LIFE LESSONS
DEBORAH
DR. JIM DIXON
MARCH 23, 2003
JUDGES 4:1-10
In the year 1886, a man named John Nix imported tomatoes from the West Indies to the United States. The United States government charged him duty on those tomatoes. John Nix was enraged because the Tariff Act of 1883 declared that imported fruit could come into the United States duty free. John Nix believed that tomatoes were fruit and not vegetables. He took his case to court, and, believe it or not, it went all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
In the year 1893, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision on the tomato. They decided that the tomato was indeed scientifically and botanically a fruit. They pointed out, however, that horticulturists classify the tomato as a vegetable because, practically and experientially, tomatoes are used more like vegetables than like fruit. They are not eaten apart from the meal; rather, they are eaten with the meal. Therefore, the United States Supreme Court concluded that, under the law, from this time forth and forevermore, the tomato would be classified as a vegetable.
Now, I’m confident that there’s nobody in this room who really cares about that decision or about tomatoes; but, I’m equally confident that every one of you in this room cares about law. You’re grateful for courts and for judges and for the fact that they’re willing to arbitrate disputes even in matters of minutia. You’re grateful that we have courts and judges who are able to render decisions and judgements. You’re grateful that they are able to arbitrate disputes and define and clarify law.
We live in a country where the highest court is indeed the Supreme Court of the United States. The most esteemed judges are Supreme Court Justices. On our Supreme Court, there are eight Supreme Court Justices and one Chief Justice. It’s all part of our judicial system in the United States of America. But what was the judicial system in Israel 3,200 years ago?
Thirty-two hundred years ago, the time of the judges was beginning in Israel. It was a time that extended for more than 200 years. During that period of time, the book of Judges tells us, God raised up 15 different judges. They were anointed by the Holy Spirit and empowered by God. One of those judges was Deborah, and she will be our focus this morning.
Deborah was, in fact, the fourth of the 15 judges. In her time, she was kind of like the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. She arbitrated in disputes. She made judgements and decisions. We’re told that the people of Israel came up to her for judgement as she sat under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. All the people came up to her.
She had great power and authority in Israel. She was fairly unique amongst the 15 judges because she had a judicial role. Most of the judges in the book of Judges were not what we would call judges. Most of them did not deal with legal matters. Most of them did not arbitrate in the world of disputes. Most of them did not make decisions nor render judgements.
I want us to focus, this morning, on the two primary purposes of the judges in the book of Judges. Indeed, I want us to focus on the two primary purposes in the life of Deborah—why God raised her up and what her two primary two roles were . . . because it really wasn’t about judicial decision-making.
The first teaching this morning concerns unity. God raised up the judges and gave them authority, so that, in a time of crisis, the people of Israel might be united. I want us to focus first of all on the subject of unity in general from a biblical perspective. We need to understand that God does not seek the unity of humanity in this fallen world. I know that might be a surprise to many of you; but in this age of the world, God does not seek the unity of fallen humanity.
If you go back to Genesis 11 and read the story of the Tower of Babel, you will see how, early in history, mankind was united. There was one language and everyone spoke the same words. In their fallenness, humans were arrogant. The human race came and built a great city to its own glory, culminating in a tower called “Babel.” The Bible tells us that God looked down and God scattered the people. He broke their unity. He confused their tongue. He gave them many languages, and He dispersed them over the earth into many people groups. He made it impossible for them to talk with one another because He felt like, in a fallen world, unity is extremely dangerous. He would rather see power dispersed over the earth in a fallen world than power united in a fallen world.
There are some Bible scholars who believe that in the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, God is using the genre of historical narrative. There are some Bible scholars who believe God is using the genre of allegory or parable. But it really doesn’t matter because everyone understands what God is saying. God does not want humanity in its fallenness to be united. It’s dangerous.
The Bible tells us that, one day, at the consummation of the age, there shall arrive an individual who will seek to unite all people. He will be called the Antichrist. He will seek power over every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, the Bible tells us. The judgement of God will fall upon him. Only when Christ comes again can there be a government that unites all people. Of course, that is why evangelicals are often kind of suspicious of any movement toward any world government. However, when you look at the Bible, you see that God does want unity amongst His people. This is true in the old covenant, and this is true in the new covenant. This was true of the Jewish people, and this is true of the church. God seeks unity amongst His people.
