God uses Deborah to prepare Barak. Then she steps into the background, and Barak moves up into the foreground (Judges 4:15-16). He goes to the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, who have been most affected by the occupation, and recruits 10,000 men (v. 10). Then they march out to Mount Tabor, where Sisera meets him with 900 iron chariots and a huge army.

Now let us review the situation. Israel is outmanned: Sisera has considerably more than 10,000 men, since usually only a very small, elite percentage of an army would be riding in chariots. Israel is out-supplied: Sisera has 900 iron chariots (v. 13), while Israel does not even have spears and shields. And Israel is out-positioned: sending ill-equipped foot soldiers against chariots on a flat plain would amount to mass suicide.

Yet that is exactly what God commands His people to do (v. 14). It is not really Barak's strategy or Deborah's plan at all; it is God's. He wants to teach His people that it is not chariots or troop numbers that makes the difference; it is He.

What happens? We read that ″the LORD routed Sisera″ (v. 15). The word means ″to cause confusion″-the same word used to describe God's intervention against the Egyptians in Exodus 14:24. How does He do that? Judges 5:21 gives us a clue. At this time of the year, the Kishon would normally be a dried-up creek bed. But God causes a violent storm to sweep through the area, turning the ground into a muddy quagmire, bogging down the chariots. Chaos ensues, Sisera's army panics and breaks ranks, and the Israelites defeat them.

Then God intervenes in another way. Fleeing the defeat, Sisera stumbles into the tent of a non-Israelite woman named Jael, where he expects to find safety (v. 17). But Jael acts in a way that was a shocking violation of Middle Eastern standards of hospitality and treaty obligation (v. 21). The irony is that it was not a valiant warrior like Barak who conquered the great general Sisera, but a pagan woman, using a woman's tools.

Surely God was saying something to His people, both then and now, by that strange twist of events. ″If you will trust in me, I will deal with the Siseras in your life. And I do not need a man of great strength to do it; I can use a Jael. You only need me!″

Our eyes need to be focused on God. When Israel trusted God, their enemy was defeated. That is why the writer summarises the entire account by saying ″On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites″ (v. 23). The essence of godly leadership is an unswerving commitment to being God's servant.