The power of a woman who says 'Yes'

I've been listening to a series of talks from Revive our Hearts about the story of Deborah from the book of Judges. It's definitely made me go back to this section of the Bible that you don't often hear much teaching on, and I've been really struck at the way the story unfolds and Deborah's role in this part of Israel's history.

The Israelites were in a very turbulent time. Because of their disobedience, God did not let them conquer all of the promised land. He did not give them rest from their enemies. He allowed them to be plundered to bring them to a point of desperation where they would seek Him again. They were under His discipline. The various judges who ruled over the people were raised up by God as an act of grace to provide deliverance, and often these judges had a military role in fighting off Israel's enemies and winning victories and peace.

At the time that Deborah judges Israel (read about it in Judges 4), it seems that Israel were under a particularly difficult time with their enemy Sisera, who had 900 chariots of iron, a powerful military advantage. We don't really know much about Deborah or other leaders of Israel at that time, but it seems that she walked closely with God because she was able to bring the word of the Lord to Barak (see v6-7). She brought a message to him that if he took 10,000 men and fought Sisera at the river Kishon, God would give him the victory. Barak's response is quite unexpected: 'If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.' (v8) Barak wanted Deborah to go with him to the battle! Perhaps this is a sign of weak male leadership at the time... but equally, it could be a positive humility on Barak's part that he wanted God's presence and knew that Deborah was a prophetess. Anyway, Deborah says 'Yes'! 'I will surely go with thee' (v9). This is the power of a woman who says 'Yes'. The result was that Barak led the army and they won a great victory (read more about it in the rest of chapter 4 and 5).

I want to apply this into our homes, our marriages and our ministries today. As wives, do we say 'yes' when our husbands have some calling on their life, or some task to complete? It may be the simple, small things, but it may also be big things like where you live, where you work, whether you are in full time ministry or not. I want to suggest that there are few men who will act upon a desire God has placed in their heart, a calling God has given them, without their wives giving an emphatic 'Yes' and a go-ahead. If you meet passion with passivity, the fire dies out. And there's nothing worse than a husband feeling he's dragging his wife along into this ministry or that town when she isn't really 100% on board with the plan.

I'm not saying let's abandon discernment; we need it! Some of us may have husbands who come up with a new hare-brained scheme every week and we need to gently offer wisdom and guidance where appropriate. But generally speaking, do we encourage or do we dampen? Do we show willingness to go where it may be difficult, where it may be uncomfortable, so that God can use our families for His glory in some task He's called us to do? Deborah made a bold decision to go into the battle, because she ultimately had confidence in the word of God. I think we need to seek God with our husbands for His plan and will for us, and at the heart of it, to do this not with the attitude of 'well if it's really clear we'll go through with it', but with the standpoint of 'unless God makes it really clear it's NOT right, we'll do it!' Think how much our churches would be transformed if we had that boldness, passion and spirit!

Why were the Israelites exiled out of the Promised Land?

I've been putting together my notes for OT2 and this is such a huge question, covering all of the Former Prophets.

1. Rebellion against the Lord.

This began even as Moses led them out of Egypt: 'the whole community grumbled' (Ex 16:2). They spent 40 years in the wilderness because of this!

At the end of the book of Joshua, he gives the people a strong reminder that they need to obey the Law (Josh 23:6). If they fail, the consequence will be exile:
'If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods... the Lord's anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land He has given you.' (Josh 23:16).

During the time of the Judges, as Joshua's generation dies, 'another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.' (Judges 2:10-11). Consequently, they were routed by their enemies and God raised up Judges to save them. 'Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them.' (Judges 2:17)

Even the Judges themselves were dubious heroes; Gideon lacked decisive faith and made a golden ephod which became a snare to Israel, Jephthah made a rash vow which resulted in him killing his own daughter, and Samson's life was full of compromise instead of being a true Nazirite.

The ending of the book shows moral chaos in the gruesome story of the Levite and his concubine, which threatens to destroy the unity of Israel by causing civil war and the near cutting-off of the Benjaminites.

2. Lack of godly leadership.

The chaos in Judges is attributed to the fact there is no king; 'everyone did as they saw fit' (Judges 21:25).
The people in 1 Samuel demand a king. As Samuel presents Saul to them, he gives them a solemn warning:
'if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God- good! But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against His commands, His hand will be against you.' (1 Sam 12:14-15)

No sooner is Saul declared king than he goes against God's Word and offers up the burnt offering himself instead of waiting for Samuel, the priest. Samuel tells him that because of this his kingdom will not ensure and God has sought out 'a man after his own heart' (1 Sam 13:14). Saul repeatedly tries to do things his own way, instead of obeying God. In the rest of 1 Samuel, we see his deterioration into madness, paranoia and murderous thoughts towards David, despite David's righteous conduct and refusal to touch the Lord's anointed (see 1 Sam 24).

When David finally becomes king, and he is the best of the kings, he commits adultery and murder in a terrible sequence of events (2 Sam 11).