As you look at the old covenant and the people of Israel, you see that, early on, God raised up the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—who united the Jewish people. We have dealt with them in this series of messages. God then raised up national leaders like Moses and Joshua, and we have dealt with them. As national leaders, they were able to bring some measure of unity to the people of God. After the death of Joshua, the Bible tells us that there was a void of leadership in Israel. It says in Judges 17 that every person did what was right in his own eyes. There was chaos in Israel. The tribes functioned as individual tribes and never the twain did meet. There was no unity in Israel, and God then raised up the judges. He raised up the judges to seek to bring some measure of unity to His people. The Holy Spirit came upon them, and the power of God was on them and in them. Deborah was one of these. The power of God was upon her. The Spirit of God within her.
God raised her up, so that in a critical time, she might bring unity to the people. But none of the judges were really able to unify Israel. In the Song of Deborah (found in Judges 5), Deborah rebuked four of the tribes. She rebuked Gideon. She rebuked Asher, Ruben, and Dan because those four tribes refused to respond to her call when she sought to unite them. They refused to respond to her call, and she spoke judgement against them. It was difficult for any of the judges in the time of the judges to unite the people of God.
After the period of judges, there came the period of the kings—first, the united kingdom and second, the divided kingdom. The people had cried out to God saying, “Give us a king,” but God was already King. God is King. God wanted His people to be united under His reign, but the people cried out for an earthly king. Though God did not will it, He granted it. He gave them an earthly king. There was the period of the united kingdom with Saul and David and Solomon; but then, it all fell apart. Then, there was the divided kingdom, which separated into the kingdom of Judea and the kingdom of Israel. Even with respect to those two kingdoms, there was not true unity in either one.
Of course, when you come to the time of the exile, the Jews were not at all united. They were scattered over the face of the earth, strangers in exile on the earth. When you come to the time of Christ and you look at the Jewish people, there is, perhaps, less unity than ever before. You have the Pharisees and the Sadducees who have divided the people theologically. You have the Pharisees and the Sadducees, along with the Essenes and the zealots who had divided the people politically. The people of God had no true unity. You might think, “Well surely they were united with regard to Torah, with regard to the law.” But they were not united with regard to Torah, with regard to Scripture. They were not united because of the rabbinic order.
There were many rabbis. They all had their own view of Torah. Some rabbis were of the Hillel School and some were of the Shammai School. Some focused on “Hagadahs,” some focused on “Halakha.” There was a diversity of opinions amongst the rabbis. Of course, each rabbi had gone through a rabbinical school and had been endorsed by two other rabbis before they themselves could be declared a rabbi. Then they were given “semikhah,” the Hebrew word which means “authority.” As each rabbi was given “semikhah,” they had the authority to interpret Torah. They developed their own yoke, which was their interpretation of Torah. They developed disciples who were bound to that interpretation of Torah and were under the authority of the Rabbi’s “semikhah.” Of course, they bound and they loosed, and they said, “This is permitted” and “This is forbidden.” All over Israel, at the time of Christ, you had different rabbis with different yokes, using their “semikhah” in different ways. The people of God were in chaos.
Then came Jesus Christ. He said that He had all authority in heaven and on earth—all “semikhah” was His. He was the fulfillment of the rabbinic order, and His yoke was for all who would follow Him. “Take My yoke upon you.” He called His people to be His disciples and to come under His yoke. He bound and He loosed. He prayed in John 17 that His people might be one.
If you go back in Scripture, you can see that God wants His people to be united (Psalms 1:33, Ezekiel 37, Galatians 3, Ephesians 2). This is clearly taught throughout the Scripture. When you come to the high priestly prayer of Christ in John 17, you see His passion, through tears, that His people might be united—under His yoke, under His “semikhah,” under His authority.
But even today, it is not happening, is it? There is very little unity amongst the body of Christ and the people of God even today. Of course, we have denominations. Denominations are a lot like rabbis. Each denomination has its own “semikhah,” its own authority. Each denomination develops its own disciples, its own followers. Each denomination has its own yoke, its own interpretation of Torah, its own interpretation of the Bible. Each denomination binds their disciples to that yoke. Each denomination binds and looses. They say, “This is forbidden,” “This is permitted.”
You have Catholics and you have Protestants. You have Baptists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Pentecostals. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a denomination in and of itself. This church is affiliated with a denomination called the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Certainly, denominations can serve a purpose. They provide checks and balances, a community of fellowship, standards of ordination. All of these things are good; but denominations were never meant to be paramount. You should not find your identity in a denomination. You are first and foremost, as part of the people of God, followers of Jesus Christ. You identify yourself first and foremost as a Christian.
