The song of Deborah and Barak extols the exploits of the judge
and the commander of the armies. It recites
the situation in Israel prior to their conquest of the Canaanites and the list
of the tribes who participated in the victory but it also asks questions of
those who remained idle. Jael gets a
brief mention in the song but the one thing missing at the beginning is the Lord. It is quite a contrast from the song of Moses
after the people crossed the Red Sea in Exodus, "I will sing to the Lord,
for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the
sea. The Lord is my strength and my
song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my
father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his
name."
Just as the women are the last ones at Golgotha with Jesus,
so are they first to arrive at the tomb on the first day after the Sabbath. They are there to care for the body of Jesus,
to prepare it properly for burial, something they had not been able to do on
that Friday or on the Sabbath. They came
at first light, as soon as the Law would allow and were greeted by a surprise,
an empty tomb and an angel. They also
were the first to see the resurrected Jesus and to worship Him. The perseverance of their love for Him had
great rewards. While, from an earthly
perspective, this day isn't about the women, they certainly were blessed
mightily this day, and deservedly so.
Can you imagine the scene this day? People from all over were gathered for a
party in Jerusalem, the celebration of the harvest, a time when no work needed
to be done for a while and it was time to give thanks for a successful
season. They also celebrated the giving
of the Law this day, the birth of the nation of Israel. The Law was akin to our Declaration of
Independence only it was the Declaration of Dependence and the Constitution all
wrapped into one. This was the day the
covenant was complete, they belonged to Him and the terms were now clear. A successful harvest was one more sign of His
favor and goodness towards them. Then,
the Spirit came amid tongues of fire, sounds of a mighty rushing wind, and
people speaking in strange tongues that were perfectly understood no matter
where you were from. Peter perfectly
framed the moment in this quote from the prophet Joel concerning the new thing
God would do for them. This was a
celebration of the writing of the Law on the hearts of His people, the reversal
of the curse of Babel and now they would know and praise the Lord.
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