No sooner are we done with the sordid story of Abimelech than we come to Jephthah, Judge #9.

Abimelech was an outcast because his mother was a “concubine” of Gideon’s. I looked up concubine, and it means, in polygamous cultures, a wife of lesser status.

It turns out Jephthah is an outcast in his clan of Gilead because his mother was a prostitute:

Jephthah the Gileadite was one tough warrior. He was the son of a prostitute, but Gilead was his father. Meanwhile, Gilead’s legal wife had given him other sons, and when they grew up, his wife’s sons threw Jephthah out. They told him: “You’re not getting any of our family inheritance—you’re the son of another woman.” So Jephthah fled from his brothers and went to live in the land of Tob. Some riffraff joined him and went around with him. (Judges 11.1 – 3, MSG)

But unlike Abimelech who killed all his half-brothers so he could be in charge, Gilead’s brothers came to get him:

Some time passed. And then the Ammonites started fighting Israel. With the Ammonites at war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. They said to Jephthah: “Come. Be our general and we’ll fight the Ammonites.” But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead: “But you hate me. You kicked me out of my family home. So why are you coming to me now? Because you are in trouble. Right?” (Judges 11.4 – 7, MSG)

Jephthah tries diplomacy with the Ammonites without success (see Judges 11.14 – 27). So Jephthah recruits an army and, empowered by “God’s Spirit,” defeats the Ammonites.

It’s completely unclear why Jephthah felt it necessary to make a stupid vow:

GOD’s Spirit came upon Jephthah. He went across Gilead and Manasseh, went through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there approached the Ammonites. Jephthah made a vow before GOD: “If you give me a clear victory over the Ammonites, then I’ll give to GOD whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in one piece from among the Ammonites—I’ll offer it up in a sacrificial burnt offering.”…Jephthah came home to Mizpah. His daughter ran from the house to welcome him home—dancing to tambourines! She was his only child. He had no son or daughter except her. When he realized who it was, he ripped his clothes, saying, “Ah, dearest daughter—I’m dirt. I’m despicable. My heart is torn to shreds. I made a vow to GOD and I can’t take it back!” (Judges 11.29 – 31, 34, 35, MSG)

I’ll never understand the nature of Jephthah’s vow.

• What/who did he expect to come out of the door of his house?
• Why did he feel a vow was necessary? Was he trying to help God out?

She said, “Dear father, if you made a vow to GOD, do to me what you vowed; GOD did his part and saved you from your Ammonite enemies.” (Judges 11.36, MSG)

So many lessons:

• The obvious one, backed up by Solomon’s observations in Ecclesiastes, is don’t make vows!

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few…When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? (Ecclesiastes 5.2, 4 – 6, MSG)

• Be creative and self-sacrificial: I think Japheth could have offered himself in exchange for his daughter. That’s what Jesus did, essentially. Japheth lived only six more years (see Judges 12.1 – 7).
• Let’s bring it up to date: don’t sacrifice family on the altar of “ministry.” More than one Christian leader (professional or volunteer) has lost his wife or children because of too many hours devoted to ministry or church activity. I can think of two specific instances in my own life when I blew up a friendship because I thought some ministry activity I needed to do with people I didn’t know all that well was more important than relationships with people I did know well. It was a long time ago. I would do things differently now. For an insightful and humorous look at our tendency to put ministry before family,  read The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, age 37 3/4. It’s available used for cheap. Worth it at any price.

And since you know that he cares, let your language show it. Don’t add words like “I swear to God” to your own words. Don’t show your impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say what is true. That way, your language can’t be used against you. (James 5.12, MSG)

Anyone who neglects to care for family members in need repudiates the faith. That’s worse than refusing to believe in the first place. (1 Timothy 5.8, MSG)

God clearly says, “Respect your father and mother,” and, “Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.” But you weasel around that by saying, “Whoever wants to, can say to father and mother, What I owed to you I’ve given to God.” (Matthew 15.4, 5, MSG)

I’m well aware that these last two verses have literal meaning and application to specific situations different from the point I’m making. But in principle, doing “God’s work” doesn’t get one out of taking care of family.

