1 00:00:14,119 --> 00:00:17,359 Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast. 2 00:00:18,379 --> 00:00:24,100 If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you. 3 00:00:24,900 --> 00:00:26,580 Thank you for joining us today. 4 00:00:34,359 --> 00:00:40,719 We're going to be in Judges 4 tonight, continuing our study in Judges. 5 00:00:41,579 --> 00:00:44,619 Oh, got a few more people on the way. 6 00:00:45,219 --> 00:00:49,560 You guys can turn to Judges 4 while you're at it. 7 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,240 If you brought a Bible, if you're into showing off your spirituality, 8 00:00:57,500 --> 00:00:57,899 you can turn to Judges 3 tonight. 9 00:00:57,899 --> 00:01:00,859 All right, so last week we looked at Judges 3. 10 00:01:01,299 --> 00:01:03,920 Man, you have the pleasure of having me two weeks in a row, 11 00:01:04,079 --> 00:01:07,400 and you'll get Jamie at the end of the month. 12 00:01:08,099 --> 00:01:08,719 He had to switch. 13 00:01:09,060 --> 00:01:17,540 He had a big something this week that he, or last week, that he needed somebody to switch out for him. 14 00:01:18,260 --> 00:01:23,400 So you got me this week, and we're going to be looking at Judges 4. 15 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,519 Last week, we looked at Judges 3. 16 00:01:25,939 --> 00:01:29,659 And if you guys were here, or if you know Judges 3, 17 00:01:31,079 --> 00:01:35,420 it's really centered around three of the judges of Israel, 18 00:01:36,299 --> 00:01:39,680 Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar. 19 00:01:40,079 --> 00:01:43,959 And we talked a little bit about the sin cycle 20 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:48,400 and how Israel would just get in this perpetual cycle of 21 00:01:49,420 --> 00:01:52,060 being in covenant relationship with the Lord. 22 00:01:52,060 --> 00:01:55,359 And then they would draw away from the Lord. 23 00:01:55,959 --> 00:02:00,840 They would begin to worship idols and mix with the people of the land. 24 00:02:01,319 --> 00:02:04,359 And then they would become enslaved by the people of the land 25 00:02:04,359 --> 00:02:06,159 and oppressed by the people of the land. 26 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:17,680 And many times, the text explicitly says that the Lord sold them into the hand of the local people, 27 00:02:17,979 --> 00:02:20,699 the local kingdoms surrounding Israel. 28 00:02:20,699 --> 00:02:26,240 And this was on purpose because the Lord is wanting to draw them back to his heart. 29 00:02:26,419 --> 00:02:31,139 And then what we see is the people of Israel cry out to God 30 00:02:31,139 --> 00:02:33,319 once the oppression becomes too strong. 31 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,379 And then the Lord raises up a deliverer or a judge, 32 00:02:38,500 --> 00:02:42,780 or we could say a savior to come and save the people of Israel 33 00:02:42,780 --> 00:02:48,219 and deliver them from their bondage and their oppression, their oppressor. 34 00:02:48,939 --> 00:02:54,419 And then that restores the covenant equilibrium with the Lord and Israel 35 00:02:54,419 --> 00:03:02,680 because Israel had made an agreement with the Lord to walk in his ways and to be faithful only to him. 36 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:08,680 And so what we see is the Lord is continually covenant, faithful covenant. 37 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,000 He is continually faithful to his covenant. 38 00:03:11,419 --> 00:03:16,099 But what we see is the people of Israel are continually breaking that covenant. 39 00:03:16,739 --> 00:03:22,439 And in the end, the Lord will send the ultimate savior, the ultimate judge, 40 00:03:22,759 --> 00:03:28,439 the ultimate apostle, Redeemer, who is Jesus Christ, to ultimately save us 41 00:03:28,439 --> 00:03:35,060 and bring us into eternal life and the new heavens and the new earth with the Lord. 42 00:03:35,479 --> 00:03:44,039 And these stories point to that, as Luke 24 tells us, that all the prophets and the law point to Christ. 43 00:03:44,679 --> 00:03:50,759 So here again, in chapter four, we find ourselves in a similar place, 44 00:03:51,159 --> 00:03:54,300 in a similar setting as chapter three. 45 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:59,939 And we're going to dive in and I just want to pray quick and then we'll start reading. 46 00:04:00,159 --> 00:04:02,759 So Lord, we thank you for this time. 47 00:04:03,159 --> 00:04:05,599 Thank you for everybody who was able to make it. 48 00:04:06,039 --> 00:04:11,319 And Lord, we pray that you would just teach us about your word, teach us about you, 49 00:04:11,319 --> 00:04:17,819 teach us how to live in covenant relationship, in covenant faithfulness with you today, Lord. 50 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,540 And we thank you that you are always the one who reaches back to us, who prods us, 51 00:04:24,879 --> 00:04:30,180 who pursues us and redeems us, Lord, when we stray and when we are 52 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:32,899 not completely faithful to the covenant. 53 00:04:33,100 --> 00:04:35,139 So we thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. 54 00:04:36,220 --> 00:04:43,180 So verse one, by the way, one note just on the sin cycles came up in the discussion 55 00:04:43,939 --> 00:04:45,579 last week, afterwards. 56 00:04:46,579 --> 00:04:52,860 But I'm calling it the sin cycle because that's what the cycle of judges is commonly known as. 57 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:59,980 You don't have to call it that and not my intention to emphasize the sin part of it, 58 00:05:00,060 --> 00:05:02,480 but that's just what it's commonly known as. 59 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:07,120 So if you're like, why is he keep referring to it that way? 60 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,920 It's just sort of the name that's commonly known as. 61 00:05:11,939 --> 00:05:18,060 So verse one, and the people of Israel, again, did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 62 00:05:18,199 --> 00:05:22,740 And we see, if you look one verse up, Shamgar saved Israel. 