Text: Judges 4-5
One of the things that we discover in many of our Hebrew Scripture readings is a land filled with chaos.
The boundaries and borders are constantly changing.
City-states and nations were constantly battling one another for land, power, and dominance.
Just two weeks ago, we followed the story of the Daughters of Zelophehad as they crossed the Jordan River with other second generation survivors of the great exodus from Egypt.
The land was being divided up according to the tribes… and yet, this was not undiscovered, uninhabited land.
It was filled with thriving cultures and peoples who all worshipped their own gods and had their own rules for living.
Much of the Book of Joshua tells the story of how the people of Israel tried to take that land… often describing slaughter and warfare along the way.
And yet, by the time we get to Joshua’s death with the Book of Judges, we hear about how all the people of the land… the Jubusites, the Canaanites, the Amorites, and more… they were all still present.
And for generations, these cultures, these peoples, continued to struggle for power and land and dominance.
City-states would rise and grow in power and overtake their neighbors and then fail… and the cycle would repeat.
Chaos.
The Book of Judges reminds us that while human warriors can’t defeat the forces that would destroy peace and create turmoil… God can.
The Israelites don’t need a professional army or a king… God reigns over them.
And God will fight for them.
They don’t need to be afraid of those things that might destroy them.
They just need to trust and obey.
And at times, they do.
But that trust in God doesn’t ever last for long.
They are constantly turning to the other gods they discover in the land, adopting other customs, following their own path, forgetting about the laws that formed them into a people focused on abundant life for all.
It was into this context of chaos that God called the judges.
Israel at this time, you might remember, is not formally organized as a political power.
There is no king that holds all twelve tribes together.
And the Book of Judges records how God lifted these unlikely leaders to help the people find stability and security during this ebb and flow of turmoil and chaos.
As Wilda Gafney notes in her commentary, “judges were military leaders and civil administrators: they governed, settled disputes, interpreted and applied the Law, and when necessary, took up arms in defense of the nation.” (The CEB Women’s Bible, p. 285)
In most cases, one of these judges would rise up as Israel fought back against one of their neighbors.
They would often bring about victory in a way that was surprising… reminding the people that it was God who fought for them, rather than the success of any one person or army.
And then this judge would help the people to focus on God, trust in God, and there would be a season of stability.
What is interesting in the case of our Face of Faith for today, Deborah, is that she finds herself in this role… but she has not yet experienced any kind of battle that we know of.
We don’t know how or why she was called or appointed for this task, but as the story opens in Judges 4, she is sitting under the “palm of Deborah” settling disputes among the people.
The Canaanites are in control of the land under the rule of their king, Jabin, and his general, Sisera.
And just like the people of Israel cried out in Egypt under the oppression of Pharoah, the people cry out once again in the time of Deborah, and God hears their cries.
We don’t know a lot of details about her, but there are some titles that give us a picture of what her ministry was about.
Tikva Frymer-Kensky notes that she is identified as ’êšeṯ lappîḏōṯ (Judges 4:4) which could mean a number of things.
- A woman of the town of Lappidoth
- The wife of someone named Lappidoth
- Or, a woman of torches – which is a direct translation of the word… in other words, a fiery woman (ArtScroll’s The Prophets, Rubin Edition)
She is also identified not simply as someone who judges, but also as a prophetess. Her role would have been to make known God’s will and call people to obedience. But she also would have encouraged the people through song… something that Miriam did before her.
In the next chapter of Judges, we find a song that summarizes her ministry and story and there she is also identified as a mother in Israel (5:7)… an actual mother? Perhaps… a spiritual mother of the people… for sure.
When I put all of those pieces together, what I find is a portrait of a woman who maybe is actually not all that different from the women that you know in this world.
She’s got a spark in her, a fierceness and a passion for her work.
She cares about the well-being of her people.
She exists in the middle of a world filled with chaos and upheaval.
A world that is not in her control. A world that she very much would love to change.
Today, we are blessing our students and teachers and school workers as they prepare to head back to school.
Deborah makes me think of all of the parents and teachers who are dedicated and committed to their work, who give their all, and who also have to do their work in the midst of so much tension and division.
Everything is politicized.
We are still recovering from and discovering how we’ve changed from Covid-19.
There are issues of hunger and racism and violence that we still haven’t resolved.
We exist in a world that is not under our control and a world that we very much would like to change.
So, what can we learn from a woman like Deborah?
