Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.
Praise belongs to Jehovah because the leaders took the lead and the people willingly gave themselves for deliverance. That deliverance was victory over Jabin king of Canaan and Sisera and his army with nine hundred chariots of iron after twenty years of oppression. God works for His people when they serve Him willingly, and victory comes not by leaders alone but by the united willing service of the whole people joined together. Failure of leaders to lead leaves bondage, but having wise and courageous leaders who take their appointed work is a blessing that leads the people to freedom. The victory at Megiddo stands as a lesson for the final gathering of the nations under the sixth plague, and calls for the same willing united effort of leaders and people in the closing work of the third angel's message.
Setting and Meaning
The verse is a call to praise and bless Jehovah because the leaders of Israel took the lead and the people willingly offered themselves, and both the leading of the leaders and the willing self-offering of the people are cause for praise. The heart is drawn toward governors who offered themselves willingly among the people, and such consecrated leadership with willing service is the shared work of leadership and people for which God is praised.
The avenging of Israel is God's deliverance and victory over Jabin king of Canaan, Sisera and the Canaanites and his army with nine hundred chariots of iron, celebrated as a triumph after twenty years of oppression. Israel could overcome such enemies when the people had faith, and the victory came through the willing service of the whole people, not leaders alone, and was followed by a song of joy.
That deliverance belongs to the repeated pattern in Judges 3 to 17 of backsliding from God, consequent suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, returning to God, forgiveness and deliverance. Negligence and backsliding had let the heathen repossess the land, re-establish Baalism, and drive worshipers of the true God from their homes in distress, leaving Israel helpless and distressed. Forty thousand in Israel had neither sword nor spear and could give no aid.
The willing offering was the ten thousand armed men of Zebulon and Naphtali who under Barak went forth from Mount Tabor against Sisera's host with nine hundred chariots of iron in the Kishon valley. They were joined by chief officers who came on foot with Deborah to the scene of action on Issachar's territory and by strong cries to the Lord from Reuben in the southeast. Pursuit after the chariots and host went to Harosheth of the Gentiles where all fell by the sword and not a man was left, and Sisera fled over Tabor and died by Jael the wife of Heber in her tent. Those who refused to help, especially the inhabitants of Meroz, were condemned.
The verse is part of Deborah and Barak's sublime and impassioned song celebrating the victory, a triumph poem celebrating Israel's victory over Sisera's army. It is the earliest poetry of Israel, rising among the hills of Galilee when Barak of Naphtali triumphed over the Canaanites, vindicating the honor of Galilee for intellectual vigor, mental freshness and force. It is an original Hebrew composition in both words and music that memorialized a great event in the national life of Israel, expressing the individual and national life of God's chosen people and proving that the music of ancient Israel was not copied or borrowed from the nations around them. It ascribes all the glory of deliverance to God and bids the people praise Him for His wonderful works, showing that honor and power belong to God and not to men or to their idols. It calls the kings and princes of surrounding nations to hear what God has wrought for Israel as a warning not to harm them, portrays God's awesome power and majesty displayed at Sinai, sets before Israel their helpless and distressed condition under oppression, relates the history of their deliverance, and leads into forty years of peace in the land. It concerns Barak's victory over the Canaanites by which the Israelites first gained possession of the Plain of Jezreel at Megiddo, the Old Testament battlefield where Israel fought God's enemies.
Willing Service Brings Victory
Deliverance comes when the people willingly offer themselves, for the praise belongs to the repeated pattern of backsliding from God, consequent suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, returning to God, forgiveness and deliverance. When the people willingly offered themselves in service, God wrought for Israel, and that deliverance called for praise to the Lord. God always uses the best He has, the ones willing to be used, even flawed men amid awful moral surroundings and demoralizing influences. The Lord's deliverance of Israel drew forth the people's willing response in joining the fight, and such willing service brings praise to God.
Victory came through the willing service of the whole people, not leaders alone, for God's people praise Jehovah when their leaders take the lead and the people willingly offer themselves. Such consecrated leadership joined with willing service brings great victories for God's people. Israel's leaders took the lead and the people willingly offered themselves in the Lord's work, giving reason to praise Him, and the willing, faithful efforts of individual workers join to make the whole work strong.
Israel's deliverance and victory came as leaders took up their appointed work and the people willingly offered themselves, contrasting the leaders' earlier failure to lead, which left Israel in bondage, with their renewed leadership, which led the people to freedom from oppression. Israel's victory over Sisera came through leaders taking the lead and the people willingly offering themselves, and this willing service brought victory followed by a song of joy. Israel could overcome even nine hundred chariots of iron when the people had faith, in the victory under Deborah and Barak over Sisera's army. When leaders lead and God's people willingly take part in the work, the same willing service belongs to the closing work of the third angel's message.