63 00:05:23,399 --> 00:05:26,899 So we have a period where they had a savior deliver. 64 00:05:27,519 --> 00:05:29,000 And then now they're repeating it again. 65 00:05:29,139 --> 00:05:30,139 That's why it's called a cycle. 66 00:05:30,139 --> 00:05:33,680 And the people of Israel, again, did what was evil in the sight of the Lord 67 00:05:34,500 --> 00:05:35,920 after Ehud died. 68 00:05:36,519 --> 00:05:43,420 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Cana, who reigned in Hazor. 69 00:05:44,339 --> 00:05:49,040 The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harishath, Hagoyim. 70 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:56,000 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron, 71 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,379 and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for 20 years. 72 00:06:01,860 --> 00:06:07,740 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 73 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:17,240 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Rama and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. 74 00:06:17,579 --> 00:06:20,660 And the people of Israel would come up to her for judgment. 75 00:06:22,079 --> 00:06:29,379 So what we see here is in verse 3, the people of Israel are crying out to the Lord. 76 00:06:29,519 --> 00:06:35,699 So that's the key part in this cycle of judges, where the Israelites are being sold into the hand 77 00:06:35,699 --> 00:06:40,020 of an oppressor, a local oppressor, and they're being oppressed cruelly. 78 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,300 The Lord is actually sovereign in this whole process. 79 00:06:43,300 --> 00:06:51,620 And he's waiting for the moment where they will realize that the Lord is the only one who can 80 00:06:51,620 --> 00:06:54,040 get them out of this situation. 81 00:06:55,019 --> 00:07:03,939 And I touched on this a little bit last week, but the idea that crying out to the Lord 82 00:07:03,939 --> 00:07:12,879 and groaning to the Lord, so many times our first knee-jerk reaction isn't to go to the Lord. 83 00:07:12,879 --> 00:07:20,959 And I think it doesn't exactly say when the Israelites decided to cry out to the Lord 84 00:07:20,959 --> 00:07:27,160 within these 20 years, but you've got to think that if we look at Scripture, 85 00:07:28,199 --> 00:07:32,220 a lot of times the people of Israel spend a long time being oppressed, 86 00:07:32,459 --> 00:07:36,860 and then they cry out to the Lord, and then the Lord is fairly quick to answer them. 87 00:07:36,860 --> 00:07:44,579 We see that in Exodus, where the people of Israel are oppressed, and I think it's Exodus, 88 00:07:45,019 --> 00:07:50,600 the end of Exodus chapter 2, they cry out, they groan out to the Lord because they're slaves, 89 00:07:50,779 --> 00:07:53,879 and then the Lord raises up Moses, a deliverer for them. 90 00:07:54,540 --> 00:08:02,139 But what is, and this is one of our questions for discussion, but what is the role of prayer 91 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:08,199 in calling a nation or turning a nation back to the Lord? 92 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:17,980 And prayer is one of the most important things we can do in order to ask the Lord 93 00:08:17,980 --> 00:08:24,060 if He would move in our midst and move amongst our family and move amongst our nation 94 00:08:24,060 --> 00:08:29,139 and draw us back to the Lord. And we just see this, it just struck me again as I was studying 95 00:08:29,139 --> 00:08:36,779 for tonight, that we see this again and again in Judges and throughout the whole Bible that 96 00:08:36,779 --> 00:08:44,220 the Lord desires us to come to Him in prayer, and He desires us to come to Him and cry out to Him, 97 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:56,759 because prayer really is just such a peculiar device. It's a place where you don't do 98 00:08:56,759 --> 00:09:00,980 anything yourself. You're quiet, you're still, maybe you're on your knees, you're alone, 99 00:09:01,159 --> 00:09:06,000 maybe you're with a group of people, but you're just asking the Lord to do things. 100 00:09:06,899 --> 00:09:12,559 And for whatever reason, I guess it's in the Lord's nature that this is the way that He 101 00:09:13,300 --> 00:09:19,480 desires to commune with us, and also this is one way that He desires sovereignly to work 102 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:24,100 good on the earth. It's very weird. You can get into, you know, you can go down 103 00:09:24,100 --> 00:09:29,220 that rabbit hole, and you can go down the whole predestination free will. You can get three or 104 00:09:29,220 --> 00:09:36,500 four PhDs doing that in philosophy, discussing all of it. But what we see in Scripture is clear. 105 00:09:36,580 --> 00:09:41,899 If we just take it from what we see, when people pray, when people devote themselves to the Lord, 106 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:54,080 the Lord answers, and He is kind and He is good to answer. There was a prayer movement. Have you 107 00:09:54,879 --> 00:10:00,960 in Germany, and he was a wealthy man, came from a wealthy family, and 108 00:10:02,220 --> 00:10:05,820 he had a series of encounters, and one of the encounters went something like, 109 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:12,559 he was speaking with a man, and the man asked him, what are you going to do for the Lord? 110 00:10:13,759 --> 00:10:24,059 And this set him on a series of journeys, and it was a long, long life story. But what he 111 00:10:24,059 --> 00:10:28,740 basically like a prayer center called Herrnhut in Germany, and you can still go there, 112 00:10:29,059 --> 00:10:36,039 and it was a time where they basically had a hundred year prayer meeting day and night 113 00:10:36,039 --> 00:10:43,460 for a hundred years. And out of this prayer movement, they began to pray for the world 114 00:10:43,460 --> 00:10:50,159 to be reached for the gospel. And out of this prayer movement, they basically were able to almost, 115 00:10:50,159 --> 00:10:55,440 I think, it wasn't exactly just the Moravians, but through the Moravians and through their 116 00:10:55,440 --> 00:11:00,639 successors, they were basically able to send missionaries to every country on the earth. 