Our youngest son David is transitioning into real estate and still learning the habits that make for a successful agent. He’s also an accomplished pianist and piano teacher. Recently, he tied the two concepts together in a short article, Is This Necessary?, which is worth the read in its entirety. Here are some snippets:

I am being coached/mentored by a real estate expert and professional coach... During one of our early meetings, when I sat there nearly in tears as I spoke about my lack of success so far in real estate, I was forced to admit that I did not engage in many of the activities I heard about early in my new career from experienced agents, choosing not to connect the dots between those activities and future business.

Recently, I started a new piano student…15 years old…I began teaching him out of a book specifically designed for the “older beginner,” … The first page is designed to get background by asking questions like “Do you have a piano at home? Have you ever had any music lessons or learning previously? Does anyone in your family participate in music?” And other basic details. I barely started into that conversation when the young man interrupted me and asked, “Is this necessary?”

Later in the lesson I was showing him the first playing exercise, which fingers to use on which notes, etc. He stated, “Why can’t I just use these fingers? It seems that would be easier.” I paused to take a deep breath and find the words. Because what I really wanted to say was, “How about you let me, the guy that’s played for 40 years, gotten paid to play for 25 years, and has been teaching piano for 18 years, tell you what to do?”

Then David remembered that he hadn’t been doing what his real estate coach was telling him to do, essentially asking, “Is this necessary?” He said:

I begin afresh the necessary, sometimes mundane tasks that are tried and true in producing leads, that turn into clients, that turn into commissions.

Then he closes with this challenge:

Spiritually, don’t we also do the same thing? Perhaps we don’t feel that reading the bible daily, engaging in regular prayer, or actively participating in a local church, are really all that important to our spiritual lives. We cut corners, or attend church online, or maybe read the bible for a few minutes here and there. Then we wonder why we’re not really seeing fruit. Why am I not feeling close to God, or understanding what path he would have me take, or receiving his blessing on my family, career, and personal habits? How many times do we hear what we know to be true and ask, “Is this necessary?”

A good word, David. Thank you. As I quoted Nick Sabin a couple of weeks ago, “It takes what it takes.”

¹  Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice?
⁵  O simple ones, learn prudence; O fools, learn sense.
⁶  Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right…
¹⁰  Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,
¹¹  for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

³³  Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.
³⁴  Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.
³⁵  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD. (Proverbs 8 – selected verses)

I told you that Judges was hard to read, and chapter 9 is a case in point. 57 verses given to Judge #6, Abimelech. He doesn’t even lead them into battle. He just “rules” for three years after he kills 70 of his half-brothers:

[Abimelech] hired some reckless riffraff soldiers and they followed along after him. He went to his father’s house in Ophrah and killed his half brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal—seventy men! And on one stone! The youngest, Jotham son of Jerub-Baal, managed to hide, the only survivor. (Judges 9.4, 5, MSG)

Abimelech is just a murdering scoundrel. Eventually, his own city, Shechem, turns against him, so he kills 1,000 of them by setting their tower on fire. His story ends in the next town, when, while attempting to burn down their tower, “some woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and crushed his skull.”

57 verses of mayhem. I’ve always wondered why the story was included in the sacred text in that much detail. What’s the point? What lesson are we supposed to learn?

I think it’s in the “Parable of the Trees,” told by Jotham, the one surviving son of Gideon, which starts this way:

Listen to me, leaders of Shechem. And let God listen to you! The trees set out one day to anoint a king for themselves. They said to Olive Tree, “Rule over us.” But Olive Tree told them, “Am I no longer good for making oil That gives glory to gods and men, and to be demoted to waving over trees?” (Judges 9.7 – 9, MSG)

The Olive Tree, the Fig Tree, and the Vine did not want to leave their productive work “to be demoted to waving over trees.” So the trees selected the useless tumbleweed.

The trees seemed to think that they could do useful work or they could pretend to lead – “to go waving over the trees.”