Having leaders who lead is a blessing and a reason to give thanks to Jehovah. Praise to Jehovah is due because Israel's leaders took the lead and the people willingly gave themselves, showing that willing service by both leaders and people is a reason to bless the Lord. This calls for wise, courageous and energetic leadership in the church's need, and faithful leaders who willingly give themselves to the work have the Lord's favor.
Prophecy Doctrine and Application
The battle recounted in Judges 5:1-31 at Megiddo in the days of Deborah and Barak stands as an object lesson connected with the final gathering of the nations under the sixth plague and with the events of the sixth and seventh plagues. It was one of two great victories associated with Megiddo, the Old Testament battlefield where Israel fought the enemies of God's people.
The Lord gave Deborah authority among Israel's leaders and she arose as a leader in Israel, proving that God uses women in a public capacity to His glory. Women may therefore bear testimony for Christ, help in His work, and proclaim His truth in womanly, Christian ways, and Deborah the prophetess helping Barak shows that women could take part in public service for God without thereby usurping authority over men. The song of Deborah stands as proof that the command for women to keep silence in the churches does not forbid such public testimony and proclamation, but that command was given to correct blameworthy disorders of women out of place in assuming authority to teach and rule.
Deborah's song shows the prominence placed upon sacred song in early Hebrew history as an act of divine worship expressed through music. Standing with Miriam's song, it is an early form of the service of song that later grew into the fuller musical ritual established in Jerusalem.
Jehovah is to be blessed and praised because leaders took the lead in Israel and the people willingly offered themselves, with the heart drawn toward governors who offered themselves willingly among the people, and both the taking of the lead by leaders and the willing offering of themselves by the people are cause for praise. This willing self-offering in holy array belongs to the day of His power and is the response called for in the harvest ingathering for missions, in the closing work of the third angel's message when leaders lead and God's people willingly take part in the work. Israel's victory over Sisera came through such willing service and was followed by a song of joy, and their united leadership and willing service bringing deliverance from oppression and victory applies to willing, united effort in service and to united missionary work. The Lord richly blesses leaders and people united in that way in the good work of circulating literature, calling leaders to take their places and church members to willingly organize and work, including supporting the spread of religious books while ministers preach.
Praise belongs to Jehovah because the leaders took the lead and the people willingly gave themselves for deliverance. That deliverance was victory over Jabin king of Canaan and Sisera and his army with nine hundred chariots of iron after twenty years of oppression. God works for His people when they serve Him willingly, and victory comes not by leaders alone but by the united willing service of the whole people joined together. Failure of leaders to lead leaves bondage, but having wise and courageous leaders who take their appointed work is a blessing that leads the people to freedom. The victory at Megiddo stands as a lesson for the final gathering of the nations under the sixth plague, and calls for the same willing united effort of leaders and people in the closing work of the third angel's message.
Setting and Meaning
The verse is a call to praise and bless Jehovah because the leaders of Israel took the lead and the people willingly offered themselves, and both the leading of the leaders and the willing self-offering of the people are cause for praise. The heart is drawn toward governors who offered themselves willingly among the people, and such consecrated leadership with willing service is the shared work of leadership and people for which God is praised.
The avenging of Israel is God's deliverance and victory over Jabin king of Canaan, Sisera and the Canaanites and his army with nine hundred chariots of iron, celebrated as a triumph after twenty years of oppression. Israel could overcome such enemies when the people had faith, and the victory came through the willing service of the whole people, not leaders alone, and was followed by a song of joy.
That deliverance belongs to the repeated pattern in Judges 3 to 17 of backsliding from God, consequent suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, returning to God, forgiveness and deliverance. Negligence and backsliding had let the heathen repossess the land, re-establish Baalism, and drive worshipers of the true God from their homes in distress, leaving Israel helpless and distressed. Forty thousand in Israel had neither sword nor spear and could give no aid.
The willing offering was the ten thousand armed men of Zebulon and Naphtali who under Barak went forth from Mount Tabor against Sisera's host with nine hundred chariots of iron in the Kishon valley. They were joined by chief officers who came on foot with Deborah to the scene of action on Issachar's territory and by strong cries to the Lord from Reuben in the southeast. Pursuit after the chariots and host went to Harosheth of the Gentiles where all fell by the sword and not a man was left, and Sisera fled over Tabor and died by Jael the wife of Heber in her tent. Those who refused to help, especially the inhabitants of Meroz, were condemned.