117 00:11:01,279 --> 00:11:05,279 This, the Moravian movement birthed sort of the student volunteer movement, and I think 118 00:11:05,279 --> 00:11:08,480 they overlapped a little bit, but through that, they were able to send missionaries 119 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:15,700 to every country on earth. And it was quite amazing. And it was just one guy with a community 120 00:11:15,700 --> 00:11:22,279 of people crying out to the Lord and asking the Lord to do things. And so many times 121 00:11:22,279 --> 00:11:29,399 in scripture, and I think, yeah, it's just a good reminder for us of the importance of prayer, 122 00:11:29,639 --> 00:11:35,120 putting prayer at the center of our lives personally, speaking to myself as well, 123 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:41,360 but also within community, it's so important to engender this. And it's not easy. Prayer is not 124 00:11:42,879 --> 00:11:49,279 everybody's natural spiritual gift, right? Prayer can sometimes be boring and it can be dry, 125 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:57,740 but we see clearly in scripture that it is one of the ways, mysteriously, that the Lord uses 126 00:11:57,740 --> 00:12:06,000 to rot his purposes on earth. So anyhow, we see that in verse 3, that again, they cry out, 127 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:09,279 they oppressed people of Israel, they were crying out to the Lord for help. 128 00:12:11,860 --> 00:12:17,019 Moving on to verse 4, now Deborah, a prophetess of the wife of Lapid Doth, 129 00:12:17,100 --> 00:12:21,580 was judging Israel at the time and she used to sit under the palm tree. And so at this time, 130 00:12:23,319 --> 00:12:30,500 Israel had judges and they weren't just hearing cases and deciding on cases. It was a function 131 00:12:30,500 --> 00:12:38,039 of government as well. And so Deborah was basically exercising governance over Israel 132 00:12:38,039 --> 00:12:46,919 at this time and she used to sit up on a hill underneath a palm tree and the imagery here 133 00:12:46,919 --> 00:12:52,759 in the ancient near east would have been that a palm tree is a symbol of strength and of 134 00:12:52,759 --> 00:12:59,879 straightness and therefore righteousness, that she is sitting underneath this kind of cathedral 135 00:12:59,879 --> 00:13:09,299 of righteousness. And so she is there exercising her authority. Verse 6, 136 00:13:09,620 --> 00:13:16,519 she sent and summoned Barak, the son of Abinoam from Kadesh Naftali, and said to him, 137 00:13:16,700 --> 00:13:21,899 has not the Lord of the God of Israel commanded you? Go gather your men at Mount Tabor, 138 00:13:22,259 --> 00:13:27,240 taking ten thousand from the people of Naftali and the people of Zebulun. And I will draw out 139 00:13:27,309 --> 00:13:33,690 Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops 140 00:13:33,690 --> 00:13:38,269 and I will give him into your hand. Now from here, I'm just going to read through the rest 141 00:13:38,269 --> 00:13:43,169 and then kind of jump back. But I think it's important just to get the whole story 142 00:13:43,789 --> 00:13:53,850 in one shot. So buckle up for a few minutes here. So Deborah says to Barak, go gather your men 143 00:13:53,850 --> 00:13:59,950 and then the Lord God is saying, go gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking ten thousand from the 144 00:13:59,950 --> 00:14:05,049 people of Naftali and the people of Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera, the general of 145 00:14:05,049 --> 00:14:10,610 Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops and I will 146 00:14:10,610 --> 00:14:15,889 give him into your hand. Barak said to her, if you will go with me, I will go. But if you will 147 00:14:15,889 --> 00:14:21,230 not go with me, I will not go. And she said, I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road 148 00:14:21,230 --> 00:14:26,129 on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a 149 00:14:26,129 --> 00:14:32,830 woman. Then Deborah rose and went with Barak to Kadesh. And Barak called out to Zebulun and 150 00:14:32,830 --> 00:14:39,950 Naftali to Kadesh. And ten thousand men went up at his heels and Deborah went up with him. 151 00:14:40,570 --> 00:14:46,029 Now Hebrew, the Kenite, had separated from the Kenites the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law 152 00:14:46,029 --> 00:14:52,529 of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zenninim, which is near Kadesh. 153 00:14:53,250 --> 00:14:57,490 When Sisera was told that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor, 154 00:14:57,929 --> 00:15:03,210 Sisera called out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the men who were with 155 00:15:03,210 --> 00:15:08,529 him, from Harishath, Hagayim, to the river Kishon. And Deborah said to Barak, 156 00:15:09,049 --> 00:15:14,149 Up, for this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the 157 00:15:14,149 --> 00:15:19,049 Lord go out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 158 00:15:19,570 --> 00:15:24,269 And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the 159 00:15:24,269 --> 00:15:30,429 sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. And Barak pursued the chariots 160 00:15:30,949 --> 00:15:36,309 and the army to Harishath, Hagayim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. 