A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

DEBORAH AND BARAK AND THE DEFEAT OF
JABIN AND SISERA
(Jud. 4-5) (1201-1161 B.C.)
“When Ehud was dead, the Children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord” (Jud.
4:1). As before, their religious compromise led to moral corruption which resulted in civil
catastrophe. Israel was learning experientially the truth of a proverb not yet written.
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov. 14:34). This time
Israel was oppressed for twenty years by an alliance involving Jabin of Hazor and his general
Sisera of Harosheth.
Critics of the Scripture have been quick to point out Joshua also fought a king of Hazor
named Jabin and suggest this may be an evidence of the unreliability of Scripture. Actually,
archeological research at Hazor has demonstrated the amazing accuracy of the Scripture on this
point. Jabin was not a personal name, but rather a dynastic title which belonged to the king of
that city. Also, Jabin appears to be only a figurehead leader in his oppression of Israel. The real
power of this alliance was that of Sisera. Archeologists have discovered that though Hazor was
rebuilt after Joshua, the city had not returned to its former strength by this time.
On this occasion, God raised up a military leader named Barak to deliver Israel, but in his
cowardice, he refused to fight unless accompanied by a prophetess named Deborah. It is not
clear whether there was a female prophetic office in the Old Testament, or whether the term
prophetess refers to a woman associated with a prophet, i.e., his wife. But because Barak would
not fight as God commanded him without her support, Deborah told Barak he would be
victorious, but that a woman would be credited with killing Sisera.
PERSPECTIVE
Deborah was perhaps the first of many women since then who have undertaken to do
something for God because a man refused. The influence of dedicated women has been felt
throughout history, but perhaps nowhere has it been more evident than in the field of missions. It
is difficult to imagine what would be accomplished on the mission field if women had not done
what men refused to do.
A battle was fought between Sisera and Barak in the valley of the river Kishon, and again
God intervened to give His people the victory. “The torrent of Kishon swept them away” (Jud.
5:21). It appears the army of Sisera was caught up in a flash flooding of the river Kishon much as
it did during the nineteenth century enabling Napolean to defeat the Turks, and again in the
twentieth century giving the British the advantage over the same enemy.
But Sisera escaped the army of Barak. He ran to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, where
he thought he would be safe. But while the tired and defeated general slept, “She stretched her
hand to the tent peg, her right hand to the workman’s hammer; she pounded Sisera, she pierced
his head, she split and struck through his temple” (v. 26). “So the land had rest for forty years”
(v. 31).