Once I turned down a position on the Adult Education Committee of a church. “I can either do adult education or I can sit on a committee and talk about adult education. I can’t do both.” Like the Olive Tree, I would have considered the committee position a demotion.

Abimelech exemplifies people who like positions as long as they don’t have to do anything. It’s been said, only half in jest, that anyone who aspires to be President of the United States should be disqualified for the job for that reason alone. It sometimes feels that in this country the only qualification for elected office is that one knows how to get elected.

Maybe I’m digressing…

But Jesus was clear on what leadership was supposed to be:

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”…And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20.20 – 28, ESV)

I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. (John 10.11, MSG)

It’s Ash Wednesday, and we continue to be reminded that life is short.

When the Air Force sent me to track satellites in Turkey in 1970, my suite-mate was John Morgan, a fellow resident of South Carolina and graduate of The Citadel. We stayed in touch and connected briefly in 1975 while he was getting a master’s degree from the University of Colorado. Here’s a picture of June and John with Mark, 2, and Melody 3 months.

John moved to Charlotte, and we had been in touch through FaceBook and our ministry updates over the past 10 years, at least. He affirmed our ministry and occasionally posted old pictures that he had found of us. Planning a short southeast trip this spring, we decided we would swing by Charlotte to have lunch with John… Too late. He passed last July. I wrote to his sister, and she told me:

John died July 8th  at his home. He was not sick, doing well, had just had a check- up and no significant problems.

Doing well…no significant problems…dead. My age exactly.

The older we get, the more of our friends we bury. I just heard from the wife of a friend with pancreatic cancer. I last saw him in November when he told me that the treatments weren’t working anymore:

Tracy went to dance with Jesus this morning. We will have a celebration of life on February 20th…Dress is casual and colorful. Just like him.

A friend of my son Mark, a family man in his 40s, dropped dead while running on a trail here in Monument. He had just talked with his wife at 5:38p, and the phone’s tracking stopped at 5:40p.

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. (Ecclesiastes 7.2, ESV)

We’re in Judges, and Judge #5 is Gideon, fairly well known for the fleece and for initiating a battle with only 300 warriors. His story is in Judges 6 – 8.

I am forever grateful to our pastor, Dr. Dave Jordan-Irwin, for putting me on to the opening of The Hobbit. I used it as the introduction to my first book Join the Adventure:

In The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, prequel to Lord of the Rings, Gandalf, the wizard, approaches Bilbo Baggins:

Gandalf: I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.

Bilbo: I should think so—in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them …

This is remarkably similar to a conversation recorded in the Bible: an angel appears out of nowhere and challenges Gideon:

And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”   (Judges 6.12 – 14)

Bilbo and Gideon both said, “Who, me?”

God calls Gideon, the reluctant and fearful, to a great adventure to “save Israel from the hand of Midian.” Gideon doesn’t want to go despite four supernatural signs, which you can read about in my blog Gideon the Fearful.

Fearful or not, he acts:

• Tearing down the altar to Baal (Judges 6.25 – 28)
• Mustering an army to engage Midian (Judges 6.33 – 7.22 (and more))

As I wrote recently, we don’t wait for the fear to go away, we act.

Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because GOD, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. (Deuteronomy 31.6, MSG)

Gideon and his hundred men got to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the sentries had been posted. They blew the trumpets, at the same time smashing the jars they carried.  All three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands, ready to blow, and shouted, “A sword for GOD and for Gideon!” They were stationed all around the camp, each man at his post. The whole Midianite camp jumped to its feet. They yelled and fled. When the three hundred blew the trumpets, GOD aimed each Midianite’s sword against his companion, all over the camp. They ran for their lives… (Judges 7.19 – 22, MSG)

It wasn’t a pretty season nor a pretty game, but the Kansas City Chiefs prevailed in yesterday’s Super Bowl, a 25 – 22 win in overtime. The San Francisco Forty-Niners had leads and two chances to stop the Chiefs and win: once at the end of regulation when the Chiefs drove down for a tying field goal with three seconds left and once in overtime when the Chiefs drove down for the winning touchdown.

I saved this slot in the Ewellogy to write something profound about the game, but it’s just a game so let’s treat it like one.

