“Adonai, when you went out from Se‘ir,
when you marched out from the field of Edom;
the earth quaked, and the sky shook;
yes, the clouds poured down torrents.
The mountains melted at the presence of Adonai,
at Sinai, before Adonai the God of Israel”
-Judges 5:4-5
Verses 4 and 5 from Judges Chapter 5 contains some powerful imagery.
The Lord our God is depicted as an awesome warrior who bursts forth on the scene to fight for His chosen people Israel and boy He ain’t taking any prisoners.
We’re given imagery of the earth quaking, the sky shaking and the mountains melting.
Given that the Song of Devorah is a song, of course there’s some poetic or hyperbolic license being exercised here.
And it also reflects how the ancient mind thought about nature in those days.
They believed the gods controlled all the forces of nature such as the rain, thunderstorms and earthquakes.
And ancient Israel was no different.
However, here’s something else to think about.
The testimony here of the earth quaking, the sky shaking and the clouds pouring down heavy rain may not be pure metaphor or hyperbole in this case.
The Lord may very well have sent a thunderstorm that helped Barak achieve victory over Sisra and the Canaanites who had sided with him.
Here’s the thing.
The battle at Kishon River took place during the summer months when there was little if any rain.
During this time the riverbed would have dried up with no water flowing.
However, if you’ve never lived in the holy land, you’re probably not aware of this but from time to time Israel does experience some incredibly devastating flash floods.
And when I say deadly, I ain’t kidding.
I once heard about a flash flood that destroyed a bridge and a good portion of a major highway that was running alongside the Dead Sea.
Apparently, boulders the size of cars came tumbling down from the mountains where the thunderstorm struck a couple of miles away.
And unfortunately, there were casualties.
The Lord may have caused an incident like this to happen at Mount Tabor in order to give Barak the victory.
I mean there’s gotta be a reason why the Song of Devorah speaks about the earth quaking, the sky shaking and the clouds pouring down in torrents.
It’s because something like this probably happened.
Do ya hear me homies?
Anyways, the takeaway for today is this.
When we’re called into battle or seem to be facing insurmountable circumstances, the Lord our God can and will use even the forces of nature (both animate and inanimate) to protect us and accomplish His Will.
He did it when He sent the 10 plagues on Egypt.
He did it when He parted the Red Sea for the Israelites during the Exodus.
He did it when He used a raven to deliver food to Elijah who was stranded out in the wilderness.
He did it when He caused a big whale to swallow Jonah.
And He did it through His chosen servant Yeshua when He enabled him to walk on water and even calm thunderstorms.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
He boarded the boat, and his talmidim followed.
Then, without warning, a furious storm arose on the lake,
so that waves were sweeping over the boat.
But Yeshua was sleeping.
So they came and roused him, saying,
“Sir! Help! We’re about to die!”
He said to them, “Why are you afraid?
So little trust you have!”
Then he got up and rebuked
the winds and the waves,
and there was a dead calm.
The men were astounded. They asked,
“What kind of man is this,
that even the winds and sea obey him?”
-Matthew 8:23-27
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