All The Gory Details (Judges 4)

The book of Judges seems so repetitive: Israel sins; gets captured by a foreign army. A leader rises up and rescues Israel, and there is peace… for awhile…

Wasn’t it Scheri who told us a story where we kept repeating that phrase, “for awhile…” ? That’s how it is in Judges: Israel is captured, Israel is delivered, and there is peace… for awhile… then it starts all over again.

Chapter 1: The tribe of Judah fights for Israel against the Canaanites. Judah captures the city of Jerusalem and kills all of Jerusalem’s inhabitants. Then Judah attacks other Canaanite towns and regions.

In chapter 2, there is a flashback to Joshua’s death, and then Israel is “handed over to raiders who plundered them.” Leaders rise up and deliver Israel, and there is peace… for awhile. Then those leaders die, and war returns.

Chapter 3: Israel is captured. Then Israel is delivered. And there is peace. For awhile. Then Israel is captured. Then Israel is delivered. And there is peace. For awhile. Then Israel is captured…

And this time, a leader named Ehud hides a small sword under his clothes and goes to pay tribute to the evil King Englon, who scripture says “was a very fat man.” Ehud then thrusts his sword into the king, and according to the scripture, “even the handle went in after the blade; the fat closed over the blade, and his guts spilled out!”

And there was peace. For awhile.

And then, in chapter 4, Israel is captured by King Jabin of Canaan.

The title of this sermon is “All the Gory Details.” I started working on this sermon just before Halloween – maybe that wasn’t such a good idea – but you gotta know that having King Englon’s guts spill out all over the place in chapter three is nothing – nothing – compared to what happens in chapter 4.  What we’ve heard is just the beginning. Wanna hear the rest?

I gotta warn you: it’s a scary, gruesome story. The first time I ever heard this story told, it was around a campfire at night, in the woods, and let me tell you: it took a long time before anyone could fall asleep that night. Are you sure you wanna hear it?

All right. King Jabin of Canaan had captured Israel. And the leader of King Jabin’s army was the dreaded Sisera. (Say his name: Sisera. Say it with a sneer; he’s evil: Sisera!)

Sisera had nine hundred iron chariots! No one could stop him.

There were legends and rumors about Sisera.

Some said that his 900 chariots were pulled by 900 fire-breathing horses!  Imagine the sight of 900 fire-breathing horses coming at you, each one of them pulling a massive iron chariot with a strong, well-armored warrior!

Others said that Sisera could freeze a lion in its tracks just by screaming at it, and that he could destroy the walls of an enemy's city with a shout -- just like the Israelites had done at Jericho!

Now maybe all that was exaggeration. Or maybe not.

We heard already about Deborah. Deborah was a great prophet, and a leader of Israel. Society really didn’t allow women to be leaders, but God rarely pays attention to the limitations we humans place on people.

Deborah was strong, she was wise, and people would come to her for advice.

But one person who, apparently, didn’t come to her for advice was Barak, leader of Israel’s army. Maybe it was because he had been taught that women were supposed to remain silent… Maybe it was because he knew she would tell him something he didn’t want to hear.

So, since he didn’t come to her, Deborah sent word to him: “You’re a leader in the army; why aren’t you leading your soldiers into battle? Israel needs someone to rescue it from King Englon and his mighty warrior Sisera! Go! Don’t worry about Sisera; I’ll take care of him.”

How did Barak reply? Well, gosh! The scripture we heard stopped before we got to his reply!  It also stopped before we got to the gory, gruesome details.  Shall we go further?

It turns out that Barak really didn’t want to go. Deborah said “Go!” but Barak replied, “I’ll go, but only if you go with me.”

Deborah said, “Oh, Barak, your confidence is truly inspiring… I’ll go with you, but know this: Sisera will be defeated.  Not by you, but by a woman!”

Who do you think Deborah is talking about? Who is this woman who will defeat Sisera?  Let’s see…

Deborah went out and met Barak; Barak gathered 10,000 men to march out with them.

Meanwhile, the evil Sisera got his 900 iron chariots and all of his soldiers ready for battle.

