oppression

Introduction

There is something wrong with the world. And you and I have been called to do something about it. The purpose of this article is to help us identify what our mission is and what might be hindering us from living out this mission to the extent we should be. The Scriptures will help us to do this as we look to the unlikely story of Barak, Deborah, and Jael in Judges 4.

The Need for Deliverance

Verse 31 says this, “After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.” That’s it. That’s basically all the Bible has to tell us about Shamgar and what he did. But this is still an important verse because it helps us to understand this whole book. In this one verse we have an insignificant man using an insignificant weapon to deliver an insignificant people. That’s basically the whole book of Judges in a nutshell. What makes these deliverers significant, what makes these wars significant, what makes these people significant has nothing to do with who they are. It has everything to do with whose they are. They are Yahweh’s. These are Yahweh’s deliverers, waging Yahweh’s wars, to deliver Yahweh’s people. These stories are significant because they are not stories about insignificant people they are stories about the Lord of the universe. And through these stories we learn about God. We learn about Yahweh and what he is like.

We also learn what we are like. The book of Judges unfolds in a cycle that repeats itself over and over again: idolatry, oppression, deliverance, idolatry. Israel commits idolatry; their idolatry leads them into oppression; Yahweh has compassion on them and delivers them; and in response to Yahweh’s compassion they return to their idolatry. So if in verse 31 Yahweh delivered Israel through Shamgar what should we expect to find in the next verse? Idolatry. And that is exactly what we find in 4:1, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead.” In the book of Judges the words evil and idolatry are interchangeable – they mean the same thing – to commit idolatry is to do evil and to do evil is to commit idolatry. To our modern ears that sounds a little primitive. How many of us really consider ourselves idolaters? If you’re irreligious you figure you can’t be an idolater because you don’t worship any gods. If you’re religious you figure you can’t be an idolater because you worship Jesus Christ as the only true God. Since none of us are bowing down to stone images or sitting at home making our own gods out of Play Doh all of this talk about idolatry seems like it doesn’t apply to us. It seems irrelevant. But we are so wrong if we think that. Because idolatry is not just about bowing down to graven images. According to the Bible idolatry is much more common and much more deceptive than that. Idolatry is giving to creation what belongs to the Creator. It is to give your allegiance, or your trust, or your love, or your fear, or your mind, or your body to someone or something other than Jesus Christ. It is to look to something other than Jesus Christ to give you meaning, value, security, blessing, approval, and acceptance. It is to take anything – even a good thing – and treat it like an Ultimate thing…a god thing. And we can do that with anything. We do that with our marriages, with our children, with our relationships, with our sex life. We do that with our careers, with our finances, with our possessions. We do that with art, with entertainment, with certain emotional with physical pleasures. We do that with politics, with education, with religion. We do that with church and with church involvement. And most frequently we do that with ourselves. We serve ourselves rather than Jesus. Even as Christians we trust in ourselves and in our righteousness rather than in Jesus. We give to ourselves what we should give to Jesus. We look to ourselves to provide what can only be provided by Jesus.

Being modern does not excuse us from idolatry. Being irreligious does not excuse from idolatry. Being religious does not excuse us from idolatry. Every one of us commits idolatry because every one of us sins and all sin is idolatry. That’s why evil and idolatry are equated in the book of Judges. That’s why the words are interchangeable. Because anytime you sin – anytime you do evil – you are committing idolatry and vice versa. Every time we sin we are choosing to serve a master other than Jesus. Every time we sin we are placing our hearts on something other than Jesus. Every time we sin we are saying that Jesus is not sufficient for us. Every time we sin we are trying to find our value, or our purpose, or our meaning, or our pleasure, or our identity, or our fulfillment, or our happiness in someone or something other than Jesus. You lie because you are trying to protect something or acquire something that you don’t believe Jesus is sufficient to protect or acquire. You covet because you feel like there is something you need that you do not have in Jesus. You continue to be in relationships you should not be in because you’re looking to this person to meet your needs instead of Jesus.

