Ep. 66. Judges 3-5 | Ehud and Deborah
EPISODE 66
EHUD AND DEBORAH: JUDGES 3-5
We have already read that the Hebrews forsook God the moment Joshua died, not that they were great at following God when Joshua was still alive, but they almost immediately intermarried with the Canaanites. "Their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods." This is the very thing Moses had told them in the song he taught them from Deuteronomy 32, "They stirred [God] to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations, they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods." It was both Moses' and Joshua's warning to the people that if they took the Canaanites as their wives, it would be like "thorns in their eyes." But, "the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth." We often think of the Judges as people who helped rescue and deliver the Israelites, but we forget that the reason the Israelites were in trouble was because of their rejection of God. So, for roughly 350 years, the people would bounce back and forth between being captives and being led by the newest Judge.
I really enjoy the story of Deborah. She is one in a line of prophetesses who served the Lord and loved him well. Though there are not quite as many prophetesses mentioned in the Bible as prophets, they are nonetheless important and weighty in what God calls them and equips them to do. Despite a seven-day stint of leprosy, Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, was a woman who helped lead the people of God in the wilderness for forty years. Huldah was a prophetess who was sought out for her wisdom by King Josiah when he needed to know what it meant to follow God. The prophet Isaiah was apparently married to a prophetess, though we don't learn her name. Anna, a prophetess in the New Testament, was one of the first people to behold the infant Jesus. Philip the evangelist had four unmarried daughters who prophesied by the Holy Spirit. But Deborah eclipses them all in the sheer volume of content we have about her.
Deborah was a prophetess and a judge, a ruler over Israel. She found a palm to sit beneath on the road between Ramah and Bethel. Ramah is where Samuel, the priest and prophet, was born. I have always found it fantastic that the palm was called The Palm of Deborah. That's wonderful. She was so readily found in this spot and actively sought out by people that the palm tree bore her name.
Deborah spoke to Barak and told him of God's plan to use him as the means of rescue for the Hebrew people, but he balked at it, and the honor of deliverance would ultimately fall to Jael. The land had rest for forty years. In every other case through the Book of Judges, such a statement indicated the length of time a certain judge would rule in the land. It would appear then that Deborah would judge Israel for forty years.
I do wish we knew more about the ministry she had along the side of the road under the Palm of Deborah. I will note that the male prophets of the Bible were only occasionally sought out. More times than not, they were sent out by God to proclaim this message or that one, but the prophetesses were sought out for their wisdom. They had a reputation for being wise and in touch with God's heart and will. What a phenomenal thing to be known for your faithfulness to God and your wisdom. I've had the pleasure of knowing several such women in my life, and though I am not sure they would qualify as prophetesses, I am confident they are just as much a blessing as Deborah must have been.
ADDITIONAL READING: Exodus 15:20; 2 Kings 22:14; Isaiah 8:3; Luke 2:36; Acts 21:8-10; Deuteronomy 32: 16-17; Joshua 23:6-7; Numbers 33:55
