Three Mothers
In the fifth chapter of Judges there are three mothers mentioned;
Judg 5:7 The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.
Judg 5:24 Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
Judg 5:28 The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?
The events recorded in this chapter occurred during a time of great trouble for the people of Israel. The Canaanites had been dominating the land with great cruelty. These three women and their roles speak volumes about mothers and their roles in the affairs of nations.
I. Deborah
A. Her people were in dire need of a courageous leader.
Judg 4:3 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
B. Her encouragement of the man God had chosen for the job.
Judg 4:6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
Judg 4:7 And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
1. Often, when the cause of Christ seems about to suffer defeat, it is a ‘mother in Israel’ who encourages the preacher to keep going. It may be the preacher’s wife and it may be a mother in the congregation who is concerned about her family’s welfare and about her church and the cause of Christ.
Thank God for the Deborahs in our churches!
2.The support of these Godly women has kept many men from faltering,
Judg 4:8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
3. In the final judgment, much of the credit expected to go to men, will actually go to the women who encouraged them.
Judg 4:9 And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
II. Jael, wife of Heber.
A. Her people had opted out of the fray. It wasn’t their fight.
Judg 4:11 Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
Judg 4:17 Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Judg 4:18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
B. Jael saw the folly of this and chose to serve God anyway. She found the courage to do the ‘unusual’
Judg 4:21 Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
C.She became the means for great victory.
Judg 4:22 And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
Judg 4:23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
Women are often called upon to turn to God alone in times of trouble, but Oh, what a grand reunion at the altar when she is joined there by her family!
III. The mother of Sisera.
We are not told her name. Had it been mentioned it would have the same effect on us today as ‘Jezebel or Judas’.
A. Sisera was captain of the enemy host.
Judg 4:7 And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
B. Her desires for her son were nothing but hedonistic pleasures.
Judg 5:30 Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?
1.Sadly, there are mothers who fail in their Godly duties.
2 Chr 22:2 Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.
2 Chr 22:3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
2 Chr 22:4 Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction.
C. Sisera’s mother had great anxiety in his behalf.
Judg 5:28 The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?
D. We can only imagine her heartbreak upon learning of his demise.
Christian training requires Christian homes. Christian homes must have Christian parents. Christian parents are those who know Christ as both Saviour of their souls and Lord of their lives.
6.5.06
CHAPTER FOUR
Mark of a Great Leader - Following God’s Plan
God has a definite plan for every phase of His work. There is an order that must be followed if the results are to be pleasing to Him.
Before Moses returned to Egypt from Midian, God told him that the final statement made to Pharaoh would be concerning the death of the firstborn. Yet God warned him that all the other plagues must be brought forth first.
Exo 4:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
Exo 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
Exo 4:23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
A lot of time and suffering could have been avoided if only Moses had been able to cut straight through the preliminaries to the final event.
It is often a temptation to try to short circuit God’s plans in order that we can see results quicker. We may desire to see children saved and elicit a profession of faith from them even before they become conscious of guilt for sin. Sometimes we recruit a person into the service of God without waiting for the Holy Spirit to do His work of conviction. The desire to see growth in numbers has caused some to forego the strong teaching needed to enable a Church to endure. If not careful to follow God’s plan, we can become ‘result’ oriented and forget that God demands obedience and He will provide results.
Here are a few simple Scriptural truths;
He has chosen by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. I Cor 1:21
It is to be the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. Rom 1:16
He has commanded all men everywhere to repent. Acts 17:30
We are saved by grace through faith. Eph 2:8,9
He has ordained good works in which His people are to walk. Eph 2:10
There is no other medium through which He receives service and glory except a New Testament Church. Eph 3:21
Each of these statements are true, but if we should isolate one and ignore the rest we will answer for not following God’s plan. ‘With the mouth confession is made unto salvation’ is a wonderful Biblical statement, but there have been occasions when confessions have been planted in a person’s mouth and then elicited with a series of planned questions and the person told that is all that’s necessary. He may have never sat under the Gospel witness, may never have felt conviction for his sins, never have been brought to a state of repentance nor really trusted Christ and His substitutionary work. In short, he may have met none of the Biblical requirements of hearing, being convicted, repenting, trusting; and yet be assured of the impossible by some would-be leader who is too impatient to follow God’s plan.
Eph. 2:10 ‘We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.’ .
In these `good works’ too, there is an order which must be followed. Baptism, membership in a local, New Testament Church, obedience to scriptural injunctions in morality and dutiful doctrinal practice. All these are necessary and each must be followed in an orderly fashion. Sects and cults have multiplied and many individuals have been led away from acceptable service to God because some `leader’ refused to follow God's plan and insisted on trying to ‘enter the promised land without ever crossing the Red Sea!’ Boards, conventions, committees, etc. which usurp the authority of local churches have all come into being because principals have not chosen to use God's plan as their guiding principle.