Here we are, under a crescent moon in Las Vegas, a tumultuous Kansas City season climaxing in a storybook comeback ending. – Jason Gay, Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2024

Crescent moon…where have I seen that before? I remember, in the Friday File of the daily 70-word blog by the economist Elliot Eisenberg:

The Friday File: Since the start of CY2019, the KC Chiefs have played 20 games when the moon is a waxing crescent, a growing toenail sliver. And of those 20 games they have won 19. By contrast the 49ers are 15-15 in the last 30 waxing crescent games they have played. Lunar analysis says the Chiefs will win. The economist in me is overwhelmed at the correlation. As for causality… – Elliot Eisenberg, February 9, 2024

There you have it. Of course, you also have the #1 pop singer in the world, Taylor Swift, in a storybook romance with Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce.

And Taylor Swift fans knew that the Chiefs were going to win because of her connection to the number 13. I get it. I was born on December 13th, myself, same as Taylor Swift. But here’s the significance for her:

I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. My first No. 1 song had a 13-second intro. Every time I’ve won an award I’ve been seated in either the 13th seat, the 13th row, the 13th section or row M, which is the 13th letter. Basically, whenever a 13 comes up in my life, it’s a good thing. – Taylor Swift, MTV, May 7, 2009

So for this year’s football season:

• The Super Bowl was the 13th Chiefs game she’d attended.
• It’s Super Bowl LVIII or 58, and 5 + 8 = 13
• The Chiefs played the 49ers, and 4 + 9 = 13
• The game was played on 2/11, and 2 + 11 = 13
• To make the game, she had to fly in from Tokyo, a trip that takes, you guessed it, 13 hours

Between the moon, Taylor Swift, and the number 13, the 49ers didn’t have a chance.

We’ll be back to more serious subjects tomorrow.

You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. (1 Corinthians 9.24, MSG)

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and the game starts at 6:30p, Eastern Time. I don’t have a dog in the fight, as they say, so I’ll just try to enjoy the game and hope it’s played well by both teams.

San Francisco has multiple offensive threat Christian McCaffrey, a Denver boy, son of Eddie McCaffrey who played for the Broncos. San Francisco also has quarterback Brock Purdy, “Mr. Irrelevant,” so named because he was the last one picked in the 2022 draft. For a Mr. Irrelevant, he’s done “purdy” good:

Purdy began his rookie season in the NFL as the third-string quarterback but took over the starting role following injuries [to the other two quarterbacks]. Winning all five regular-season games he started, he played a key role in the 49ers’ ten-game winning streak, securing a division title and an NFC Championship Game appearance. Purdy continued as the 49ers’ starting quarterback in the 2023 season, where he led them to … Super Bowl LVIII [today] In addition, he set the franchise’s single-season passing yards record and earned his first Pro Bowl nomination. – Wikipedia

Purdy’s is a good story.

On the other side is Kansas City with quarterback and State Farm spokesperson Patrick Mahomes, who is in his fourth Super Bowl in just his first six seasons. He’s won two and lost one. There is already talk about whether he can surpass Tom Brady’s seven Super Bowl victories. Here is Patrick’s response:

I’m not even close to halfway, so I haven’t put a lot of thought into it. Your goal is to be the best player that you can be, and I know I’m blessed to be around a lot of great players. So right now it’s do whatever I can to beat a great 49ers team and try to get that third ring. Then if you ask me that question in 15 years, I’ll see if I can get close to seven, but seven seems like a long ways away still.

My career goals have always been the same and it’s to not have any regrets. No matter what I do, I’m going to give everything I have to the game. I’m going to work my tail off, working out, in the film room, whatever that is, and give everything I have to the game. Whatever that ends up with, how many Super Bowl rings that is, however many wins that is, whatever that is, I know that I gave everything I have and that’s what I can do. – From an article by Adam Teicher, ESPN

His career goal is no regrets. “To give everything I have to the game” – the weight room, the film room, on the field. That’s all any of us can do. We have no control over the results.

