Judges 5:1-6:10
Deborah and Barak then began to sing praises to the Lord for the wonderful deliverance He had wrought for Israel. We learn in this song more of the weakness that existed among the people of God. They had been walking in the byways instead of the highways, for there was fear on every hand—the fear of man. Now they rejoiced in the Lord’s mighty deliverance.
Some of the people had offered themselves willingly and hazarded their lives to fight the Lord’s battles, and this was not forgotten. Others, like the children of Reuben, were divided, and so did not come forward to help. Dan abode in his ships and Asher remained by the seashore. A curse came upon Meroz who would not come forward to help at all. Undoubtedly all these things have a voice for us, for it is a serious thing to refuse to help in the work of the Lord, or to be so busily engaged in other interests that we do not offer ourselves willingly. How many of God’s children there are like this today, who just leave everything to others. They show wonderful ability when it comes to the things of this world, and often have beautiful homes, but they have no time or energy to do any work for the Lord. They say it is a day of weakness, so have settled down to do little or nothing. What a solemn thing this is! And one feels we do well to have “searchings of heart,” as with Reuben in our chapter, (verse 16) concerning our part in the weak and divided state of the Church of God today. Is it not our laxity that is part of the cause? One feels it is.
The part that Jael, the wife of Heber, had in the victory was not forgotten, for many a woman remaining at home is fighting the Lord’s battles in her home and at the front door! What an effective testimony a mother can have, by speaking of the Lord to her children, her neighbors, and to the tradesmen who call. God does not fail to notice all that is done for Him, no matter how unnoticed we may be by others.
We now come to the very interesting and instructive story of Gideon. The children of Israel had departed from the Lord in spite of the wonderful deliverance through Deborah and Barak, and so the Lord gave them over into the hands of the Midianites, who oppressed them for seven years. When the children of Israel sowed their crops, then the enemy came up and destroyed them, so that they had no food for themselves or their cattle. At last the children of Israel cried to the Lord. When all was going well they worshiped their idols, but when trouble came they turned to the Lord. How often this is the case! Perhaps some unsaved one is reading these lines and you have good health and many blessings, but you are forgetting the Lord. Are you going to make it necessary for Him to bring trouble into your life before you will listen to His voice? Why not turn to Him now, dear reader, and, owning your sin and guilt, receive Him as your Saviour? He has said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37.
Here we are told that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel who reminded them of how good the Lord had been to them, in bringing them out of Egypt and giving them the land of Canaan, but they had not obeyed His voice. Dear reader, if you are unsaved, God is speaking to you today. Will you hear His voice?
ML 08/30/1953