I’ve been reading through the book of Judges this past week and I came across the third Judge, Deborah in chapters four and five. Looking back on the entire book of Judges and how many times the Lord rescued his people, it seems only Deborah is the only one who is recorded as expressing praise and gratitude for the intervention of the Lord. Ballentine picks up on this trend when he writes, “Only with Hannah (see1 Sam 2) and Deborah is there any praise in the canonical presentation of Israel’s history between settlement and kingship.”
But what does Deborah’s song in Judges 5 teach today’s church about worship?
First, Deborah’s song tells the story. It tells the story of Israel’s history and Yahweh’s intervention on their behalf as a mighty warrior. Christian worship should tell our story: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Christian worship does not require music, but should always tell the story, whether in song, prose, or action. Think of the story in the new song we will be singing with the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders before the Lamb. It is saturated in the story:
“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” Revelation 5:9-10
*The song we sing should tell the story we live.
Secondly, the telling of the story invites us to participate. The prose of Deborah in Judges 5 doesn’t just tell the story as past and distant, but present and near. Look at how the prose in verse 10 invites those who hear the song to participate, “Consider this, you who _____.” This song could be song during the time of Gideon or of Jephthah or Tola, or any of the Judges and it would invite its hearers to the same action: to remember the Lord their God, to repent of worshiping the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, to return to Yahweh’s mission in the land. True Christian worship is when orthodoxy (right teaching) kisses orthopraxis (right practice).
*The story we live should tell the song we sing.
… Song (remember) … Story (repent) … Participation (return) … Song (remember) … Story (repent) … Participation (return) … Song (remember)…
*The song we sing should tell the story we live. *The story we live should tell the song we sing.*
