MARCH 14 and the Children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. And LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. And the Children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the Children of Israel. And Deborah, a Prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time (Judg. 4:1–4). This may be said to be the women’s Chapter. The faith of Deborah reached out and won a great victory; the faith of Jael destroyed a great tyrant and saved thousands from certain death. There was one heart that did not tremble before Sisera and his nine hundred chariots of iron. She “sat as judge” under a palm tree near Bethel. Her namesake, Rebekah’s nurse, was buried there some 400 years back. This was Deborah. Some would claim that God cannot use women in the preaching and teaching of the Gospel. However, both of these women were raised up and energized by God for their respective Ministries, as were also the great women of the Pauline Epistles. If the Scriptures be read accurately, it will be seen that God used women under the First Covenant and He continues to do so under the Second Covenant. Under the First Covenant, the Lord used Deborah to defeat one of the mightiest heathen warriors of them all, Sisera. It says that he had “nine hundred chariots of iron.” But through the faith of this woman, his army was defeated, plus all of his chariots. The Scripture says, “And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak” (Judg. 4:15). The word “discomfited” implies supernatural discomfiture. Jael, another woman, finished the task by driving a nail through Sisera’s temple. “So he died” (Judg. 4:21). The Holy Spirit points, in the Scriptures, to only two women as preeminently “blessed among women.” The one was “Jael”; the other, “The Virgin Mary.” The latter is associated with the Advent of Israel’s Redeemer; the former, with the judgment of Israel’s oppressor (Judg. 5:24; Lk. 1:42). Swaggart, J. (2005). The Expositors Word For Every Day (149). Baton Rouge, LA: World Evangelism Press.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 09:47:46 +0000
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