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When Women Rule

Scripture Passage: Judges 4–5

So What? Jesus never leaves you alone!

For Parents: [Anything in brackets]

Do you remember what the cities of refuge were? [They were cities you could run to if you accidentally killed someone. No one could harm you once you were in the city. After you arrived in the city, there would be a trial. If the judges decided the killing was an accident, you could remain in the city in safety.]

In the Book of Judges, chapters four and five, the Bible tells us the Israelites were sinning again. They had forgotten God. As a result, God let Jabin, the king of Canaan, rule over the Israelites. Jabin was a wicked king with nine hundred iron chariots. Do you know what a chariot is? [You can describe it as a cart looking a little like Santa’s sleigh but with wheels instead of skis on the bottom. One or two pairs of horses would race the iron chariots into battle, where the person in the cart could shoot the enemy with his bow.] Having nine hundred chariots at that time would be like having nine hundred tanks today. Jabin had an extremely powerful army!

This big army of chariots made King Jabin proud, and he was cruel to the Israelites for twenty years. He appointed a commander named Sisera, who was the cruelest of them all. The people in Israel began to wonder why God was letting this happen to them. It took twenty years before they realized they were being treated cruelly because they had forgotten God. God allowed this to happen to bring them back to him. Jabin, Sisera, and their warriors had power only because God allowed them to have power. When the Israelites realized this, they began to pray. They told God they were sorry for their sins, and asked him to forgive them for how they had been living. Then they asked God to take away Sisera and his evil army of chariots. And God answered.

If some bullies were coming after you, who would you want to show up to protect you? Why did you choose that person? How would you like a woman named “Honeybee” to come to protect you?

Deborah is a Hebrew name. In English, it means “Honeybee.” Honeybee was a prophet, a judge, and a leader in Israel. People went to her to settle arguments. They respected her because she listened to God and did what he said.

When the people prayed to God to protect them from Sisera and his nine hundred chariots, God talked to Honeybee. Honeybee sent for a man named Barak. She told Barak, “I want you to get an army together to meet Sisera in battle at Mount Tabor.” Honeybee probably knew that no one would follow a woman named Honeybee to battle, so she needed Barak’s help. Honeybee was smart. Mount Tabor is thirteen hundred feet high. The chariots couldn’t run up and down a mountain. The trees, rocks, riverbeds, and steep mountainside would stop the chariots. It would be a little like trying to drive your family minivan at an Olympic skateboard competition. It just wouldn’t work!

Barak was the general of the army. But he was afraid. Nine hundred chariots with eighteen hundred horses running after you could put fear in any man. He knew if God was really with him, he would win the war. But how would he know God was with him? He decided he would trust Honeybee, but he was chicken to go without her. So, Barak said, “I’ll go if you’ll go; but, Honeybee, if you don’t go with me, I won’t go!” Who was braver, Barak or Honeybee? Honeybee was! Wow, women can rule!

“Okay,” said Honeybee, “I’ll go with you. However, because you were chicken to follow God by yourself, the honor won’t be yours. The honor will go to a woman who is not chicken to trust God. God will let a woman win the war and be the hero.” Barak probably thought the hero would be Honeybee, but he was wrong!

Who is your favorite make-believe hero? Maybe it’s Superman, Underdog [okay, that dates me], or Larry-Boy. Who is your real-life hero? Why is that person a hero to you?

Barak called his warriors together. Sisera heard about it and went with his nine hundred chariots to kill Barak and his army. Honeybee and Barak and his army ran to Mount Tabor. Sisera and all his chariots went to Mount Tabor to meet them.

When Honeybee saw the chariots, she said to Barak, “Hurry up! Let’s go! Today God is going to wipe out those chariots. God’s answering our prayers!”

So Barak went to fight Sisera and his chariot army and it was a total blowout. The Israelites wasted them. The mountain was so rough Sisera’s men had to get out of their chariots to fight. Sisera’s whole army was defeated, but not Sisera. He decided he’d better run before someone saw him and killed him.

Sisera’s only chance was to run to the closest city of refuge, so that’s probably where he was headed. He needed to get to safety; he wanted to kill the Israelites, but he didn’t want them to kill him! Sisera ran as far as he could, but he couldn’t make it to the city in one day. Mount Tabor was too far away from the closest city of refuge. He needed to find a place to spend the night, but where could he go? Where could he be safe?

Sisera saw a city made of tents down in the valley. These were nomadic people; they lived in tents instead of houses so they could move around and raise their animals. They had many sheep and goats that had to keep moving to find pasture. These nomadic people didn’t care for politics and war. They kept to themselves. The women would put up the tents and take care of the city while the men were out caring for the animals. “That’s where I’ll go,” thought Sisera. “The men are probably off somewhere with the animals. The women can’t hurt me. They will protect me, even if I am evil. I’ll spend the night with them and then run to safety.”

Jael lived in the tent city with her family. She was inside her tent when Sisera, the Canaanite general, ran up. Jael was home alone, but she knew she had to let him in. He could kill her in an instant. She invited him into her tent, covered him with a blanket, and gave him something to drink.

Jael knew who Sisera was. She knew he was the Canaanite general of the nine-hundred-chariot army. She knew he was at war with Israel. She knew she was hiding the most important man in the enemy’s army. That night, with her husband gone watching the animals and Sisera asleep in her tent, she did what Barak didn’t do. She did what Honeybee didn’t do. She did what nobody should want to do but what had to be done. Jael killed Sisera while he was sleeping! [Depending on the age of your children, you can give them the full biblical story. She used a tent stake and nailed him to the ground through his forehead! Sisera went to bed and woke up dead.] For him it was a painless death. For the armies of Israel and Canaan, it was the end of the war. For Israel, it was the beginning of following God again.

Why did God pick Honeybee to rule in Israel? What made Jael the hero? Why was Barak not a hero? How did he live differently from the two women?

On the day of the battle, women ruled. They ruled because they followed God when no one else did. Honeybee was ready to go to war against nine hundred chariots. Barak was also willing, but only if Honeybee went with him. He was afraid to go alone. He didn’t trust God like Honeybee did. Jael trusted God when no one was with her. Her husband was gone, and she was alone with the evil general of the Canaanites. She could have let him stay in her tent overnight and leave the next day. No one would have said bad things about her. After all, what can one woman do against a general? However, Jael knew what she could and should do, and she did it. She followed God when she was all alone.

The hardest time to follow Jesus is when you feel alone. Others may want you to do what is wrong, and no one will support you. Still, you must follow Jesus. Sometimes it’s easy to follow Jesus when you’re with a group of Christian friends or family, but sometimes you feel alone. Remember, you can never be alone when you are following Christ; he is right there with you! And when you follow Jesus, you are his hero!

Remember: You’ve Got His Word on It

Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture. . . . None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. Romans 8:35–39 MESSAGE