“In the days of Shamgar the son of ‘Anat,
in the days of Ya‘el, the main roads were deserted;
travelers walked the byways.”
-Judges 5:6
Verse 6 draws a comparison between the holiness and power of the Lord displayed at Mount Sinai versus the darkness and disobedience Israel had fallen into before Devorah’s ministry.
Notice the mention of the judge Shamgar who God mightily used to free the southern Hebrew tribes from Philistine oppression.
Shamgar’s rule lasted about one generation and predated Devorah by only a couple of years.
Notice also the mention of Yael, the Kenite woman who killed Sisra in cold blood.
There’s three important reasons why she’s mentioned.
FIRST, her reference shows that Yavin King of Hatzor’s oppression over the northern tribes had been going on for quite some time and was not anything new.
SECOND, Yael’s assassination of Sisra in a sense was the “official event” that marked the end of Canaanite dominance in the north.
THIRD, Yael’s mention also illustrates just how different the situation in the north was compared to the south.
In the south, Shamgar was keeping busy fighting to free his Hebrew brothers from the Philistines.
On the other hand, the Israelites in the north were experiencing a totally different kind of persecution by a totally different group of Canaanites.
Since the oppression of God’s people was directly connected to their idolatry, we can know for a fact that no tribe of Israel whether in the north or south was obeying God’s Torah at this time.
Which means no tribe in Israel would escape God’s punishment for their falling away.
Next, notice the part where it says “the main roads were deserted; travelers walked the byways”.
This demonstrates just how bad things had gotten in the northern parts of Israel.
Traders couldn’t even drive their caravans on the main roads without being attacked by Canaanite thugs.
Instead they were forced to use the back alley roads which made traveling anywhere a serious pain in the neck.
This also shows the sad state of the leadership of Israel at this time.
The tribal leaders had surrendered their freedom to the enemy Canaanites and had adopted an “every man for himself” mentality.
They were operating out of fear and could only think about their self-preservation.
So here’s two takeaways for today.
Israel was in bad shape at this time but it was directly connected to their disobedience of God’s holy commands.
Second, we see Israel had fallen into a fear-based mindset.
Whenever you find yourself making decisions or acting out of fear rather than faith, rest assured, that’s a sign you’re not in God’s Will.
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