12 “Awake, awake, Deborah;
Awake, awake, [i]sing a song!
Arise, Barak, and take away your captives, O son of Abinoam.
13 “Then survivors came down to the nobles;
The people of the Lord came down to me as warriors.
14 “From Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek came down,
Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples;
From Machir commanders came down,
And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of [j]office.
15 “And the [k]princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
As was Issachar, so was Barak;
Into the valley they rushed at his [l]heels;
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great resolves of heart.
16 “Why did you sit among the [m]sheepfolds,
To hear the piping for the flocks?
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart.
17 “Gilead [n]remained across the Jordan;
And why did Dan stay in ships?
Asher sat at the seashore,
And [o]remained by its landings.
18 “Zebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death,
And Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.
With this huge victory, we see that there was also division among the Israelites. Even here, long before the days of the split kingdom, several tribes refused to fight alongside their brothers.
This is not a problem that has disappeared with mankind being more “civilized”. If anything, it’s worse now than it ever has been, with churches (and denominations) splitting over and over again.
Now, I don’t think we’ll ever get rid of that, but I am encouraged to see churches in our community banding together in common efforts. Though we may have our differences in “minor” doctrines (and alas, even some we would consider “major”), we all share the common cause of Christ. He is the only way, the only truth, and the only way to have real life.
When we tear each other down, the enemy of our souls rejoices. But when we work together, the enemy trembles in fear, because he knows the power that lives in us.