For Thine Honor
Now the Lord saith, ‘Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.’ (1 Samuel 2:30)
Moses led Israel out of Egypt, and Joshua brought them into the Promised Land. But we read in Judges 2:7, “And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel.” Then, after Joshua and the elders had passed on, the people of Israel looked to judges to uphold lawful conduct and to administer justice. These men and women were also often prophets who declared God’s instructions for his people. In these early chapters, the twelve tribes of Israel could not drive out all the inhabitants of the land, as God had commanded them, so, in Judges 4 and 5 we are introduced to the prophetess, Deborah who faced oppression from Jabin, king of the Canaanites. Sisera was the captain over the Canaanite army with its nine hundred iron chariots, and this formidable force had oppressed Israel for twenty years!
One day, quite suddenly, Deborah called for Barak to deliver God’s battle plan for victory over the Canaanites. And while Barak rallied ten thousand men from Zebulun and Naphtali to join him, he predicated his faith by insisting that Deborah go with him to Mount Tabor. Barak followed the plan and the battle went just as Deborah had predicted. He pursued the chariots and not a man was left of the opposing army. Yet, the honor of the victory fell to a woman named Jael who killed Sisera as he fled.
When Barak is mentioned in Hebrews 11:32-33, we can associate him with ‘through faith subdued kingdoms.” The account in Judges 4 concludes with this statement, “And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.” In a much later time, King Jehoshaphat declared to the people of Jerusalem, “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” (2Chronicles 20:20) We cannot put conditions on God’s instructions. Barak was given the commendation of faith in God as recorded in Hebrews 11, had he fully trusted the word of the prophetess, surely the honor of the victory would have been his also.
Read: Hebrews 11:32-33; Judges 4-5; 1 Samuel 2:30; 2 Chronicles 20:20
Listen: Deborah’s Song of Victory