Tent Camping with Jael
This week we hear the story from Judges 4 of the prophetess Deborah, the general of the Israelite army Barak, and the hero of the story: a woman named Jael, who single-handedly killed their enemy, Sisera. Following their success, Deborah sang this song (Judges 5):
On that day Deborah and Barak, son of Abinoam, sang this song:
“When the princes in Israel take the lead,
when the people willingly offer themselves—praise the Lord!
“Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I, even I, will sing to the Lord;
I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.
When you, Lord, went out from Seir, when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook, the heavens poured, the clouds poured down water.
The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai, before the Lord, the God of Israel.
“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned; travelers took to winding paths. Villagers in Israel would not fight; they held back until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel. God chose new leaders when war came to the city gates, but not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.
My heart is with Israel’s princes, with the willing volunteers among the people.
Praise the Lord!
“…Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women. He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk. Her hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple.
At her feet he sank, he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell—dead.
“…So may all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.”
“Then the land had peace for forty years.” -Judges 5
Please join us in worship this summer as we explore some perhaps unfamiliar stories from the Old Testament… There’s trouble brewing in the Old West-ament. Pastor Sara will bring insight to our understanding of God’s work in the world as Pastor Hanna is on her summer vacation. Pastor Hanna will return to the office on Monday, August 11.
Holy God, we come together to worship, a people who would like to think that we love you with all our hearts and souls, with all our might, but there are so many other things in our lives that clamor for our attention that we often relegate you to Sundays and times when we want you to rescue us.
Most of us really do want you to be the one in whom we live and move and have our being. We really do want to hear your voice above all of the other voices in our lives. But we get bogged down in our daily routine. We forget who we are. We forget who you are. We forget what the church is supposed to be. Forgive us, Lord.
So here we are, standing before you today, with our human foibles and our short attention spans, asking that you would make yourself known to us, that you would help us to recognize the presence of the Holy, that you would continue to challenge us, inspire us, and make us into the people you want us to be. Amen.
