Deborah was the fifth judge of Israel, a prophetess and the only
female judge. Deborah's home was in the hill country of Ephraim
between Bethel and Ramah. She also answered the call to become a
female military leader, an unlikely commander of military forces. This was a radical departure from standard biblical themes which rarely place women in roles as warriors and generals.
Deborah
summoned Barak and told him it was God's will that he lead her forces
against the mighty warrior, Sisera. Sisera was the commander of the
army of Jabin, king of Canaan, who had terrorized Israel for 20 years.
Barak accepted on one condition: Deborah must accompany him. Deborah
and Barak's army consisted of only 10,000, while Sisera had a
multitude of fighters and 900 chariots of iron.
When
the battle ended, not a single man of Sisera's army survived, except
Sisera himself, who fled on foot. When Sisera took refuge in the tent
of Heber the Kenite, Jael (the wife of Heber) drove a tent peg through
his temple killing him. Ouch!
Then the land had peace for forty years. Is that because of the obedience of Deborah leading the people into obedience?
A great responsibility our leaders have, isn't it?
We took a real journey on this verse.
Jdg 5:20
They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
We
wondered if these "stars" were referring to angles involved in
spiritual warfare. So we started looking at the Hebrew words referring
to stars and courses. We found this comment from John Wesley on Jdg
5:20.
"From heaven - Or, they from heaven, or the heavenly host
fought, by thunder, and lightning, and hail - stones, possibly mingled
with fire. The stars - Raising these storms by their influences, which
they do naturally. Courses - Or, from their paths, or stations. As
soldiers fight in their ranks and places assigned them, so did these."
What
Wesley is saying is that he believes this verse refers to angels
involved in a spiritual battle in the heavenly realms. It seems as if
these "stars" being referred to have certain "stations" or rank. We
know there is a hierarchy in heaven, so this comment from Wesley really
makes sense.
Fascinating thought, huh?
Makes us think about the Frank Peretti book, This Present Darkness. Here is a link to the book. We highly recommend it.
http://www.amazon.com/This-Present-Darkness-Frank-Peretti/dp/1581345283/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299975013&sr=1-1
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