Deborah

Surprises come unexpectedly.  Duh.

But sometimes surprises happen right before our eyes and we miss them.  The story of Deborah in the Bible’s book of Judges is a repository of surprises.  Surprised?  Surprised that there is a significant character named Deborah?  Surprised there is a book in the Bible named Judges?  Let me help you see the abundance of surprises in this story.  And keep reading, because there is a surprise at the end you won’t want to miss.

To bring you up to this point in history, Israel had moved into the Promised Land, and Joshua – their fearless leader, had died.  Judges were raised up by God to help Israel defeat her enemies.  “Whenever the Lord raised up a judge over Israel, God was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime.  For the Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering” (Judges 2:18).  Two judges came and went before Deborah’s story occured, and 120 years had passed.

The first surprise comes in the first verse of Judges 4: After Ehud’s death, the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight.  This should come as a surprise.  Israel had experienced peace for the last 80 years because of  Judge Ehud’s leadership.  Once he died, however, they ran amuck.  If you are familiar with the story of Israel, however, you are not surprised, because this was their pattern – faithful for awhile, then cheat on God like an adulterous spouse.  If we are honest with ourselves, we may be surprised that we follow the same pattern.  A human reality.

We are surprised to learn more details – their biggest foreign threat had 900 iron chariots, while Israel had pitchforks.  The Canaanites were the military super power, and Israel had the military strength of Aruba.  Imagine if Arubans felt threatened by the U.S.?  They’d be toast if a conflict ever broke out.  So it was with Israel.  Scared to death, they decided to call Home and ask for help…

Enter Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, who was a prophet judging Israel at that time.  SURPRISE!  Deborah was a WOMAN!  This was at a time when women were more or less property, treated more like a possession than a human being.  This is incredible.  Quick aside:  if you spend an hour reading about all the judges, you will quickly determine that Deborah was the best judge that served in that capacity – heads and shoulders above the others.  A bonus surprise that reminds us, early on, that God is not guilty of gender bias – that’s a human creation.

Next surprise: Deborah performed her role under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim.  You are shocked, right?  Of course you are, because you remember that the Ark of the Covenant that Indiana Jones found originally split its time between Bethel and Shiloh, which is where the priests were doing their thing.  The priests were failing to perform their role satsfactorily, which is in part why people were seeking Deborah’s counsel.  People began looking outside the church for help from God, because they weren’t getting it there…  Know anybody who has ever felt that way?

Deborah then got a text message from God with military instructions.  She called Barak, one of Israel’s military leaders to gather the troops to take on the Canaanites.  As a man of great courage and strength, he said yes – but only if Mama Deborah went with him.  Sigh.  Surprise.  Deborah, who would become known as the Mother of Israel,  agreed to hold Barak’s hand as they went to prepare for battle.  But – and here is another surprise – this would come with a price: Barak would not receive any honor from the victory.  In fact, a woman would be given credit.  A little self-serving for Deborah to want credit?  We’ll see.

Then, another surprise: right in the middle of the story, the writer gives us what looks to be a pointless detail about some guy who was a shirt-tail relative of Moses who left the rest of the family and raised his sheep some distance away.  Ever have a friend tell you a story, only to get sidetracked by a few details you care nothing about?  Pretty annoying – get on with the story!

Upon hearing of the Israelite theater, Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army, gathered his troops and all his fighter jets (iron chariots) for battle.  No surprise, there.

Deborah encouraged Barak and Israel’s 10,000 troops by assuring them God was going to give them victory that very day.  Surprise!  The Israelites had more than their pitchforks to fight with – God was going to show up.

The next scene surprised everybody.  Barak led the 10,00 Israelites to attack the Canaanite troops, when the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots  and warriors into a panic.  Sisera leaped down from his chariot and escaped on foot.  Then Barak chased the chariots and the enemy army, killing all of Sisera’s warriors.  Not a single one was left alive.  Nobody knows exactly what happened.  Deborah wrote a song about the whole event (Judges 5), where she alluded to maybe a serious thunderstorm with hail, perhaps – whatever it was, everyone was surprised, and interpreted it as God’s activity on behalf of the Israelites.  We are also surprised to learn – those of us who live in the nation boasting the greatest military force in the history of the world – that military might is no guarantee of indefinite dominance.  We don’t really like to hear about that surprise in America, but it is true.  Always has been.  So perhaps that doesn’t qualify as a surprise.

Sisera was still on the run, however, and Barak and Deborah were in chase.  Sisera took refuge in the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because they had some sort of peace agreement worked out (this Heber dude is the guy mentioned in that apparently pointless aside earlier in the story).  There are numerous surprises in this scene.  First, wife Jael invited him into her tent.  Big no-no.  I don’t think she was offering any services that day – just refuge – but it was not her place to do so.  In ancient times, it was the husband’s duty and honor to show hospitality to strangers.  She was robbing him of his role – doing a man’s job.

Sisera was happy to find a good hiding place, went inside, and – surprise! – asked for a drink of water.  This broke another social rule: the guest doesn’t ask for anything – it is the host’s job to take care of every need.  This was a great offense that most certainly was not lost on the woman Jael.  Instead of water, she gave Sisera a glass of warm milk and then tucked him into bed under some nice warm blankets and agreed to keep watch for Barak.  What a nice surprise!  What excellent service!  Nighty night – see you in the morning.

Once Sisera was asleep Jael, the hostess with the mostess, thoughtfully grabbed a hammer and a tent post, and lovingly drove the massive nail through one of Sisera’s temples all the way through the other and into the ground, killing him instantly. 

SURPRISE!  Deborah wasn’t the one to take out Sisera after all.  Jael fulfills the prophecy to Barak’s chagrin.  Bonus surprise: I guess allies – especially those who sign under threat – may not be as friendly as we think.

Barak showed up and, much to his surprise, was taken to see Sisera by Jael.  She’s the brave one we’re talking about, not Barak. 

So what?  From this story we have the opportunity to learn some things about God, life and ourselves.  We learn that God can move anybody to action, bypassing cultural norms and limitations.  When those anybodies do what they need to do, peace happens.  I believe that is the greatest, most wonderful surprise of all.  In time, God prevails.  Life, Spirit, Shalom cannot be squashed despite our best efforts.  This doesn’t make it all better, but it sure helps when we’re facing what seem to be terrible odds against us. 

What is the final surprise?  It’s a surprise just for you.  You are made in the image of God and are, therefore, good, creative, inventive, powerful, and capable.  While it may not be a good idea to hammer a tent stake through someone’s temple (please, please don’t do that), there are actions you can take and attitudes you can adopt that will bring more and more of God’s peace, God’s Kingdom of Shalom into the land.  To do what you need to do may require doing things differently than normal.  Okay.  Or, perhaps you, like Deborah, have a clear sense of what God wants to do and say to someone around you.  Do you have the guts to speak?  Or has your gender, your level of education, your social status, your past mistakes, your skin tone, your sexual orientation, and/or the labels others have placed on you so thoroughly masked your in-the-image-of-God-ness that you can’t see yourself doing anything so bold?  Surprise!  You can!  Ask God for clear guidance, seek counsel from others if necessary, and do what you sense God calling you to do – let God be the Judge.

May you dwell on the surprises found in Deborah’s story, and may you find yourself in God’s story doing surprising things that bring more and more of God into a world hoping you will.