All of this proves that the book of Judges is immediately applicable and immediately relevant to all of us. It is a book about idolatrous people whose idolatry leads them into oppression. And idolatry always leads to oppression, even for us. Every one of us becomes enslaved by whatever we worship. It is good to worship Jesus because he is a good master who loves us, serves us, and gives himself for us. But he is the only master that does this. No other master loves us, no other master serves us – they all demand that we love them and serve them and give ourselves to them. And since we rely on the things we worship to give us meaning, value, identity, and fulfillment we must give ourselves to them and we must do whatever they demand of us because we need what we think they can offer us. This is the cycle that we humans naturally walk into. First idolatry, then oppression. In 4:1 we saw the idolatry now look at 4:2 and 3 to see the oppression, “So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 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.”

The Israelites were oppressed because of their idolatry. They were ruled by Jabin, the king of Canaan, and by Sisera, the commander of his powerful army. This army had 900 chariots! Imagine having 900 fully armored tanks following you around and limiting your every move. That’s oppression. That’s intimidation. In some ways chariots are worse than tanks. Tanks are powerful and break through enemy lines but chariots are swift and effective. You can run from a tank. You can’t run from a chariot. They are designed for the purpose of chasing down those who flee. This was the experience of the Israelites for twenty years. And only after twenty years do we see the Israelites finally crying out to the Lord for help. It’s amazing how long we will sit in our own mess before crying out to God. Yahweh had every reason to ignore their cry and every reason to ignore ours. But Yahweh is loving to the unloving, compassionate to the compassionless, gracious to the ungrateful. So even though the Israelites did not repent, even though he knew they would return to idolatry, he delivered them. That’s the next phase of the cycle: idolatry, oppression, deliverance.

The Unlikely Deliverer

This is where we pick up in verse 4. The author of Judges introduces us to a woman named Deborah. Deborah was a prophet who was leading Israel at the time. She wasn’t a judge in the sense that Ehud was, she wasn’t a deliverer, a warrior. She was a judge more in the sense that we think of it. She made judgments. The people of Israel came to her to have their disputes decided. And since she was a prophetess, since she was in a sense God’s mouthpiece, her judgments could be trusted. Deborah is a very interesting character. She’s not who we’d expect to find calling men and sending men to war. But this is the book of the unexpected. We just read about Shamgar who killed 600 Philistines with nothing but an oxgoad. And now we read about Deborah, a woman, who is judging and leading Israel and calling them to war. In verse 6 Deborah sends for a man named Barak. When Barak arrives she gives him orders to go to war but she’s not speaking as the Commander in Chief. She’s speaking on behalf of the Commander in Chief. “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.” Yahweh is speaking to Barak through Deborah and calling him to fight for the freedom of his people. And Yahweh is guaranteeing Barak that he will have victory. Yahweh promises that he will give Sisera and his troops into Baraks hands. Victory is certain. Yahweh will deliver his people from this horrible oppression.

Now because we know that Yahweh is faithful to his promises, that he is the Perfect Warrior who cannot and will not be defeated, and that he fights on behalf of his people we would assume that Barak would take Yahweh at his word and do just as he commanded. But that’s not what happens. Instead, Barak hesitates. He was probably thinking of Sisera’s great army and his 900 chariots. So instead of saying, “Yes, Lord” Barak looked to Deborah and said, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” Yahweh promised Barak a victory but that wasn’t enough for him. Yahweh promised Barak that he would deliver Sisera into his hands but that wasn’t enough for him. He needed further assurance. So he determined that he would only go if Yahweh’s prophet, Deborah, went with him. Deborah replied, “Certainly I will go with you. But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Because Barak did not fully trust in Yahweh Barak would not receive the glory for this victory. Yahweh would still deliver his people but he would give the victory to a woman instead of to Barak. When Deborah said this I’m sure that Barak assumed that this woman would be Deborah and that God would give Sisera into her hands. He must have assumed they were going to go up against Sisera and his army as a team; fighting together like Bonnie and Clyde, or Snoop and Chris, or Bobby and Whitney. But that would be too easy. When we’re talking about Yahweh delivering his people we should always expect the unexpected.