The majority of the kings in 1 & 2 Kings commit terrible acts in the eyes of the Lord, and lead the whole nation into apostasy. Ahab, king of Israel, did more evil than all before him (1 Kings 16:30). He and his wife Jezebel persecute Elijah and install Baal worship as the norm. Even after the glorious display of God's power at Mt Carmel, they remain unchanged.

3. Ignoring the Prophets.

Not only does the dramatic revelation of the reality of God as Lord leave Ahab unmoved, but repeatedly he is shown to ignore and despise God's prophets.

In one incident, a prophet comes to tell him that God will give him victory over Ben-Hadad (King of Aram), and Ahab decides to let the king go. In another incident, Ahab desires Naboth's vineyard (which, according to the distribution of the land and to the inheritance laws, he had no right to claim), and allows Jezebel to have Naboth killed so that he can seize it. Elijah comes to rebuke him for this dreadful action, and Ahab greets the prophet by calling him his 'enemy' (1 Kings 21:20). God says through Elijah 'you have aroused my anger and have caused Israel to sin' (1 Kings 21:22), and the incredible thing is that Ahab does then humble himself. In great mercy, God decides to bring disaster upon Ahab's son instead of Ahab himself.

And yet how much has Ahab really changed? Not much it seems, because when the godly king Jehoshaphat of Judah comes to help him against the king of Aram, Jehoshaphat insists upon seeking counsel from a 'prophet of the Lord', not just a phoney prophet who says whatever the king wants to hear. Ahab acknowledges that there is a true prophet, but he hates him because he never prophesies anything good about him (1 Kings 22:8). Jehoshaphat's reply 'The king should not say such a thing' highlights how wrong Ahab's attitude is towards the prophets and thus towards God, as the prophets speak God's Word to him.

4. Forgetting the Law.

In Josiah king of Judah's day, the Book of the Law is found as they repair the temple. This is a sad indication of how God's Word has been forgotten over the reigns of so many godless kings. Josiah is a great reformer, but he recognises that it is too late: they stand under God's wrath for disobeying His commands (2 Kings 22:13), which the prophet Huldah confirms.

5. Lack of godly parenting.

'Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen... Teach them to your children and to their children after them.' Deut 4:9

Closely linked to the people forgetting the Law is the fact that parents were not training their children in the ways of the Lord, and this is why there was so much moral chaos and apostasy.

Even the God-fearing men were at fault here: Eli was challenged by God ('why do you honour your sons more than Me?' 1 Sam 2:29) and David did not have effective control of his family- the incident of Amnon raping his half-sister Tamar, and David's lack of decisive action to intervene which causes Absalom to act in bloody vengeance, is a prime example of this (2 Sam 13).

6. God keeps His covenant promise.

God had made it clear that if Israel were not obedient, He would send them into exile. That is why the exile happened.

'Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; He afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until He thrust them from His presence.' 2 Kings 17:20


And yet, in all of this, there is hope in God's grace. Not all the kings were bad (Josiah and Hezekiah stand out as really godly leaders), and Isaiah prophesies the future fall of Sennacherib (king of Assyria) in 2 Kings 19, and reminds the people that God is in control:
'Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass.' v25

What can we learn from Judges?

I'm currently ploughing through the Old Testament 2 module of the Moore course, and I've been reading the book of Judges. It's a very gruesome book and sometimes it's hard to know what we're meant to make of all the goings-on: concubines being cut up into twelve pieces and sent to all the tribes of Israel and heroes like Samson who don't seem to care much what God thinks and do whatever they like.

In many ways the book of Judges says more by negative example than positive. I don't think we're meant to read it and follow Gideon's example of laying fleeces before God: time and again he lacked faith and faffed around instead of getting on with what God had clearly told him to do. And yet this is true of many biblical 'heroes' like Abraham and Jacob- the Bible doesn't shrink from telling us all their mistakes and howlers such as Abraham's failure to tell people that Sarah was his wife repeatedly. But God chose to work through flawed people- and God still does that today. Hooray for that! Otherwise none of us would have any hope.

Judges really emphasises that God chooses the nobodies of this world and gives them grace to do what He has called them to do. Many of the book's judges were called to be brave and courageous (just as Joshua was in a previous generation) in a hostile political environment where Israel was attacked on every side and struggling to establish itself. God did marvellous things, by His mercy. It definitely was not a reward for good behaviour, because Israel broke every rule in the book.

It can make for depressing reading when you see how Israel were stuck in a cycle of turning away from God and doing their own thing. No matter how many times God intervened to rescue them, they still worshipped Baal (the pagan god) and showed little faithfulness to the One who had saved them. Samson epitomises this: he was a Nazarite, set apart to live for God, and throughout his life he struggled with his calling. He spent most of his life making rash decisions, chasing after various Philistine women, and reacting in angry violence whenever he was offended. In the same way, Israel as a whole chased after foreign gods and then blamed God for all the rubbish stuff that happened as a result. God had told them that unfaithfulness would bring destruction and eventually exile. Time and again they refused to listen.

