Is your worship of God lively?

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Yael Killing Sisera, by Palma the Younger.
Yael Killing Sisera, by Palma the Younger. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“Then the survivors came down, the people against the nobles; the LORD came down for me against the mighty” (Judg. 5:13).As Deborah celebrates Israel’s victory over the Canaanites in song, she turns to an account of the battle and urges her soul to exult in the work of God, for such a great work deserves the most heart-felt praise. “ ‘Awake, awake, Deborah!’ ” she cries. As a prophetess, she must proclaim the excellencies of God by word, while Barak, a warrior, is to exalt Him by leading captives in a triumphal parade. “Deborah stirs up herself and Barak to celebrate this victory in the most solemn manner,” Matthew Henry writes in his commentary on Judges. Such a work “needed and well deserved the utmost liveliness and vigor of soul in the performance of it; all the powers and faculties of the soul in their closest intensity and application ought to be employed in it.”

The song now tells of the gathering of the combatants for the decisive battle. Arrayed with Sisera at the foot of Mount Tabor were Amalekites (v. 14), again acting as mercenaries for an enemy of Israel (see 3:13), and other kings of Canaan (v. 19). But the Lord Himself came down (v. 13), and survivors of the oppressed, downtrodden Israelites gathered to make a stand. Ephraim and Benjamin answered the call; transjordanian Manasseh (Machir, v. 14) sent rulers; Zebulun sent “ ‘those who bear the recruiter’s staff’ ” (v. 14), perhaps clerks or scribes; Issachar’s princes came (v. 15); and the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali (Barak’s people) fought with abandon (v. 18). These tribes were among those who willingly followed Barak’s lead. Other tribes, however, would not offer themselves. The Reubenites, Deborah says, had “ ‘great resolves’ ” and “ ‘great searchings of heart’ ” (vv. 15–16); it seems that some supported the war and some did not, and the tribe ultimately did nothing. Dan and Asher did not join in, seemingly too interested in their maritime commerce (v. 17). Also, Meroz (v. 23), an otherwise unknown city, refused assistance, but it is not merely scorned but cursed at the command of the Angel of the LORD. The shame of these tribes is thus immortalized in song; “indelible marks of disgrace are here put upon them,” Henry writes.

But there were yet other participants. Deborah notes that when the battle at last was joined, “ ‘the stars from their courses’ ” and even “ ‘the torrent of Kishon’ ” fought for God’s people. God went to war for Israel, and the heavens and the earth joined in the fight.

If, as Henry says, Israel’s victory over Sisera deserved to be praised with “the utmost liveliness and vigor of soul,” we should praise God for Christ’s redemptive work with every fiber of our beings. Begin now to urge your soul to “Awake!” that you might sing the praises of your Redeemer when you gather with God’s people this Lord’s Day.

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