161 00:15:36,470 --> 00:15:42,710 Not a man was left. But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of 162 00:15:42,769 --> 00:15:47,789 Heber the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin, the king of Hazor, and the house of Heber 163 00:15:47,789 --> 00:15:55,210 the Kenite. And Jael came out from the tent to meet Sisera and said to him, Turn aside, my Lord. 164 00:15:55,750 --> 00:16:00,870 Turn aside to me. Do not be afraid. So he turned aside to her into the tent and she covered him 165 00:16:00,870 --> 00:16:05,750 with a rug. And he said to her, Please, give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. 166 00:16:06,330 --> 00:16:11,149 So she opened the skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. And he said to her, 167 00:16:11,149 --> 00:16:17,509 Stand at the opening of the tent. And if any man comes and asks you, is anyone here, say no. 168 00:16:18,509 --> 00:16:24,529 But Jael, the wife of Heber, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand and she went softly to 169 00:16:24,529 --> 00:16:29,570 him and drove the peg into his temple until it went into the ground while he was lying 170 00:16:29,570 --> 00:16:37,009 fast asleep from weariness. So he died. And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, 171 00:16:37,009 --> 00:16:41,370 Jael went out to meet him and said to him, Come, and I will show you the man whom 172 00:16:41,370 --> 00:16:46,389 you are seeking. So he went into her tent and there lay Sisera dead with the tent 173 00:16:46,389 --> 00:16:52,830 peg in his temple. So on that day, God subdued Jabin, the king of Canaan, 174 00:16:53,190 --> 00:16:58,070 before the people of Israel. And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder 175 00:16:58,070 --> 00:17:03,490 against Jabin, the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin, king of Canaan. 176 00:17:04,490 --> 00:17:09,569 And then just real quick, we're basically done with the chapter, but there's a 177 00:17:09,569 --> 00:17:17,009 song that they sing in chapter five. And then at the end of the song, in verse 31, 178 00:17:17,890 --> 00:17:22,490 it says, So may all your enemies perish, O Lord, but your friends be like the sun 179 00:17:23,009 --> 00:17:29,789 as he rises in his might. And then the last piece here, which is, I think, good for our benefit 180 00:17:29,789 --> 00:17:36,769 that we just tacked this on. And the land had rest for 40 years. So after this battle, 181 00:17:37,569 --> 00:17:46,710 the land had rest for 40 years. And then sort of the next chapter of the story of Judges 182 00:17:46,710 --> 00:17:54,710 continues in chapter six. But we're not going to go through chapter five in detail tonight. So 183 00:17:55,670 --> 00:18:05,529 we have this interaction with Barak and Deborah. And this interaction is very interesting. And 184 00:18:05,529 --> 00:18:13,670 you could read this a couple of different ways. And I'm going to give you guys two scenarios. 185 00:18:15,950 --> 00:18:24,049 And maybe you will think both of them are right, or one of them's right, one of them's wrong. 186 00:18:24,710 --> 00:18:33,710 But the interaction between Barak and Deborah, Barak, it seems that he is a little bit timid and 187 00:18:33,710 --> 00:18:40,730 shy, right? And this is kind of the first reading of this and kind of the knee jerk reaction of 188 00:18:40,730 --> 00:18:49,750 when you read this text is that he loses his reward because he is timid and shy, 189 00:18:49,750 --> 00:18:56,470 and he doesn't go up to the battle and he has to get called out. Basically, like a mom calling a 190 00:18:56,470 --> 00:19:02,309 young man out of bed like, hey, get up, go to school, do your job, right? So this is 191 00:19:03,349 --> 00:19:12,430 a pretty straightforward reading of the text, which could be 100% true. But what I like to do 192 00:19:12,430 --> 00:19:18,970 sometimes is dig around and see if there are any other ideas or any other thoughts in the text 193 00:19:18,970 --> 00:19:27,730 that might kind of shed some light, or maybe the contrast of it could peak wonder or maybe 194 00:19:27,730 --> 00:19:36,289 some tension in us as we're studying it. And this interaction with Barak and Deborah, 195 00:19:36,710 --> 00:19:44,710 many of the rabbis take a little bit of a more, should we say, nuanced approach to this. Now, 196 00:19:44,710 --> 00:19:48,529 the thing about the ancient Jewish people and the way that they think 197 00:19:48,529 --> 00:19:54,470 is that we as Westerners think mainly in a straight line. We have Proposition A, Proposition 198 00:19:54,470 --> 00:19:59,569 B, Proposition C, and we move in a straight line. The rabbis kind of move in a circle. 199 00:20:00,369 --> 00:20:04,349 And there's the old joke that wherever you have two rabbis, you always have three opinions. 200 00:20:05,509 --> 00:20:11,750 And it could also be maybe true of Jewish people as well that generally love to argue 201 00:20:11,750 --> 00:20:16,710 and love to hash things out. But I just want to submit this to you because it was something that 202 00:20:16,710 --> 00:20:24,170 I came across that I found was interesting. Some of the rabbis say that Deborah is presumptive or 203 00:20:24,170 --> 00:20:34,589 actually arrogant in ordering Barak around. And that Barak wants Deborah to actually come because 204 00:20:34,589 --> 00:20:40,309 she symbolizes the power and the presence of God. Now, this interaction is interesting because 205 00:20:42,089 --> 00:20:49,609 it makes it read a little bit differently than what you would see originally. Because 206 00:20:49,609 --> 00:20:58,309 maybe both could also be true. Maybe Barak is a little bit afraid. Maybe he 207 00:20:59,169 --> 00:21:07,089 