Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Judges-Part 4

Judges 5.1-31 is a song of praise for the victory over Jabin and the Canaanites on the day the victory was won. This chapter also foreshadows the victory and work of the Messiah. It is also a song of the future like the Song of Moses in Exo 15. Israel was in a miserable state (5.6) until Deborah and Barak went out to meet Sisera. In the same way, Israel will be in a miserable state before Yeshua comes. He will come from Edom and Seir and the earth will move (5.4) like at Sinai (5.5), and as seen in Isa 63.1-6; Deut 33.2; Isa 42.10-13 and Hab 3.3-13. The False Messiah will be defeated as Yeshua destroys his attempt to control Israel. We need to thank the Lord (Luke 7.36-50).

The word “leaders” in 5.2 means literally “for the loosing of the locks of hair” and they led Israel, obedient like the Nazarite who let their hair grow, and the people volunteered to be God’s instruments. In 5.4 it says they came out of Edom and Seir and this alludes to the concept that they came out of the wilderness. Edom means “red” and he is a picture of the first-born, the flesh as opposed to the spirit. Only when we come out of the flesh can we see God’s power.

We learn that in the days of Shamgar (“here a stranger”) the highways were deserted because there were so many thieves and robbers and this made traveling hard (5.6). Shamgar didn’t do much to deliver the people. This alludes to the fact that spiritually the “commerce” of the Lord’s business is the Torah and it was empty. Not a shield or spear was seen among the forty thousand in Israel (5.8) because they confiscated the weapons (gun control), and this alludes to the scarcity of the word of God. Our enemy does not want us to use the armor God has given us (Eph 6.12-18).

Then Deborah arose because she was willing to be used and she wanted the Kingdom of the Lord to be victorious. After the battle, the good news (basar/gospel) of the victory was to be spread throughout all the villages (Matt 5.15-16). Then she praised the tribes that helped in the battle like Ephraim, the half-tribe of Manasseh on the west side, Benjamin, Zebulon, Issachar and Naphtali. But not every tribe was helpful and “sat among the sheepfolds.” Reuben, the half-tribe of Manasseh on the east side, Dan and Asher did not join in.

We learn in 5.20-22 that this battle was fought “from the heavens” (Josh 10.12-13) because God sent rain that made the Canaanite chariots useless. The city of Meroz (“refuge, a place to hide”) was of no help and it was cursed (v 23). Then Jael is praised for killing Sisera. Ordinarily, the traditional laws of hospitality protected a guest in your home (Lot, Abraham, etc) but here she is blessed because she obeyed the Lord instead of obeying her traditions and customs. Sisera, a type of Satan and the False Messiah, was killed by a woman and Deborah wanted everyone to know it (Gen 3.15).

Deborah then talks about the plight of the surviving family of Sisera. Every death has consequences and Deborah celebrates the consequences of Sisera’s death. His mother is looking for him after the battle (5.28-30) and he has not returned, and too much time has gone by, but she still holds out hope in his return with a fatal optimism. This alludes to those who are involved in Replacement Theology (the mother of harlots) and the disappointment that awaits the harlot and her children. Her fatal optimism causes her and those who follow her to despise the wisdom of God found in the Torah. Their efforts to replace Israel will have the same result that Sisera experienced when he tried to replace Israel.

She makes excuses as to why Sisera delays (5.30) but she is ignorant of her son’s fate. Spiritually, this is the fate of all who trust in the wisdom of the world. She thinks that her son is taking the garments off his enemies (5.30) and that is why he has delayed, but this speaks of the self-righteousness (the garments) that an unbeliever trusts in. In the end there is death. In Judges 5.31 it says, “Let all thine enemies perish, O Lord; but let those who love him (the Messiah) be like the rising of the sun in its might” (Mal 4.2; Psa 19.4-5, 84.11; Gen 32.31). We shall be like him (1 John 3.2; Isa 30.26).

In Judges 6.1-40 we have the story of how Israel departed from the Lord again and how God raised up the Midianites (“contention/strife”) against them and the call of Gideon. They prevailed against Israel and Israel made dens and caves as strongholds (strife brings us to the level of animals). It also says that Israel was deprived of food because the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites (people who lick) and the sons of the east (east is the direction away from God and used for anyone opposed to God). They would camp (contention and strife will ‘camp’ with us, too) against Israel and they would destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza (“she was strong” and sin will carry us away from our food) and leave nothing in Israel as well as no sheep (speaks of submission), ox (service is hindered by strife) or donkey (old nature).

They would come up with their livestock and their tents like locusts with many camels (a camel speaks of the body that goes through the spiritual desert for his master) and they were innumerable (Satan and the world has an abundance of spiritual things to lure us out of obedience and distract us. These things may not be evil in and of themselves). So Israel was in a desperate state and they cried out to the Lord, and he sent a prophet to them and he called them to remember what the Lord has done and said that it was the Lord who had brought them out of Egypt and slavery and gave them the land. He also dispossessed their enemies before them. This prophet also said that they were not to fear the gods of the Amorites (“sayers, professors”), but they disobeyed the Lord. This was the sin that this prophet was sent to Israel to reprove them for, and to bring them into a sense of what they had done.

In Part 5 we will pick up in Judges 6.11-40 and how the angel of the Lord (Yeshua) appears to Gideon and gives him a commission to deliver Israel.

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*