"The Song of Deborah and Barak, Part One”
Judges 5:1-11

March 19, 2006
by C.W. Powell

1 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying , 2 Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. 3 Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel . 4 LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water . 5 The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel .

6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the trav-elers walked through byways. 7 The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel . 8 They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? 9 My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD. 10 Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way . 11 They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates. --Judges 5:1-11

Last Sunday I spoke of the victory of Barak over Sisera and Jabin, king of the Canaanites. It was total victory, the end of any kind domination by the Canaanites forever. They never regained any domination after this devas-tating defeat by Barak and Deborah and the death of the great general Sisera at the hand the Jael, the Kenite.

This is the song of Deborah at the time they celebrated the great victory. I expect to spend two weeks on this song. It would be possible to preach several sermons on this great chapter, but I will not do so. Please note the following things in the passage that we read.

I. Details to note:

A. Deborah and Barak gave thanks to God, and praised Him for the great victory. It is impossible to have faith and not have a sense of thankfulness.

1. God avenged Israel when the people willingly offered themselves. We should say several things about this:

a) God is not handicapped and weak if the people do not offer themselves. If I were an Arminian preacher, I would say something like: God cannot do His work unless we are will-ing to do ours. He has no hands but our hand, no feet but our feet. This is not true of course.
b) But God is pleased to use His people even in His work of vengeance. Now let me be very careful about this. The Lord Jesus forbids us to seek revenge—to seek to get even with peo-ple. We are to turn the other cheek, not answer back, to seek the good of all men.
c) But this is not the whole story. The forbidding of retribution does not apply to law enforce-ment or to wars against evil governments. God has established human government to punish those who do evil. This is manifested in two ways

(1) Law enforcement
(2) Wars against evil governments.

(3) Biblical evidence: “Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.” (1Pe 2:14 AV)
(4) Biblical evidence: “3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” (Ro 13:3-4 AV)
(5) The spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel, upon Gideon, Jephthah, Samson to send them to war.

2. God is just as active in the punishment of the wicked as He is in showing mercy to His people. The key is that we are not to seek private revenge and lawless retribution, but to establish regular law enforcement and legitimate armies to perform these tasks.

3. But isn’t this a contradiction; no, not at all. Private revenge and malice is what is forbidden. This doctrine is established by a very important doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit.

a) Article VIII of the Belgic Confessions says: The Father is the cause, origin, and beginning of all things visible and invisible; the Son is the word, wisdom, and image of the Father; the Holy Spirit is the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son.

b) The “proceeding from the Father and the Son” is the major doctrinal conflict between the Western churches and the Eastern churches. The Orthodox Churches reject it; and Rome and all the Protestants have accepted it. We confess that the Holy Spirit is equally the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son, and this is readily evident from the study of Scripture.

c) It has profound implications. The work of the Father in Creation, in providence, in governing the world is equally the work of the Holy Spirit as is the work of the Son in redemption, salvation, and grace. The Holy Spirit is the power and might of God in both the work of the Father and of the Son. It was the Holy Spirit that sent the fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah; the Holy Spirit that sent the plagues upon Egypt and swallowed up Pharoah and his hosts in the Red Sea. And the Holy Spirit destroyed Jabin and Sisera by the hands of Ba-rak, Deborah, and Jael. The modern church is so infected with Arminianism and Manichean-ism that it cannot see the hand of God in wrath and judgment.

d) So it is the Holy Spirit that inspires a sense of justice in the hearts of men to enforce the laws of the land and to wage war against evil nations that threaten the peace of the world.

e) Even in New Testament times it may be right for Christians to take up arms and do the work of God in establishing laws at home and among the nations that will protect the rule of justice and right. That is why the ruler is called the minister of God; not to bring salvation and grace, but the other work of the Holy Spirit, who carries out the decrees of the just God.

f) This is why theology is important. The state is the instrument of justice and is used by God to perform His will; the church is the instrument of grace and mercy and is used of God to bring salvation to His people. You and I live in both kingdoms and may be used of God in both.

g) In Israel, both kingdoms were combined in one nation; but that is not to be in any other state. Israel was unique.

