Israel experiences oppression as they fall away from God and serve the nations around them or fall under the oppression of those among them. This is just what the Lord had said to them in Judges 2:3 “Now I say, I will not drive them out from before you; they will become as thorns for you, and their gods will be a trap for you.” Yet, every time they cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer who judged them, got their focus back on God, and then shook off the oppression so they had peace, or as it says in Judges 3:11 “So the land rested forty years”. But God never acted alone, He only acted at their request and only with their participation. After they were delivered, Deborah and Barak sang “Yahweh, you went down” in Judges 5:4 and it was a victory delivered by the Lord by an army of men that went, even though they were not men of war and may not have been equipped as the warriors they faced. They believed God and went forward.
To Know Whether They Would Keep the Commands of Yahweh
They Forgot Yahweh Their God
Judges 3:7–11
The Israelites fell into the trap, they were taken in by the ways of the people around them in
Judges 3:7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. They forgot Yahweh their God, and they served the Baals and the Asheroth.
and because they began to serve those around them, they came under the control of a foreign king. As it says in Judges 3:8 “he sold them into the hand of … and the Israelites served …” which in this time was likely an allegiance where Israel pays tribute and receives protection. However, this tribute is costly often came with oppression so that in
Judges 3:9 The Israelites cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a deliverer for the Israelites who delivered them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
God had not intended for Israel to live under the rule of any foreign power, but that they would serve the Lord only. So, when “the spirit of Yahweh came on him, and he judged Israel” in Judges 3:10, this man Othniel rose up and defeated the foreign power. Now, as Israel was free to serve the Lord again, it says in
Judges 3:11 So the land rested forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
As long as he lived, the people were not oppressed, they were not crying out, they had peace, “the land rested” because one man, by the spirit of God, raised a standard for them as a nation.
Yahweh Raised Up For Them a Deliverer
Judges 3:12–23
He Sounded the Trumpet
Judges 3:24–31
The Lord had raised up another, Ehud, and they followed him.
Judges 3:30 And Moab was subdued on that day under the hand of Israel. And the land rested eighty years.
Has Not Yahweh the God of Israel Commanded You?
Judges 4:1–11
Israel continues as a tribal nation swayed by the nations around them and still struggling with those they had allowed to remain among them that God had called thorns, in
Judges 2:3 Now I say, I will not drive them out from before you; they will become as thorns for you, and their gods will be a trap for you.”
Again, Israel was sold “into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan” in Judges 4:2 and they cried to the Lord because of the oppression in
Judges 4:3 And the Israelites cried to Yahweh, as he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years.
For a generation, they lived under this rule but the voice of the Lord was still there. Their were those among them that knew God and the people of Israel recognized Deborah, a prophetess in
Judges 4:4 Now at that time Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel.
There was not a man in Israel that was seeking to break the oppression they were under, yet the word of the Lord came to Deborah and she sends instruction in
Judges 4:6–7 She sent and called for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh Naphtali and said to him, “Has not Yahweh the God of Israel commanded you? ‘Go, march to Mount Tabor, and take ten thousand men from the descendants of Naphtali and Zebulun. 7 I will draw out Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and troops, to the wadi of Kishon, and I will give him into your hand.’ ”
When God speaks, he will perform his word, and yet, Barak puts a condition on God’s word to him and is never named as the leader and judge of Israel he might have been in
Judges 4:8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you do not go with me, I will not go.”
Has Yahweh Not Gone Out Before You?
I Will Sing Praise to Yahweh
Judges 5:1–11
God is faithful to his covenant and he does deliver his people when they call on him. And though there is often a time when we may think our enemy is too big, or bigger than we are, if we will trust God’s promises and act on His Word, we will come to a place of victory. This is the song of celebration that is sung after the fear, after the uncertainty, after God has done His work in us and through us. Listen to the shout to the world in
Judges 5:3 Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I will sing to Yahweh; I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
then they sing, “Yahweh, you went down” in Judges 5:4 and it was the Lord that gave them the victory, but it was an army of Israel that went. The Lord couldn’t go down if they had not. But it wasn’t the strength of the warriors of Israel who are described in Judges 5:7 “The warriors ceased; they failed to appear in Israel” and in Judges 5:8 “a small shield or a spear was not seen among forty thousand in Israel”. The key is here, they had faith in God and acted on the word God gave them through the prophetess and they offered themselves in
Judges 5:9 My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, those offering themselves willingly among the people; bless Yahweh!
Study Verses
- Judges 3:7–11 They Forgot Yahweh Their God
- Judges 4:1–11 Has Not Yahweh the God of Israel Commanded You?
- Judges 5:1–11 I Will Sing Praise to Yahweh
Today’s Reading
- Judges 3:1-31
- Judges 4:1-24
- Judges 5:1-11