All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself. (1 Corinthians 9.25 – 27, MSG)

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, ESV)

Train yourself for godliness. (1 Timothy 4.7, ESV)

As most people know, as of the date of publishing, tomorrow is the Super Bowl, February 11, 2024.

If you’ve been following the Ewellogy for any time at all, you’ll know that I quote from Seth Godin frequently. He’s a marketer, and he’s one of my inspirations for a daily blog. A very wise person. But even the best of us slip up. Here’s how Seth’s blog started last Sunday, February 4:

In the US, today is a major holiday. The Superb Owl, with nachos, commercials and beer. People who don’t even watch football watch this game, and it’s one of the largest audiences each year on TV.

“The Superb Owl” – cute. The blog was about the general folly of paying huge amounts of money to reach a vast audience, most of whom don’t care about what you’re selling unless it’s chips or beer.

I wrote to Seth: “Great blog, Seth. One week early.”

He wrote back: “Thanks, Doc. Fixed.”

And in the fix, he changed “today” in the first line to “[next Sunday]” and then wrote a marvelous PS:

PS in a shocking display of my cultural awareness that also reveals how little I care about football, the big game is next week. – Seth Godin, February 4, 2024

One can laugh at Seth…or one can realize that none of us knows everything. We were watching Blue Bloods, Season 6, Episode 7, “The Bullitt Mustang.” Detective Danny Reagan is explaining to his partner who hasn’t seen the 1968 movie Bullitt, that it contains “the greatest car chase scene ever filmed.” All the Reagan men drool over the Mustang, which appears at the end of the story.

Well, guess what? I’m only vaguely aware of the movie Bullitt. I know who Steve McQueen is. I’d never heard of the car chase scene, but thanks to modern technology, June and I watched it on YouTube. The only thing we found interesting about the chase was that there was a green VW bug that looked like a VW bug that we had (ours was a 1971 model). 

None of us knows everything. None of us is interested in everything. And when it comes to popular culture, there’s a lot I don’t want or need to know.

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12.2, MSG)

Yesterday, we recalled the exciting story of Judge Deborah, with military leader Barak, leading the Israelites into battle against Sisera, as recorded in Judges 4. The battle ends with the death of Sisera at the hands of Jael, a housewife married to a Kenite (non-Israelite, apparently).

Then while he was fast asleep from exhaustion, Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg and hammer, tiptoed toward him, and drove the tent peg through his temple and all the way into the ground. He convulsed and died. (Judges 4.21, MSG)

It’s such a great event that Judges Chapter 5 records the song Deborah and Barak led in celebration. (Click the link: it’s worth the read in its entirety.)

It ends the same as chapter 4 with Jael’s heroics.

Most blessed of all women is Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of homemaking women. He asked for water, she brought milk; In a handsome bowl, she offered cream. She grabbed a tent peg in her left hand, with her right hand she seized a hammer. She hammered Sisera, she smashed his head, she drove a hole through his head. He slumped at her feet. He fell. He sprawled. He slumped at her feet. He fell. Slumped. Fallen. Dead. (Judges 5.24 – 27, MSG)

I wish I knew the tune! “…she drove a hole through his head. He slumped… He fell. He sprawled. He slumped… He fell. Slumped. Fallen. Dead.”

In addition to Jael, the song focuses on God’s exploits and the heroic responses of warriors from Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulon, Issachar, and Napthali. For example:

Zebulun risked life and limb, defied death, as did Naphtali on the battle heights. (Judges 5.18, MSG)

BUT, the song also includes this damning section:

But in Reuben’s divisions there was much second-guessing. Why all those campfire discussions? Diverted and distracted, Reuben’s divisions couldn’t make up their minds. Gilead played it safe across the Jordan, and Dan, why did he go off sailing? Asher kept his distance on the seacoast, safe and secure in his harbors. (Judges 5.15 – 17, MSG)

• Reuben: “diverted and distracted…couldn’t make up their minds”
• Gilead: “played it safe across the Jordan”
• Dan: “why did he go off sailing?”
• Asher: “kept his distance on the sea coast, safe and secure in his harbors.”

