People of Hope part 17: Deborah and Lappidoth
Monday devotions @work 3 August 2020
Deborah was a prophetess judging Israel at a time when women were not as a rule allowed into positions of leadership over the nation. She did not allow the culture of the day to define her identity or her calling. Nor did she allow the people and the culture to steal, kill or destroy her God-given birthright. In a male-dominated world, her vision of herself was not shaped by the culture, politics or even her social status. It was shaped by her relationship with God alone. She was married to Lappidoth – we do not know much about him – except that his name means “lamp or shine” and that he allowed his wife to walk in her calling against the popular opinion of the day. He must have been a man who knew his calling and worth as a man is not determined by keeping his wife conforming to the standards of the culture of the day. He must have known that his calling included to support and assist his wife to reach the full potential that God has placed in her. Deborah had no legitimacy on grounds of position and yet she raised above all these challenges to become a prophetess and a woman of hope. A woman God used mightily against one of Israel’s most formidable enemies – the Canaanites. God called Deborah to be a prophetess and a Judge, and she fulfilled that calling against all odds. However, I think something about Deborah that we can easily miss was her capacity to celebrate, and it was this, worship-celebration characteristics of hers that God used to redeem and restore Israel’s godly worship of Him. There were several judges and in the book of Judges we can read all their stories of victory over different kinds of enemies, however only in Deborah’s story do we read that she celebrated God’s victory in an elaborate worship-song. The whole chapter of Judges 5 is taken up by Deborah’s profound worship of God’s victory over the Canaanite enemy. She celebrated with gusto – and she did not celebrate alone. She invited Barak, the army and all the people to join her in celebration.
Why this elaborate worship? What did Deborah’s world look like? What did the enemy she overcame look like? I think the answer to this restoration of the worship-celebration lies partially in the kind of sin committed by Israel during that time. Not only did Israel sin against God by accepting the Canaanites idols into their lives, but the worship of those idols caused oppression, stole and robbed Israel of their worship-celebration. Deborah lived in a world where she saw the people of God worshipping and celebrating in a way that included for example the practice of temple prostitution. In her time there was a mixture of spirituality and sexual perversion that was celebrated in ways that devalued, abused, and exploited people, including children. It is in these circumstances that God comes in the complete opposite spirit and elevates a woman against the culture of the day to a position of leadership.
The Canaanites had 900 iron chariots with which they forced Israel into the mountain ranges, where they struggled to produce food. Israel also had no such weapons. There was no way they would be able to overcome this iron hand of oppression unless God supernaturally intervened. Well, He did. He told Deborah and Barak on which day they had to be at the river Kishon with their troops. Then He made it rain and the river came down, and the chariots got stuck in the mud. Without their weapons that usually were so effective, the Canaanites just were not able to overcome.
Against this backdrop Deborah not only became instrumental in changing the circumstances of her people, but she was used by God to restore and redeem proper godly worship. She was a woman mightily used by God to overcome oppression and exploitation and to restore and redeem godly worship in a glorious display of movement and sound to the honour and glory of her God.
Monday devotions @work 3 August 2020
"Then the people of the Lord shall go down to the gates:
“Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake sing a song! A song of victory!”
Judges 5 Amp
“Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake sing a song! A song of victory!”
Judges 5 Amp
Deborah was a prophetess judging Israel at a time when women were not as a rule allowed into positions of leadership over the nation. She did not allow the culture of the day to define her identity or her calling. Nor did she allow the people and the culture to steal, kill or destroy her God-given birthright. In a male-dominated world, her vision of herself was not shaped by the culture, politics or even her social status. It was shaped by her relationship with God alone. She was married to Lappidoth – we do not know much about him – except that his name means “lamp or shine” and that he allowed his wife to walk in her calling against the popular opinion of the day. He must have been a man who knew his calling and worth as a man is not determined by keeping his wife conforming to the standards of the culture of the day. He must have known that his calling included to support and assist his wife to reach the full potential that God has placed in her. Deborah had no legitimacy on grounds of position and yet she raised above all these challenges to become a prophetess and a woman of hope. A woman God used mightily against one of Israel’s most formidable enemies – the Canaanites. God called Deborah to be a prophetess and a Judge, and she fulfilled that calling against all odds. However, I think something about Deborah that we can easily miss was her capacity to celebrate, and it was this, worship-celebration characteristics of hers that God used to redeem and restore Israel’s godly worship of Him. There were several judges and in the book of Judges we can read all their stories of victory over different kinds of enemies, however only in Deborah’s story do we read that she celebrated God’s victory in an elaborate worship-song. The whole chapter of Judges 5 is taken up by Deborah’s profound worship of God’s victory over the Canaanite enemy. She celebrated with gusto – and she did not celebrate alone. She invited Barak, the army and all the people to join her in celebration.
Why this elaborate worship? What did Deborah’s world look like? What did the enemy she overcame look like? I think the answer to this restoration of the worship-celebration lies partially in the kind of sin committed by Israel during that time. Not only did Israel sin against God by accepting the Canaanites idols into their lives, but the worship of those idols caused oppression, stole and robbed Israel of their worship-celebration. Deborah lived in a world where she saw the people of God worshipping and celebrating in a way that included for example the practice of temple prostitution. In her time there was a mixture of spirituality and sexual perversion that was celebrated in ways that devalued, abused, and exploited people, including children. It is in these circumstances that God comes in the complete opposite spirit and elevates a woman against the culture of the day to a position of leadership.
The Canaanites had 900 iron chariots with which they forced Israel into the mountain ranges, where they struggled to produce food. Israel also had no such weapons. There was no way they would be able to overcome this iron hand of oppression unless God supernaturally intervened. Well, He did. He told Deborah and Barak on which day they had to be at the river Kishon with their troops. Then He made it rain and the river came down, and the chariots got stuck in the mud. Without their weapons that usually were so effective, the Canaanites just were not able to overcome.
Against this backdrop Deborah not only became instrumental in changing the circumstances of her people, but she was used by God to restore and redeem proper godly worship. She was a woman mightily used by God to overcome oppression and exploitation and to restore and redeem godly worship in a glorious display of movement and sound to the honour and glory of her God.
Every Tribe and Tongue and Nation in celebration...
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