Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.
Judges 4
- About the Title: A parody on the music Beautiful Dreamer with a twist of meanings: The original is Beautiful Dreamer wake unto me. Then it morphed into Beautiful Dreamer Stay Awake for me. Then “Beautiful Dreamer Stake Away From Me” when Jael puts a stake through Sisera’s head.
Map of Locations for Judges Chapter 4:
- Key: Words in Blue are places.
As a Play, the Main Characters would be:
- Bad King Jabin king of Canaan
Bad Commander of Jabin’s army: Sisera
Bad Heber the Kenite, a squealer, a descendant of Moses’ good father in-law Hobab. - Good Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth (torch)
Good Barak (lightning) leader of the Jewish troops
Good Jael (Yaw-el) who kills Sisera, wife of bad Heber the Kenite, who gave Sisera the location of Barak and his troops.
ACT I
- Israel suffers under Jabin, the king of Canaan, and his commander Sisera. Israel cries out to the Lord for deliverance.
Deborah
Judges 4:1 When Ehud (their peaceful ruler) was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight (eyes) of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ). 2 So the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim (carved out – ha=the, goyim=gentiles).
- Note: “Israel again di-d evil in the sight of the Lord.
Judges 4:3 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ); for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.
- Humor: For twenty years Jabin ironed the children of Israel. He op”pressed” them with his chariots of “iron”.
ACT II
- Deborah and Barak plan to free Israelites from Jabin and Sisera’s control because of the command of God. She agrees to go with him into battle.
Judges 4:4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
- Deborah is both a prophetess and a judge.
Judges 4:5 And she (Deborah) would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
- A Poem of Deborah’s Palm Tree
The Prophetess ~ Barbara Grover
A breeze blew through the palm leaves
On a bright and sunlit day,
Judging the people of Israel
when God passed by her way.
Ten thousand men from Zebulum
and don’t forget Naphtali,
To put an end to Jabin’s men
And take captivity captive.
My people have made amends
for all their sins
their oppression is now redacted.
(In one thousand two hundred and sixty-four years
The Lord appears again, to make amends, for the sins of men
to take captivity captive.)
A breeze blows through the palm leaves
On a bright and sunlit day
Judging the people of Israel
As Jesus passed their way.
With Palm Leaves they rejoiced in Him,
Messiah, Savior, Kingship, Kin;
Jesus rode into Jerusalem.
Judges 4:6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God (Yᵊhōvâ ‘ĕlōhîm) of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy (Lit. draw) troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; 7 and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver (march) him into your hand’?”
Judges 4:8 And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”
ACT III
- Deborah provides an important prophecy since Barak insists Deborah goes into battle with him.
Judges 4:9 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command (Lit. at his feet), and Deborah went up with him.
- As a prophetess, Deborah foretells how it will be that a woman will kill Sisera. This will take the glory of the win from Barak.
ACT IV
- Enter: Stage Right, Heber the Kenite who shares the location of Barak’s army with Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army.
- Stage Set: Zaanaim Location: North of the Sea of Galilee – Halfway to Damascus.
Judges 4:11 Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab (the father-in-law of Moses), had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree (a holy tree-a separated tree) at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh.
- A Poem of the Terebinth Tree
A Holy Tree~Barbara Grover
- Heber had a wife Jael,
he left her far behind.
He set up tent – way north – Kedesh
Where Barak, it seems, resides.
- The Kenites were known
for their metal work,
chariots and such.
Perhaps Heber worked for Sisera there,
But told him way too much. - He witnessed Barak
Collecting his troops
and told of their location.
- Sisera and troops went to attack Barak
Thundering up from Sisera’s Station.
In the valley of Megiddo
Lightning burnt Sisera’s hide
To escape Barak he turned and ran
on foot, in-tent, to hide.
- Heber had left his wife behind,
Jael, who had a nail.
In her fury Jael nailed
Sisera’s soul to Hell.
Judges 4:12 And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
Judges 4:13 So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim (Meaning: Carved Out – the “ha” Gentiles “goyim”) to the River Kishon.
ACT V
- The day has arrived and Deborah announces the victory even before the battle commences. Ultimately, they overtake Sisera close to his base in Harosheth Hagoyim.
Judges 4:14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! (Arise!) For this is the day in which the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
- Barak had 10,000 men.
- Sisera had 900 chariots of iron and his army.
Judges 4:15 And the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left (except Sisera).
- You don’t want God to be against you. When the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea not an Egyptian was left alive and not a Hebrew was killed.
Judges 4:17 However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
ACT VI
- Heber pitched his tent in Zaanaim separated from the Kenites and his wife. Jael was left behind in Harosheth Hagoyim, Sisera’s home base. Heber is located in the same place as Barak. How did Jael know when Sisera was on his way back that she went out to meet him?
Judges 4:18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket (rug).
- She gave him comforting words to hear
and covered him in a blanket.
She said to him, “Do not fear”
with milk and warmth, he drank it.
- Ja-el: The two names of God: Ja (Yaw) and El (El).
Judges 4:19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ”
- She gave him nourishing butter milk. She fed him like a baby.
Judges 4:21 Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer (mallet) in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
- As he slept, she tip-toed not to wake him. Like a mother with her baby.
- Then she nailed his soul to hell.
Judges 4:22 And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.
- The nail was a tent peg. Jael must have met Barak, standing and sprayed with Sisera’s blood.
Judges 4:23 So on that day God (‘ĕlōhîm) subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. 24 And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
- And so Jael had the glory for killing Sisera resulting in the conquest of Jabin, king of Canaan – instead of Barak whose name means lightning – as Deborah had prophesied. The End.
See: Judges 9:53 But a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull. 54 Then he called quickly to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” – such a shame.
Humor:
How many parts of the body are mentioned in Judges Chapter 4?
- Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord. v1
- Deborah sat under a palm tree. v5
- God sold Sisera into the hand of a woman. v14
- Sistera ran on foot. v17
- Jael said to Sisera, “Turn a – side”. v18
- Jael took the mallet and nail peg into her hand. v21
- She put the nail peg through Sisera’s temple. v22
- God delivered Sisera into Barak’s hand. v23
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