Judges 5:20 says, They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. Deborah sang that even the stars fought against Sisera. Matthew Henry says this may be a reference to the hail that helped in defeating Sisera, which would have blocked out the stars, but it definitely refers to being at war with the One Who created the stars. Verse twenty-one adds, The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. Then she sang of the river Kishon sweeping away multitudes who hoped to escape through it, and once more this was something that God Himself controlled. Whatever enemy we may be facing today, as followers of Christ, our God is immensely more powerful than the most powerful enemy we will ever face. Verse twenty-two continues, Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones. The sound of the horsehoofs was broken by the flooding river. Their chariots, of which they were so proud, were made useless by God, just as He can make the most powerful weapon of mankind useless today. Verse twenty-three declares, Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty. Then, Deborah sang of a curse being placed on Meroz, which Matthew Henry says was probably a city of Israel near the fighting, for not coming to fight in the war against Sisera. We who profess to be Christians cannot set safely on the sidelines, because we are still at war with sin and evil in the world today. Verse twenty-four adds, Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. Deborah then sang of a blessing on Jael for her part in the victory. Those who serve God most faithfully will be blessed, if not in this world, then in the one to come. Verse twenty-five continues, He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. When Sisera asked Jael for water, she gave him milk instead. He thought she was on his side in the war against Israel. Verse twenty-six states, She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. Then Deborah sang of Jael's action in killing Sisera when he thought he was safe enough to sleep. Today, we are told to love our enemies, but we still cannot surrender our loyalty to God and our acknowledgement that we are at war with the forces of sin and evil. Verse twenty-seven adds, At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead. Though Sisera might have been a powerful man at one time, he was brought down by a woman. No matter how powerful our enemies may be today, as long as we remain faithful to God, they will be brought down one day. Verse twenty-eight says, The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? Deborah sang of the mother of Sisera looking and listening for the chariots return, and asking what could have happened to them. She expected a quick victory, because of the number of chariots Sisera had to use in the war against Israel. As Christians, many of our enemies today expect to have a quick victory over us, but if we remain faithful to God, they will be left sitting and asking what happened. Verse twenty-nine adds, Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, She looked to her wise ladies, who aren't really identified as to why they were referred to as wise ladies, for answers and they said yes, they should be back, then she attempted to answer the question herself. We are never going to find the answers we are looking for today until we look to God. All the wisdom of the world outside of the wisdom that comes from God when we put our faith in Jesus Christ will never provide us answers to any problem. Verse thirty continues, Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil? Sisera's mother then asked had he not quickly defeated the Israelites and divided the spoils of war. She was expecting a quick and easy victory over God's people, but she was so wrong. The people of the world may expect a quick and easy victory over Christians today, but if we remain faithful to God, they will always be left sitting and asking what happened. Verse thirty-one concludes, So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years. Deborah closed the song by asking for the death of God's enemies and for His blessings on His people, and then we are told that the people of Israel lived at peace for forty years. As followers of Christ, spiritually all our enemies have already been defeated and we have God's everlasting blessing on us. We are a part of God's everlasting kingdom as soon as we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, and no enemy can truly defeat us as long a we remain true to Him. We have everlasting peace spiritually as long as we remain faithful to Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment