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Called to be Strong:  Deborah and Barak

 Judges 4:1 – 10.

Introduction.  Today we begin a new series of messages I’m calling “The Urgent Call.”  Over the coming weeks I want to walk through the lives of several men and women in the Old Testament whom God summoned into decisive action at critical moments in Israel’s history – people like Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Moses, and others.  Each of them received a call that was not abstract of theoretical.  It was urgent.  It demanded strength.  It required faith that moved beyond private devotion into very public obedience.

The first of these accounts is found in Judges 4.  I’m calling this message today “Called to be Strong,” and it’s a deliberate title.  The Book of Judges is filled with weakness – moral weakness, spiritual weakness, and national weakness.  Yet in the midst of all that pathetic weakness God repeatedly raised up people and says, in effect, “Be strong.  Rise Up.  Lead.  Fight.”

What we will see today is that God often works through leaders who not only answer the call themselves but who also draw the call out of others.  Leadership in God’s kingdom is almost never solitary.  It’s frequently collaborative.  Deborah doesn’t merely receive a word from the Lord; she must challenge Barak with that word until he finally steps into the role God has assigned him.  That dynamic – leadership that awakens the calling in others – is what today’s message is all about.

Cry to God, Judges 4:1 – 3.

If you are at all familiar with the Book of Judges, you know that this chapter opens with the all-too familiar and tragic refrain:

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.  (Judges 4:1 – 4 | TNIV)

Two decades.  Now, that’s an awfully long time to live under the boot of an oppressor.  Jabin’s military was technological and well as numerical.  Nine hundred iron chariots represented the most advanced weaponry of the day.  Against such forces Israel’s tribes were scattered, intimidated, and for the most part unarmed.  The oppression was cruel.  The text doesn’t soften the language.  It was bad.

But I want you to notice the sequence.  First, evil in the eyes of the Lord.  Then judgment.  Then, after twenty long years of misery, a cry.  Israel’s pattern in Judges is painfully obvious and consistent:  Sin, slavery, supplication, salvation, then a return to sin.  Yet, God in His great patience still hears their cry every time.

There’s a little pastoral word here for us.  God doesn’t wait for perfect repentance before He listens.  He hears the desperate cry of a people who finally realize they can’t save themselves.  Many of us know what it is to live for years under some from of oppression – maybe not political, but personal:  The long tyranny of some habitual sin, the grinding weight of a broken relationship, the quiet despair of spiritual dryness.  The first movement toward deliverance is always the same:  Cry out to God!

But notice what the cry does NOT produce immediately. There is no instantaneous miracle.  No lightning bolt from heaven.  Instead, God begins to work through people – ordinary people with extraordinary assignments.  The cry of the people becomes the occasion for the call of leaders.

Challenge to Deborah and Barak, Judges 4:4 – 7.

Verse 4 introduces us to one of the most remarkable figures in the Old Testament:

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.   (Judges 4:4, 5 | TNIV)

This woman Deborah is both a prophetess and a judge.  In a time when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” she was a steady source of divine wisdom and judicial authority.  She doesn’t seize power; she exercises the authority God has given her.  People came to her; she doesn’t chase them down.

Then the Lord speaks through her to a fellow named Barak:

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. ‘ ”  (Judges 4:6, 7 | TNIV)

Here’s the challenge.  Deborah doesn’t invent a plan and then look for someone to execute it.  She delivers the command of the Lord.  The TNIV doesn’t indicate it, but it seems that the call had already been delivered – that Barak had already been addressed by God.  The CSB more accurately translates verse 6:

She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the Naphtalites and Zebulunites?  (Judges 4:6 CSB)

So Deborah’s roll isn’t to deliver the call to Barak but to bring that existing call into the open and press it upon him.

This is leadership of a particular kind.  It’s not the leadership that creates a vision from scratch and then recruits followers.  It’s the leadership that discerns what God has already spoken and then courageously holds others accountable to it.  Deborah doesn’t say, “Hey, Barak, I have an idea.”  She declares pointedly, “God has spoken to you, so now go.”

Barak is from Kadesh in Nephtali, far to the north in Israel.  Deborah is in the hill country of Ephraim.  The distance itself is significant.  But she doesn’t wait for Barak to come to her.  She sends for him.  Leadership sometimes requires initiative.  It requires seeking out the person God has marked and placing the call squarely before him.

The content of the call is military and strategic.  Gather 10,000 men from two tribes and go to Mount Tabor.  God Himself will draw Sisera (the enemy) out to the Kishon River and give him into Barak’s hand.  The promise is clear.  The strategy is divine.  All that remains is obedience.

I don’t want you to miss the theological weight of this moment.  God could have easily delivered Israel without any help from anybody.  He could have struck Sisera’s army with plague or confusion as He had done before on behalf of His people.  Instead, He chooses to work through the obedience of a prophetess and a military commander.  God chooses people to be strong.

Collaborate as needed, Judges 4:8 – 10.

Barak’s response is both honest and incomplete.

Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”  (Judges 4:8 | TNIV)

Some interpreters are hard on Barak at this point.  They see cowardice or lack of faith.  The text itself is more measured.  Deborah doesn’t rebuke him for requesting her presence.  She agrees, but also issues a sobering word:

“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.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. [10] There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.  (Judges 4:9, 10 | TNIV)

Here’s collaboration.  Barak will not go alone.  Deborah will not force him to go alone.  She rises and goes with him.  Ten thousand gather.  The army move.

Notice what collaboration looks like in this text.  It isn’t the erasure of distinct roles.  Deborah remains the prophetess who speaks the word of the Lord.  Barak remains the military leader who must muster the troops and lead the charge.  Collaboration doesn’t mean that everyone does everything.  It means that each person supplies what the other lacks so that the mission of God advances.

Deborah’s willingness to go with Barak is itself an act of strength.  She leaves the relative safety of her palm tree and the judicial work she has been doing.  She steps into a war zone.  Leadership that calls others into risk must be willing to share that risk.

Well, the outcome of this story is well known.  God throws Sisera’s army into a panic.  A sudden storm turns the Kishon into a torrent that disables the iron chariots.  Barak’s forces pursue.  Sisera flees on foot and is killed by Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, with a tent peg.  The victory is total and Jael, not Barak, gets the honor, just as Deborah said.  Judges 5 records the song of Deborah and Barak – a theological interpretation of the battle that gives all glory to God while celebrating the willing participation of the tribes and the courage of individuals.

Leadership that draws out the call.

What does this narrative teach us about the nature of godly leadership and the urgent call of God?

First, the call of God often comes in the context of the people’s cry.  Deborah and Barak don’t invent a crisis in order to create a platform for themselves.  They respond to a genuine need that has driven the people to prayer.  Healthy leadership is not restless influence; it’s attentive to the affliction of God’s people and the word of God concerning that affliction.

Second, the call of God is sometimes, probably often, mediated through other believers.  Barak receives confirmation of God’s command through Deborah.  This doesn’t diminish the directness of God’s speaking; it illustrates the ordinary means by which God often works.  He uses the courage of one to summon the courage of another.  How many of us are serving the Lord today because someone else introduced us to God’s word or confirmed it.  Parents, elders, old saints – your willingness to speak the call of God into the lives of others is part of how God raises up the next generation.

Third, leadership that is secure in its own calling is free to collaborate.  Deborah doesn’t feel threatened by Barak’s request for her presence.  She doesn’t insist on going alone or on receiving the credit.  She is willing for another woman to get the honor entirely.  Secure leaders are not jealous of the gifts or the recognition of others.  They are jealous for the work of God.

Fourth, the call to be strong is rarely a call to solitary heroism.  Even the most gifted leaders need the help and strength of others.  Barak needed Deborah’s prophetic courage and presence.  Deborah needed Barak’s military leadership and the 10,000 men who followed him.  Jael needed neither army nor prophetic voice.  All she needed was that tent peg and a hammer – and the opportunity God placed in her tent and the courage to act.  The Body of Christ is designed this way.  No one is called to do everything.  Everyone is called to do something, and often that something is done best with others.

Conclusion.  Some of you are living under a long oppression – sin, fear, discouragement, or some external pressure.  The first step is the same as Israel’s – cry out to the Lord.  Don’t wait until you feel strong enough to pray.  The cry itself is the beginning of strength.

Some you already know the word the Lord has spoken to you.  You’ve sensed a call to step out, step up, and step into greater responsibility – maybe in the home, in the church, in the workplace, or in some specific act of obedience.  You need to hear and take to heart the challenge of Deborah:  The Lord has commanded.  Will you go?

Some of you are in positions of influence – parents, teacher, elders, grandparents.  Your calling includes the responsibility to summon others.  Don’t assume that people will simply discover the will of God on their own.  Speak the Word of God into their lives.  Challenge them.  God with them if necessary.  Leadership that draws out the call in others is one of the most powerful ways God advances His kingdom.

And all of us must remember that the ultimate strength we need is not found in ourselves.  The song of Deborah in chapter 5 ends with a prayer:

“So may all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had peace forty years.  (Judges 5:31 | TNIV)

The rising sun is a picture of the irresistible strength given by God.  In the fullness of time that strength has been revealed in Jesus Christ.  He is the true and greater Deliverer who heard the cry of the world under the oppression of sin and death.  He didn’t just send a prophet; He came Himself.  He didn’t just collaborate with others; He bore the full weight of the battle alone on the cross, and He rose in power so that we might be strong in Him.

The call to be strong is, finally, a call to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Deborah and Barak point us forward to the One who calls us, equips us, and goes with us.

Therefore, let’s all cry out.  Let’s receive the challenge.  Let’s collaborate as needed.  And let’s rise up in the strength God supplies, for the glory of His name and the good of His people.