You know the old saying that you don't just marry the man, you "marry" the family? Obviously I should have done a background check on Heber's fam.
Heber's a pretty good guy, but how can his family possibly be in cohoots with Jabin? I can't believe they are in alliance with someone who does, or at the very least allows, such awful things to the Isrealites.
Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.
Judges 4: 3 NIV
Praise the God of the Isrealites, He's raised up a woman with some backbone! Sister Deborah is willing to go into battle against Jabin's main man, Sisera. Can you beat that?
So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.
Judges 4: 9b - 10 NIV
Heber seems to have had the good sense to move our tent away from the rest of the clan. But, can we say collateral damage? Or friendly fire? Problem is, I'm not sure who our friends are.
In the meantime Heber the Kenite had set up his tent close to Kedesh near the oak tree at Zaanannim. He had moved away from the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses.
Judges 4: 11 GNT
Can you believe it? Turns out the God of Deborah and the Isrealites is helping them to do some major butt-kicking to Sisera and his troops. What a story will be told of this day!
Who's that coming up the road... Omgosh! It's him, it's Sisera! Now what do I do?
Who's that coming up the road... Omgosh! It's him, it's Sisera! Now what do I do?
18 Jael saw him coming, so she went out to meet him and said, “Sir, come into my tent. Come in. Don’t be afraid.” So Sisera went into Jael’s tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
19 But first, Sisera asked Jael for a drink of water. Jael had some milk in a bottle made from animal skin. So she gave him a drink of the milk and then covered him up.
20 Then Sisera said to Jael, “Go stand at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say, ‘No.’”
21 But Jael found a tent peg and a hammer. She quietly went to Sisera. Sisera was very tired, so he was sleeping. She put the tent peg to the side of Sisera’s head and hit it with a hammer. The tent peg went through the side of his head and into the ground. Sisera died.
Judges 4: 18 - 21 ERV
Who would have ever thought a housewife in the middle of nowhere could take out the general of such a cruel and destructive army? Perhaps the God of Deborah and the Isrealites lives and works through me, too.
Most blessed of women is Jael,
The wife of Heber the Kenite;
Most blessed is she of women in the tent.
Judges 5: 24 AMP
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Dear Reader, when was the last time you found yourself in the middle of a conflict? Or, worse yet, have you found yourself on the wrong side in a life-changing battle?
That's exactly where Jael was.
But God.
Jael was exactly where God wanted her to be, spiritually, mentally, and physically. Dear Reader, it only takes God plus one to make a tremendous difference in the lives of many.
That's exactly where Jael was.
But God.
Jael was exactly where God wanted her to be, spiritually, mentally, and physically. Dear Reader, it only takes God plus one to make a tremendous difference in the lives of many.
“So let all Your enemies perish, O Lord;
But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.”
And the land was at rest for forty years.
Judges 5: 31 AMP (from the Song of Deborah)
No matter where you, what you're doing (or not doing), it all comes down to how we're willing to answer this one question: Are we willing to be God's "plus one"?
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