I Will Surely Go

Of the time of the judges in Israel “there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). This statement was repeated later: “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). There was no king, but perhaps more importantly there were few prophets. The word prophet only appears once in the whole book: “That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage” (Judges 6:8). Other than that, the people seemed to be on their own for the most part except when a judge rose up to help deliver them from their enemies. Towards the end of the book (Judges 17-21) the wickedness of the people was terrible. This is especially illustrated in the awful story described in Judges 19. After listening to that story today I was disgusted by it and would much prefer it not be present in the scriptures. It is a story I don’t think I would ever read with my children or use for a lesson. But perhaps the small value of the story is to simply show the depravity that societies fall into with a prophet to guide them with the word of the Lord. Even though this was supposed to be the people of the Lord who had made covenants with them, their actions said otherwise and they indeed did only that was right in their own eyes.

               The most famous person in the book of Judges is probably Samson, but he is hardly a role model by any means. One righteous person though, giving the book some redeeming value, is Deborah. I said the word prophet appears only once, but the word prophetess also appears once and is a description of Deborah who was a judge. She helped deliver the Israelites from the Canaanites who “had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.” She gave inspired instruction to Barak, saying, “Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun,” to which Barak responded, “If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.” In words similar to those of Ruth in the next book, Deborah to her credit said, “I will surely go with thee.” The account says simply, “And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.” She encouraged Barak with these words, “Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee?” (Judges 4:3, 6, 8-10, 14) She knew the will of the Lord and had great faith to encourage Barak in his dangerous mission to deliver the Israelites from bondage to the Canaanites. And when that mission was accomplished, she gave credit to the Lord: “Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.” Perhaps the most famous phrase about her was this that she spoke describing herself while praising the Lord’s actions: “The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.” She also described her own feelings this way: “Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive” (Judges 5:2-3, 7, 12). All of these descriptions of Deborah show that she was a woman of faith who did go and who did arise when others would have faltered and stayed put. Her story teaches that to trust in the Lord we must show it by our actions, and she helped free the Israelites from bondage through her faith. Most of those described in the book of Judges give us examples of the kinds of deeds we should avoid, but Deborah’s faith we can seek to emulate as we try to hear the word of the Lord and then with courage do what He asks.