It is so sad when you hear somebody say, “I’m a Baptist. What is your religion?” “I’m an Episcopalian.” “I’m a Catholic.” “I’m a Lutheran.” Or whatever. That is so sad because we are the people of God, brothers and sisters in the family of God. Our primary identification should simply be, “Christian,” followers of Jesus.
This first life lesson from Deborah is that “God seeks to unite His people.” Today, He is seeking to do that very thing. He’s not trying to unite the church organizationally or governmentally as in the World Council of Churches in the Ecumenical Movement. Rather, He is seeking to unite His people spiritually, so that we might truly love each other as brothers and sisters and get over the denominational thing.
Do you realize that wherever you have anyone in the world who loves Jesus Christ, there you have a brother or a sister? We are part of the family of God, and we have work to do. We need to pray together, come together, and work together—for there is a great struggle between light and darkness. Christ calls His people to be one.
That is the first life lesson from Deborah. In every generation, God has raised up people to unite His people. This was true of the patriarchs; it was true of the national leaders like Moses and Joshua; and it was true of the 15 judges. They were raised up to unite the people in a critical time. This was true of Deborah, and it is supremely true of Jesus Christ. He is the One who unites. His body is the Church. We are under His yoke, under His “semikhah.” We may indeed bind and loose a little differently with regard to Scripture, but we’re going to have to give an account to Him for that binding and loosing. We’re all under His yoke, His “semikhah,” His authority. He has fulfilled the rabbinical order.
Secondly, we have this life lesson, which concerns deliverance. When we look at Deborah, we see that the primary role of the judge in the Book of Judges was to deliver the people. This was the primary role. As we said before, most of the judges had no judicial role. They did not arbitrate. They did not render decisions and verdicts. They were deliverers.
As you go through the book of Judges, you see a pattern. The people of God sin. They do what is evil in the sight of God. Then God gives His people into the hand of an oppressor nation. The people then cry out for help. They come in repentance, and God raises up a deliverer. This is the pattern you see over and over again throughout the Judges.
Consider the first judge, Othniel. First, the people of Israel do what is evil in the sight of God, and then God delivers the children of Israel into the hands of the Arameans. They oppressed the people of Israel. Because the people of Israel have sinned, God allows it. The people of Israel then cry out to God for help. They come in repentance. God raises up a deliverer, Othniel, who was the first of the judges. Then, there’s a period of peace. But then, the people of Israel again do what is evil in the sight of God. God then allows the Moabites to oppress the people of Israel. The people cry out in repentance and they cry out for help. God then raises up Ehud, the second of the judges. Othniel, then Ehud. There’s a period where the people are delivered. There’s a period of peace.
And then the people of Israel do again what is evil in the sight of God. So, the judgement of God falls upon them, and they are oppressed by the Philistines. God allows it. The children of Israel then cry out for help, cry out for mercy. They repent and God raises up Shamgar, the third of the judges, the third deliverer. The people are delivered, and there’s a time of peace. Then they again do what is evil in the sight of God, and God allows the Canaanites, under the authority of Jabin and Sisera, to oppress the people of Israel. The people of Israel repent. They cry out for help. God raises up the fourth judge and deliverer, who is Deborah.
The pattern is the same again and again throughout the book of Judges. And so, Deborah rises up, anointed by God, to unite the people and to deliver them. She summons Barak, the great military commander, and she commands him to gather the tribes. She commands him to gather an army and to meet the forces of Canaan at the River Kishon. He says, “I’ll do this, but only if you’ll go with me.” Barak viewed Deborah as God’s anointed, and he knew there would be no blessing if she was not there. She said, “I will surely go with you.”
We read how God miraculously delivers the people of Israel from the Canaanites, from Jabin and Sisera. We read how Sisera’s 900 chariots of iron become stuck in the mud; how the forces of Israel miraculously prevail; and how Sisera flees into the tent of a woman named Jael, who drives a tent peg through his head as part of the judgement of God upon the oppressors of Israel. Deborah, the deliverer. Each of the judges, deliverers.
There are a couple of life lessons from this. The first is this: if you feel oppressed, if you feel like you’re going through a time of oppression, like things just aren’t going well for you, it is right that you ask yourself if you have sinned. Of course, we’ve all sinned; but ask yourself if there’s some unconfessed sin, perhaps some chronic sin, or some area of your life that you’re not allowing God into. You need to repent. You need to cry out for help and watch God raise up deliverance.
