CALAMITY by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction:  Bunhill Fields Cemetery goes back to the seventeenth century, with as many as 120,000 burials of which about 2000 monuments remain. If you were to ask me “who is the most prominent person buried there?” I wouldn’t have to think very long to say – “It is Susannah Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley.” Just think of the impact that these two men made all over the world! Of course, their parents were a big part of their success, but especially their mom Susannah. As we continue in our series through Judges, we come to chapter 4 where a woman, if not women, had a major role to play in saving God’s people. To keep our Old West imagery going, we titled this message “Calamity” after Calamity Jane. She was a rough character, sharpshooter, friends with Wild Bill Hickock, and even performed on Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. I have been by her graveside in South Dakota. In our message today, we’re going to meet not just one Calamity Jane but three. They all play the role of mothers, two good and one not so good. I know that is odd that we are talking about Mother’s Day when it was over three months, but that’s what our passage is about. Main Point: God’s plan of redemption was operating ever since the Garden of Eden. It was fulfilled when Jesus, the Son of God, born of a woman, died on the cross for our sins, and bruised the head of the Serpent after he rose from the grave. Failure to receive him is choosing to remain in the family of Adam, the family of sin and death. Receiving Jesus is being born again into the family of God through the New Adam.

Judges 4       1 “When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. 2 So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. 3 And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.”

Context: At first glance, this appears to be the same old cycle found repeatedly in the Book of Judges: the people of Israel slip back into their Sin; God’s judgment comes in giving them over to their enemies; the people cry out to God for deliverance; and finally, God sends a judge to deliver them. They have peace for a while, but eventually they slip back into their old sin, and the cycle starts again. The message for us is to be aware of our propensity towards sin and be aware of the subtle temptations of the Enemy. It is a warning that sin has consequences. It may seem fun at first, but it leads to slavery and destruction. It is also a reminder to cry out to God, who is more than willing to deliver us. When deliverance comes, don’t become complacent. Sin and the Enemy never truly go away. They are just waiting for next opportune time.

But, as we are finding out in this series on the Book of Judges, there is more than meets the eye when we must place the 2 filters of Christ and the Christian life on it.There is a deeper story that is running behind these stories. It is the story of God’s redemption of his people through his son, Jesus Christ. As they are living these cycles of sin, judgment, crying out to God, and deliverance by God, he is also reminding them, teaching them, and preparing them for his great plan of deliverance that he promised in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” This is part of the curse that God pronounced on the Serpent. Because of how he deceived Eve, the mother of all living, there will be a sworn enmity between them. Also, according to the curse, there will two groups of people in humanity: descendants of the Serpent and descendants of the Woman. The descendants of Satan are those who despise God and want to deceive others into disobeying God. These descendants are not biological but ideological. In every generation, there will be such seeds. But not only does the seed (zera) have a collective meaning, it also has a singular meaning. The noun can be both collective and individual. The ultimate battle will be when “the” seed of the woman (singular) will bruise the head of the Serpent. That’s what we will see in this account.

Here’s an important reminder: We must first interpret the passage in the Old Testament in its own right before we look for the deeper meaning based on the New Testament. Before we start looking for Christ, before we start looking for parallels, we must first look to understand what it meant for the people of Israel in their own time. In other words, first, we must read the lines, then, we can read between the lines. Both, the lines and what’s between the lines matter. In fact, when you understand the lines correctly, then you can understand what’s between the lines correctly. Where am I going with this? God still has promises for ethnic Israel that he will fulfill in the future. Don’t think that getting the deeper meaning has closed the books on God’s promises to Israel. They still must come by way of the cross, but there are some specific promises still waiting for them in the future.

Having said all this, let’s dive into today’s message starting in Judges 4       1 “When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. 2 So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.” The name Jabin was a title not a first name. Just like Pharaoh was the king of Egypt and there were many pharaohs, so also Jabin was the king of Canaan, there were many jabins. About 100 years earlier, Joshua had defeated a Jabin in Joshua 11, but he’s back. The person of evil was dead, but the position of evil was still alive. But, unfortunately, it’s worse this time – Judges 4        2 “…The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. 3 And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.” Even though Jabin is mentioned as the king of Canaan, if you’ve read the rest of the account, the emphasis is on Sisera, his commander. He is the seed of the Serpent.