B. Had we eyes to see it, the appearances of God are glorious indeed. But only the pure in heart see God, and we are blinded by our unbelief, our selfishness, our own agenda, and our own pride.

1. There were times when these thing literally took place and witnesses recorded them. The earth shook at the giving of the Law, when Christ was crucified, and it will be shaken again at the end of the world.

2. He has sent great floods and whirlwinds and made His presence known in the world, and men have trembled and called upon Him in times of great distress, but they soon forget and become hardened and return to wickedness and unbelief.

3. He cast down great hailstones upon the enemies of the Lord and sent great floods, but none of these things have changed the hearts of men, but He is the cause of all of them.

4. Even the mountains are melted before the Lord, for who can stand in the day of His wrath. So we read in Habakkuk “3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. 4 And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power. 5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. 6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the per-petual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.” (Hab 3:3-6 AV)

C. All the kings of the earth and the great ones are called to understand this.

1. Israel chose new gods—this was the reason for all the misery, as the prologue to the book of Judges states. When you change the attributes of something, you can keep the same name, but it is not the same God anymore. It is an idol.
2. The misery was very great, for idolatry brings into bondage and fear.

a) Villages were desolate—the enemies had driven them out.
b) The highways were desolate, and travelers went by the byways.
c) There was war in the gates: no justice; the gates were where the wise men sat to give judg-ment; but the courts and legislators had become places of contention. When you change the religion, you change the laws and bring strife and misery. Maybe this was the reason that God raised up Deborah, because of the war in the gates, the corruption of Israel.
d) The righteous are disarmed, for the wicked gain control of sources of power and conquest. Sisera had 900 chariots of iron. The people lived in despair because they lived in fear and un-belief, worshipping that which is no God.

D. But God had sent a spirit of renewal and the fear of God: The people ‘willingly offered themselves.” This is the very heart of true faith: the offering up of yourself to the fear of God. He does not desire sacrifice or burnt offering; God is not pleased with the works of your hands, as Cain; but he calls you to offer yourself as a living sacrifice. Not to rule over others, but to serve. Not to be admired and honored, but to admire and honor others; as Paul said, “Let each esteem other better than himself.” This is the reason there was war in the gates of Israel, and the war continued until the people willingly offered themselves. Illustration: Great teams win tournaments. There are many great players that we see during this time of year as the greatest college teams in the nation compete for the national basket-ball championships. But there are many teams that have great players that do not win the champion-ships. Illustration: Michael Jordan. When he was a professional, for a number of years the Bulls were mugged by the Detroit Pistons and never got to the national championships. At that time I heard one of the nation’s top coaches say, “Michael is a great player, but he will not win championships until he learns to make the others around him better.” It was true, and those later great Bull teams demon-strated that Michael Jordan had become a great team player, as well as a super star in his own right.

How wonderful are these words: “the people willingly offered themselves.” This is unnatural, and is the work of the Holy Spirit in preparing Israel for the great battle. Every man is first in his own cause, and the history of religion is defiled with the deeds of those who sought after their own agenda, or who thought that their agenda was the agenda of God.

E. This is a great principle: the wicked are never in so much danger as when the people of God are dis-armed, weak and miserable, and the wicked are great and proud and powerful. God delights in show-ing Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are right before Him. This is the work of the people of God: get right with God and seek the work of the Holy Spirit. He cannot be bought with your sacri-fices and the performance of religious ceremonies, but in the humility and offering up of the heart to Him.

II. The anticipation of the spoils of victory: Verses 9-11

A. Good government: the governors would offer themselves to the Lord. Here is the meekness of faith; the offering up of the self to God. God doesn’t want your work, your money, your strength, your chat-ter; He wants YOU. As long as you withhold yourself from Him, all the rest is to try to buy favor and grace. Jesus said, “come unto me, and I will give you rest.”

“1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Ro 12:1-2 AV)

“19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1Co 6:19-20 AV)

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” (Lu 14:26 AV)

“And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” (John 5:40 AV)

B. Righteousness and true judgment will be restored to Israel: vs. 10, 11.

Amen and Amen. May God bless you.