Judges 4:11-24 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Judges 4:11-24. Let’s go!
Judges 4:11 (NIV)
11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
On verse 11: The author of Judges has been talking about Deborah and Barak of the Israelites going to war against the Canaanites, so what does Heber the Kenite have anything to do with this? We’ll see starting at verse 17.
Judges 4:12-14 (NIV)
12 When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,
13 Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by ten thousand men.
On verses 12-14: Previously in Judges 1:19, the tribe of Judah could not advance successfully in the plains because they were intimidated by their enemies’ iron chariots. Now the Israelites are facing iron chariots again, but rather than being intimidated, Deborah tells Barak to move forward in faith. She reminds him that the LORD has already gone before him.
Just as God went ahead of Barak, do you know that God goes before each of His children as well? In Psalm 139:5 David says, “You go before me.” Because God goes before you, you don’t need to live in fear and worry but with faith and confidence.
Judges 4:15 (NIV)
15 At Barak’s advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.
On verse 15: Before the Israelites were intimidated by their enemies’ iron chariots (Judges 1:19). Now, however, as Barak leads the Israelites in faith against their enemy, their enemy abandons their iron chariots, realizing that they are no match for whatever the Israelites were fighting with. As Psalm 20:7-8 says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.” How much better to trust in the LORD than in a chariot.
Judges 4:16-24 (NIV)
16 But Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left.
17 Sisera, however, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him.
19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say ‘No.'”
21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
22 Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple–dead.
23 On that day God subdued Jabin, the Canaanite king, before the Israelites.
24 And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin, the Canaanite king, until they destroyed him.
On verses 16-24: Now we see why the author of Judges mentioned Heber the Kenite in verse 11, why Deborah said that God had gone before Barak in verse 14, and why Deborah had previously prophesied that the honour of defeating the Canaanites would go to a woman rather than to Barak who led Israel’s armies (v9). It’s all because God knew that Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, would be at the right place at the right time, to give the Canaanite commander Sisera a supposed place of solace, only to be assassinated by her (v21). God knows far better than we do. In ways that are far beyond our own ability to imagine and anticipate, He orchestrates matters to accomplish His purposes.
Father, thank You for being the One who goes before me. Because You go before me, I can move forward with faith and confidence, knowing that wherever I go You’re already there. Today I declare that my hope is not in man-made chariots but in You. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
