Deborah and Jael – Women of God
Today’s Passage – Judges 4 – 6 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – James 1 – 5; Proverbs 21; Psalm 101 – 105
Scripture Memorization for March – Verses About the Bible
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 34:6
Read the “0321 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Read a previous post from this morning’s reading passage in Judges – “Gideon’s Fleece”
“And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.” (Judges 4:4 )
“Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.” (Judges 4:21)
In Judges 4, we read about, not one, but two remarkable women who were greatly used of God. The first is Deborah who was a prophetess in Israel during the time of the judges. All of Israel came to her to receive judgment, and it was she whom the Lord directed to lead the children of Israel into battle against the oppressive army of Hazor and Sisera.
We next meet Jael, a woman who lived with her family in a plain outside of the city of Kedesh. Sisera, the general of the Canaanite army was on the run, and sought refuge in the tent of Jael, but when he fell asleep she took a tent peg and drove it into Sisera’s head, thus ending Israel’s campaign against the Canaanites.
These two women were both bold and decisive women who were mightily used by God during a time when the children of Israel were doing evil in the sight of the Lord . The men who should have been leading the people of God spiritually were failing in their responsibility, but God raised up a couple of women who stood in the gap and did what they could in service to God.
Today, we are also living in a culture where the men are not fulfilling their God-given roles of leadership. Too many men are neglecting their responsibilities in the home, the community, and the church. Thank God, however, that there are many women who are willing to do the work of God that their male counterparts are reluctant to do. In our church, we have some great and godly men, but if the truth is to be told, I would have to admit that we have more women involved in the ministry here. I thank God for their willingness to step in and do some of the things that perhaps the men should be doing. I have been praying for God to give us some more men who will step up and be the godly husbands, fathers, and church and community leaders that they should be, but at the same time, I want to keep these godly and diligent women right where they are where they can continue to be used mightily by the Lord.
Posted in Thoughts from Judges by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.