of the principal cities.
Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and the sons of Zebulun; 7 and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?” – Judges 4:6-7
The Bible doesn’t tell us whether Barak was previously associated with the army or not. However, the idea of Israel having a standing army began during the time of the kings. Like most nations, Israel depended largely on a militia, gathered from the fields at times of war, rather than a professional military. Even as late as the American Civil War, officers either recruited and outfitted their own commands or were voted in to office by the men under their command. Yet here we find Barak apparently being appointed to his position by the prophet Deborah.
Even so, Barak apparently had the pull he needed, in order to muster the men of the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun. So, he was probably a man of some influence, perhaps an elder amongst the people. More than that, he was a man who was willing to do God’s will, even if that meant marching off to war.
The language in this verse is interesting. One might wonder if Deborah is asking that as a rhetorical question or whether she is using “Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded…” as a figure of speech. Several different translations show the exact same thing; but the Amplified translation of the Bible shows us that she was reiterating something that God had already said to Barak. So, while Barak was a man who was willing to obey God, he was hesitant and needed confirmation. Deborah’s prophetic message to him provided that confirmation.
It is clear, looking at the entire chapter, that while Barak was a man willing to obey God, he wanted God’s direction and assurance. We see that first in that he didn’t run off to do what God commanded until receiving that confirmation from Deborah and secondly in him asking Deborah to accompany him. Perhaps he expected to receive further instruction or confirmation from God, through her.
And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!” – Judges 4:8
Once she agreed, he set out to do what God commanded, taking ten thousand men with him, the exact number that God had said and going to the place appointed by God.
The Battle
God brought Deborah and Barak together for the express purpose of liberating the people of Israel from oppression at the hand of the Canaanite king, Jaban. When we compare this to other judges in the Bible, it appears what God did in this case is divide the office of the judge into two parts. Deborah served in the prophetic part of the office, hearing from God. She would then pass what she heard onto Barak, who would carry out God’s orders as the military commander. In most other cases, the judge fulfilled both parts of this; but God is not limited to following one pattern to get something done.
Their enemy, Sisera, was the commander of King Jabin’s army, had 900 iron chariots and a “multitude of men.” Putting that in today’s context, that would be like a professional army with 900 tanks coming against a local militia of hunters armed with hunting rifles and having a scattering of pickup trucks. The trucks would obviously be no match for the tanks. On top of that, hunters are not professional military men, whereas Sisera was in command of a professional army.
We don’t really know, but it appears that the men of Israel might have been outnumbered by the army that Sisera commanded. That’s not actually alarming, as God did the same with Gideon, commanding him to send all but 300 men home, when he fought against the Midianites and Amalekites. Their army was so vast, that the Bible refers to it “as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore” (Judges 7:12).
Why does God operate this way? So as to ensure that He receives the glory, rather than the leaders doing so. This is something widely separated from the wars during the time of the kings, as the king would receive the glory during those wars. But without a sufficiently large army to guarantee success, the army and especially their leadership were required to depend on God and therefore give Him the glory for the victory.
Wars were considerably different in those days, than they are today. Part of that is because of the huge differences in available technology. But there was also a considerable difference in the philosophy of warfighting. It could take weeks for an army to form and march to the expected battle grounds. This caused delays, making the events leading up to the battle almost formal. We see later, when the army of Israel was encamped against the Philistines, that the opposing armies would form ranks on opposite sides of the valley and Goliath would go out daily to taunt the Israelites.
Sisera was informed that the Israelites had marched and were encamping at Mount Tabor. So, he mustered his army and went out to meet them.
But things didn’t go as Sisera expected. The Bible doesn’t say anything about the opposing armies forming ranks and taunting each other. Rather, God sent a message to Barak, through the mouth of Deborah, telling him when it was time for the battle.
Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. – Judges 4:1
So, here we have the day of the battle, yet the following verses make it seem that the Israelites didn’t do much fighting. Whatever fighting they did was clearly anointed by God, as God fought the battle for them and gave the victory into their hands.
And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim (the home of the Canaanite army), and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left. – Judges 4:15-16
So, the army of Canaan was destroyed. But what of their general? We don’t see the general falling in those verses. Rather, he fled on foot to the home of the man who had told him that Barak’s army was at Mount Tabor, a descendent of Moses’ father-in-law, Heber. There, he asked Heber’s wife to hide him, which she did. However, once he fell asleep, she killed him by driving a wood stake through his temple and into the ground (Judges 4:17-21).
Deborah and Barak’s Song
Once Deborah and Barak win the victory against King Jabin, it would be expected that they would have some sort of celebration. That’s traditional across the globe. But these two show their commitment to the Lord by their actions. Rather than throwing a party to celebrate their victory or holding a victory parade, they sing a song of praise to God. The entire fifth chapter of the book of Judges is their song of praise.
This praise song might seem a bit strange to us, as they bring many different aspects into it; but the overall theme of the song is to show what God did in bringing them that victory. Rather than taking credit for it themselves, they give that credit to God, declaring to the people of Israel what God had done for them.
This is an important sign of a truly godly leader. Throughout secular pursuits, people take credit and give themselves glory for what they have done. But when it is God who has done something for us, it is an insult to Him for us to take credit for it ourselves. God alone deserves the glory and it is our job to ensure that He receives it, even to the point of self-depreciation.
The funny thing about this is, those who give the glory to God end up being glorified. God Himself raises them up for their faith and their deeds. That stands in stark contrast to what happens to those who steal God’s glory, appropriating it for themselves. Rather than being lifted up by God, they are brought low.
What Can We Learn From This?
The story of Deborah and Barak is an interesting one, showing God working through them in what might be thought of as an unusual way. Yet from all accounts, it appears that Deborah and Barak were fairly ordinary people. What made them extra-ordinary was their willingness to be used by God. That willingness was manifest in their obedience to Him.
God is always looking for willing people. He doesn’t look for capable, prepared people, He looks for those who will obey Him and do His will. He then prepared those people, giving them the capacity to do what He needs them to do. Sometimes that process happens quickly, but it can also take years.
There have been many who were called into the ministry late in life, without what we would consider the proper preparation. Yet the preparation they have received came directly from God, through the experiences of their lives. Those people literally spent their lifetimes preparing for the work that God wanted them to do, without even knowing it. Yet God knew the plan He had for them all along, and directed their feet to take them through the experiences which would prepare them.