June 7th, 2026: Deborah the Dutiful Judge | Judges 4:4-10, 21, 22

For ye are all the children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus.  For as many of you has have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, There is neither bond nor free, There is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.  (Galatians 3: 26-28).

People today feel like the Bible discriminates or is somehow against women.  This is simply not so.  Just as with the men in scripture, there are many accounts recorded of women who failed.  There are also many women that did wonderful things in obedience to God.  This lesson is about a Judge of Israel named Deborah.  As we study think about yourself and the women around you,  There are many mothers, sisters, daughters, granddaughters, and cousins within the family of God. What amazing things are the women around you accomplishing?

Now Deborah a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.  And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 

When thinking of Judges today, we think of the authority in a courtroom.   Judges today preside over trials and complaints, settle disputes and differences, and pronounce guilt or innocence, usually with some form of punishment. The Judges in the Book of Judges are a little different.  At the time of the Judges, both Moses and Joshua had died.  The Israelites have not conquered all of the promised land as instructed.  Many, in fact, have drifted away from God to serve pagan idols. There has not been a unifying leader since Joshua. The theme of the Book of Judges is that “Every man did what was right in his own eyes.”  

God, in His gracious longsuffering, raised up men and a woman to lead His people. God uses whomever He chooses whenever and however He wants.  It is important to note that scripture calls Deborah a prophetess.  She receives messages from God to give to the people.  She settles their disputes as well as leads the nation according to God’s command. 

We know Deborah is the wife of Lapidoth. The name Lapidoth means "torch" or "lighting". Scripture says nothing else about the husband of Deborah.  She is from Ephraim and is found near the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel.  Ramah is where Jacob’s wife Rachel was buried and is mentioned in the New Testament as the place of weeping because of the slaughter by Herod of the children born around the time of Jesus. 

And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the lord God of Israel commanded, saying go and draw toward Mount Tabor and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Nebulun?  And I will draw unto these to the river Kishon Sisera, the captin of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand. 

 At the time of our lesson, Israel was under the rule of a Canaanite King named Jabin. Jaban’s rule had lasted for 20 years. The  King’s  Commander of the army was named Sisera. Sisera’s army was large and formidable.  He had 900 iron chariots and many weapons.  Israel had foot soldiers.  Israelites feared to leave home or to travel about because of the reputation of Sisera. One could deduce that from this passage, Barak was also a tad unsure of God’s request to take 10,000 men to find Ciscera. But God, speaking through Deborah, assures Barak.  It will be God’s hand that wins this battle.  It is God’s hands that win our battles as well. 

And Barak said unto her, if thou with go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.  And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.  And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.   And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand me at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

Was Barak testing  Deborah’s confidence in what she was saying God said to do? Maybe he was hoping she would say no to going with him?  After all it would have been odd at that time to take a woman onto a battlefield.  We may never know.  But Deborah knew.  She had said what God had told her. She was not timid or cowardly.  She assures Barak that she will indeed go; however, that battle will be won by a woman.  She is not speaking of herself. She is sharing what she has been told from the one that knows the beginning and the end. 

Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smot the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary.  So he died.And behold, as Barack pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man who thou seekest.  And when he came into her tent, behold Sisera lay dead and the nail was in his temples

The mighty army of Sisera, with the 900 chariots of iron,  is defeated.  None are left alive.  But Sisera had jumped off his horse and fled on foot.  Coming to a tent that he thought he was safe in.  There he meets  a woman who does what needs done.  What she did to save the people could not have been easy.  And as God had told Deborah, the honor was gven to a woman.  We don’t say much about Barak however, Jael’s name is talked about often.  Her name is Yah- el, meaning the Lord he is God.  Amen!

The strength of God is best seen when He uses the weakest among us, the unlikely, those who have no alternative but to put their trust in His miraculous power.  The message of God is clouded by pride, self-righteousness, and human resolve; that’s why, for instance, God passed over David’s older, stronger brothers and used the young shepherd.  It’s why salvation came to the house of a tiny man in a tree named Zacchaeus, it’s why all over the world the story of an unnamed woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair will be preached.  God can do what you can’t even dream of, and He will use the ones you would never have chosen.  Have faith in God and prepare to be amazed!

Thank you for studying with us! God bless!