Links for today’s readings:
Read: Judges 5 Listen: (4:36) Read: 1 Timothy 6 Listen: (3:16)
Scripture Focus: Judges 5.1-3, 12-13
1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:
2 “When the princes in Israel take the lead,
when the people willingly offer themselves—
praise the Lord!
3 “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
I, even I, will sing to the Lord;
I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song…
12 ‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah!
Wake up, wake up, break out in song!
Arise, Barak!
Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’
13 “The remnant of the nobles came down;
the people of the Lord came down to me against the mighty.
Reflection: Victorious Remnant Songs
By John Tillman
Deborah confidently led Israel out of a time of decline, crime, oppression, and spiritual torpor. Then she sang about it.
The three sections of Deborah’s song each have three phrases of three lines. The song also mentions three women, Deborah, Jael, and Sisera’s mother.
The first section (v 3-11) compares the victories God brought in the past to the one he will bring in Deborah’s day.
The second section (v. 13-21) is a wake up call to battle. It describes those who gathered for battle or hesitated to join. It describes Sisera’s army being swept away in a river, echoing Egypt’s army drowned in the Red Sea.
The third section (22-31) zooms in on Jael and Sisera’s mother. Jael kills Sisera, echoing the promise of Eve’s seed crushing the head of the snake. (Genesis 3.15) Sisera’s mother waits impatiently for financial benefits from the battle, unaware that loss is coming instead.
There are several notable themes in Deborah’s song.
Divine iteration is a biblical pattern. To paraphrase Mark Twain, God’s salvific acts don’t repeat, but they rhyme. God acts in ways similar to, yet distinct from, his previous actions. We can miss what God is doing if we expect the exact same deliverance as before. There will always be a twist of something new. (Isaiah 43.19)
Not everyone will wake up. Not everyone needs to. Despite Deborah’s call to wake up, much of Israel stayed asleep. Only a remnant responded, but it was enough. The recovery of spiritual vigor, justice, and freedom is possible because God works through remnants rather than regiments.
The lowly will overcome the mighty. Jael was not a prophet, warrior, or leader, like Deborah. She was the wife of a nomadic relative of Moses’ father-in-law. However, it was “at her feet he sank” (v. 27) not at the feet of a warrior. Sisera’s mother represents those who benefit financially from oppression, even if they don’t directly participate in it. God uses the lowly and few to bring down the mighty and many, emphasizing that his hand acts to strike down evil, repaying suffering and loss to those responsible for it.
Celebrate ahead of time what Deborah wrote about, for it will happen again. Sing victorious remnant songs. God will save in ways familiar, yet new. Don’t be discouraged. We need only a remnant of the faithful to change the fate of many. The mighty will not prevail over the lowly who trust in God.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
My mouth shall recount your mighty acts and saving deeds all day long; though I cannot know the number of them. — Psalm 71.15
– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle
Read more: No Asterisks
Deborah’s judgeship doesn’t deserve an asterisk…The biblical writers make no apologies or explanations for Deborah.
Read more: Prayer For Faithful Shepherds
God describes to Ezekiel what he will be like when he comes as a shepherd…a promise fulfilled by Jesus’ earthly ministry.