That’s not a list I’d want to be on! Significant women (yesterday), insignificant men today. There’s a battle going on. Judges makes it clear from the beginning:

Here is a list of the nations the Lord left in the land to test the new generation of Israel who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. For God wanted to give opportunity to the youth of Israel to exercise faith and obedience in conquering their enemies… (Judges 3.1, 2, TLB)

We’re supposed to exercise faith and obedience in conquering enemies. Recently Christianity Today reported on a few song writers collaborating on a new stanza for How Great Thou Art.

Until that day

When heaven bids us welcome,

And as we walk this broken warring world,

Your kingdom come,

Deliver us from evil,

And we’ll proclaim our God how great You are!

Some day heaven will bid us welcome. In the meantime, “we walk this broken warring world.” And we’ll need to “exercise faith and obedience in conquering our enemies.”

May we be more like Deborah, Barak, Jael, Zebulon, and Issachar and less like Reuben and Gilead.

Women in leadership is a hot topic these days, but the Israelites didn’t seem to have a problem with it:

Deborah was a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth. She was judge over Israel at that time. She held court under Deborah’s Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the hills of Ephraim. The People of Israel went to her in matters of justice. (Judges 4.4 – 5, MSG)

While the cycle described in yesterday’s blog comes around several times, the particulars of each story are different. In this case, Deborah is already in place when the sin, servitude, and supplication phases are described:

The People of Israel kept right on doing evil in GOD’s sight. With Ehud dead, GOD sold them off to Jabin king of Canaan who ruled from Hazor. Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim, was the commander of his army. The People of Israel cried out to GOD because he had cruelly oppressed them with his nine hundred iron chariots for twenty years. (Judges 4.1 – 3, MSG)

So Deborah summons Barak to lead the Israelites into battle, giving him a clear promise from God:

She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “It has become clear that GOD, the God of Israel, commands you: Go to Mount Tabor and prepare for battle. Take ten companies of soldiers from Naphtali and Zebulun. I’ll take care of getting Sisera, the leader of Jabin’s army, to the Kishon River with all his chariots and troops. And I’ll make sure you win the battle.” (Judges 4.6 – 7, MSG)

But Barak trusts Deborah more than he trusts God!

Barak said, “If you go with me, I’ll go. But if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” (Judges 4.8, MSG)

So Deborah gives another promise: no honor for you – a woman will take care of Sisera:

She said, “Of course I’ll go with you. But understand that with an attitude like that, there’ll be no glory in it for you. GOD will use a woman’s hand to take care of Sisera.” (Judges 4.9, MSG)

And of course that’s exactly what happens in this well-known turn of events:

[Barak attacked and ] GOD routed Sisera—all those chariots, all those troops!—before Barak. Sisera jumped out of his chariot and ran…Sisera, running for his life, headed for the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite…Jael stepped out to meet Sisera and said, “Come in, sir. Stay here with me. Don’t be afraid.” So he went with her into her tent. She covered him with a blanket. He said to her, “Please, a little water. I’m thirsty.” She opened a bottle of milk, gave him a drink, and then covered him up again. He then said, “Stand at the tent flap. If anyone comes by and asks you, ‘Is there anyone here?’ tell him, ‘No, not a soul.'”

Then while he was fast asleep from exhaustion, Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg and hammer, tiptoed toward him, and drove the tent peg through his temple and all the way into the ground. He convulsed and died. Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera. Jael went out to greet him. She said, “Come, I’ll show you the man you’re looking for.” He went with her and there he was—Sisera, stretched out, dead, with a tent peg through his neck. Judges 4.15 – 22, MSG)

Exciting stuff! And since Judges gives this story another chapter so that Deborah and Barak can sing a song about the victory, it’s only fair that we give it another blog. The song is instructive. Here’s a sneak peak: the hero is a housewife…in Judges 5 and Proverbs 31!

Most blessed of all women is Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of homemaking women. (Judges 5.24, MSG)

A good woman is hard to find, and worth far more than diamonds. Her husband trusts her without reserve, and never has reason to regret it. (Proverbs 31.10 – 11, MSG)