Craig T. Owens

Gustave Dore’s painting of Deborah’s song of triumph

Do you remember the old Enjoli perfume commercial? It was a classic! What a woman—she could make breakfast, pass out the kisses, and still get to work before nine in the morning. She could work 9-5, bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never let her man forget he was a man.

Wow! What a woman!

I was reading Judges 4-5 in the Bible this morning and was reminded of this commercial when I read about Deborah—the Bible’s version of the Enjoli woman.

Deborah was a devoted wife, a first-class mother, and a full-time prophetess. People from all over Israel came to her for godly advice for their domestic problems. There were national problems too—King Jabin and his general Sisera, with his 900 iron chariots, held an iron grip over all of Israel. Things were so bad that the Israelites stayed off the main roads, and life in their villages as they knew it ceased. Until Israel’s Enjoli woman came along.

Village life in Israel ceased,
ceased until I, Deborah, arose,
arose a mother in Israel. (Judges 5:7)

Wow! What a woman!

Deborah sent a message to a warlord named Barak, “God commands you to gather an army and head into the hills of Mount Tabor. God will lure Sisera into the Kishon River valley and He Himself will fight Sisera’s armies ahead of you.”

Barak is a man who has enough clout with just two tribes of Israel, that at one call 10,000 warriors join him. Barak is a man who has just been told that God Himself is going to fight Sisera alongside Barak’s forces.

But Barak is a coward!

A man with everything going for him says to Deborah, “Only if you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

All of Israel is forever grateful for that Enjoli woman who went with the army, and led them in an incredible victory.

Wow! What a woman!

I am praying that God will raise up more godly women who will boldly speak God’s word to fearful people today.