Evangel
High School Class

Series: Biblical Lives to Live By
Genesis-II Samuel

Noah Abraham & Sarah Rebekah Jacob Joseph Moses Joshua Deborah & Jael Gideon Samson Hannah Samuel Naomi & Ruth David

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Deborah & Jael
This lesson is based on the following passages: (If you are online, you can look them up at Bible Gateway.)

• Judges 2:6-23 (after reading this passage, answer question 1 below)
• Judges 4:1-24 (after reading this passage, answer questions 2, 3, and 4 below)
• Judges 5:1-31 (after reading this passage, answer the remaining questions)

Discuss the following questions:

1. What were conditions like during the times of the Judges--what was the pattern of the people's behavior and God's response?
2. What was Deborah's public role in Israel at the beginning of this story? What did she do for the people and how did the people think of her?
3. What did God want to do at the beginning of this story?
4. How did God go about carrying out his plan: Who did he use? Why did he use them? How did he use them?
5. In what ways is Jael surprising in this story--what is unexpected about her?
6. What is the difference in form between the account in Judges 4 and the account in Judges 5?
7. Who is praised and who is criticized in the second account. Why are they praised or criticized?
8. What lessons can we draw from these two stories about Deborah and Jael?

In the times of the Judges, the people of Israel went through the same cycle over and over again. When they had a strong leader, a judge who feared God, they obeyed God, and God blessed them. When the judge died, they tended to fall away from God and, as a result, to fall under the dominance of surrounding peoples. Then they would call to the Lord, who would raise up a leader. The leader would deliver Israel from their oppressors, and then there would be a time of peace and blessing in Israel during the judge's lifetime.

In our study for this week, we find Israel under the dominance of Jabin, a Canaanite. The leader in Israel was Deborah, who arbitrated disputes among the Israelites. It is somewhat surprising to find that a woman is the leader because most of the leaders in the Bible, as in history, were men. But it is clear from this story that God is not opposed to women being in the role of a leader.

God told Deborah that He was going to deliver Israel from Jabin, and so she called upon Barak to get an army together and lead the liberation. He was afraid to do it on his own, so Deborah agreed to help him lead, but she warned him that he would not get the glory for the victory.

When the battle occured, God fought for Israel and their enemies fled. The leader of Jabin's army, Sisera, also fled but took refuge in the tent of Jael, the wife of someone he thought was on his side. However, when Sisera fell asleep, Jael drove a spike through his temples. As a result, God gave the victory to Israel by the hands of women.

Another interesting thing in our reading for this lesson is that the story is told twice--once as a prose story, once as a poem. The prose story tells the sequence of events without making too many comments. The poem, on the other hand, praises the actions of some people and criticizes the actions of others. Poetry was often committed to memory in ancient times, so it is likely that the poem is older than the prose story. The writer probably knew the poem, as did many people who had been taught it as children. Then the writer, with God's help, rewrote the story in prose as part of the larger story told in the book of Judges.

The story of Deborah and Jael is important in the Bible because it teaches us that God delivers His people when they call on Him and that God is not opposed to using women to lead. So maybe we shouldn't worry too much about what other people will say; instead, we should seek to know God and to obey His directions--even if they seem to be contrary to expectations and cultural norms.