The ‘social gospel’, modernism, liberalism, universalism, so-called ‘higher criticism’ and other ‘isms ad nauseum’ have been spawned, nurtured, and continue to plague God’s people because someone chose to follow a course other than God’s plan.
Admittedly, it would have been more ‘energy efficient’ and a considerable saving of time if the Passover had been the first thing on the agenda for Moses when he returned to Egypt. It would have saved the Israelites some sorrow if Pharaoh had not been angered by Moses’ requests to let them go into the wilderness to worship. They would not have had their tasks increased again and again. The question is, however, would the Israelites have been ready to accept the Passover and the subsequent challenges without the preparation of experiencing God’s protection in the preceding plagues? Also, would the Egyptians have been willing to share so much of their wealth, had they not experienced the increasing wrath of God in the plagues?
However unwieldy God’s orders may seem to men, they have a purpose and that purpose is often very practical, but even if there were no practical purpose, the mere fact that God has so ordered is sufficient reason for any leader to follow without question.
Mark of a Great Leader - Following God’s Plan
God has a definite plan for every phase of His work. There is an order that must be followed if the results are to be pleasing to Him.
Before Moses returned to Egypt from Midian, God told him that the final statement made to Pharaoh would be concerning the death of the firstborn. Yet God warned him that all the other plagues must be brought forth first.
Exo 4:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
Exo 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
Exo 4:23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
A lot of time and suffering could have been avoided if only Moses had been able to cut straight through the preliminaries to the final event.
It is often a temptation to try to short circuit God’s plans in order that we can see results quicker. We may desire to see children saved and elicit a profession of faith from them even before they become conscious of guilt for sin. Sometimes we recruit a person into the service of God without waiting for the Holy Spirit to do His work of conviction. The desire to see growth in numbers has caused some to forego the strong teaching needed to enable a Church to endure. If not careful to follow God’s plan, we can become ‘result’ oriented and forget that God demands obedience and He will provide results.
Here are a few simple Scriptural truths;
He has chosen by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. I Cor 1:21
It is to be the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. Rom 1:16
He has commanded all men everywhere to repent. Acts 17:30
We are saved by grace through faith. Eph 2:8,9
He has ordained good works in which His people are to walk. Eph 2:10
There is no other medium through which He receives service and glory except a New Testament Church. Eph 3:21
Each of these statements are true, but if we should isolate one and ignore the rest we will answer for not following God’s plan. ‘With the mouth confession is made unto salvation’ is a wonderful Biblical statement, but there have been occasions when confessions have been planted in a person’s mouth and then elicited with a series of planned questions and the person told that is all that’s necessary. He may have never sat under the Gospel witness, may never have felt conviction for his sins, never have been brought to a state of repentance nor really trusted Christ and His substitutionary work. In short, he may have met none of the Biblical requirements of hearing, being convicted, repenting, trusting; and yet be assured of the impossible by some would-be leader who is too impatient to follow God’s plan.
Eph. 2:10 ‘We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.’ .
In these `good works’ too, there is an order which must be followed. Baptism, membership in a local, New Testament Church, obedience to scriptural injunctions in morality and dutiful doctrinal practice. All these are necessary and each must be followed in an orderly fashion. Sects and cults have multiplied and many individuals have been led away from acceptable service to God because some `leader’ refused to follow God's plan and insisted on trying to ‘enter the promised land without ever crossing the Red Sea!’ Boards, conventions, committees, etc. which usurp the authority of local churches have all come into being because principals have not chosen to use God's plan as their guiding principle.
The ‘social gospel’, modernism, liberalism, universalism, so-called ‘higher criticism’ and other ‘isms ad nauseum’ have been spawned, nurtured, and continue to plague God’s people because someone chose to follow a course other than God’s plan.
Admittedly, it would have been more ‘energy efficient’ and a considerable saving of time if the Passover had been the first thing on the agenda for Moses when he returned to Egypt. It would have saved the Israelites some sorrow if Pharaoh had not been angered by Moses’ requests to let them go into the wilderness to worship. They would not have had their tasks increased again and again. The question is, however, would the Israelites have been ready to accept the Passover and the subsequent challenges without the preparation of experiencing God’s protection in the preceding plagues? Also, would the Egyptians have been willing to share so much of their wealth, had they not experienced the increasing wrath of God in the plagues?
However unwieldy God’s orders may seem to men, they have a purpose and that purpose is often very practical, but even if there were no practical purpose, the mere fact that God has so ordered is sufficient reason for any leader to follow without question.
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