When things go well with you, who do you praise – yourself or God? When things go well in church, who do we praise? When things go well in your family, who do you praise? When things go well at your work, who do you praise?
We studied yesterday how God worked through the encouragement of Deborah and the military skill of Barak to lead Israel to freedom from Jabin of the Canaanites. “LORD” or Jehovah, was used 8 times. But when Deborah writes a song with the help of Barak in chapter 5, they mention the LORD almost twice as many times (13 times). That is, in this poem, Deborah gives the glory for the victory to Jehovah God.
Now, let’s feed on God’s word (Keep your Bible open to Judges 5)…
THE PREAMBLE – 5:1:
STANZA 1 (INTRODUCTION) – 5:2-3:
Leaders have to lead. They must have a vision of where they want their organization to go. They must know where the organization is now and they need to have an idea of how to get from point A (“now”) to point B (“vision”).
But no organization can be successful if there are no followers. Followers have to follow. Here, Deborah praises the Israelites because they volunteered. Followers must follow.
STANZA 2 (JEHOVAH GOD) – 5:4-5:
This victory is one victorious battle in a long line of success dating all the way back to Mount Sinai. The Canaanites worshiped Baal, who resided on Mount Zaphon. Baal was the “storm god,” the “fertility god,” but here, it is Jehovah God who rides the storm clouds and controls the rain.
STANZA 3 (DEBORAH) – 5:6-8:
Verse 8 points out the main reason why Israel was subjugated to Canaanites in the first place: “new gods were chosen.” That’s why God brought on the Canaanites and Israel was woefully unprepared – not a shield or spear was seen among the 40,000 warriors in Israel.
STANZA 4 (PRAISE FOR JEHOVAH) – 5:9-11:
The business men who were afraid to go outside, in verse 7, are now called on to “sing!” The ones who “ride on white donkeys” and who “sit on rich carpet” are the wealthy, the wealthy businessmen and women.
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STANZA 5 (ISRAEL’S RIGHTEOUS ACTS) – 5:11-18:
So far, what we see is that some Israelites still maintained a strong faith in Jehovah God. Some were willing to fight for the sake of their freedom to worship God. Zebulun and Naphtali, who are really insignificant tribes later in Jewish history, play a major role here, as does Ephraim who is listed first (vs 14). But there were some who refused to follow. What a shame on them.
STANZA 6 (THE BATTLE) – 5:19-23:
This stanza is the climax of the song. It consists of five poetic verses to show the actual battle between Israel and Canaan. Here, it is necessary to remember the battle as it actually happened and is recorded in chapter 4. Poetry, you see, takes license with reality and uses imagery and figurative language to describe history.
STANZA 7 (IN PRAISE OF JAEL) – 5:24-27:
These two verses (26-27) are savage. They praise Jael, the outsider. Remember that the original audience of the book of Judges would have heard the story rather than reading it for themselves, Deborah really slows down the action in verse 26. There are five verbs in this verse with Jael as the subject. Obviously, Deborah is relishing in the victory that Jael gave the nation of Israel.
STANZA 8 (MOCKERY OF THE ENEMY’S MOM) – 5:28-30:
Deborah moves us very rapidly from verse 27 to verse 28. In verse 27, we have Jael standing over a dead Sisera with a tent peg driven through his skull and Barak is standing at the door. In verse 28, we have Sisera’s poor mom looking out the lattice work of her house, wondering why it has taken so long for her boy to come home.
STANZA 9: (CONCLUSION) – 5:31:
In this verse, Deborah returns to the theology of the whole poem: praise goes to the Lord. In fact, “let all your enemies perish,” she sings to the Lord. In contrast, “may all those who love Jehovah God be like the rising of the sun in its power!” Thus, the Lord God brought rest to the nation of Israel for forty years, twice the length they had been in slavery.
Love God. Trust and obey Him. When He gives you victory, give Him the glory.
–Paul Holland