What is God’s plan against the Seed of the Serpent? Judges 4         4 “Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.” If you know anything about the ancient world, this was very radical. Commentators and preachers have given all kinds of views on this (following taken from Gordon Hugenberger): 

• Some say that the men were not stepping up to the plate, and God decided to raise a woman to the task. He did this just to make a point. Kind of a second choice.
• Some say that even though Deborah was a judge, she did not have a real courtroom. They just told her to go sit under a tree somewhere, if someone is really desperate and we are overbooked.

To the contrary, judging under the tree was anything but second-class court. In a sense, this was the supreme court. Yes, in the cities, judging happened at the gates of the city. This is where the elders of the city would sit and hear matters. This is where people would gather. This is where foreigners would come and had to stand before the judges of the city. This is where the judges would give permit to people to enter or be banned from the city. Everywhere else, the court met under a tree, and this is where the most serious of cases were tried. This is because of the symbolism of the tree. Here, we are not talking about he stole my ox, or he blocked my access to water. This is where crimes of sedition, mutiny, mass murders, or even genocide. This is because the tree was a representation of the supreme punishment.Yes, if you rape or murder someone, there was capital punishment. You would be stoned of proven guilty. But, what if the crime was far more heinous – mass murder, sedition, genocide (Haman)? Taking the life was not enough. In the ancient world, you would take the body and hang it on a tree.

• Genesis 40:19 “Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.” Egyptians believed in the resurrection, but hanging on a tree means punishment in the afterlife and shame. Now, the resurrection is denied.
• Deuteronomy 21       22 “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.” Resurrection is not in question, just shame before people and under curse before God.
• Joshua 8:29 “And the king of Ai (killed 36 men) he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.”
• Joshua 10      26 “And afterward Joshua struck them and killed them, and hanged them on five trees; and they were hanging on the trees until evening. 27 So it was at the time of the going down of the sun that Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees, cast them into the cave where they had been hidden, and laid large stones against the cave’s mouth, which remain until this very day.”
• So also, Absalom, the son of David was hung on a tree in God’s divine judgment and then executed and buried under rocks.
• Finally, Haman was also hung on a tree of his own making. He tried to kill all the Jewish people until Esther had the courage to go before the king of Persia.

This is brought out quite loudly and clearly in the New Testament where the cross is called a “tree”:

• Galatians 3       13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
• 1 Peter 2       21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. Also, added to this is that they put him in a tomb and covered it with a large stone.

Back to Deborah – She called Barak and asked him why has he not gone against Sisera? Hasn’t God said that he will deliver him into your hand? Listen to his response in Judges 4        8 And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!” 9 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” At first glance, it seems that Barak was a coward, but that’s not true. Hebrews 11:32“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets…” Charging against 900 chariots of iron with just 10,000 men is ludicrous. Adding a woman was not going to make a difference. What he is really asking is – “Are we going to reenact the divine drama of God’s plan of redemption? I’ll be the seed of the woman if you’ll be the woman.” In her song after the battle, listen to how Deborah describes herself in Judges 5        6 “In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, In the days of Jael, The highways were deserted, And the travelers walked along the byways. 7 Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Arose a mother in Israel.”

Of course, God defeated Sisera before Barak, but the story is far from over. Enter another woman named Jael. Judges 4        17 However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket. She’s playing his mommy here. She gives him his blanky. 19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, “Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ” This is really funny because these are all the things that mothers do for their little children. 21 “Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.” Someone might say that it’s just a cruel desert nomadic behavior. Listen to how Deborah describes Jael in her song in Judges 5       26 “She stretched her hand to the tent peg, Her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; She pounded Sisera, she pierced his head (the same word “rosh” for head in Genesis 3:15), She split and struck through his temple.” Just as Deborah had said, “the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman,” but here the imagery to be remembered is the bruising of his head.

There’s one more mother we need to look at. She is found in Deborah’s song in Judges 5       28 “The mother of Sisera looked through the window, And cried out through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?’ 29 Her wisest ladies answered her, Yes, she answered herself, 30 “Are they not finding and dividing the spoil: To every man a girl or two; For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments, Plunder of garments embroidered and dyed, Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?’ Here we are seeing the face of evil. She is the anti-mother. 

Personal testimony: This week felt a little off. Then I realized this was the week (August 16) when my mom passed away last year. She led me to the Lord at 4 years of age. She went through incredible pain to have my sister. We are here because of her. 

Ladies – God is not expecting you to be a model of motherhood, but don’t be like Sisera’s mother. Lead your children to follow God.

Finally, all of us need to receive the plan of God to be saved through Jesus Christ, God’s Son.