Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Day 126 "Because of the course you are taking"

Judges 4 Deborah says to Barak "But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman."

I wonder did Barak think that Deborah may have been speaking about herself? After all when would a woman and a prophetess at that, join the leader of the army in war. No one would have expected the turn of events, that Sisera hid in a womans tent.

Was the death all the more poignant that someone so cruel was waylaid and deceived by a woman? Barak "the macho" could have been his fame but that was the beginning and end of his story. Let's look at another player....Jael. She went out to meet Sisera. We read that Jael was a Kenite, not an Israelite.

Judges 1:16 The descendants of Moses' father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the people of Judah to live among the inhabitants of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad. Judges 4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.

So now, we have someone, a woman not a man, and not an Israelite slaying the enemy of YHWH's people

The fact that there was an understanding between her husband and the people's enemy opened up the potential fury of an "unhappy" husband. Jael had alot to calculate and she was courageous. She even gave Sisera milk when he asked for water. She was not a stingy woman even to the enemy. This shows me the confidence and poise she must have had to kill such a powerful enemy.

It seems YHWH has answers for HIS people and they are often found in the unexpected places and with unexpected people.

Is YHWH saying to us today, "Because of the course you are taking"...... are we are taking a lesser courageous path than we know we are being asked to? Barak did fight, but God didn't give him the honor he could have had or another job to do in HIS kingdom.

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