The Unlikely: Deborah, Barak and Jael / Judges 4:1-5:31
If you would, pick up your Bibles and turn to Judges chapter 4 and 5. We are going to jump right in. If you have not been here for the summer, or maybe you have missed the last few weeks, we are going through this series called The Unlikely. We are looking at some characters in the book of Judges and seeing how God works through these people. If you missed the last couple of weeks when Shay and Brad taught, make sure you go online and listen to those or watch the video to get caught up.
I am enjoying this series so much because I am just being reminded over and over again how God is able to use the unusable. Think about that: people who seem completely unusable, and God says, “Well, that’s not a problem for Me. I can use anyone.” How encouraging is that? That means He can use all of us, which is so awesome. Today, we are going to see another unlikely story of how God works.
The Cycle of Helplessness
Let’s start right out in Judges chapter 4. It says the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died.
Judges 4:1 (NASB)
Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, after Ehud died.
That is a sentence you see a lot in the book of Judges. Ehud dies—and coincidentally, I just taught on Ehud a few weeks ago—and the Israelites again turn away from God. They go right back through that cycle: “I’m going to follow God; I fall away from God. I follow God; I fall away from God.”
God does what He has been doing the whole time and what He does with us: He loves us enough not to leave us there. He loves us enough to discipline us to get our attention. He raises up these Canaanites living in the northern part of the kingdom under a king named Jabin. Jabin starts harassing Israel from the north for about twenty years until the Israelites finally realize, “We need help. We are helpless and hopeless here.” So they cry out to God.
The text tells us they cried out because the Canaanites had 900 iron chariots. They found out they were completely helpless against those 900 chariots. They couldn’t do anything about it—but God could.
Aren’t we always helpless and hopeless without God? We are always helpless and hopeless without Him. Except sometimes in my life, I get foolish. I think, You know, I don’t think I’m quite as helpless right now as I was back then. And God goes, No, you always need Me. I am just like the Israelites at times. Because He loves us, God will allow something huge into our lives that we cannot handle, something very difficult, to remind us that we are helpless without Him. For the Israelites, it came in the form of 900 iron chariots. In modern terms, that is like the enemy having 900 tanks while you have zero tanks and no anti-tank defense. It was cutting-edge military technology, and they were terrified.
The Reluctant General
There was a woman named Deborah, a prophetess, who was judging Israel at the time. The people cry out to God and go see Deborah to find out what God’s answer is.
Deborah says, “I want you to go up north where a man named Barak is. Bring him down here to me, because he is the guy God wants to use to deliver you out of this bondage.” They bring Barak down, and Deborah tells him, “God wants you to gather 10,000 troops from two northern tribes and go against Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with all his iron chariots. God is going to deliver him into your hands.”
Barak says something very interesting:
Judges 4:8 (NASB)
Then 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.’
Barak says, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”
A lot of people look at that and say Barak’s faith was shaky. Honestly, he probably should have just taken Deborah at her word. She was a prophet of God. He should have taken the direction and gone. But he essentially says, “If you are with me, that assures us of victory.” Look at her response:
Judges 4:9 (NASB)
She said, ‘I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.’ Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
She says, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.”
If you are reading this account for the first time, who do you think that woman is going to be? Barak is certainly thinking, Okay, if you come with me, the honor of taking out the opposing commander—the highest battle honor—won’t go to a man, it’ll go to a woman. He knows it’s not him. He knows it won’t be any of the 10,000 soldiers, because they are all men. There is only one prominent woman in the story so far: Deborah. Barak is thinking, You must be talking about yourself. Deborah might have only known that God said “a woman” without knowing who. But there is a massive twist coming in this story.
An Unlikely Ally and a Muddy Battle
Let me give you a quick side note to set the stage. There was a man named Heber the Kenite. Kenites were Gentiles, not Jews, but they were historically associated with Israel through Moses’ father-in-law. Throughout the Old Testament, you see Kenites allied with Judah. But Heber took his family away from the southern territory and moved up north near the Sea of Galilee, right where the Canaanites were oppressing Israel. He settled there and made a peace treaty with King Jabin. Heber probably wanted peace so the Canaanites would leave him alone, and Jabin had no problem making peace with a non-Jew.