is not completely confident. But look at how when he goes to Zebulon and Naftali, how quickly he 208 00:21:07,089 --> 00:21:17,509 can raise an army of 10,000 men. So he must have some clout militarily. And it might not make sense 209 00:21:17,509 --> 00:21:25,349 that he's just afraid. How could he be in a position to rally and galvanize that many people 210 00:21:25,349 --> 00:21:32,609 together if he was really afraid? Maybe he was in piety just saying, hey, I want the Lord 211 00:21:32,609 --> 00:21:38,910 to be with me. Or I want the prophet to be with me. Now, the prophet is Deborah being a woman 212 00:21:38,910 --> 00:21:45,730 maybe makes this a little bit interesting because he's wanting to bring a woman along with him. 213 00:21:46,589 --> 00:21:54,230 But yeah, this is an interesting contrast there. The first reading definitely could be true of, 214 00:21:54,230 --> 00:22:03,150 hey, Barak just loses his reward of glory. But the second one might also be, if you look at 215 00:22:03,150 --> 00:22:14,869 Hebrews 1132, I believe it is, it says that Barak is listed among the great heroes and men of faith. 216 00:22:16,329 --> 00:22:23,789 And that he was counted amongst one of them. And so it's very interesting that 217 00:22:26,390 --> 00:22:32,910 perhaps maybe a secondary reading or maybe they support each other together. And this is something 218 00:22:32,910 --> 00:22:38,589 where I'm not going to come out and say, yes, this is the only way to interpret it. But maybe 219 00:22:38,589 --> 00:22:43,630 there's some nuance here and it'll be good for us to discuss that in our groups together. And 220 00:22:43,630 --> 00:22:53,210 maybe you'll disagree and that's totally fine. But yeah, Barak is listed among the great men 221 00:22:53,210 --> 00:23:00,309 of faith. And so we see here also that, what is it, in verse 222 00:23:02,190 --> 00:23:11,430 nine, when Barak asked Deborah to go with her, Deborah says, I will surely go with you. 223 00:23:11,430 --> 00:23:17,329 Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, 224 00:23:17,529 --> 00:23:24,609 for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And then Deborah arose 225 00:23:25,250 --> 00:23:31,670 and went with Barak to Kadesh. And so then you see that Barak calls out Zebulon Nefthali, 226 00:23:32,130 --> 00:23:39,609 and he's got 10,000 men behind him. And so that's a pretty serious army. Now, Sisera also has a 227 00:23:39,609 --> 00:23:45,529 serious army of 900 chariots of iron. And you could probably think of those as like tanks. 228 00:23:46,349 --> 00:23:51,789 So maybe 10,000 men versus like 900 tanks, maybe that's not really the best 229 00:23:52,670 --> 00:24:00,609 matchup. So maybe Barak was scared. Maybe he was like, this guy has a good army. 230 00:24:00,609 --> 00:24:10,750 I'm going to need the Lord. But notice, if he was just afraid, then 231 00:24:11,690 --> 00:24:17,849 making sure that the Lord's prophet of the day with him is a pretty good move, wouldn't you say? 232 00:24:18,630 --> 00:24:26,170 So like, maybe he is just actually afraid. And he's like, hey, I can't do this in my own 233 00:24:26,170 --> 00:24:33,210 strength. I need the Lord to come with me. And the Lord was speaking powerfully through 234 00:24:33,210 --> 00:24:38,990 Deborah at that time. And so maybe the Lord would give him some revelation during the battle. 235 00:24:40,329 --> 00:24:48,230 And so we have this interesting phrase here where Deborah says, 236 00:24:50,549 --> 00:24:57,650 Barak, this is not going to lead to your glory. For the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand 237 00:24:57,650 --> 00:25:07,089 of a woman. And here's, here's an interesting fork in the road. So this lady, JL, or jail, 238 00:25:08,309 --> 00:25:16,349 JL, I don't know actually how to say her name. But she's the one who drives the steak 239 00:25:16,349 --> 00:25:24,089 through the head of Sisera. And it's interesting. Do you guys think that Deborah, 240 00:25:25,410 --> 00:25:28,829 I mean, just you could raise your hand if you agree, who thinks that 241 00:25:29,529 --> 00:25:33,450 when Deborah says the glory is not going to be for Barak, the military commander, 242 00:25:33,569 --> 00:25:38,009 which it normally would be, but it'll be for somebody else. Do you think Deborah was 243 00:25:38,009 --> 00:25:43,630 talking about the glory is going to be for Deborah or the glory is going to be for JL? 244 00:25:44,990 --> 00:25:54,730 Let me see where I'm going with that. Mostly Deborah. Yeah. At first reading, my knee jerk was 245 00:25:56,189 --> 00:26:01,049 that JL would be the one that gets the glory. Now, actually, I'll be completely honest. And I 246 00:26:01,049 --> 00:26:07,009 think probably a lot of people, I won't put this on other people. But as I looked at this story, 247 00:26:07,369 --> 00:26:10,190 I know this story vaguely from Sunday school and from reading the Bible, 248 00:26:11,029 --> 00:26:18,710 through a couple of times. But in my mind, it wasn't clear that Deborah wasn't the one that put 249 00:26:18,710 --> 00:26:24,549 the steak through the head. Does it make sense? I was thinking Deborah is the one that kills 250 00:26:25,929 --> 00:26:29,730 the king of Sisera. And then as I've read it through again, I was like, okay, right. 251 00:26:30,170 --> 00:26:36,110 That's not right. It was another lady. But if you asked people who are in church who read their 252 00:26:36,230 --> 00:26:42,809 Bible, who do you think would be able to come up with this name, JL, that she was the one in 253 00:26:42,809 --> 00:26:48,190 the story of Deborah and Brock that drove the spike through the opposing enemy's head. 254 00:26:48,849 --> 00:26:55,450 Probably not that many people would be able to say that, oh, yeah, it was JL wasn't Deborah. 