Barak Pursued After the Chariots and Hosts - Judges 4:16

In the book of Judges we learned how, “the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet”, and in chapter four and verse sixteen of Judges, we learn how, “Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host” where we read,

But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: 

and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

The verse reads, “But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles:” The writer began with the words, “but Barak” which means “however, notwithstanding, nonetheless and moreover Barak whose name means ‘lightning or lightning flash’ and was son of Abinoam of Kedesh who, incited by Deborah, a prophetess of Ephraim, delivered the Israelites from the yoke of Jabin by routing the Canaanites in the plain of Jezreel” “pursued after the chariots” or “ran, chased and closely followed the war wagons”, “and after the host” which means “and closely followed the army camp or body of people”, “unto Harosheth” or “to Harosheth whose name means ‘woodland’ and was a city in the north of the land of Canaan on the west coast of the lake Merom” “of the Gentiles” which means “belonging to the foreign, heathen and pagan people”. The writer shared how “Barak” followed closely behind the war wagons and army belonging to Sisera to “Harosheth” which belonged to the foreign pagan people. 

The verse continues, “and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.” The writer added the words, “and all the host of Sisera” which means “and each, the whole and every one of the army camp of people belonging to Sisera whose name means ‘battle array’ and was the conquering general under king Jabin of Hazor and slain by Jael” “fell upon the edge of the sword” or “were cast down, attacked and wasted away by the means of the sharpened war weapon such as a knife, mattock, axe or sword”; “and there was not a man left” which means “and not a single male warrior remained”. The writer shared how every one of the military people within “Sisera’s” army was slain by the sharpened war implement, and not a single one of them remained. 

When we meditate upon the words in this verse, we discover how “Barak” followed hard after Sisera, his war wagons and his military personnel, and slew all of them with sharpened war implements. God was with the army of “Barak”, and just as “Deborah” declared, the army of “Sisera” was defeated. We shall see more to this story in our next verses, but for now let us be mindful that God loves to be victorious. His greatest victory for us is when He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of everyone, and when He raised Him from the dead after three days, He made the way through faith and trust in Him to be forgiven of our sins, granted everlasting life and equipped with His Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth and empower us to live according to that truth so we too enjoy His victory over all our hating foes. (See John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15.54, 55, 57; 1 John 5:4; Revelation 15:2)

Next time we learn how, “Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".