So Barak gathered his 10,000 men and along with Deborah they headed for battle. Just as Yahweh promised he led Sisera and his men to the Kishon River. Barak and his army waited on Mt Tabor. I imagine that as they were positioned there Barak was again thinking about Sisera’s great power, his vast army, and his 900 chariots fitted with iron. He hesitated. And Deborah had to remind him whose war this really was. “Go!,” she shouted. “This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” With that little kick in the butt Barak and his men went down Mt. Tabor and attacked Sisera and his men and, against all odds, Sisera’s men began to fall one after another to the swords of Barak and his army. They were being routed just as Yahweh promised. And what did Sisera do? He punked out. He saw his chances quickly fading so he jumped down from his chariot and fled on foot leaving every one of his men to die. Definitely not the kind of man you want leading you into a battle.

As Sisera fled he passed by a tent owned by Heber the Kenite. Now Heber and his family were at peace with Jabir, the King of Canaan, who Sisera fought for. The Bible says that they had an alliance. And not the type of alliance you have on Survivor or on Big Brother, but an alliance far more significant and an alliance with much more trust. So much trust that when Jael, Heber’s wife, came outside and invited Sisera to hide in their tent he didn’t think twice about it. “Don’t be afraid,” she said, “come right in.” And because they had an alliance he did. Even if he might have had some concerns they were quickly disarmed by Jael’s warm invitation and generous hospitality. She opened some milk for him, she gave him a drink, and she covered him up. Sisera was exhausted by this point. And since Jael made him feel so welcome and so comfortable he decided to just go to sleep right there in her tent. Before he fell out he just gave Jael two simple instructions. “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If anyone comes by and asks you, ‘Is there a man in here?’ say ‘No’.” Sisera didn’t even realize the humor and irony in what he had just said. It was true. There was no man in the tent. He just proved by the way he fled from the battle that he was anything but a man. And little did he know that in a matter of minutes there he very literally would not be in the tent. He would be dead. Because once Sisera fell asleep Jael picked up a tent peg and a hammer. She walked quietly toward him while he slept, put the tent peg to his temple, raised the hammer, and nailed him to the ground through his temple. Jael was weak and yet she took on great power. She got up close and personal with the man that intimidated everyone and she took him out – not at a distance – but point blank, in her own tent that she seduced him into entering. Right after that Jael exited her tent to see Barak running by looking for Sisera. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So Barak entered the tent and saw Sisera laying there dead with a tent peg through his temple. Just as Yahweh had promised he delivered his people from oppression. And because Barak hesitated and didn’t fully trust Yahweh to deliver the victory he promised Yahweh provided victory through a woman, just as he said he would. And it wasn’t through Deborah, the leader, but through this non-Israelite woman camped out in a tent who was in an alliance with the oppressors. Again, Yahweh delivers in the most unlikely and most unexpected ways. He does this so that we will be reminded that the battle is his and the victory is his and the deliverance is his.

What Does it All Mean?

So this is a great story, a true story, about how Yahweh delivered his idolatrous people by working in the most unlikely ways. But what does it mean for us? Are we supposed to read this story and then want to be like Barak? No. Are we supposed to read this story and then want to be like Jael? No. Are we supposed to read this story and then want to be like Deborah? No. These characters are essential to the story but they are not the heroes of this story. Yahweh, God, is the hero of this story. And as we read this story we are reminded of just how glorious our God is. Yahweh delivers his idolatrous people even though they did not repent. Yahweh delivers his idolatrous people for no other reason than he is gracious, and compassionate, and merciful and does whatever he wills. Yahweh delivers his idolatrous people through no other means than his power and his sovereignty – his absolute control over and above all things. That’s the moral of the story so to speak. Yahweh is good. Yahweh is powerful. And it is Yahweh’s mission to glorify himself by freeing his people from oppression.