255 00:26:57,490 --> 00:27:03,829 But that's just an interesting, interesting point. Now, she is JL is mentioned in chapter 256 00:27:03,829 --> 00:27:12,029 five, verse 24, as most blessed amongst women, which is a very high commendation. You can see that 257 00:27:13,130 --> 00:27:17,769 in verse 24, most blessed of women be JL, the wife of Hebrew, the Kenite, 258 00:27:18,670 --> 00:27:25,430 the 10 dwelling women of 10 dwelling women most blessed. But Deborah is the one who's really 259 00:27:25,430 --> 00:27:31,990 center stage here. And even throughout all of Judaism, there are only seven 260 00:27:34,210 --> 00:27:41,750 prophetesses in Judaism, major prophetesses. Now, I want to see if collectively you guys can 261 00:27:41,750 --> 00:27:48,569 name them all. And I just you can just start shouting them out. But who do you think are the 262 00:27:48,569 --> 00:27:55,789 other six? Yeah, Deborah, who do you so there's seven, who do you think are the other six major 263 00:27:55,789 --> 00:28:01,789 prophetesses within Israel? And I will be, I'll be very impressed if we get them all. 264 00:28:03,690 --> 00:28:14,250 Holda, Miriam, Anna. Well, okay, so it's got to be Old Testament Abigail. 265 00:28:16,170 --> 00:28:24,529 Okay, so we have we have holda, Miriam, Abigail, Deborah, and then 266 00:28:26,390 --> 00:28:38,109 Esther. Not Ruth. So Debbie kind of said one. And I said yes, because 267 00:28:38,890 --> 00:28:47,470 Anna is the Old Testament or Anna is the Greek name for Hannah, actually. So but Hannah was one, 268 00:28:48,029 --> 00:28:53,970 the mother of Samuel. And there's one more. I can't believe that you got hold up because that 269 00:28:53,970 --> 00:29:02,509 was the one I had never seen before. So that great job Bible trivia. Anyone think of the other one? 270 00:29:03,329 --> 00:29:13,809 Any last guesses? Yeah, Sarah. So the seven prophetesses within Judaism are Sarah, Miriam, 271 00:29:14,190 --> 00:29:20,250 Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, holda, and Esther. And holda is the one I didn't know, 272 00:29:20,250 --> 00:29:26,630 but she was a prophetess during the reign of, do you know, which prophet, which king she was 273 00:29:26,630 --> 00:29:33,309 a prophetess under? I'm asking Dina because she's the one you're guessing. 274 00:29:36,769 --> 00:29:45,289 No, it's Josiah. Yeah, so anyway, but yeah, so Deborah has a, Deborah has a center stage place 275 00:29:45,289 --> 00:29:51,690 within Judaism and within Christianity. Whenever you think of a woman leader in the Bible, 276 00:29:52,250 --> 00:30:00,690 the first name that comes to mind is Deborah, right? She was probably the most explicitly powerful 277 00:30:01,289 --> 00:30:08,750 woman within the whole Bible. And women have held different positions of power and offices 278 00:30:09,470 --> 00:30:16,230 in the Bible and even in the New Testament in a lesser degree, but Deborah is the one who's 279 00:30:16,230 --> 00:30:24,269 really front end center. So, I mean, I would think that the glory would, that Deborah's talking about 280 00:30:24,269 --> 00:30:30,170 is actually, she's talking about her own glory because she's the one that actually has even more 281 00:30:30,170 --> 00:30:39,069 glory than Barak, who Barak is even named in like the Hall of Fame of Faith in Hebrews chapter 11. 282 00:30:39,970 --> 00:30:44,190 So that's just an interesting, interesting thing because I think at first reading, 283 00:30:44,769 --> 00:30:52,569 I think, oh, the glory is for the one who killed Sisera, which her name was JL, but I actually 284 00:30:52,569 --> 00:30:58,670 think that that Barak, for whatever reason, he was timid or it was just the Lord's sovereign 285 00:30:58,670 --> 00:31:04,990 plan that he wouldn't get the glory, that Deborah would get the glory. And so, so yeah, 286 00:31:06,609 --> 00:31:13,289 one other, one other point here on JL, we will talk about her. 287 00:31:15,529 --> 00:31:24,049 Let's see, what is that? Okay, verse 11. Now, Hebrew, the Kenite, had separated from 288 00:31:24,049 --> 00:31:33,410 the Kenites the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away 289 00:31:33,410 --> 00:31:42,589 as the oak in Zananim, which is near Kadesh. So, JL was a Kenite. So, who were the Kenites? 290 00:31:43,349 --> 00:31:52,210 The Kenites were descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses. So, this tribe, 291 00:31:52,210 --> 00:31:59,869 the Kenite tribe, was connected with Moses's family, was connected with, uh, Jethro is the 292 00:31:59,869 --> 00:32:04,809 kind of the name I think most people know of as Moses's father-in-law, but another name 293 00:32:04,809 --> 00:32:12,250 that he goes by is Hobab, and Hobab means beloved or cherished. So, not sure how he got this name, 294 00:32:12,289 --> 00:32:18,130 maybe it was like a, it was a nickname or a name that he got in honor of his position later on, 295 00:32:18,130 --> 00:32:24,130 but it speaks to the fact that he was loved and beloved of the Lord. And so, 296 00:32:26,629 --> 00:32:31,950 when Moses fled to Egypt, he settled in Midian, and he married Zipporah, the daughter of the 297 00:32:31,950 --> 00:32:40,970 Midianite priest, Jethro, or Hobab. And then Jethro himself, in Exodus 18, he blesses the Lord, 298 00:32:41,549 --> 00:32:45,210 and he said, blessed be the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians. 299 00:32:47,250 --> 00:32:55,390 And then even in 1 Samuel 15, Saul is about to attack the Amalekites, but he warns the Kenites, 300 00:32:55,869 --> 00:33:02,250 and he tells the Kenites to depart from the Amalekites before he, they go and attack the 301 00:33:02,250 --> 00:33:09,230 Amalekites, because it says, you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came out of 302 00:33:09,230 --> 00:33:19,069 Acts 15. And then Judges 1 verse 16 says that some of the descendants of the Kenites actually 303 00:33:19,789 --> 00:33:26,569 went up with the people of Judah. And so, some of the Kenites are actually attaching themselves 304 00:33:27,390 --> 00:33:35,529 to the people of Israel. And then probably JL's relationship is somehow connected, 305 00:33:36,410 --> 00:33:44,089 and her executing the king of the king, or king Sisera, is somehow connected to this relationship 306 00:33:44,089 --> 00:33:54,210 between the Kenites and the Israelites. Now, what's the point? This is a personal 307 00:33:54,210 --> 00:34:03,170 thing, so I'm dragging you along on my personal journey here a little bit. But I have been 308 00:34:04,230 --> 00:34:11,849 focused and pondering a lot the relationship of Old Testament 309 00:34:13,370 --> 00:34:21,949 peoples into how they participate in the story of God in terms of salvation. And I've had this 310 00:34:21,949 --> 00:34:28,230 conversation with several of you, and Pastor Chris gave me a book on it last week, actually. 