IMITATE THEIR FAITH/DEBORAH - "GO AND MARCH TO MOUNT TABOR"

 Sisera! The very name caused terror and panic in Israel.  The Canaanite religion and cultrue were brutal, featuring child sacrifice and temple prostitution. What was it like to have a Canaanite general and his army dominating the land?  Deborah's song reveals that travel was nearly impossible in the land and village life had all but ended.  (Judges 5:6, 7) We may imagine people cowering  in the woods and hills, afraid to farm or live in unwalled villages and terrifiedt to travel on the open roads  lest they be attacked, their children taken, and their women raped. 

Terror reigned for 20 years until Jehovah saw evidence that his stubborn people were ready to change or, as the inspired record of the song of Deborah and Barak says,  "Until I, Deborah, the wife of a man rose up, until rose as a mother in Israel." We do not know if Deborah, the wife  of a man named Lappidoth, was  mother in a literal sense, but this expression was intended figuratively.  In effect, Jehovah assigned Deborah to provide the nation with motherly protection. He commissioned her to summon a strong man of faith, Judge Barak, and direct him to rise up against Sisera. - JUDGES 4:3, 6, 7; 5:7.

Next time: IMITATE THEIR FAITH/DEBORAH - "GO AND MARCH TO MOUNT TABOR

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