BARAK – THE RELUCTANT JUDGE – PART 2 (Judges 4:1-24)
INTRODUCTION:
Last Sunday we looked at the first half of Judges 4 and we met a new judge that God raised up for the people of Israel. This judge is from the northern part of Israel where the tribes of Naphtali, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, and the northern part of Manasseh were being oppressed by Jabin the king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor and his general Sisera who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim which is near Mt. Carmel. These tribes were squeezed between these two men and severely distressed by Sisera who had command of 900 iron chariots as well as many troops.
We looked at the major actors in the events that take place during the judgeship of Barak. The antagonists are Jabin and Sisera, the protagonists are Deborah the prophetess and Barak. We were also introduced to a fifth character who seemed out of place, Heber the Kenite. We will see how he plays into these events today. Barak had been raised up as Israel’s judge by the Word of the LORD spoken through the prophetess Deborah. Barak had been reluctant to be Israel’s judge unless Deborah accompanied him, even though God had clearly promised to give Sisera and his chariots and troops into Barak’s hand. Because of his reluctance to do what the LORD had commanded and promised, Deborah agreed to go with him, but told him that the honor would not be his on this journey he was about to take because God would sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. This morning we will see how this plays out. Again, I will use the name of the main character in each section to divide up the rest of this chapter. Remember Barak and 10,000 men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun are gathered on Mt. Tabor at the entrance to the Jezreel valley near the Kishon river. Let’s pray and then read our passage again this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Judges 4:1-24 and we will read the whole chapter again to refresh our memories and to pick up the context. I will be preaching on verses 12-24. Please, if you are able, stand in honor for the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Judges 4:1-24,
“Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. The sons of Israel cried to the Lord; for he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. Now she sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, ‘Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, “Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his many troops to the river Kishon, and I will give him into your hand.”’ Then Barak said to her, ‘If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.’ She said, ‘I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.’ Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up with him; Deborah also went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh. Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. Sisera called together all his chariots, nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. Deborah said to Barak, ‘Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands; behold, the Lord has gone out before you.’ So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. The Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not even one was left. Now Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, ‘Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.’ And he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. He said to her, ‘Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.’ So she opened a bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. He said to her, ‘Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, “Is there anyone here?” that you shall say, “No.”’ But Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and seized a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, ‘Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.’ And he entered with her, and behold Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple. So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. The hand of the sons of Israel pressed heavier and heavier upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan.” (Judges 4:1–24, NASB95)[1]
SISERA (Judges 4:12-13)
In verse 12 we are told that Sisera was informed that Barak and 10,000 men have gathered on Mt. Tabor. Where did this information come from? I am sure that Sisera had intelligence gatherers throughout the kingdom of Jabin. It is possible that this information came from Heber the Kenite since his tents were pitched near Kedesh where the men gathered for war. Why would he give this information to Sisera? Because we are told in verse 17 that there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. Whether this information came from Heber or someone else, it reached Sisera and a gathered force that large could only mean one thing, they were planning a rebellion against Jabin.
Immediately Sisera calls out his 900 iron chariots and all the people who were with him, his foot soldiers and possibly mounted soldiers, he gathered all his troops from the base in Harosheth-hagoyim and they marched to the Kishon river where they gathered for the battle. Sisera believed he would easily put down this rebellion and put fear back in the sons of Israel so that they would not try again to overthrow Jabin. What Sisera did not know was that it was the LORD who drew him and his chariots and his troops to this place, to the river Kishon, the place the LORD had chosen to give Sisera’s army into the hand of Barak.
