Sermon Tone Analysis
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I don’t know about you, but I love a good ballad.
According to oxford, a ballad is a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas.
Traditional ballads are typically of unknown authorship, having been passed on orally from one generation to the next as part of the folk culture.
Many ballads were written to help pass time, to preserve stories, or to entertain.
Think of some of the old war songs that we known were sung by soldiers during the Revolutionary or Civil wars.
Songs like Yankee Doodle, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, and Battle Cry of Freedom, many of these songs were sung by soldiers and had the effect of preserving morale.
Yankee Doodle in particular is amusing, because it was originally a song meant to mock American soldiers, who co-opted the song and sung it in mockery of the British during the Revolutionary war.
It’s a fascinating bit of history to see how songs effected not only the outcome of wars, but also their role in the aftermath.
Interestingly enough, what we have in our text today is a victory ballad following the battle with Sisera’s armies.
It’s a song of triumph, of victory, and it pokes a little fun at the enemy along the way.
While we accurately see this as a ballad of the victory over Sisera, its actually much more than that, isn’t it?
This isn’t just fun victory song on the occasion of triumph.
This song is teaching us theology.
This song is telling us something about our God.
It is a celebration, but also polemic against those who would oppose the Lord or who would do nothing to serve him.
Today we see that our God being a warrior can be a comfort…or a curse, depending on where you stand.
Let’s recall for a moment what has occured in the previous chapter.
God called Barak to go to battle against Sisera’s armies.
He said only if Debbie goes with him.
Do Debbie says fine, but the glory of victory will go to a woman.
Barak is successful, Sisera flees into the tent of his Ally, Heber.
Jael gets him to sleep and then pounds the tent stake through his head, killing him dead.
What follows is the same story, but put in poetic, victory ballad format, likely sung by Israelite children for centuries following these events.
Again, Our God being a warrior can be a comfort, or a curse, depending on there where you stand.
First, our Lord is a warrior, and he fights for his people:
The Lord Fights For His People
Immediately, this song presents the reality that this battle belongs to the Lord!
God has fought for the people!
This reminds us: when God fights for you, there are none who can oppose.
If you recall from chapter four, one of the reasons why Jabin and Sisera exerted such dominance over the people is because they had 900 chariots of Iron.
On paper this is an insurmountable foe.
But God is not scared of chariots.
Look how he fought for the people: he brought rain!
Look at 5:4!
God brought rain from Edom!
This would have made the battle field a giant mud pit.
You know what doesn’t work so well in thick mud?
Chariot wheels!
Those chariots would have been useless, and all their horse with them.
Suddenly the military superiority was eliminated with one sudden storm.
This reminds me of the text in Isaiah when the prophet speaks of what will eventually come for the nation of Isreal “no weapon formed against you shall prosper”
When God is fighting for you, it doesn’t matter if the enemy has 10,000 nukes with your name on it, if God says no, they will be brought to ruin.
But things are a little bit juicer here than what might first strike us.
Who is the god of the Canaanites, Edom, Seir, etc.? Baal.
And who is Baal?
He is the storm God.
Or at least, he’s supposed to be.
He supposed to be the one who controls the weather to aid the Canaanites!
But here is Yahweh, showing up Baal and demonstrating with power that He is in control.
This won’t be the first time in this ballad that we find such irony and pointed humor.
Just for a moment let’s skip down to verses 19-22, because they restate the idea and theme of God fighting for Israel in a poetic way
with poetic imagery of a celestial fight, the Lord has done what Baal ought to have done for the Canaanites... if he were real.
Why was it that Israel needed God to fight for her in the first place?
Let’s go back up to verse 6 and continue to the song from where we left off, where we will see how
Apostasy Brings Societal Decay
Here we have the plight of the people.
First she says “In the days of Shamgar…in the days of Jael”.
Two non-Israelites who were the heroes in the land.
It seems there was a dearth of leadership in the land.
It’s not the days of Barak.
It’s not the days of Deborah.
It’s the days of two gentiles.
There is a lack of godly leadership in the land.
Because notice how things are: There essentially was no law in the land!
Recently we’ve seen some cities experiment with the concept of “defund the police”.
I’m not trying to make a political statement, but those cities who removed law enforcement saw crime rates skyrocket.
When there is no restraint, human depravity shows its ugly self.
Such was the case in Israel.
Highwaymen and robbers everywhere, making it unsafe to travel along the open roads or be out late at night, houses of immorality that bring shame and reproach before almighty God.
And so they need other gods.
Look at verse eight, which really gives us the reason why they are in this mess.
When new gods were chosen.
The people have forsaken Yahweh.
Though Deborah has inserted herself as the contrast the leaderless days in verse 7, there is still the reality that the people are up a creek without a paddle and its because they threw their own paddles overboard long ago:
They chose others gods! as a result, they are oppressed, and there isn’t a sword or shield to be found in the land, as the end of vs 8 states.
This is what happens to societies that abandon God.
They aren’t safe.
And it remains true today that the most dangerous places in world are places where God’s Word is most ignored.
But this only serves to highlight the mercy and grace of our God.
Why should God save this godless people?
It is only for his own name sake.
It is as this juncture that the tone of the song begins to change, and see that God’s work is worthy to be proclaimed
God’s Work is Worthy to be Proclaimed
First we see the commanders offering themselves willingly to go to battle, followed by the command to bless the Lord!
These same people who among whom there was a dearth of leadership.
This same people who have no spears nor shields.
This same people who have gone after other gods.
Suddenly, here they are, rising up!
And so Deborah’s heart goes out to them.
That phrase refers to a pride and admiration that she feels for the men going to war.
Now, we know how the story ended, but you have to think for a moment in human terms about their odds of victory.
10,000 men against an army that included 900 chariots, not to mention the other soldiers.
Not great odds.
But their hearts were filled with courage and they marched forward, trusting their God would act.
God has done a great work here, turning the hearts of the people to enthusiastically move and be instruments for God.
And so we get a story worth proclaiming!
Tell it to the rich merchants who sat idly by watching Israel’s distress, tell it to those who are on the road passing by, tell it to all!
Our God has done a great thing and we must proclaim it everywhere!
Because God has done this, it’s time to march!
And so the battle cries begin, but who will answer the call?
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