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4
1 After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did what was evil in the Lord's sight. 2 So the Lord sold them to Jabin, king of Canaan, who ruled from Hazor. His army commander was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. 3 The Israelites cried out to the Lord to help them, for Sisera had nine hundred iron chariots and he cruelly mistreated them for twenty years.
4 Deborah, wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet, and she was leading Israel as a judge at that time. 5 She would sit under Deborah's Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for her decisions.*Though Deborah is called a “judge,” her role is far more than that of a magistrate. The decisions she made were of national importance, more than the mere settling of legal disputes. In this case, “judging” would have the meaning of “governing.” 6 She sent for Barak, son of Abinoam, from the town of Kedesh in Naphtali and told him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, orders you: ‘Go to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun, and lead them there. 7 I will bring Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River, and hand him over to you.’ ”
8 Barak replied, “If you come with me, I'll go; but if you don't come with me, I won't go.”
9 “I'll definitely go with you,” Deborah answered, “but if you're going to take that route then you won't receive any respect, because the Lord will give Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak called up the armies of Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men assembled under his command. Deborah was also there with him.
11 (Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and had set up his tent at the large tree in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.)
12 Sisera heard that Barak, son of Abinoam, had gone to Mount Tabor, 13 so he summoned all his nine hundred iron chariots and all his men to come from Harosheth-hagoyim to the Kishon River.
14 Then Deborah told Barak, “Get going! Today the Lord has handed Sisera to you. Didn't the Lord march out ahead of you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, accompanied by ten thousand men. 15 When Barak attacked, the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and warriors into a confused panic. Sisera jumped down from his chariot and ran away. 16 Barak chased after the chariots and troops all the way to Harosheth-hagoyim. The whole of Sisera's army was killed—not a single man survived.
17 In the meantime Sisera had run away to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was a peace treaty between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the family of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went to meet Sisera and told him, “Come on in, my lord, come in with me. Don't be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a thick blanket.
19 “Please give me a bit of water to drink, because I'm thirsty,” Sisera asked her. So she opened a skin of milk, let him have a drink, and then covered him up again.
20 “Stand guard at the tent door,” he told her. “If anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is there is anyone here?’ just say no.”
21 But Jael, Heber's wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and crept quietly over to him where he lay fast sleep and exhausted. She drove the tent peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died.
22 So when Barak came past, hunting for Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said, “Come here, and I'll show you the man you're looking for.” He went in with her, and there lay Sisera, dead, with the tent peg through his temple.
23 That day God defeated Jabin, king of Canaan, in the presence of the Israelites. 24 From then on Israel grew ever more powerful until they destroyed Jabin, king of Hazor.

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*4:5 Though Deborah is called a “judge,” her role is far more than that of a magistrate. The decisions she made were of national importance, more than the mere settling of legal disputes. In this case, “judging” would have the meaning of “governing.”

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher