In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned; travelers took to winding paths.

Judges 5:6

Travelers were men. They took the winding paths because they were afraid of the straight and open. Fear of bandits and thieves consumed their minds. The enemy was their view, who muscled them with force to skulk. They had surrendered their fight, to cow down to the enemy's bluff and took to back roads and slithering paths, behind the scenes and out of view. To sneak from cover to shadow was the choice of these men who should have shone. Bright in their creation, now dimmed by their cowardice.

Village life in Israel ceased, ceased until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel. When they chose new gods, war came to the city gates, and not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel. Judges 5:7-8

Village life is the life of family. Community and kinship are fostered in a village. The people began to leave the closeness of family, the accountability of community. Free from constraints that made them a people to be loose in the freedom of the city. The independence of anonymity to pursue the will of flesh. Whether it was the sin of fornication, the worship of foreign gods, or just the liberty from responsibility, village life ceased because men weren't men. Men without family and community become brute beasts driven by wickedness erupting from the fall. Relationship to a people constrains a man to live within a moral obligation, to live out the laws written on his heart.

Cities, in contrast, foster lawlessness. For all the structure a city displays through walls and buildings, ironically these same partitions stand to obscure Light. These dark crevices, hiding in the strength of form, unhinge the very constitution of a man. An arena to act out his dark desires. All choices of his heart but a playground to easily facilitate each notion.

Deborah was calling men back. She rose as a mother, the Father was already in place. She presented the emblems of family. A mother and a Father. The mother who was led by the Father calling the children home. Home to community, kinship and a family. "Come stand as children. Come! Be real men."

How is this a judgment? Men left their place, leaving women and children vulnerable to the enemy's attack. Attacks on their lives, violations on children to live out a legacy of failure. They cowed to the enemy and hid beneath the sheets of sin. They followed Baal the god of sex, almost an act to prove they were still men. Men by act of prowess, a sad facade of the truth that flesh was the only thing that made them a man. An act of delusion, hence they had to be rallied by a woman. Men left God's core values to pursue their own selfish wills. They violated the essence of what made them a people. God had gathered together a people to be consecrated, holy and set apart. The community was a womb that would bear fruit of real manhood, valor and character but man chose to abort himself to be the slave of a stronghold. A cesspool of indulgences and sin.

"It's the order I have instituted." Only when a man comes under the hierarchy and order of God will he ever flourish into his destiny.If he refuses that order, he will die in the darkness of the ground as a seed never to blossom.
 

Abuse of woman: I will put you under the very thing you abuse.
You won't succeed without submitting to it....  I will make what you abuse master over you and the very power you need.
For a man to be led by a woman was just desserts. "You won't be men, stand in your position and place, I will make you subservient to a woman. She will possess the fortitude which you refuse. You won't live in the order I have created, I will make a new order that will shame your arrogance and pride." For a woman to carry the strength a man should possess exposes even more the lack of courage they failed to uphold.

...not a spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel. Judges 5:8b

This was not a handful of gutless men, no it was an epidemic. It was a catastrophe. War came upon the city and the men were in bed. They laid down their spears and left their homes. They caroused and indulged their flesh not being where they were supposed to be.

My heart is with Israel's princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. PRAISE THE LORD! Judges 5:9

Men were not coerced into service. Deborah rallied men who were men. Men who volunteered, princes among the masses. Shining hosts, whose mark would shine as they moved against the tiresome tide of sin and prepared for war. Those whose hearts treasured what God had given - heritage, a people and a purpose. These soldiers would raise the standard all men possess. They waved the banner above the cowardice of surrender. Flesh was not their master. The idle times of idol worship were through. Under a woman they would come to know their destiny. Under a mother they would become MEN.

Deborah was a mother, not a queen. She ruled under the Father and held an authority the Father Himself possessed. Deborah was not a Jezebel, she didn't devalue men. No, she treasured the strength of maleness. Her heart was with Israel's princes. Men of men. True virility, rough and ruddy not base. True manhood glows in its strength and doesn't have to bow a pompous chest. Deborah loved and valued true maleness. Because of her cherishing, manhood flourished under her leadership. The strength God put in a male, she knew must be in force to preserve a nation. When a people loose the vigor of masculinity, when it ebbs to empty valiant words and simple acts of flesh, the days of that kingdom are numbered.
 

Copyright ©  John Enslow