Barak hesitates, but Deborah yells at him: “Come on! This is the moment! Get up! Let’s go!”

And a great and terrible battle ensues. Barak charges down the slope with his 10,000 men. Sisera advances with his 900 horse-drawn chariots, and look closely: are those horses breathing fire? It’s hard to tell in all the commotion. Swords are clashing everywhere. Blood is flying. Soldiers are falling, many of them Sisera’s.

And Sisera panics.

Sisera jumps out of his chariot and runs away! And Barak and his army chase Sisera’s army, and they destroy it. None of Sisera’s soldiers are left alive.

But where is Sisera, the evil, mighty warrior?

He’s hiding.

Sisera had run and run and run, and he came to the tent of a woman named Jael. Jael saw him, went out of her tent, and said, “Quick, hide in here. Don’t be afraid.”

Well, of course Sisera was afraid, but not of this woman Jael. So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket to hide him.

Then he said to her, “Please, some water; I’m thirsty.” But she didn’t just give him water; she gave him milk. How nice! Jael’s kindness and hospitality helped put him at ease.

From under the blanket, he said: “Stand at the entrance to your tent. If anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man in here,” you can say, ‘No.’”

And lying there under the blanket, Sisera quickly fell asleep.  He was exhausted! It had been a very long day and a difficult, terrible battle, followed by a long pursuit. His exhaustion just took over.

Once he was asleep, Jael picked up a tent stake – it was a huge tent stake, sharp and pointy at one end – and a hammer. Quietly, she tiptoed over to where Sisera was sleeping. With one hand, she held the tent stake right above Sisera’s head. With her other hand, she raised the hammer high into the air. And with one mighty swing of the hammer, she drove the stake right through Sisera’s head and down into the ground.

I warned you.

When Barak arrived, he saw that gory, gruesome scene: Sisera’s dead body pinned to the ground with a tent stake through his head, a pool of warm blood on the ground, and he realized that Deborah the prophet had been right: Sisera had been defeated by a woman.

Jael.

After this, the Israelite army seemed to gain new strength, and it wasn’t long before King Jabin was defeated completely.

And there was joy and celebration in the land.

The next chapter, chapter five – the whole chapter! – is a song of praise for Deborah and what God had accomplished in helping Israel defeat the evil Sisera. Israel was delivered from Sisera and King Jabin… and there much rejoicing… and there was peace…

“For awhile.”

Yes, in chapter six, it starts all over again…

This time it’s the Midianites who attack and take control of Israel. And the wars and the battles continue.

Now I don’t know about you, but my reaction to a story like this is: “What’s the deal? What’s the point?  All these battles and wars and bloodshed, and just when you think victory is achieved, it doesn’t last. The fighting just goes on and on and on…”

Let’s flip through the pages of Judges, and see if things ever get better…

Chapter 7: Gideon. Oh, I’ve heard of him! He’s the guy who put all the Bibles in hotel rooms!

Actually, he was a great warrior, full of wisdom, who fought for God and achieved a great victory. It’s a great story; you should read it if you aren’t familiar with it. It goes on for several chapters. At the end of Gideon’s story, there was peace… for awhile.

Chapter 9: more violence and bloodshed. Chapter 10, Chapter 11… Chapter 15, chapter 16, ooh, the story of Samson and Delilah. Lots of lives lost at the end of that story.

Skip to the end. By the end of the book of Judges, so many had been killed in all these battles, that tribes are worried about extinction.

That’s the price that is paid for using violence as a means to solve conflict. At the end of the book, there is peace, but only… for awhile.

Why doesn’t peace ever last? Every time Israel fights for peace, the peace doesn’t last.

Maybe that’s the point.

Jesus said, “those who live by the sword, die by the sword.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “darkness cannot get rid of darkness. Only light can. Hate cannot get rid of hate. Only love can.”

Every time we use violence to solve the problem of violence, IT DOESN’T WORK. Every time.

Any peace that is achieved doesn’t last.

Maybe it’s time to try something different.