The verse is part of Deborah and Barak's sublime and impassioned song celebrating the victory, a triumph poem celebrating Israel's victory over Sisera's army. It is the earliest poetry of Israel, rising among the hills of Galilee when Barak of Naphtali triumphed over the Canaanites, vindicating the honor of Galilee for intellectual vigor, mental freshness and force. It is an original Hebrew composition in both words and music that memorialized a great event in the national life of Israel, expressing the individual and national life of God's chosen people and proving that the music of ancient Israel was not copied or borrowed from the nations around them. It ascribes all the glory of deliverance to God and bids the people praise Him for His wonderful works, showing that honor and power belong to God and not to men or to their idols. It calls the kings and princes of surrounding nations to hear what God has wrought for Israel as a warning not to harm them, portrays God's awesome power and majesty displayed at Sinai, sets before Israel their helpless and distressed condition under oppression, relates the history of their deliverance, and leads into forty years of peace in the land. It concerns Barak's victory over the Canaanites by which the Israelites first gained possession of the Plain of Jezreel at Megiddo, the Old Testament battlefield where Israel fought God's enemies.
Willing Service Brings Victory
Deliverance comes when the people willingly offer themselves, for the praise belongs to the repeated pattern of backsliding from God, consequent suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, returning to God, forgiveness and deliverance. When the people willingly offered themselves in service, God wrought for Israel, and that deliverance called for praise to the Lord. God always uses the best He has, the ones willing to be used, even flawed men amid awful moral surroundings and demoralizing influences. The Lord's deliverance of Israel drew forth the people's willing response in joining the fight, and such willing service brings praise to God.
Victory came through the willing service of the whole people, not leaders alone, for God's people praise Jehovah when their leaders take the lead and the people willingly offer themselves. Such consecrated leadership joined with willing service brings great victories for God's people. Israel's leaders took the lead and the people willingly offered themselves in the Lord's work, giving reason to praise Him, and the willing, faithful efforts of individual workers join to make the whole work strong.
Israel's deliverance and victory came as leaders took up their appointed work and the people willingly offered themselves, contrasting the leaders' earlier failure to lead, which left Israel in bondage, with their renewed leadership, which led the people to freedom from oppression. Israel's victory over Sisera came through leaders taking the lead and the people willingly offering themselves, and this willing service brought victory followed by a song of joy. Israel could overcome even nine hundred chariots of iron when the people had faith, in the victory under Deborah and Barak over Sisera's army. When leaders lead and God's people willingly take part in the work, the same willing service belongs to the closing work of the third angel's message.
Having leaders who lead is a blessing and a reason to give thanks to Jehovah. Praise to Jehovah is due because Israel's leaders took the lead and the people willingly gave themselves, showing that willing service by both leaders and people is a reason to bless the Lord. This calls for wise, courageous and energetic leadership in the church's need, and faithful leaders who willingly give themselves to the work have the Lord's favor.
Prophecy Doctrine and Application
The battle recounted in Judges 5:1-31 at Megiddo in the days of Deborah and Barak stands as an object lesson connected with the final gathering of the nations under the sixth plague and with the events of the sixth and seventh plagues. It was one of two great victories associated with Megiddo, the Old Testament battlefield where Israel fought the enemies of God's people.
The Lord gave Deborah authority among Israel's leaders and she arose as a leader in Israel, proving that God uses women in a public capacity to His glory. Women may therefore bear testimony for Christ, help in His work, and proclaim His truth in womanly, Christian ways, and Deborah the prophetess helping Barak shows that women could take part in public service for God without thereby usurping authority over men. The song of Deborah stands as proof that the command for women to keep silence in the churches does not forbid such public testimony and proclamation, but that command was given to correct blameworthy disorders of women out of place in assuming authority to teach and rule.
Deborah's song shows the prominence placed upon sacred song in early Hebrew history as an act of divine worship expressed through music. Standing with Miriam's song, it is an early form of the service of song that later grew into the fuller musical ritual established in Jerusalem.
Jehovah is to be blessed and praised because leaders took the lead in Israel and the people willingly offered themselves, with the heart drawn toward governors who offered themselves willingly among the people, and both the taking of the lead by leaders and the willing offering of themselves by the people are cause for praise. This willing self-offering in holy array belongs to the day of His power and is the response called for in the harvest ingathering for missions, in the closing work of the third angel's message when leaders lead and God's people willingly take part in the work. Israel's victory over Sisera came through such willing service and was followed by a song of joy, and their united leadership and willing service bringing deliverance from oppression and victory applies to willing, united effort in service and to united missionary work. The Lord richly blesses leaders and people united in that way in the good work of circulating literature, calling leaders to take their places and church members to willingly organize and work, including supporting the spread of religious books while ministers preach.