Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.
The verse is Deborah's triumphant song celebrating Israel's deliverance through her and Barak's victory over Sisera's forces under Jabin, king of Canaan, after twenty years of oppression. Its repeated call to awake summons Deborah, the prophetess and judge God raised to lead Israel, to publicly utter a song, and calls Barak son of Abinoam to arise and lead captivity captive. The song gives all the glory of that deliverance to God and calls the people and surrounding kings and princes to praise Him and learn from His wonderful works. It shows God using women in a public capacity to His glory in all ages, proving that the command for women to keep silence in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 does not forbid them from speaking, bearing testimony, and proclaiming truth in womanly, Christian ways. The battle at Megiddo stands as an object lesson for the final gathering of the nations at Armageddon under the sixth plague, when the captivity of God's people is turned in final deliverance.
Historical Setting and Song
Judges 5:12 stands within the composite record of backsliding from God followed by consequent suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, and returning to God followed by forgiveness and deliverance. It exposes the perversity and unbelief of the people against the long-suffering and goodness of God, in the midst of awful moral surroundings and the demoralizing influences of the tribes Israel permitted to remain in the land of promise.
The verse belongs to the account of Deborah and Barak's victory over Sisera's forces under Jabin, king of Canaan, after twenty years of oppression. Israel overcame Sisera and his nine hundred iron chariots because the people had faith. The song also recounts Jael's part in that deliverance. The victory subdued the Canaanites and gave the land forty years of peace, but prosperity did not bring Israel nearer to God.
The victory is one of the great battles associated with Megiddo, the historic battlefield of conflicts between Israel and the enemies of God's people. Through it the Israelites first gained possession of the plain of Jezreel. As the earliest poetry of Israel, it rose among the hills of Galilee when Barak of Naphtali triumphed over the Canaanites, vindicating the honor of Galilee for the intellectual vigor and mental freshness and force of its people.
The verse begins Deborah's triumphant song celebrating the deliverance, a triumph poem whose words and music were both composed to memorialize a great event. It expresses the individual and national life of God's chosen people, and shows that the music of ancient Israel was not copied nor borrowed from the surrounding nations. The song gives all the glory of the deliverance to God and calls the people to praise Him for His wonderful works. It calls the kings and princes of surrounding nations to hear what God did for Israel as a warning not to harm them. It declares that honor and power belong to God and not to men or to idols, recalls the display of divine power and majesty at Sinai, sets before Israel their helpless and distressed condition under the oppression of their enemies, and tells the history of their deliverance.
In the verse itself the repeated call to awake summons Deborah, the prophetess and judge whom God raised to lead Israel, to awake and utter a song in public. It calls Barak, son of Abinoam, to arise and lead captivity captive. The song presents the defeat of the enemy as deliverance accomplished through Israel's action under the Lord's call.
Prophecy and Final Deliverance
The conflict fought in the days of Deborah and Barak at Megiddo stands as an object lesson for the final gathering of the nations to Armageddon under the sixth plague of Revelation 16. That ancient battle therefore reaches beyond its own time to illustrate the last great confrontation between the powers of earth and God. The leading of captivity captive belongs to that same forward look, pointing to the final deliverance when the captivity of God's people is turned and every last trace of disease and deformity is removed. The overthrow of Israel's oppressors in that victory remains an example of God's mighty working in behalf of His people.
Women's Ministry and Call
Deborah's public utterance of the song as a prophetess and leader in Israel shows that God uses women in a public capacity to His glory in all ages. Her helping of Barak stands as proof that a woman could serve publicly in Israel.
That public service proves the command for women to keep silence in the churches in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 does not forbid women from speaking or bearing testimony for God. It does not forbid them from bearing testimony for Christ, helping in His work, and proclaiming His truth in womanly, Christian ways. That silence command only corrects blameworthy disorder by women who were out of place in assuming authority to teach and rule, which is unwomanly and unscriptural.
The awakening to sing and the rising to lead captivity are a present summons for God's people to gather, fight together, pray, and trust that God will bring victory. It is a call to cast off shame and take their place in His work. God uses the best He has, the ones willing to be used, even amid backsliding followed by suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, and returning to God followed by forgiveness and deliverance, and amid awful moral surroundings and the demoralizing influences of the tribes permitted to remain.
