Dr Paul Allen

Salomon de Bray - Jael, Deborah and Barak - WGA03141 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Barak was a hero of early Israel, serving during the pre-monarch period when Deborah judged the nation (Judges 4–5). His great military feat was the complete rout of the Canaanite general, Sisera , and his army. However, in the process he learned the important distinction between imitating and idolizing the faith of a leader he respected. Deborah sat praying on the roof of Barak’s house in the small lakeside village of Kedesh-Naphtali. The afternoon shadows from the southwest hills lengthened into evening over the quiet Chinnereth . Deborah was there at Barak’s request — demand even. Through her, the Lord had called Barak to lead the attack on Sisera. But he had refused unless she agreed to come up with him from Ramah. She did, but his insistence had grieved her. Young military runners had kept her informed on the battle’s progress. She already knew it was a rout. That morning from Mt. Tabor she ha...

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 ga...

Salomon de Bray - Jael, Deborah and Barak - WGA03141 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I, even I, will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel ” ( Judg. 5:3). Led by Barak, Israel has defeated Sisera and has begun the gradual process of bringing down Jabin , king of the Canaanites . After 20 years of harsh oppression (Judg. 4:3), Israel is free again. In the joy of the moment, Deborah the prophetess pens a song of praise to God for the incredible victory that He has given His people, and she and Barak sing it before the Israelites . Like other Biblical figures at high points in redemptive history (Ex. 15; Deut. 32; Isa. 38), she turns to verse to express her praise. God is to be praised, Deborah begins, “ ‘When leaders lead … [and] the people willingly offer themselves.’ ” God called forth Deborah and Barak to be His instruments of deliverance, and He caused them to respond to Him and caused the people to respond t...