Those Who Love Him Will Prosper
July 5, 2019
Commentary
Deborah called on her own soul to be in earnest. He that will set the hearts of other men on fire with the love of Christ, must himself burn with love. The Canaanite kings came looking for the spoil of battle, as they charged up the Valley of Jezreel with their 900 chariots of iron (vv. 17-19). Normally the foot soldiers of Deborah and Barak would have been defeated by the heavy armor of horses and chariots but in a moment, everything changed as a rainstorm flooded the valley and chariots bogged down in the mud. In the confusion the Canaanites had to abandon their chariots and run for their life (vv. 20-21). Because of Gods’ intervention Israel won a great victory that day (vv. 22-23).
Gratitude is vividly expressed in this song to Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite for her brave deed in killing the enemy general Sisera (vv.24-27). At the same time a picture is drawn of Sisera’s mother standing at the window looking for her son to return in his chariot with the spoils of triumph, but she waits in vain. Two women rejoiced in victory (Deborah and Jael), but one woman (the queen mother) wept in sorrow (vv. 28-30). The writer stresses that it was the Lord’s intervention that gave them the victory (v. 31). He makes it plain that those who oppose Him must perish, but those who love Him and cooperate with Him will prosper.
Application
Have I shown gratitude to the Lord recently for some battles He has given me victory in? It is easy for me to get to thinking I am strong and can fight my own battles when really, I am no match for the enemy. I am weak and He is strong, and I need to look to Him for my victories.
Judges 5:17– 31 (NET)
17 Gilead stayed put beyond the Jordan River. As for Dan—why did he seek temporary employment in the shipyards? Asher remained on the seacoast; he stayed by his harbors.
18 The men of Zebulun were not concerned about their lives; Naphtali charged onto the battlefields.
19 Kings came, they fought; the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, but they took no silver as plunder.
20 From the sky the stars fought, from their paths in the heavens they fought against Sisera.
21 The Kishon River carried them off; the river confronted them —the Kishon River. Step on the necks of the strong!
22 The horses’ hooves pounded the ground; the stallions galloped madly.
23 ‘Call judgment down on Meroz,’ says the angel of the Lord; ‘Be sure to call judgment down on those who live there, because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’
24 The most rewarded of women should be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite! She should be the most rewarded of women who live in tents.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for a king, she served him curds.
26 Her left hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workmen’s hammer. She “hammered” Sisera, she shattered his skull, she smashed his head, she drove the tent peg through his temple.
27 Between her feet he collapsed, he fell limp and was lifeless; between her feet he collapsed and fell, in the spot where he collapsed, there he fell—violently killed!
28 Through the window she looked; Sisera’s mother cried out through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so slow to return? Why are the hoofbeats of his chariot horses delayed?’
29 The wisest of her ladies answer; indeed she even thinks to herself,
30 ‘No doubt they are gathering and dividing the plunder — a girl or two for each man to rape! Sisera is grabbing up colorful cloth, he is grabbing up colorful embroidered cloth, two pieces of colorful embroidered cloth, for the neck of the plunderer!’
31 May all your enemies perish like this, O Lord! But may those who love you shine like the rising sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.
Illustration: A monument built in the shape of a bug to honor a bug
The only monument in the world built in the shape of a bug, to honor a bug is in Fort Rucker, Alabama. In 1915 the Mexican boll weevil invaded Southeast Alabama and destroyed 60% of the cotton crop. In desperation, the farmers turned to planting peanuts. By 1917 the peanut industry had become so profitable that the county harvested more peanuts than any other county in the nation. In gratitude, the people of the town erected a statue and inscribed these words, “In profound appreciation of the boll weevil, and what it has done as the herald of prosperity.” The instrument of their suffering had become the means of their blessing. (Sermon Central).