THE SONG OF DEBORAH

JUDGES 5

Village life in Israel ceased, ceased until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel

(Judges 5:7).

Just as Israel sang a great song after the victory of God over Pharaoh (Exodus 15), so here in Judges 5 we find an amazing song that celebrated the victory of God over the Canaanites. Let’s consider two aspects of this song today.

First, the song celebrated God’s triumph in terms of the prophecy of Genesis 3:15. That prophecy predicted a war between the woman and the serpent, and between her seed and his seed. The war of the mothers was in sharp focus in the Song of Deborah. Deborah said that she was the mother for Israel (Judges 5:7). She raised up a godly generation, who were willing to break the idols and fight the holy war. Barak and his army were her spiritual sons, the true seed of the woman.

Deborah ridiculed the mother of Sisera, a savage woman who raised a savage son. She imagined Sisera’s mother thinking about all the fun her son was having raping Israelite women (Judges 5:30). Sisera’s mother looked forward to receiving nice red-dyed garments from the spoil. She would not be disappointed, for her son’s garments were dyed red with his own blood.

Secondly, the song provided a roll call of the tribes, those who showed up to fight and those who did not (Judges 5:13–18). Deborah praised those who came to fight. Their names are recorded for all time: Ephraim, Benjamin, Machir, Zebulun, Issachar, and Naphtali. Deborah ridiculed those who did not come to fight: Reuben, Gilead, and Dan. (The tribes of Judah and Simeon, being far in the south, were not expected to fight in a battle this far north, so they were not mentioned.) As the song was sung at the watering places in Israel (Judges 5:11), those who fought would receive a good reward of praise and those who did not would turn red with shame.

This was the battle of Megiddo (Judges 5:19). The greater battle is Armageddon, fought by the church (the new Deborah) and her Greater Son throughout history against Satan and his seed. At the end will come a new song, a song of judgment, when all of us will find ourselves on one list or the other. Which will you be on?

CORAM DEO

Psalms 7–9

Acts 17:1–15

WEEKEND

Psalms 10–15

Acts 17:16–34

While some who failed to make the trip to battle were only ridiculed, those who were near the battle and refused to fight were cursed (Judges 5:23). Spiritual conflict is prevalent in the lives of all true believers. Many, however, shirk their call to wage war, making excuses that fall short of convincing the church, far less God. How would you fare if Deborah was writing her song today?

For further study: 1 Corinthians 9:24–27 • 2 Timothy 4:1–8

WEEKEND

Psalm 94—God Of Justice

by Derek Kidner

Our English opening to the psalm in terms of vengeance seems to confirm the popular view of “the God of the Old Testament” as irascible and vindictive. But the more we study the actual language of this psalm, in the context of the rest of Scripture, the closer we get to a rounded understanding of judgment, both divine and delegated.

First then, what of this word avenge or vengeance, with its strong suggestion of the urge to hit back in hatred? In the wrong hands the Hebrew term can mean just this; and this is forbidden to us in both Testaments. See for instance not only Rom. 12:19 but also Lev. 19:18a and Prov. 24:29, among others. But in the impartial hands of a judge, both this word and its Greek equivalent speak of vindication for the wronged (e.g. Lk. 18:2–8) and just retribution for the wrongdoer.

This is borne out by v. 2, with a threefold emphasis. First it looks to God in His capacity as “judge of the earth,” echoing Abraham’s cry in Gen. 18:25, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” The world is His; His justice must take in the whole of it. Then our same verse 2 spells out that same justice as logically fair; and while “pay back” could again sound merely vengeful, it is partnered and controlled by the third emphasis of the verse. The expression “what they deserve” translates a single Hebrew word which views an action and its due reward as two sides of a single coin. There is nothing arbitrary here.

It may need saying that this concern with what is deserved and due is largely out of fashion among moralists and jurists, to whom retribution is a retrograde conception. But here they differ both from our ultimate Judge and from His guidelines for His earthly delegates, which lay down the principle of proportionate but not imitative retribution. The famous equivalents “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (prescribed for law courts, not individuals!—Mt. 5:38–39) were immediately interpreted in this non-imitative way in Exodus 21:24–27, reflecting the gravity of the offense while making the penalty constructive and highly thought-provoking.

In the same way, after the questions of fact and desert have been weighed, there come the secondary questions of what will be not only fair but, if possible, productive. This leads to some further glimpses of God’s ways with our unruly world later in the psalm. One of these is seen in His patience when He decides to wait for evil to recoil on its perpetrator (v. 13), whether the “pit” is one that the man has dug for someone else, as in Proverbs 26:27, or one that his victims dig for him (cf. Hab. 2:7–8). But we also see God’s positive initiatives, brought out in the three terms of v. 10 as His discipline, correction, and instruction.

The first word points us to the salutary hardships which are a sign of His fatherly concern for nations (v. 10a) and individuals (v. 12), since a hard way to life is better than a soft way to death—a familiar theme in Proverbs! The second word, to correct or reprove (a wider word than niv’s punish, v. 10), attends to putting right the bad habits and attitudes we develop; while the third is wholly positive, substituting divine teaching for the “futile” thoughts and plans of man (v. 11)—and doing so through His torah (v. 12), His written revelation.

Vital to all this is the character of the One who wields such authority. Here again the psalm not only reassures us but brings home to us the implications for our own regimes: negatively, in the question, “Can a corrupt throne be allied with you?” (v. 20); and positively, in the vision of v. 15: “Judgment will again be founded on righteousness.” The Old Testament makes “righteousness” a richer term than our mainly economic and political conception of “social justice,” passionately though this is indeed expressed in verses 4–7. In Deut. 6:25 “righteousness” sums up the whole range of God’s commandments, from the decalogue of Deut. 5 to the “great commandment” of Deut. 6:5 and beyond.

Finally, however, we must not diminish this psalm by reading it only as a study of judgment. It is a heart cry out of a cruel situation; it is also a reasoned reply to the scoffer and a testimony to God’s “love in time past.” To get the full force of the “heart cry,” read vv. 5–6 in the psalmist’s own word-order: “Your people, O Lord, they crush; Your inheritance they oppress,” and so on; for it breathes deep concern for God’s honor. For the reply to the scoffer, look at the rejoinder to the taunt that God “pays no heed” (v. 7). No heed? “Take heed, you senseless ones” (v. 8) who reckon without the Creator’s formidable mind and patience (vv. 9–11, 13b). As for the singer’s testimony, we can surely echo the confidence of vv. 12ff. and the gratitude of vv. 17–19: “When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ Your love, O Lord, supported me.”

Look back, then, with the psalmist’s thankfulness, and forward with his certainty. ■

Derek Kidner, a leading Old Testament scholar and former warden of Tyndale House in Cambridge, England, has written three volumes for The Bible Speaks Today series.

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