DEBORAH THE PROPHETESS !!!!!!!!!!

DEBORAH THE PROPHETESS !!!!! _# 1 _Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She had court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.

(JUDGES 4:4_5)

# 2 _God doesn't explain Himself. Suddenly, in a time when Israel has become unfaithful to the Lord, the scripture proclaims the position of Deborah, the only female to rule Israel during the years of the judges__that era between Joshua's death and Saul's accession as king. Deborah was not just a minor judge; she was an authoritative woman who decided disputes between men and held the power common to all Israel's judges. Nor was this a piece-of-cake leadership for Deborah. Israel had been subjugated by the Canaanite ruler Jabin of Hazor, yet the Israelites never brought an army against him until this woman was in charge. Deborah became the answer to the prayer for help her people sent up to God as they saw the Canaanites commander Sisera heading their direction followed by nine hundred chariots.

# 3 _God had chosen an unusual leader in Deborah, a very strong-minded woman who was also very close to Him. (Just read her interaction with her military commander, Barak, in Judges 4:6__9, and you'll see she was used to being obeyed.) As a prophetess, Deborah would have heard and communicated God's will to His people. Though she is not the only prophetess in the Bible, she alone ruled Israel. Not only that, she effectively led her country during wartime, when many people might have chosen a man for the job. After all, she couldn't command an army, could she? In a way, she showed the doubters that she could.

# 4 _God had given her authority, and Deborah obeyed His will implicitly. Maybe you've known a powerful woman like her. An in-charge kind of person, this judge rallied her leaders and the people against the Canaanites. Barak, chosen by God as the country's military commander, seems shy and retiring compared to the confident prophetess. God spoke to her, and she told Barak all He had commanded. Deborah did not make decisions based on her own desires, but on God's direction for His people. And she showed greater faith than her commander. She was probably a "God says it, I've heard it, that settles it" kind of believer, because she did not understand why Barak balked at going to war when God told him to. Barak flatly refused to go to battle without Deborah. That may have been fueled in part by an understanding that following her was following God, but doubt also played its role. Because of Barak's hesitancy, God commanded that a woman would take the life of Sisera.

# 5 _Deborah accompanied the ten thousand troops who attacked Sisera's forces and gave them the order to go into battle on God's chosen day. When Barak and his men obeyed, God caused the Canaanites to flee before them. But this was something other than Barak's happiest moment. Deborah's prophecy of Sisera's death was fulfilled when Jael, a woman, killed Sisera in her tent, after all the Canaanite troops had been destroyed.

# 6 _Judges 5 records Deborah's wonderful song celebrating the victory. Together with Barak, she gave the credit to God. From her verses we get a clear picture of how sad life had been like under the Canaanites. She described herself as "a mother in Israel," but she had also been something of a mother to Israel, encouraging, warning, and setting the pace for a whole nation. She praised Jael for killing the enemy with tent peg and hammer. Through Jael, God ended ting and gave Israel a complete victory.

# 7 _Need a picture of a confident, powerful woman who was also humble and faithful? Look to Deborah. Being an unlikely leader didn't stop her in her tracks, and it doesn't need to stop a Christian woman today, either. She can be a successful mother, leader, and wife, if she's obeying God every day.  

 

DEBORAH - REBEKAH'S NURSE !!!!!!!!

DEBORAH - REBEKAH'S NURSE !!!!! __Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So it was named Allon Bacuth.    (GENESIS 35:8)
Did you know the name of Rebekah's nurse? Genesis 24:59 told us she accompained her change to their new home with Jacob, but it did not mention the nurse's name. Now, at Deborah's death, we finally can put a name with a position.
# 2 _Deborah spent plenty of tears with her mistress. Perhaps Rebekah appreciated Deborah's kindness to her when she was tiny. Rebekah would have still needed her nurse as she grew, because Genesis 29:29 makes it obvious the bride had no maid. For awhile after Rebekah's marriage there were no children to change in the middle of the night, but Deborah helped her charge settle into a new way of life. When children did come, Rebekah desperately needed the nurse, since she had twins. Deborah was always there to dandle a crying child or wrap him in a blanket.
# 3 _Many of us have received help with our children from a friend, teacher, or youth-group worker. Do we appreciate the effort that goes into caring for children? Like Deborah, many give tender care to youngsters who are not theirs. Will it be a thankless task or one that recieves appreciation? Rebekah appreciated her nurse: The name of that oak under which Deborah was buried became Allon Bacuth: "oak of weeping."

THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH !!!!!!

THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH !!!!

Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said. (EXODUS 2:5__6)

Being important doesn't mean everyone knows you. Though this woman was the daughter of Egypt's powerful ruler, the Bible never records her name or even that of her father. All we know of Pharaoh's daughter is her position and the fact that she had a kind spirit, for when she saw the baby Moses floating in a basket, her heart opened to him. The woman knew he was one of the Hebrews whom Pharaoh had commanded to be killed, yet this woman disobeyed her father and bravely saved the baby, who ironically became the prophet God used to free the Hebrews from Egypt's grasp.
# 2 _In time, the princess adopted Moses, opening doors of education and power to the young Hebrew. Because of the training he received in Egypt's court, he was probably in a better position to rule over the rebellious Hebrews. As an educated man, he would be able to record the first five books of the Bible for all people to read through the ages.
# 3 _Though we don't know that she ever came to faith, the princess played an important role in God's plan. Without her, the tiny baby would not have had the advantages he needed. But God placed the right woman in the right place at the right time, and He moved her heart to help young Moses. Her name may have disappeared, but her good work hasn't.
# 4 _We're probably all familiar with someone who doesn't know God but performs many good deeds. An unsaved family member may help us out and enable us to fulfill God's will in our lives. Do we recognize that this, too, comes from God? God may use many different people to accomplish His goal, but He does not abuse them. He never forces them to have faith in Him.
# 5 _Many daughters of Pharaoh live in our midst, unconsciously guided by their Creator to do His will. Yet they have no spiritual connection to Him. Do we reach out to them, hoping to help them understand Hid role in their lives? We can rejoice when they come to know Him, too. 

DAMARIS !!!!!!!

DAMARIS !!!!!!! __# 1 _A few men bacame followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. (ACTS 17:34) __Luke mentions some men who accepted Christ as their Savior when they heard Paul's message in Athens, then sddenly he drops in the name of a woman: Damris. Perhaps, as John Chrysostom, a fourth-century archbishop of Constantinople, thought, she was te wife of Dionysius.

# 2 _Others suggest she was an important, educated woman, perhaps from another country. But in an age when women rarely got much mention, she must have had some stature to be listed immediately after a member of Athen's ruling council. Indeed, for her to be present at the meeting where Paul spoke would indicate she had some unusual importance.  

# 3 _The next time someone tells you women aren't important in the Bible, remind them of Damaris, Priscilla, and the Marys of the Gospels. People may write women off as being unimportant, but God never does. He includes them at every point in His story of redemption.

# 4 _You, too, are important to God. Whether or not you're ever mentioned in a book or known worldwide, God cares for you. His Son died for you, to draw you to His side. No one for whom Jesus died is unimportant or forgotten.