Keep that in mind while we jump back to the battle.
Barak and Deborah gather the 10,000 troops and head toward Mount Tabor by the Kishon River valley. Deborah tells Barak that God will draw Sisera out and deliver him there. Barak moves his troops across the valley. You cannot hide 10,000 soldiers, so word reaches Sisera: “The Israelites are gathering at the mountain.”
Sisera says, “Load up the tanks. Let’s go.” He takes his army and his 900 iron chariots into the valley to crush Israel. Right in the middle of the valley, Deborah turns to Barak and says, “Go! God has given them into your hands.” Barak leads the charge down the mountain.
Judges 4:15 (NASB)
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.
The text says the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots. That word “routed” can mean confused or panicked. How did God do it? Chapter 5 gives us the details in the form of an ancient song:
Judges 5:4 (NASB)
’LORD, when You went out from Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth quaked, the heavens also dripped, Even the clouds dripped water.
Judges 5:21 (NASB)
’The torrent of Kishon swept them away, The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength.
The song reveals that the earth quaked, the clouds poured rain, and the Kishon River swept the enemy away in a flash flood. Outside of the normal rainy season, God sent a torrential storm and an earthquake. What happens to 900 heavy iron chariots in deep mud? They sink. They get bogged down. In an instant, God stripped away their entire military advantage.
Barak’s army routed the enemy troops. Sisera realized the battle was lost, abandoned his chariot, and fled on foot. He ran toward the nearest ally he knew: the settlement of Heber the Kenite.
The Milk, the Mallet, and the Tent Peg
Heber wasn’t home, but his wife, Jael, was there. She came out and said, “Come in, my lord; come into the tent. Don’t be afraid.” Sisera was exhausted, soaked, and freezing. She brought him in, covered him with a heavy rug, and made him comfortable.
He said, “Please give me a little water to drink; I am thirsty.” She said, “I have something better than that,” and gave him a skin of milk. She gave him warm milk, tucked him in, and let him drift off to sleep. Sisera told her, “Stand at the doorway of the tent, and if anyone comes asking if there is anyone here, say no.”
As soon as he was sound asleep, Jael grabbed a tent peg and a wooden mallet. She crept up softly, placed the peg against his temple, and drove it completely through his head into the ground.
When I read that, my first thought was: Why do I always get the gruesome stories to preach? First Ehud, now this! My second thought was: What a tough woman. I’ll be honest with you—I am not tough. In junior high, I never got into fights because I could not bring myself to punch someone in the face. Hitting someone like that was just too much for me. Jael clearly had no problem with that. She would have beaten me up on the playground without breaking a sweat.
Shortly after, Barak came pursuing Sisera. Jael stepped out of her tent and called to him, “Come, and I will show you the man you are looking for.” Barak walked in, and there lay Sisera, dead, with the peg through his temple—exactly as God had spoken through Deborah. The honor didn’t go to Deborah; it went to Jael.
Look at how the chapter summarizes the victory:
Judges 4:23 (NASB)
So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel.
Who subdued Jabin that day? God did. Not Deborah, not Barak, and not Jael. God subdued him. God simply chose to use those three people.
A Trio of Unlikely Servants
This story is not fundamentally about the human heroes; it is about how God uses unlikely people. God delights in showing His life and power through people who seem completely disqualified. The more unlikely we are, the more clearly God’s glory shines through, because nobody looks at us and thinks we pulled it off on our own.
Who is the real judge in this story? When you first read it, you might think Deborah, because she was judging Israel. But in 1 Samuel 12, when Samuel lists the judges who delivered Israel, he names Barak, not Deborah. In Hebrews 11, the “Hall of Faith” mentions Barak alongside Gideon and Jephthah, but leaves Deborah out. Yet Barak refused to move without Deborah’s prophetic guidance. And neither of them struck the final blow—Jael did.
