Theological Commentary: Click Here
One of the
things that I love about the Old Testament is just how often the text causes us
to grow and stretch. Human beings really
prefer to read the Bible and think that they have it all figured out. We really like to put God in a box. We like to think that we can put God in our
bulleted lists and our quaint little platitudes. The truth, however, is that God is bigger
than our conceptions. We’ll never figure
out God.
For example,
take this story about Barak. We like to
think that God’s appointed leaders were bold and fearless defenders of the
faith. That’s not what we see
today. Barak knows God’s will. Deborah tells him that she has told him to go
up and be bold. She reminds him that God
has told him to go. Even when he is
reminded, Barak is hesitant and declares that he will only go if Deborah goes
with him. Fortunately for Barak, Deborah
agrees. Barak also only goes out when he
manages a huge force against his enemy. In
all of this, we can see that Barak is not the bold defender that we would
expect. He does go, but it isn’t what I
would call boldly.
Who is
bold? Jael, the woman. Jael goes out to meet Sisera. She invites him in. She plans his death and executes him. The enemy leader of the Hebrew people die at
the hands of a woman.
We are
called out of our comfortable understanding of God by hearing that the only
reason Sisera dies is because Jael goes out.
The only reason that Barak comes to battle is because Deborah agrees to
go with him. It isn’t Barak who is the
bold defender but these two women!
Here’s the
deal for today. To the people who say
that women can’t be called into leadership over men, I present Deborah who
clearly led Barak. To the people who
think that women can make powerful moves and save others, I present Jael. To the people who think that God gives up on
people who are timid, I present Barak.
God is in the business of using the unusual suspects to accomplish His
will and to bring salvation to His people.
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