Judge Deborah // Main Street

The Israelites now have their own land. It is divided up among the tribes/states. Each tribe is tasked with driving out the remaining inhabitants of the land. But they fail. Over and over again in the last 10 chapters of Joshua, each tribe fails to dislodge the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. We asked the Main Street students what happens when bad people are around good people… and they answered:

“Bad stuff.”

Yep.

The opening 2 chapters of the book of Judges detail each tribes failure to dislodge as well as the “Cycle of Sin” which is where Israel does good for a while, then does bad (they do evil in the LORD’s eyes), God allows a foreign power to conquer/occupy them, the Israelites cry out for help, God raises up a deliverer/rescuer/judge to save them, they are saved, and they enjoy peace and goodness for a while… until they choose to do evil in the LORD’s sight again, and the “Cycle of Sin” starts all over again.

Deborah is the fourth Judge in the book of Judges. She follows Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar.

Deborah is tasked by the LORD to rescue Israel from King Jabin and his commander Sisera. Deborah has her own commander, Barak, who when asked to go into battle and defeat Sisera, pleads with Deborah to accompany him. They rout Sisera’s troops, but Sisera escapes and finds his way to the tent of a woman named Jael. Jael lures Sisera into her tent and he goes to sleep, which is when Jael drives a tent spike through his temple and kills him. Then the land had peace for 40 years… until the Israelites sinned again.

source Vimeo (1), Vimeo (2), Vimeo (3)