The verse is Deborah's triumphant song celebrating Israel's deliverance through her and Barak's victory over Sisera's forces under Jabin, king of Canaan, after twenty years of oppression. Its repeated call to awake summons Deborah, the prophetess and judge God raised to lead Israel, to publicly utter a song, and calls Barak son of Abinoam to arise and lead captivity captive. The song gives all the glory of that deliverance to God and calls the people and surrounding kings and princes to praise Him and learn from His wonderful works. It shows God using women in a public capacity to His glory in all ages, proving that the command for women to keep silence in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 does not forbid them from speaking, bearing testimony, and proclaiming truth in womanly, Christian ways. The battle at Megiddo stands as an object lesson for the final gathering of the nations at Armageddon under the sixth plague, when the captivity of God's people is turned in final deliverance.
Historical Setting and Song
Judges 5:12 stands within the composite record of backsliding from God followed by consequent suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, and returning to God followed by forgiveness and deliverance. It exposes the perversity and unbelief of the people against the long-suffering and goodness of God, in the midst of awful moral surroundings and the demoralizing influences of the tribes Israel permitted to remain in the land of promise.
The verse belongs to the account of Deborah and Barak's victory over Sisera's forces under Jabin, king of Canaan, after twenty years of oppression. Israel overcame Sisera and his nine hundred iron chariots because the people had faith. The song also recounts Jael's part in that deliverance. The victory subdued the Canaanites and gave the land forty years of peace, but prosperity did not bring Israel nearer to God.
The victory is one of the great battles associated with Megiddo, the historic battlefield of conflicts between Israel and the enemies of God's people. Through it the Israelites first gained possession of the plain of Jezreel. As the earliest poetry of Israel, it rose among the hills of Galilee when Barak of Naphtali triumphed over the Canaanites, vindicating the honor of Galilee for the intellectual vigor and mental freshness and force of its people.
The verse begins Deborah's triumphant song celebrating the deliverance, a triumph poem whose words and music were both composed to memorialize a great event. It expresses the individual and national life of God's chosen people, and shows that the music of ancient Israel was not copied nor borrowed from the surrounding nations. The song gives all the glory of the deliverance to God and calls the people to praise Him for His wonderful works. It calls the kings and princes of surrounding nations to hear what God did for Israel as a warning not to harm them. It declares that honor and power belong to God and not to men or to idols, recalls the display of divine power and majesty at Sinai, sets before Israel their helpless and distressed condition under the oppression of their enemies, and tells the history of their deliverance.
In the verse itself the repeated call to awake summons Deborah, the prophetess and judge whom God raised to lead Israel, to awake and utter a song in public. It calls Barak, son of Abinoam, to arise and lead captivity captive. The song presents the defeat of the enemy as deliverance accomplished through Israel's action under the Lord's call.
Prophecy and Final Deliverance
The conflict fought in the days of Deborah and Barak at Megiddo stands as an object lesson for the final gathering of the nations to Armageddon under the sixth plague of Revelation 16. That ancient battle therefore reaches beyond its own time to illustrate the last great confrontation between the powers of earth and God. The leading of captivity captive belongs to that same forward look, pointing to the final deliverance when the captivity of God's people is turned and every last trace of disease and deformity is removed. The overthrow of Israel's oppressors in that victory remains an example of God's mighty working in behalf of His people.
Women's Ministry and Call
Deborah's public utterance of the song as a prophetess and leader in Israel shows that God uses women in a public capacity to His glory in all ages. Her helping of Barak stands as proof that a woman could serve publicly in Israel.
That public service proves the command for women to keep silence in the churches in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 does not forbid women from speaking or bearing testimony for God. It does not forbid them from bearing testimony for Christ, helping in His work, and proclaiming His truth in womanly, Christian ways. That silence command only corrects blameworthy disorder by women who were out of place in assuming authority to teach and rule, which is unwomanly and unscriptural.
The awakening to sing and the rising to lead captivity are a present summons for God's people to gather, fight together, pray, and trust that God will bring victory. It is a call to cast off shame and take their place in His work. God uses the best He has, the ones willing to be used, even amid backsliding followed by suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, and returning to God followed by forgiveness and deliverance, and amid awful moral surroundings and the demoralizing influences of the tribes permitted to remain.