Judges: Lady Deb

Say what you want about Ehud, or just read my previous blog about him, but Israel stayed faithful to the Lord while he was alive.  He was not the promised Messiah, the deliverer of the people, but he got the job done.  But even so, people only served Yahweh on the outside but not with their hearts.  And so when Ehud died, they sinned again.

This time, God sent Sisera, the general of king Jabin, to inflict pain on Israel.  A woman named Deborah, wife of Lappidoth, from the tribe of Ephraim, sat under a tree and judged cases for Israel.  She loved the Lord and wanted to do what was right.  The land was under oppression from Jabin and needed a strong warrior to stop Sisera.  She called for Barak from Naphtali.  She said, "God wants you to go fight Sisera."

Barak said he would go, but he would not go unless Deborah went with him.  She said she would go with Barak, but the true victory would belong to the woman. 

And so Barak had a good victory.  But Sisera wandered over to the tent of Heber the Kenite.  The Kenites were the family of Moses's wife.  Jabin's people were not at war with Heber.  Sisera went to his tent.  Jael, the wife of Heber, invited him in. 

Rabbit trail: I lived in Macon, GA from 1990 to 1994.  I was in kindergarten through 3rd grade there.  There was a Sonny's BBQ that later changed its name to JL's.  Whenever I read about Jael I think about JL's.  I don't think JL's is around anymore, but I did like that place once.

Okay, so Jael did not offer Sisera barbecue.  But with pure intentions, he came in and she gave him milk and let him sleep in a blanket.  Somewhere in that time, she got some feeling that she should kill Sisera and so she did.  And that was the end of the war.

Israel had people who loved the Lord and people who loved their passions and followed them via Baal worship. The land was never pure.  Say what you want about women leadership, but the Bible is clear that men should mostly be leaders because although Adam and Eve were equal, God granted Adam headship. 

And I like Deborah.  Deborah was a cool woman with wonderful gifts and blessings from the true God.  But even she realized she needed Barak to lead the army, not herself.  And the fact that Barak wanted to not take full leadership but have Deborah go with him caused Deb to say that he won't get the glory for this victory.  It will go to a woman.  And after this, it seems Deborah was the last really pure judge of Israel as everyone after her, except maybe Jephthah, seemed very compromised in their egos and sexuality. 

It's like when men decide they don't want to be the head of families or God's community, the community slides into more compromise with sin, accepting of "alternative" lifestyles, and more open to shady theology.  Now, don't get me wrong, I like women and honor their leadership, but I also become more complementarian as life goes on and see the lack of true men in society who are willing to lay down their lives for their women and simply want to have fun and feel good.  They have less men to look to as godly examples.  Plus, it's okay to have a binary society.  In fact, God made mankind male and female and it was very good.  It's how life is meant to be.