One Strike and He's Out

November 10, 2020

Judges 4:1-9  Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.

4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. 7 I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”

8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

9 “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.”

Oh, these Israelites! Again, they did evil in the eyes of the Lord. When will they ever learn? When will we? Again, the Lord puts them between a rock and a hard place. Was God letting them have it because of the evil they had once again committed? No. He knew what would drive them to cry out to Him once again. After 20 years, they cried out to the Lord for help. Twenty years?? What prevented them from crying out? What prevents us? Stubbornness? Shame? Pride? Guilt? Indifference? Why do we delay in crying out to the One who knows all?

Judges 4:14-23 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. 15 At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.

16 Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. 17 Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.

18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.

20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”

21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.

22 Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.

23 On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.

Judges 5:1, 24-27 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:“Most blessed of women be Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;

in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.

26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple.

27 At her feet he sank,

he fell; there he lay.

At her feet he sank, he fell;

where he sank, there he fell—dead.

Look at Jael.  She INVITES the enemy into her home.  Usually, we are trying to hide from the enemy or are maybe pretending we don't see him and, in turn, hoping he doesn't see us, and that he'll just pass on by to the next tent.  And then...a tent peg to his temple!!  This perhaps sounds barbaric to us. However, Jael knew the enemy was in her camp.  She knew she better hit the mark; she only had one try.  Why not poison him or go find some men after Sisera fell asleep to come "handle it?"  She took a common iron tent peg-something very familiar to her as a tent dweller and wielded it as a weapon.  A tent peg would have been absolutely necessary in her daily life. It literally held up her home.  How are our homes holding up today? What does the foundation of our homes look like?  Could it be used to destroy our enemy in one blow?  Let's take the weapons God has given us for our daily living, PRAISE, LOVE, OBEDIENCE, BELIEF,PRAYER; those things that are hopefully holding up our homes, and use them to deliver the final blow to some enemies. 

The enemy, Sisera, was on the run.  Notice his 900 iron chariots weren't doing him any good.  (Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but we will trust in the name of our LORD OUR GOD). God had stripped him down.  And what was his downfall? One little iron tent peg took him down!  Wow.  Let's believe that God is so much BIGGER than our enemy.   Let's not be fearful, even if the enemy is right inside our tent.  We will watch our enemies fall at our feet, just as Sisera fell at Jael's.

God is encouraging us. Be bold like Jael. The victory has already been secured.  Let's live like it!