The story is about Yahweh and not about us. But of course that doesn’t mean that we’re not called to respond to what we know about Yahweh. In fact we’re required to. There’s no way that we can know and believe these things about God and not be moved to respond to this good and gracious and powerful God in worship and in obedience. Now we live in a different time than Barak. We live on this side of the Cross of Jesus Christ. So we don’t need to go out, gather tent pegs and hammers, and violently deliver the politically oppressed. But we do need to trust in Yahweh and we need to pursue his mission. His mission is to glorify himself by freeing his people from spiritual oppression. He’s already done all that was necessary for this to happen through Jesus Christ. He’s defeated our oppressors not by killing but by being killed. He’s defeated our oppressors not through the power of chariots but through the weakness of a man, naked, hanging from a tree. He’s defeated our oppressors not by oppressing them but by allowing them to oppress him in our place. Jesus lived the life we could not live and died the death we should have died so that we could be freed from our slavery to self, and sin, and Satan, and death. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to show that these things could no longer hold him and could no longer hold his people. If we trust in Jesus – in who he is and what he has done – we are liberated from all of these things. And we are sent out on mission, just as Barak was, to liberate others from their oppression. But our weapon is no tent peg, no oxgoad, no army. Our only weapon is the gospel: the message of who Jesus is and what he has done. Our only weapon is this gospel that we are called to declare with our lips and demonstrate with our lives so that others might be free. Yahweh promises us that he will defend us, that he will fight on our behalf, that he will always be with and never leave us, and that he will save and free those who are his.

If you are a Christian, if you are a follower of Christ, this is your mission. You are to trust in Jesus and to persuade others to do the same. You are to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ and demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone you encounter. You are to wage a spiritual war against a spiritual enemy with this spiritual weapon, the gospel. Jesus says that he has sent you into the world in the same way that his Father sent him into the world.

So why aren’t you doing it better?

Some of you really aren’t doing it at all. You can’t remember the last time you talked with someone about Jesus and his gospel. Some of you are doing better than that. And some of you are doing well. But none of us are doing it perfectly. None of us have really responded to this call to be always on this mission declaring and demonstrating the gospel of Jesus Christ in every relationship we enter into. Why? Why is that? Why do we tend to respond like Barak? Why do we hesitate to do what Jesus sends us to do? Why do we hesitate to trust in Jesus to give us the victory? Why do we want further proof and assurance that God is with us and that the outcome will be what we want it to be?

Let’s answer these questions by looking at a more physical war and mission. I have several friends who have gone to Iraq with the US Military. I have not gone. And I’m not going to go. No matter what. But why? What are the reasons that I would not want to go on America’s mission to Iraq?  I’m not going because either I’m afraid, or I don’t believe in the mission, or my allegiance is not to America but to something else. Those are the reasons I’m not fighting. Either I’m afraid, or I don’t believe in the mission, or my allegiance is somewhere else. Those are the same three reasons that keep you and I from joining Jesus on his mission. Some of you hesitate to declare the gospel in your relationships because you’re afraid. You’re afraid of how people might receive you. You’re afraid you’ll be laughed at, ridiculed, or just generally not approved of or accepted. Maybe you’re afraid that you’re not qualified. You don’t think you have enough knowledge or you don’t think you can explain it well enough. In that way you’re like Barak. You’re looking at Sisera and his chariots instead of looking at Yahweh who will go with you. Some of you may not be afraid. Some of you hesitate to declare the gospel in all of your relationships because you don’t believe in the mission. When it comes down to it you just really don’t believe that half-a-million people in this city are enemies of God and are currently separated from him, and will be eternally separated from him, if they don’t respond to the gospel. You just really don’t believe that Jesus and his gospel are the means – the only means – for people to be reconciled to God and to one another. You just really don’t believe that Jesus and his gospel are the means – the only means – for people to experience true joy, true fulfillment, and true healing. If you really, really believed all of this how could you continue to sit on the sidelines and let others fight while you watch? Some of you are not declaring the gospel in your relationships because you are afraid and some of you are not declaring the gospel in your relationships because there is still a significant part of you that just doesn’t believe that it’s all true. And, lastly, some of you hesitate to declare and demonstrate the gospel in your relationships because your allegiance is somewhere else. It’s not necessarily that you’re afraid. It’s not necessarily that you don’t believe it. It’s just that it’s not your primary concern. Your ultimate allegiance is not to Jesus and his mission. Your allegiance is somewhere else. Perhaps your first allegiance is not to Jesus but to yourself. So his mission does not take priority in your life. Your mission does. You make time to pursue what you want to pursue, and continue in relationships that you want to be in, but you do not make the time to bring the gospel into every relationship you enter into. You hesitate to declare the gospel because your primary allegiance is not to Jesus and his mission but to you and your mission.

