Are you a mother, or a father, in Israel? Have you ever heard someone called "a mother in Israel"?
The term goes back to a time just a few hundred years after Moses and Joshua led the Jewish people through the wilderness and into Israel. The Hebrew Scriptures state that the children of Israel were not following after God, but were doing evil in the sight of the Lord. As a result of their separating themselves from God's protection, the King of Canaan was able to oppress them for 20 years. Then the children of Israel cried out to the Lord and God raised up a prophetess named Deborah.
Deborah called for a man named Barak and told Him that the Lord God of Israel commanded him to go to war against Canaan. She told him that God would help them and that God would deliver them. Barak told Deborah that he would only go to war if she would go with him. Deborah said she would go, but that the honor that he could have had would be given to a woman.
The war began and even though the Canaanites had iron chariots, the Lord caused them to panic and flee. The captain of the Canaanite army jumped out of his chariot and ran toward a friend’s tent. The friend’s wife, named Jael, came out and invited him to hide inside. When he fell asleep Jael took a tent stake and pounded it through his temple, killing him.
Then Deborah and Barak sang a song in praise to God and in that song Deborah was called a mother in Israel because she was not afraid, she trusted in God, and was willing to follow His commands.
Are you so filled with God’s Spirit that you are free from fear? Do you trust God, and are you willing to allow Him to live inside you and empower you to obey His commands? Are you a mother or father in Israel? You can be.
Picture originally found here