BARAK (Judges 4:14-16)
Barak had already witnessed God at work, He had assembled an army of 10,000 from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun. Now as they watched from the slopes of Mt. Tabor God was drawing the army and chariots into the Jezreel valley by the Kishon river, just as the LORD had said through Deborah the prophetess. The LORD was faithful to His promises and Barak was seeing that faithfulness right before his eyes. So, when Deborah spoke again to Barak, his response was not reluctance but action. She told him, “Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands; behold, the Lord has gone out before you.” (Judges 4:14b, NASB95)[2] The words barely get out of her mouth and Barak and the 10,000 men with him rush down the slopes of Mt. Tabor and pour out into the Jezreel valley making a lightening fast strike before Sisera’s forces get properly set and even though all the odds were against Barak, his victory is achieved with astonishing ease. Sisera’s intimidating and terrifying forces almost immediately break ranks and flee. Verse 15 says, “The Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak…” (Judges 4:15a, NASB95)[3] Notice what the author writes, not that the forces of Sisera were routed by Barak and his 10,000 men, but they were routed by the LORD and the edge of His sword. We are quickly reminded by the author that it was not Barak’s speed or cunning or skill that routed the army, but it was the God who had raised him up into this position. The word translated “routed” is a word that means “confused.” In other words, the LORD threw the forces of Sisera into confusion and in their confusion they fled, and all Barak’s army had to do was pursue them and cut down their enemies. Barak and his men pursued them all the way back to Harosheth-hagoyim, until not even one was left. In all this confusion we are told that Sisera got out of his chariot and fled on foot, but he did not flee with his troops, Sisera fled the other way, he went north toward Mt. Tabor and Hazor where Jabin was, were the fortress was located, fleeing toward his king and safety.
JAEL (Judges 4:17-22)
The fact that Sisera fled in the opposite direction of his army shifts the focus of this event from the victory at the river Kishon, which we would expect to be the climax, to the fate of Sisera and the fulfillment of Deborah’s prediction that he would be given into the hand of a woman. And here we meet a new actor in this history of Barak. Jael is the wife of Heber the Kenite and remember that Jabin the king in Hazor and the household of Heber the Kenite are at peace. Sisera has already fled some distance and has much further to go to get to Hazor and he is already exhausted. He arrives at the tents of Heber and knows that there is peace between Jabin and Heber and he turns aside to rest. Jael goes out to meet him and assures him that he can turn aside to her and that he does not have to be afraid. She sets his mind at ease as she brings him into her tent and covers him with a rug or blanket to conceal him. Sisera asks Jael for a little water to quench his thirst, she opens a skin of milk and gave him a drink and then covered him again. He then asks her to lie if anyone comes past and inquires if anyone is in her tent. Jael understands that if Sisera is fleeing then his army is losing, especially since he is fleeing by himself. She decides to save her own skin by joining the winners. Heber her husband is nowhere to be found. He is away apparently. Sisera being exhausted, having drank milk and being covered up falls fast asleep, unafraid because he is in the tent of one who is at peace with his king. Jael does not waste time; she takes a tent peg and a hammer or mallet, and she goes quietly over to the sleeping form of Sisera and drives the tent peg through his temple and into the ground. Verse 21 simply says, “So he died.” (Judges 4:21b, NASB95)[4]
Jael then returned to the doorway of her tent and waited for Barak; she knew he would be pursuing Sisera. When she saw him, she went out to meet him and said, “’Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.’ And he entered with her, and behold Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.” (Judges 4:22b, NASB95)[5] The warning of Deborah is fulfilled in a way that no one could have guessed. Sisera is handed over to a woman, not to Deborah, but to Jael. Barak, who is as surprised as we are, can only stand and stare. And behind all this we see the sovereign hand of God. The same God who routed the forces of Sisera at the Kishon also sold him into the hand of a woman. Sisera is shamed by being killed by a woman, and Barak is shamed by having the honor of slaying him man-to-man taken from him. As I said, Heber is nowhere to be seen. Jael alone stands tall; she has eclipsed all the supposedly powerful men around her. If Barak is a hero at all in this event, he is a red-faced one. He has won a victory, but no glory.
JABIN (Judges 4:23-24)
This event in the history of the judges ends by reminding us how it began, and it makes the point by showing us what a mighty reversal has taken place. Jabin the king of Canaan has been so much in the background that we might almost have forgotten that he exists. But this event in history has never been mainly about Barak and Sisera: it has been about Jabin and Israel—and God. When Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, He sold them into the hand of Jabin the king of Canaan. Jabin, not Sisera was the true oppressor of Israel. However, when Sisera’s power was broken, Jabin’s overthrow and destruction was not far behind. The author writes, “So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. The hand of the sons of Israel pressed heavier and heavier upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan.” (Judges 4:23–24, NASB95)[6]
Notice again that the LORD, the God of Israel is the One who subdued Jabin. None of this would have been possible without God. He sovereignly controlled everything that took place, He drew Sisera to the Kishon river, He threw the forces of Sisera into confusion, He sold Sisera into the hand of Jael, He subdued Jabin the king of Canaan. The LORD orchestrated the entire event to bring about deliverance and salvation for His people, Israel.
