Title: The Singer of Victory
Contents
The one who sings the song of victory (Judges 4:1-3)
1 After the death of Ehud, the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD
2 The LORD sold them by the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, the capital of Hazor, whose commander was Sisera, who dwelt in the Gentile Haroset.
3 King Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, because he mistreated the children of Israel for twenty years.
I.
The Asian Cup soccer tournament is in full swing. Tonight we are playing against Iran in the quarterfinals.
Judging from the performances he has shown so far, it doesn't seem like people are expecting much.
I went to the stadium during the first qualifying match against Saudi Arabia, and the seat was on the far right of the Korean cheering table, so I was seated right next to the Saudi cheering team. In terms of numbers, cheering for Korea was overwhelming, but before the match, the fight for spirit through cheering was fierce.
When Korea scored their first goal, they were so happy that they woke up. After clapping and shouting, the Saudi cheerleaders sitting next to them were conscious. The Saudi cheerleaders, who blew trumpets, beat drums, and clapped, were silent as if they had poured cold water on them. I even felt sorry for having them rejoice right next to them.
In the end, the match was drawn, but I thought that the division between winners and losers would be so cold.
Against Bahrain, we did more. There seemed to be about 3,000 Korean cheering seats, and when I bought a ticket, I bought Bahraini cheering seats, but when I went in, even though they were Bahraini cheering seats, all Koreans were occupied, and the Bahraini cheering squad seemed to have about 20-30 people.
Korea lost the game. Korea was absolutely dominant in cheering, but in the end, we lost the game, so there were incomparably fewer Bahraini cheering squads, but on the contrary, we had no choice but to envy them. It wasn't the numbers that mattered, but who played well and who was the winner was far more important.
Today is the third lesson of the Book of Judges, and we will see who and how will enjoy the true victory in life...
II.
i.
Verse 1 “…the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord.”
After eighty years of peace in the days of Ehud, Israel is thrown into the pit of evil again. We forget all the times we lived crying out to God. The satisfaction that satiety brings takes away the heart for mourning. In the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord says: “Blessed are those who mourn...” I forget the days when I was drunk with peace and mourned. Drunk with life, insensitivity to death. So you have to be careful when going out.
Even if we live a carefree life now, evil is not completely excluded from us. Evil is always around us. Satan has only one purpose. It is blaspheming God. So what God loves the most, turning people away from Him. The way is to make us sin.
If we sin, we can only distance ourselves from God.
The devil is by no means a creature with horns. It is correct to say that it had honey rather than horns. Sweet and fragrant, it loosens vigilance against him. Israel, in 80 years, slowed its vigilance against death and evil. Their leader died and again crawled into sin.
ii. Verse 2-3
God sold Israel that did evil into the hands of Jabin, king of Hazor (Sisera, commander of Hazor) Hazor was a nation armed with nine hundred iron chariots.
They abused Israel severely for twenty years-->Israel's cry
Last week we talked about God's discipline against His people. Just as parents shed tears when they discipline their children, God sheds tears when he drives his people into discipline. It is an unavoidable way to turn his people into a place of righteousness. So, after 20 years of unfair slavery that Israel does not have to do, it is only then that they cry out again.
Here, the ‘crying out’ in verse 3 is not a lament for regretting one’s own destiny. I'm not talking about a simple new theatre. “I need God to help me.” It expresses the cry of seeking and relying on God, “God save us.” When we cry out, we express the faith that God will hear and answer our cry.
The result of the cry is in the last verse of chapter 4.
Read verses 23-24 together.
“In the same way, on this day God defeated Jabin king of Canaan before the children of Israel, and the hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin king of Canaan, and finally they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan” (Judges 4:23-24).
The story between Israel's forsaking and rising to life is the story of Deborah and Barak in Judges 4.
A brief summary is as follows:
Deborah is a female judge of Israel. One day, she hears the word of God and calls Barak and says, “Gather ten thousand Naphtari and Zebulun to defeat Jabin’s army,” says Barak. “I cannot go alone. But if Deborah goes with you, I will go and fight.” So Deborah decides to go with her, and Barak assembles a militia and goes to war.
Upon hearing this news, Sisera gathered nine hundred iron chariots and all the army to battle. With God's help, Israel wins the war.
This is part 1 of the story up to verse 16.
Part 2 of the story from verse 17...
Sisera, the commander of Hazor's army, fled and hid in the house of a nearby man named Heber. Originally, Heber was very close with Jabin, king of Hazor. Heber's wife Jael feeds Sisera to rest, and while he sleeps under a blanket, he drives a stake through Sisera's temple and dies. This is the story of Judges 4.
III.
Let's take a look at the triumphant life through three characters.
1. Deborah
i.
The first protagonist of the story is Deborah. In our Bible, verse 4 begins with ‘at that time’, but the literal translation of the Hebrew Bible is as follows.
“Deborah was a woman, a prophetess, and the wife of Rabphidoth, who judged Israel at that time.”
Emphasize that it is a woman named Deborah. Emphasize the woman three times. Emphasize that this great work of defeating Hazor was done by a ‘woman’.
Verse 9 says, “…the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.”
Deborah is the general director of Part 1 until verse 16, and another director is Jael, Heber’s ‘wife’ who kills Sisera in Part 2.
There are 14 judges in the book of Judges, and four of them are particularly emphasized: Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. But all four of them have their own shortcomings highlighted. Deborah was a woman. The words of a woman in this era when the Australian system was abolished and a woman in the period of the Judges are completely different in meaning. It's not just about gender. It was a time when women were treated as property of men. Gideon himself said that he was weak even in the smallest of the tribes of Manasseh. Jephthah is the son of a prostitute. Samson was born as a Nazarite, but he failed repeatedly because he did not live up to his status. Ehud, whom we saw last week, is also a man with a fatal handicap in his life, a restriction on his right hand.
Also, all the weapons used by the judges were crude. Today, Jael kills Sisera the enemy with a stake. Gideon wins with a pot and a torch with a small number of 300 men. Samson wins with his bare hands. Last week, Samgar was defeated with a stick.
Those who are not worthy of enumeration are chosen by God to become strong, and to accomplish the will of God. God accomplishes His work through such people.
Guys, keep that in mind.
Individual circumstances are not the most important factor in determining. Personal ability is not an important factor in being used by God.
You can tell by looking at the disciples of Jesus. When Jesus called his disciples, he did not select elites from first-class universities. None of the disciples of Jesus had any social leadership or wealthy people. He entrusted the kingdom of God by calling people who lived in ordinary daily life in the village of Galilee as disciples.
ii.
Deborah was originally a sincere man. Her name Deborah means ‘bee’. In addition to the name of the silk, verse 5 mentions the palm on which she sat and judged. “5 He dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel came to him for judgment.”
If you say ‘Deborah’s palm tree’, you might know it...