We understand, biblically, that the ultimate Deliverer and, indeed, the ultimate Judge is Jesus Christ Himself. There are eleven different Greek words in the Bible that can be translated “deliverer.” All eleven are applied to Jesus Christ. In Romans 11, Jesus Christ is called “The Deliverer”—”rhuomai,” “to deliver through rescue.” He is the Deliverer, and He rescues His people in fulfillment of prophecy. He is the Deliverer.
In Hebrews chapter 2, there’s that great passage where it is written, “Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same nature, that by His death, He might destroy him who has the power of death—that is the devil—and deliver those who, through fear of death, are subject to lifelong bondage.” “Deliver those who, through fear of death, are subject to lifelong bondage.” The Greek word for “delivered” here is “apallasso.” It means “to deliver in such a way as to set free.” Christ sets His people free from oppression. Satan is the oppressor. The devil is the oppressor. The whole world is oppressed, afflicted, in bondage to death, and in bondage to sin. Jesus Christ is the Deliverer.
Deborah and all of the judges were simply foreshadowings, just inklings of the fullness of Christ who would one day come and be the Deliverer of His people. Jesus Christ delivers us, not simply physically, but He delivers us spiritually. He delivers us from sin and death. This is the life lesson. We’re called to that ministry of deliverance. Jesus Christ is the Supreme Judge, the Supreme Deliverer, and we have been called to enter into this ministry of deliverance, this ministry of salvation. That’s why we have a missions department. That’s why we send people all over the earth with the gospel of salvation and deliverance. It is the gospel of Christ. That’s why we support evangelical organizations in this nation. That’s why we seek to be a bringer church and a seeker-friendly church. We want to share the gospel with people. We want to see people delivered.
In the year 1895 at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, there was a student named Robert Blakely. Robert Blakely had intellectual questions about the Christian faith. He had intellectual doubts about the claims of Christ. He refused to accept Christ, but he was willing to talk about it. And so, a local Presbyterian church sent one of its elders, a 62-year-old man, over to Butler University to talk to Robert Blakely about his faith (or his absence of faith) and his intellectual doubts.
This 62-year-old man, who loved Christ and who had once been a deacon in the church and was now an elder and a Sunday School teacher, went prayerfully and humbly over to Butler University. He went into the room of this college student. He sat there with Robert Blakely, and he said, “Son, I don’t know whether I can help you, but I’ll do my best.” He said, “Ask me what you will.” They began to discuss. It was 7:00 PM at night when they began. They entered into a discussion that lasted for six hours. At 1:00 AM, this elder from the Presbyterian church and this student named Robert Blakely both sensed that God had filled the room. They could sense the presence and the anointing of God. By the grace of God, this elder had been able to answer most of the intellectual questions that Robert Blakely had. In that moment, God tugged on Robert Blakely’s heart, and he gave his life to Jesus Christ. He asked Jesus to come into his heart and be his Lord and Savior.
It was a moment of incredible deliverance for Robert Blakely. He suddenly realized that he was forgiven of his sins and washed whiter than snow. He felt like this huge load had been taken off of his back. He suddenly realized that he was bound for heaven and his life was eternal by the power of Christ. It was this amazing moment of deliverance for Robert Blakely, deliverance from fear of death.
For this Presbyterian elder, it was a moment of incredible joy because, you see, that’s what it’s like when you have the privilege of telling another person about Jesus. When you see them respond and embrace Christ, it is a moment of amazing joy. This elder from the Presbyterian church was no normal man. Three years earlier, he had been the President of the United States of America. His name was Benjamin Harrison. He had become President of the United States in the year 1888. He was the 23rd President of the United States of America. He defeated Grover Cleveland in that election.
During the four years of Benjamin Harrison’s presidency, lots of things happened. Six states joined the Union, including the state of Wyoming. Yosemite Valley became a National Park during his presidency. James Naismith invented basketball—and of course we’re entering “March madness”—but it all began during Benjamin Harrison’s presidency. There were many inventions, from the diesel engine to the zipper. They were inventions that took place during Benjamin Harrison’s presidency. His presidency launched that famous decade called the “Gay 90s.”
In the year 1901, Benjamin Harrison was asked to look back on his life and to define for the people the greatest moment, the greatest experience of his life. He said, “It took place in 1895 at Butler University when I had the privilege of leading a college student to Jesus Christ.” He said, “In my whole life, that is the greatest moment. That was my greatest joy. When I look back, that’s what I’m most excited about.”