Why do we try to narrow it down to just one person? God didn’t use one individual; He used a trio. Three people with completely different roles, working together in tandem, accomplishing God’s deliverance.
Look at how diverse this group was: one man and two women; two Israelites and one Gentile. In that culture, their social statuses could not have been further apart. A recognized prophet held high standing. A military general held high standing. A Gentile was at the bottom of the social ladder—and a Gentile housewife was considered lower still.
God essentially said, “I don’t care about cultural hierarchies. I will use anyone I choose. I will put together a team you would never expect, and I will show you My power.”
Galatians 3:28 (NASB)
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female—we are all one in Christ Jesus. We have different roles, but no one is superior. Every single person is vital in God’s plan.
The Abundant Honor on the Unseen
If an ancient reader were asked which of the three would receive the highest honor, they would have picked the prophet or the general. But the song in Judges 5 gives one brief mention to Barak, a couple of lines to Deborah, and devotes an entire third of the song to Jael and the defeat of Sisera. The Gentile housewife received the greatest song of praise.
We tend to make the exact same mistake in the church today. We look at different roles and assume God reserves the greatest purpose and honor for the visible leaders. We look at the elders, our lead pastor Brad Bell, or full-time vocational ministers, and we think, God is going to use them in massive ways, far more than the rest of us.
We have bought into a lie. The ones God delights to honor are the Jaels: everyday, ordinary people who simply make themselves available.
1 Corinthians 12:22-25 (NASB)
On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those [members] of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need [of it]. But God has [so] composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that [member] which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but [that] the members may have the same care for one another.
God deliberately composes the body so that more abundant honor is given to the parts we might consider ordinary or weak. God doesn’t just work through the directional leaders and the paid staff; He works through you. If we are willing to be used like Jael was, God will do remarkable things.
Grabbing Your Tent Peg
The lesson of Jael is simple: be willing, and throw out every excuse.
Jael had plenty of reasonable excuses to do nothing:
First, she had no military position. She could have said, “Taking out generals is not my job. That’s the army’s responsibility. I’ll wait for Barak.” She didn’t wait. Yet how often do we see a need and say, “That’s not my job; that’s for the pastors or the missionaries,” and let the moment pass?
Second, she had no formal training or combat experience. She could have said, “There are 10,000 trained soldiers out there who are better qualified than me.” She didn’t wait. Yet we look at opportunities and say, “I’ve never done this before. Someone else has more experience,” and we let the moment pass.
Third, she had no conventional weapons. She didn’t have a sword or a spear hanging on the tent wall. She had a tent peg and a hammer. Did that lack of resources stop her? No. She used what was in her hand. Yet we often say, “I don’t have the right resources, training, or words, so I won’t do anything.”
What would happen if we stopped making excuses? What if we approached life with Jael’s willingness? You might find yourself in some wild situations, because God works in surprising ways, but you will never be bored. You will get to experience firsthand what God can accomplish through the most unlikely person.
None of us are fully “ready” in our own strength. The people who think they are ready usually just don’t know any better. But the Holy Spirit living inside of you is completely ready. He is simply looking for people who will say, “Lord, use me.”
We need leaders, we need full-time staff, and we need volunteers—every part of the body is essential. But no one is more important than the Jaels: the person who says, “God, my heart is pounding, I don’t know what to say, and others could probably do this better. But You put this opportunity in front of me. I am going to trust You. I’m going to grab my tent peg, step out in faith, and see what You will do.”
God wants to make you the hero of the story—not so people look at you, but so everyone can see that He is the true deliverer.
Closing Prayer
Lord, thank You for the reminder in Your Word that You love to use the most unlikely among us. Thank You that You take our lack of resources, our lack of experience, and our ordinary lives, and You work through them for Your glory. Deliver us from the lie that ministry belongs only to the visible leaders. Give us the courage to step into the divine opportunities You place before us every day. Help us pick up whatever “tent peg” is in our hands, trust the Holy Spirit within us, and follow You in faith. We give You all the glory, and we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.