Think about this for a minute. Think about how you respond to Jesus’ mission. Are you declaring the gospel in every relationship? Are you demonstrating the gospel in every relationship? Are you purposefully and intentionally seeking conversations about Jesus and his gospel? If you’re not doing this consistently the first thing you must do is acknowledge that you are in sin. You are rebelling against the God who redeemed you. But don’t stop there. It’s not enough to just acknowledge that sin. Because, remember, there is a greater sin underneath that sin. Yes, it is a terrible sin when we are not fully devoted to Jesus’ mission. But as we just saw that sin is the product of another sin. It is either that you are afraid, or that you don’t believe in the mission, or that your allegiance is somewhere else. Which of these sins lies beneath your hesitancy to join Jesus on his mission? Which of these sins lies beneath your hesitancy to purposefully and intentionally bring the gospel into every relationship you have? Now let me be very clear that as I ask these questions I am not asking you as Jael. I am not the one who just does what needs to be done without hesitation or fear. I ask you these questions as Barak. I ask you these questions as one who many times has hesitated to trust Jesus and pursue his mission. I know what it’s like to be afraid. I know what it’s like to have a different mission or a different allegiance. Which is why I know that I can’t just tell you to stop being afraid, and start believing, and started pledging allegiance to Jesus and his mission. I can’t just stand here and tell you to go out there and preach Jesus in every relationship you have. Because I know that even if you leave here wanting to do that you won’t do that. You won’t do that because you can’t do that.

The Unhesitant Deliverer

But don’t be discouraged. Someone else has done that. Someone else has done it for you. Jesus has done it perfectly. When it was time for him to leave his throne and lay aside his glory to free us he did not hesitate. When it was time for him to come to us and become like us in order to free us he did not delay. Though he saw that it would cost him his position, and his riches, and even his very life he did not give in to fear. Though he saw that Satan, and his demons, and every human being would conspire against him he did not abort his mission. Though the people he was delivering did not deserve to be delivered he fought for us anyway. Though we would be thankless and curse him and deny him he pursued us nonetheless. Though he would be rejected, he came. Though he would be hated, he came. Though he would be abused, he came. Though he would be abandoned, he came. Though he would be murdered, he came. He did all of this because his allegiance was given to Yahweh and no one else. He came to set the captives free. He came to deliver the oppressed. He came to fulfill the mission he was given. And because he has done that you now can join Jesus on his mission. You can bring the gospel into every relationship you enter into. Because Jesus has defeated your enemies on the cross, because he has reconciled you to God and made you acceptable to him, you no longer have to be afraid of failure or rejection. Because Jesus has liberated you from your oppression, because he has broken the chains of sin, and self, and Satan from your neck, you can’t help but believe in the mission because you have experienced its reality. Because Jesus has loved you like you cannot even love yourself, because he has given all of himself to you when you deserved nothing but his wrath, you cannot help but give your allegiance to him and him alone because you know that no one else deserves your love or your trust or your life – especially you.

To put it simply you have been given the most glorious mission in the world which is also the easiest mission in the world. It’s the most glorious and the easiest mission in the world because all of the work has already been done. By living the life you could not live, dying the death you should have died, and rising victorious from the dead Jesus has done all that is necessary to reconcile man to God and all that is necessary to free the oppressed. You don’t have to do either of those things. All you have to do is tell the story. All you have to do is sing the song. That’s what Barak and Deborah did in chapter 5 of Judges. Yahweh had given them the victory. They didn’t have to fight any more. So all they could do is sing. They sang together about Yahweh. They sang about how he graciously delivered his people. They sang about how Yahweh had given them the victory. They sang about how Yahweh sovereignly worked in the most unlikely ways to rescue those who didn’t deserve to be rescued. Whether you’re a Christian or not how can we look at Jesus and not want to sing his song? There is no one more beautiful, no one more lovely, no one more attractive. How can we not want to sing about Jesus who rescues those who don’t deserve to be rescued, liberates those who have made themselves slaves, and reconciles the unreconcilable. We must believe it. And if we believe it we must sing it. And if we sing it we cannot just sing it to ourselves but to every person we know. Because we have been freed from everything that would tell us otherwise.