311 00:34:28,230 --> 00:34:37,670 But what was the mission of Israel in regards to, let's say, we use a New Testament term, evangelism, 312 00:34:38,070 --> 00:34:44,869 or outreach within the Old Testament? And when you begin to ask this question, you begin to see 313 00:34:45,670 --> 00:34:52,230 little crumbs that you may not have seen before. Like we talked a couple months ago about 314 00:34:52,230 --> 00:35:00,530 Caleb, who was a Kenizzite, who the Kenizzites were actually a tribe within Canaan, and the 315 00:35:00,530 --> 00:35:07,050 Kenizzites, in order to be a Kenizzite and also be an Israelite, you would have had to 316 00:35:07,050 --> 00:35:12,250 join yourself to the Israelites who were the covenant people of God. So you have a tribe, 317 00:35:13,050 --> 00:35:19,429 the Kenizzites, who were not believing in Yahweh, and now you have Caleb, who either he joined it 318 00:35:19,610 --> 00:35:25,829 himself or his whole family joined Israel, and now they're beginning to worship the one true God. 319 00:35:26,010 --> 00:35:32,650 And so as I'm reading this about the Kenizzites and about Jethro and about Jael and about her 320 00:35:33,730 --> 00:35:42,389 service to the God of Israel by serving the Lord's military commander, it just got me thinking 321 00:35:42,389 --> 00:35:53,369 about how perhaps these Old Testament people were also believers and followers of Yahweh, 322 00:35:53,650 --> 00:36:00,750 and how we may meet them in the age to come, or when, you know, in eternity. 323 00:36:02,010 --> 00:36:08,449 And there's not really like a huge take-home from that. It's more of just, 324 00:36:08,449 --> 00:36:17,130 I'm kind of letting you guys into my thought process and framework about what was God doing 325 00:36:18,210 --> 00:36:26,429 with drawing people to himself even in the Old Testament. And that wasn't, it's not front and 326 00:36:26,429 --> 00:36:32,869 center staged like it is in the New Testament where we see Jesus' command literally to go 327 00:36:32,869 --> 00:36:38,429 and to preach the gospel to all nations and to make disciples and baptize them. 328 00:36:38,449 --> 00:36:46,210 But what we see is that in the Old Testament people are joining themselves to Israel, 329 00:36:46,769 --> 00:36:52,530 and Israel is called the light of the nations in the Psalms and in the Old Testament. 330 00:36:53,469 --> 00:37:05,150 And yeah, so there are like three main views that evangelicals have about what happened 331 00:37:05,150 --> 00:37:14,789 to people who weren't Israelites back in the day. Like let's say if you were not a convert to the 332 00:37:15,449 --> 00:37:18,989 community of Israel and the covenant of Israel and therefore you were participating 333 00:37:19,550 --> 00:37:24,650 in covenant relationship with God, what happened to people who weren't Israelites? 334 00:37:25,050 --> 00:37:30,610 And so there's just a couple major views, and I'll just lay them out, but I just find this 335 00:37:30,610 --> 00:37:37,250 interesting. But there's the exclusivist view. Salvation ultimately requires explicit faith in 336 00:37:37,250 --> 00:37:43,929 God's revealed promises of redemption, although the amount of revelation required varies according to 337 00:37:43,929 --> 00:37:50,230 the era. So like, you know, Paul talks about Abraham, how he was justified through his belief 338 00:37:50,230 --> 00:37:58,670 and through his trust in God. And then as there was more prophetic revelation about the Messiah 339 00:37:58,670 --> 00:38:05,550 and about the age to come, then continued belief in accepting those ideas would have been 340 00:38:06,929 --> 00:38:12,530 added to the requirement to believe in those promises. So that's what it means. The amount 341 00:38:12,530 --> 00:38:19,349 of revelation required varies according to the era. So that's the exclusivist view that you 342 00:38:19,349 --> 00:38:24,010 have to explicitly believe in the revealed promise of the redemption. And then the 343 00:38:24,010 --> 00:38:28,610 inclusivist view is someone who genuinely responds to the revelation of God available to them 344 00:38:28,610 --> 00:38:33,809 may be saved through Christ even without knowing his name. So the exclusivist would say like, 345 00:38:34,050 --> 00:38:41,809 somebody like JL would actually have to probably go and join themselves to the promise of Israel 346 00:38:42,330 --> 00:38:49,450 and to the covenant of Israel. The inclusivist view would say that if they have heard sort of 347 00:38:49,630 --> 00:38:58,170 gospel from the Israelites, that they could actually still participate in salvation and 348 00:38:58,170 --> 00:39:04,309 have an inheritance in the age to come or basically be saved if we use New Testament language 349 00:39:04,829 --> 00:39:10,469 in the sense of that our soul and body will be saved and regenerated. 