CONCLUSION:
Just because we have come to the end of chapter 4 does not mean that we are done with Barak. Judges 5 will revisit his judgeship and will even expand on some of the details that have been left out here. But even when we are done with chapter 5 we will not have heard all that Scripture has to say about this man. Samuel speaks of him in his farewell address to Israel in 1 Samuel 12:11, he says, “And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.” (1 Samuel 12:11, ESV)[7] Then Barak has one final comment made about him in the New Testament, in Hebrews 11:32-34 where we read, “And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” (Hebrews 11:32–34, NASB95)[8] This brings us back to the title of the last two messages, my title was Barak – The Reluctant Judge. Barak was reluctant when he first received his commissioning from the LORD through the prophetess Deborah, at first, he refused to go with only the promise of God. He insisted that Deborah go with him and by doing this he gave up the honor that could have been his. When he arrived at Jael’s tent it was too late, Jael had already done what he should have had the honor of doing. God had kept His word and sold Sisera into the hand of a woman.
This being true, we did notice this morning that Barak’s reluctance turned into confidence and the reference to him in 1 Samuel and Hebrews highlight three important truths about him that it would be good for us to recognize:
First, according to 1 Samuel 12:11 the LORD “sent” Barak and used him to “deliver” Israel. In other words, Barak was God’s man, he was called and commissioned by God and was used mightily by God for Israel’s good. That in itself is no small honor! Barak may have given up the lesser honor of being the one to kill Sisera, but not the far greater honor of being God’s savior to rescue His people. That fact places Barak, despite his reluctance at the first, in a choice group of servants of God, from Moses through Joshua and the judges to David and beyond.
Second, Barak won a major battle. Chapter 5 of Judges has much more to say about this, but even the details we are given in chapter 4 are impressive. This battle was not a minor skirmish. Consider at best a militia force of ten thousand footman against a professional army equipped with nine hundred iron chariots. The result was not just a decisive win, with the enemy left to fight another day, but a rout, all the way back to Harosheth-hagoyim. Every enemy soldier slain, including their general. Jabin’s hold over Israel was broken, and he himself was eventually destroyed. It is the only battle in Judges celebrated by a victory song (Judges 5). Barak certainly ranks with those in Hebrews 11:33-34 who “obtained promises” and “put foreign armies to flight.”
Third, and most important of all, according to Hebrews 11:33, Barak did what he did “by faith.” Barak’s faith was a cautious, reluctant faith at first, but when the command to “go” came a second time he did not hesitate. Down from Mt. Tabor he went leading the ten thousand men who were following him. That is true manly leadership, the kind of leadership that inspires others and rouses them to action. The biggest challenge as they rushed down that mountain was ahead of them, when they reached the valley floor, they had to break cover and advance about twelve miles across open country to the river Kishon to confront Sisera’s seemingly invincible chariots of iron in open battle. That took nerves of steel, a leader who would not falter, and men who would follow him into the very jaws of death. But more than nerves of steel, it took faith—an unwavering trust in God who had promised them victory. This is where we see Barak at his absolute best, a man of faith indeed, faith that acts, faith that stakes everything on God and gives a man tremendous courage, and this faith God honored by giving Barak a victory that he could not have achieved without God’s help. This is why Barak deserves honorable mention in Hebrews 11, because Barak was not a professional soldier or a mighty warrior in the traditional sense. He did not prevail by raw strength or his own military skill. His victory was a gift rather than a personal achievement. Nor as we saw was he naturally a man of great faith. His faith faltered at first, but matured under testing and witnessing God’s faithfulness, matured to become the kind of faith that God honors. Because of his faith, Barak is among that great cloud of witnesses described in Hebrews 12:1 whose courageous faith can and should inspire us to trust God also, whatever our doubts may be and whatever challenges obedience to Him requires us to face.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.