I hope you understand, that’s how we feel here at Cherry Hills Community Church. We want to exalt Christ and to bring people to Christ. We seek to bond them, build them, and send them out in Christ, but we’re seeking to bring people to Christ. Our highest joy is when somebody embraces Christ, when someone asks Jesus into their heart. We seek to do this in Sunday School. We seek to do this in the inner city. We seek to do this overseas. We ask you to join with us and to be part of this ministry, part of this joy.
I know you’ve all heard of concentration camps. Of course, the phrase, “concentration camp” was coined by the British around the year 1900 during the Bore War in Africa. The British “concentrated” people into camps, and they came up with this phrase, “concentration camps.”
In the 1920s, Joseph Stalin put millions of people into concentration camps. Of course, during World War II, the United States government put thousands of Japanese into concentration camps. I think the most infamous of the concentration camps were the Nazi concentration camps of World War II.
Bergen Belsen was one of the Nazi concentration camps. It was April 15, 1945 when American soldiers and allied forces delivered the concentration camp of Bergen Belsen. They came into that camp and they set 60,000 people free. They found 10,000 dead, not even buried, laying on the ground . . . but 60,000 alive. American soldiers and allied forces set 60,000 people free, delivered them.
Just six days later, April 21, 1945, American soldiers and the allied forces came into the concentration camp at Buchenwald and set 21,000 people free. More than 100,000 had died, most of them of starvation, but they set free 21,000, delivered them. Eight days later, April 29, 1945, American soldiers and allied soldiers came into Dachau, infamous for its medical experiments. Three thousand five hundred Jewish men, women, and children died during medical experiments by Nazi doctors, but allied forces were able to set free 32,000.
The Nazi’s had 20 concentration camps, and six of those 20 were death camps where Jewish people were gassed or even incinerated. The most infamous of those death camps was Auschwitz. Records reveal that 1,250,000 Jewish people were gassed at Auschwitz. At the Nuremberg War Trials, testimony was given, and the claim then was that 2.5 million Jews were gassed at Auschwitz. Another 500,000 died of starvation—a nightmare, one of the bleakest, blackest moments in history.
But, you see, how great it was for those American soldiers and for those allied soldiers to be able to go and see people delivered from concentration camps, to set them free. They had to kill the oppressors and there was a horror to that, but there was a joy to setting people free.
I know we are a nation at war. Of course, the president has said that this is an effort to deliver an oppressed people. The president has said that this is an effort to thwart a dictator and a tyrant who is a danger to the world, to the nations that surround him, and even to his own people. It is an effort to set people at liberty, to deliver some of those people. I know in a room like this, there’s a complexity of views and opinions. I’ve chosen to support our president and our soldiers overseas, but I also know that we are not a nation completely united on this. I know the Body of Christ is not completely united on this.
But surely, as the Body of Christ, we can be united in this: the deliverance of the gospel. Can we be united in this, the deliverance of the gospel? The gospel is not politically correct because, you see, the gospel implies that people are in captivity. The gospel implies that people are oppressed, and that’s not politically correct. The gospel implies that people are in bondage to sin and death and need to be delivered.
This is the call of Christ upon His people: that we would join Him as the Deliverer in this ministry of deliverance—that we would go into the Sunday School classrooms, that we would go into inner city tutoring programs, that we would go on short-term missionary assignments, that we would support with our time and our talent and our treasure the progress of the gospel on the earth, that we would seek to be light in the darkness, that we would share with our friends and our neighbors, that we would be united in this.
God raised up Deborah at a critical time to rally her people, unite them, and see them delivered from oppression in a ministry of deliverance. Christ raises up His people in every generation and calls them to unity and to this ministry of deliverance. We’re called to be light in the darkness.
So, we have these life lessons from Deborah. Certainly, a call to unity. Throughout the history of God’s people, God has raised up leaders to unite His people. Deborah was one. Of course, the supreme example of an individual raised up by God is the Anointed One, the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We are under His “semikhah,” His authority. We are under His yoke, and He calls us to oneness. We have brothers and sisters in the family of God all over the world. We need to pray together, join together.
The second life lesson is that we are called to a ministry of deliverance. God raised up Deborah to be a deliverer in her time. Just as He raised up all the judges to be deliverers in their time, so He has raised up Christ to be Deliverer for all time. So, too, He has raised up the people of Christ to join Him through the Gospel as we seek to rescue those who are oppressed by sin and death. Let’s close with a word of prayer.