Judges 5:1-31

     The Central Idea of the Text is that Deborah and Barak sing a victory song of praise to the Lord for His righteous acts of deliverance.  

     The use of personal pronouns implies the song was written by Deborah (Judg. 5:7, 9, 13).  Deborah and Barak praised God for His victory over the Canaanites, and praised those tribes who voluntarily answered the Lord’s call.  The praise song was supernaturally inspired and sung on the day of victory.  Praise is a response to the good actions of another.  Victory songs served to remind later generations of God’s faithfulness to care for His own during difficult times.  The Lord proved to be Israel’s victor in this battle.  Deborah praises Ephraim, Benjamin, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun and Naphtali who came to battle, but Reuben, Gilead, Dan and Asher stayed home and did not come to help fight. 

      Sisera’s mother waited long and feared her son’s late return.  Her mother’s dread is contrasted with Deborah’s rejoicing as a mother over Israel.  Deborah answered God’s call as a leader in Israel, but she did not abandon her identity as a mother; rather she incorporated it into her caring role for Israel.  For Israel, the battle was both physical and spiritual, as God’s people prepared themselves and went to war, knowing their victory was determined by heaven. 

     In the Church age, our battle is spiritual and not physical (Eph. 6:12).  As Christians, our responsibility is to keep ourselves unstained by the world (Rom. 12:1-2; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; Jam. 1:27; 1 John 2:15-17), to pray for our enemies (Matt. 5:44), and share the gospel that others might believe in Christ and be saved (1 Cor. 15:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:18-20).  The Bible is our sword by which we destroy spiritual and intellectual strongholds, within ourselves and others (2 Cor. 10:3-6; Heb. 4:12).  The victory always belongs to God.