What was wrong with Barak?
Deborah reminds him that the Lord had spoken to him, commanded him to
take specific action and promised him success and yet he had failed to
obey. His response to her admonition is
to say, if you'll go with me. When men
fail to lead, when they fail to obey the Lord, the Lord is forced to resort to
raising up women who will lead. Her
response, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are
going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand
of a woman" is clearly intended to shame him but he doesn't seem to
mind. In fact, when the time comes to
act Deborah has to again implore Barak to step up to the plate and act. He finds success that was promised but indeed
the king, Sisera, is not killed by the leader of the army but by Jael, the wife
of Heber the Kenite, who drives a tent peg through his temple. Why, I wonder, were the men of God so weak in
that time?
There were many women there looking on from a distance. The men had, by and large, fled the scene in
fear that they would be tabbed as Jesus' disciples and perhaps be tried and
crucified too and they weren't ready to suffer and die for His sake yet. The faithful women, however, were there that
day in love, unafraid to identify with Him as He had identified with them. Jesus changed the idea of what it meant to be
a disciple by allowing these women access to the teaching and in His
interactions with women throughout the Gospels so it is not surprising that in
spite of the horror of this scene they are present. All through this day, the women are there,
even at the end when Joseph receives the body and takes it to the tomb. The leaders remember that Jesus said He would
rise again and ask Pilate to secure the tomb but he has had enough of them for one
day, ordering them to see to this nonsense on their own. In his mind, he had washed his hands of this
entire affair. The men, other than
Joseph, don’t distinguish themselves this day.
Why is it that Peter believes it necessary and proper to
fill the place of Judas? There had been
twelve apostles just as there had been twelve tribes and that number is
important in Judaism. Why though does
Peter believe it is their prerogative to fill out that number? He comes up with a standard, the person had
to have been part of the group since the baptism of John and had to have seen
all Jesus had done. After prayer asking
God to reveal that person to them, they choose lots, I suppose as the way God
will reveal this person. I am sure
Matthias was a perfectly solid disciple but we never hear from him again. One thing Peter and the others don't
understand is just how much a game-changer the Holy Spirit is going to be. Eyewitnesses aren't the only ones who can
powerfully attest to Jesus now. Also, I
believe that the Lord had already chosen the twelfth apostle, a man named Saul
of Tarsus. Men gotta do what men gotta
do though. Waiting wasn't their forte.
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