March 18 2012

March 18th 2012

Deborah and Barak

I really enjoyed this reading. This is a 'girl power' (by way of God) story. Deborah was leading Israel at the time, and she was not only a prophetess but also her land's mediator, so to speak. She sends for Barak and tells him to take his 10,000 men to Mt. Tabor to defeat Sisera and his 900 chariots. The scripture makes clear that Sisera should really have the advantage, logistically speaking, but as Anthony pointed out this morning about Gideon, God wanted His people to know that He was with them. The fact that Sisera had the upper hand meant absolutely nothing because God was with Barak, Deborah and their men. Barak wins this first battle, but Sisera gets away, running to a supposed ally's tent to hide. This is the second part of the girl power story! Jael, the woman who greets Sisera, feeds him, shelters him, and practically tucks him into bed takes a peg and hammer from her tent and hammers Sisera's temple. Being that the women were in charge of pitching the tents back then, the fact that she knew how to skillfully use the tools isn't surprising. This doesn't make for a good mental picture, but I felt proud of her when I read this, because I would be scared out of my mind if I had to pound a stake through someone's head, and doing so grossly violates the rules of hospitality,but Jael's faith and bravery is something I always admired. Also, this points out that even though killing is evil, God accepts it and uses it to get what needs to be done, done. It made clear to me that God has no illusions of people. He knows what levels of evil and sin people can fall to, and He smartly has a solution: use it, then forgive it, because He is a forgiving God, something I admit I take for granted sometimes. Finally, and a little anticlimactically, Jabin is destroyed. 

This next part is cool to me too. The song of Deborah and Barak. It's any anthropologist's dream: a clue to the culture of the time. At this time, history wasn't being written down as it was happening. No one witnessed a holy event and automatically thought 'hey, let me write that down.' No, word of mouth was the main form of getting stories and accounts of events around. The fact that this is a song is really cool because music is such an ancient, elegant way of telling a story and also it probably made it easier for people to remember and pass down. 

Hope you all had a great Sunday, and have a great week!! 

Gina