As Christians there is perhaps a strong message here to keep ourselves separate from the corrupting influences of the world around us. As Israel's history proves, tolerating ungodly ideas and practises soon leads to participating in them. We need to take a bold stance and place a filter over our TVs and be careful what influences us.

Ultimately we should rejoice in the fact that God has saved us. In sending Jesus, He sent the perfect One who could deliver us for ever from death, sin and the devil. All these human leaders in Judges point towards the much greater Saviour who would come many years later. If there's one thing that Judges teaches us, it's that we can't save ourselves.

A weakness for women- Samson

Judges 16

Samson continually shows a weakness for women that is
a) sinful
b) leads him into many dangerous situations.

God graciously provides ways for him to escape and triumph in his marriage, the incident with the prostitute in Gaza, but finally God allows the Philistines to overpower him.

Samson allows himself to love a Philistine woman (again), and puts himself in her power by telling her the secret of his strength. He became complacent and arrogant in his 'strength', forgetting that he is dependent on God and his role as a Nazirite was to be set apart for God. His actions repeatedly went against this role.

But through Samson, God works another victory for Israel- at the cost of Samson's life when he pulls down the temple of Dagon. God's purposes came to pass but Samson often obstructed them more than he fulfilled them.

This is perhaps a warning to us as Christians of the damaging effect romantic involvement with non Christians can have. You can definitely still be a Christian and go out with, even marry, a non-Christian, but in doing so you are obstructing God's work through you. You cannot be as effective for God when you are yoked to an unbeliever (see 2 Corinthians 6). You cannot have a marriage that is a gospel partnership. And you have duties and responsibilities towards your spouse which may reduce your involvement in gospel ministry, because they will not be involved with it too.

We need to constantly examine our hearts to see if we value God above every single other thing (including people) in our lives. If we place a person before Him, even if it's a spouse, then we are not living in the way that He wants us to (see Luke 14:25-27).

Gideon Part 2

Judges 7

God's power and might are shown clearly when He reduces the size of Israel's army to just 300 men, and the Midianites turn on each other. The men of Israel chase them and kill two leaders. It is a thoroughly successful mission, because God is running it!

After all Gideon's indecision, he finally obeys God- with amazing results.

The incident demonstrates how much God wants us to depend on Him, not on our own strength, and how much He deserves all the glory. As soon as God's people forget that they need God they begin to be sinful and disobedience.

It is vital for our spiritual health that we remember who we are and how dependent we are on God for every breath of each day.

Gideon Part 1

Judges 6

The story of Gideon is really remarkable. God punishes the people for turning away from Him, but graciously helps them once they turn back and cry for help.

Gideon doesn't seem to have much faith- he questions where God is in all the misfortunes of Israel, he questions God's command for him to lead the people and he obeys God's command to take down the Baal altar in the dark, because he fears the reaction from others.

In all of this, God marvellously and graciously works to ensure His purposes are fulfilled. He even grants Gideon's requests for the fleece to be wet, then dry, to give him reassurance. God loves His people so much that He does all of this. How amazing!

Judges: worth reading?

Judges has to be one of the most violent, gory and shocking books of the Old Testament. It gives us the famous stories of Gideon and Samson, and yet even these heroic stories are blotted by the flaws of these figures. Gideon is a man who repeatedly doubts God's promises, and his fleece experiments are definitely not an example for us to follow! Samson is meant to be delivering Israel from the Philistines, and yet lets his sexual desires over-rule his calling as he marries a Philistine woman, and later tells Delilah the secret of his strength.

So what is the value of Judges for Christians today? Well, it DOES have value- it is part of the Word of God for starters, and 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking and training in righteousness. Judges probably tells us more what NOT to do than provide positive examples, but it is no less worthy of our attention because of this.

Judges also testifies to the extraordinary faithfulness of God. To put it into context, God has led the Israelites out of slavery to Egypt, and into the promised land. Joshua, their leader after Moses, dies, and not long after this the people begin to do exactly what they were told NOT to do. They do not drive out the other nations completely or break down their pagan altars. God's angel tells them that these nations will be 'thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you' (3). The people weep and offer sacrifices, but it is a sad fact that 'another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel.' (10) Despite the Exodus and establishment of Israel in the promised land, the covenant and the law, they STILL forget God.

As soon as the Israelites worship other gods, they lose their security and are plundered by raiders. But in His mercy, God raises up judges who save them from these raiders (16). The cycle of disobedience and grace, establishing way back in Genesis 3, continues... And yet God is still loving, caring and involved in the lives of His people.

For us as Christians, we perhaps need reminding of why we need the cross of Jesus so much, and why it was such an amazing act of grace for God to send His Son into a world that had rejected Him from its very creation. Judges gives us a horrifying picture of life without God, and motivates us to cling to Jesus, a Saviour who (unlike the flawed judges) brings us perfect relationship with God.