350 00:39:12,170 --> 00:39:17,869 So it was like kind of like exclusivist is like the highest level and then inclusivist. And then 351 00:39:17,869 --> 00:39:24,710 some people say, which, you know, I would probably say this was one that should be treated with 352 00:39:24,710 --> 00:39:31,889 maybe a little more caution, but passages, some people believe that passages like Romans 1 that 353 00:39:31,889 --> 00:39:39,150 speak about knowing God through creation and knowing him through general revelation would be 354 00:39:39,150 --> 00:39:45,530 enough to save some Gentiles who would respond appropriately to revelation available through 355 00:39:45,530 --> 00:39:55,510 creation and conscience. I think, yeah, it's just interesting to think about. And it's something 356 00:39:55,510 --> 00:40:02,650 I think that people often question like, oh, what about, you know, God just elected this little 357 00:40:02,650 --> 00:40:07,489 tribe and they're kind of wandering around and doing their thing in the desert. But what we 358 00:40:07,489 --> 00:40:12,489 actually see is that the Lord is drawing people to himself and the Lord, they're constantly 359 00:40:12,489 --> 00:40:17,349 people being added to the covenant of the Lord. They're being either they're like, 360 00:40:17,349 --> 00:40:23,349 they're like JL where they're kind of loosely connected through the tribe of Midian, but 361 00:40:23,349 --> 00:40:29,969 they're not actually Israelites, but Israel seems to have this kind of familial relationship 362 00:40:30,490 --> 00:40:40,510 with them. And so maybe she has enough faith or she's responding in obedience to the Lord in 363 00:40:40,510 --> 00:40:48,869 order to be saved. But I think it's, yeah, and I just share this because one, I think 364 00:40:49,470 --> 00:40:56,130 that it's interesting. I don't have like a clear conclusion or nice like neat tied up doctrine 365 00:40:56,830 --> 00:41:05,889 to present to you guys, but it kind of opens up this window of like, of wonder and of mystery 366 00:41:05,889 --> 00:41:14,429 into the story of God. And I think that for me, I find that fascinating and exciting as like what, 367 00:41:14,630 --> 00:41:19,510 what was the Lord doing in throughout history? And it motivates me to go to the scripture and 368 00:41:19,510 --> 00:41:26,170 to look in there and to search, search out more clues about, Hey, who else is being joined to 369 00:41:26,170 --> 00:41:30,429 the Lord? What are these people doing? How are these people involved? Like, I, you know, you 370 00:41:30,429 --> 00:41:36,130 can read the Bible and just blow past like, you know, stuff like JL was a Kenite, right? 371 00:41:36,349 --> 00:41:40,170 And you don't even know who that is. But if you go in and you look, you can see 372 00:41:41,169 --> 00:41:46,230 the threads actually lead somewhere. So anyhow, 373 00:41:49,750 --> 00:41:53,090 one last thing to wrap this up. And then we have some questions. 374 00:42:01,489 --> 00:42:04,869 The land had rest, chapter five, verse 31. 375 00:42:10,190 --> 00:42:18,610 I think this is just such a, such an amazing way to tie up this, this section, because at the end, 376 00:42:20,670 --> 00:42:24,389 at the end of the battle, at the end of the struggle, at the end of our lives, 377 00:42:24,610 --> 00:42:29,230 at the end of the world, the world is going to have rest. We're going to have rest. 378 00:42:29,230 --> 00:42:35,969 We are going to enter into the rest of God. Hebrews four talks about entering into his rest 379 00:42:35,969 --> 00:42:42,269 and entering into the promised land. And I, I think this is, this is so amazing 380 00:42:43,290 --> 00:42:49,670 because it really just wraps up the whole story really well. And 381 00:42:50,990 --> 00:42:58,050 it's saying that, yeah, there is struggle in life. We have to battle sometimes with our faith. We 382 00:42:58,050 --> 00:43:04,130 have to battle physically sometimes. There's war. Thank God we haven't had a serious 383 00:43:05,409 --> 00:43:12,250 all out conflict in a long time. But it wasn't that long ago that we, we did have a serious conflict. 384 00:43:13,150 --> 00:43:22,210 And this is just a reminder. And this speaks of eternity, that the land will have rest and our 385 00:43:22,210 --> 00:43:28,769 souls will have rest and we will spend eternity with the Lord if we are in Christ and if we, 386 00:43:28,769 --> 00:43:35,510 if we are in covenant with him. And I think this is, this is just an amazing, 387 00:43:36,210 --> 00:43:43,730 yeah, this is just an amazing truth to take home. And, and yeah, I was, I was struck by that 388 00:43:43,730 --> 00:43:53,130 as I was reading it. So anyhow, I hope, I hope that tonight you leave with more questions than answers. 389 00:43:55,330 --> 00:44:03,630 And I think that the questions, questions are good. Questions produce, if you respond 390 00:44:03,630 --> 00:44:10,349 rightly, they produce a desire to want to answer them and to want to discriminate amongst ideas 391 00:44:10,349 --> 00:44:16,530 in the scripture to a greater degree. And anytime you are moving towards the Lord with 392 00:44:16,530 --> 00:44:23,550 the scripture and studying it and able to, you know, even if it doesn't really make sense as to, 393 00:44:23,690 --> 00:44:31,050 well, I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to use this. The Lord is working and the seeds of the 394 00:44:31,050 --> 00:44:37,570 word are going in. So, so yeah, let's pray. And then we will do some questions. So Lord, 395 00:44:37,570 --> 00:44:44,469 we thank you for this time. And Lord, we ask that you would continue to give us greater revelation 396 00:44:45,730 --> 00:44:51,969 and just move, move in our hearts. And Lord, we say that we love you. Lord, we want to, 397 00:44:51,969 --> 00:44:59,849 we want to just, yeah, live our lives that might reflect your glory. Just help us to be strong 398 00:44:59,849 --> 00:45:05,230 and courageous Lord and to fulfill what you're calling us to do. Jesus' name. Amen. 399 00:45:09,910 --> 00:45:15,329 Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His word. 400 00:45:16,030 --> 00:45:21,510 Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube. 401 00:45:21,510 --> 00:45:24,610 Be blessed and have a great day!