I think one of the first things I notice is that even in the midst of the turmoil all around her and the oppression of the Canaanites, she carves out both time and a place to be in the presence of God and to seek God’s will.
Those who sought her wisdom and a word from the Lord would find her under the “Palm of Deborah” (4:5).
One of the things we learned in our “Taste and See” study earlier this summer is that whenever we find a palm tree in the Bible, we should remember that it is referring to a date palm tree.
And as Margaret Feinberg taught us, “the fruit of these trees symbolizes victory over death.” (Taste and See, p. 55)
She intentionally went to a place that symbolized victory over death in a season of chaos and oppression.
You see, she chose to start from a place of trusting and believing that God could bring hope and life out of the situation they found themselves in.
Lauren Wright Pittman, the artist of this piece titled, In Tune, “In the chaos of war she finds stillness under a palm tree and tunes herself to God’s voice… [she] shows us that, in stillness, practicing attending to God with fierce trust, we can sift through the chaos of this world and align ourselves with the movement of God… The chariots of war loom in the distance, but the chariots are empty because… this prophetess can see God’s victory before it even takes place.” (Faces of Our Faith Study Journal, p. 16)
Pittman notes that we all face times of uncertainty and chaos in our lives.
And often, we struggle to start from a place of trust in God’s ability to bring peace.
Instead, we worry.
We stress out.
We plan for worst case scenarios.
We get overwhelmed and give up.
We try to carry it all on our own shoulders.
What would it look like instead if we intentionally created spaces to get in tune with God?
Where is the Palm of Deborah in your life?
Maybe it is time with a cup of coffee on your back porch.
Or right here in this sanctuary.
Or a path that you walk in the evening.
A pause in the car with your family before you leave the driveway for school drop off.
Or a bench that you can sit on for five minutes in the middle of your work day.
Where is a place that you can clear the chaos and the clutter from your life to listen for what God is doing?
First, we create space.
Then we need to learn how to listen.
We need to practice “attending to God with fierce trust.”
And that means paying attention to the nudges and tugs that God makes on your heart.
It means lifting up and letting go of the worries that fill our minds and looking for what God is already doing out there in the world.
And it can often mean leaving our comfort zones and sharing what we are hearing and experiencing with others.
Deborah knew that God had heard the cries of the people and that it was time for God to bring them victory.
She called upon a man named Barak to lead to people into battle against Sisera and his army of chariots.
When he hesitated, she agreed to go with him… to place herself in harm’s way and to provide encouragement for the people… because she knew ultimately this wasn’t about Barak’s victory, or her victory, but God’s victory.
As her song recounts in chapter 5, God was with them.
Ten thousand soldiers went into battle, vastly outnumbered and outarmed, but we hear no tales of their fights.
Instead, we hear about how:
“the stars fought from the sky;
From their orbits they fought against Sisera.
The Kishon River swept them away;
The advancing river, the Kishon River.” (Judges 5:20-21)
We get echoes of how God fought the Egyptian army, by allowing the safe passage of the Israelites and then releasing the waters to overtake Pharoah and his chariots.
Sisera’s army panics, is overwhelmed, defeated, and washed away.
Only Sisera escapes and when he believes he has found refuge in the tent of an ally, he instead discovers that he has been led to his death.
He is greeted by a woman, Jael, who offers him a place of rest and warm milk and tucks him in to sleep… and then executes him with a tent peg.
Deborah could see God’s victory and a future of peace, even though she was swimming in chaos and oppression.
And she knew that the victory was not about her… and not about Barak… and not even about Jael… but about whether each of them would be willing to let go of their own comfort and control in order for God to work through them.
Scripture tells us that with Sisera gone, the Canaanite King lost his grip of power and the years of oppression ended.
For forty years, peace prevailed upon the land.
You know, we often talk about the opposite of peace being war, but maybe it is better understood as chaos.
The question for us is… can we let go of our comfort and control?
Can we find the space to listen for where God is moving in our lives?
Are we willing to our hearts get “in tune” with God?
If we do, I think that we, too, will find peace.
The peace that comes from relationships restored.
The peace that comes from learning to trust in God more than our pocketbooks.
The peace that comes when our priorities are realigned and our family comes before our work.
The peace that comes when we remember that this moment of struggle might be difficult, but in the end, God is in control and these forces of chaos will not have the final say.
May it be so.
Amen.
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