Judges 4:11-24

Continuing on Judges 4

Judges 4:11-16
The unexpected v. 11 introduces Heber, whose wife will soon feature prominently in this narrative.
Sisera hears that Barak has raised a force against him and he calls out his great war machine, with all the latest technology of that time.
Deborah encourages Barak with the word that the Lord has already given Sisera over to defeat. And so Barak sweeps down from Mt Tabor and wins a great victory, even though Sisera escapes from him.

Judges 4:17-22
There is no explanation given as to why Jael would kill Sisera and break the bond between Jabin and Heber. This perhaps reminds us of Rahab, the Jericho prostitute who for fear of the Lord betrayed her town to save Joshua's two spies.
Notice how plainly the account of the murder of Sisera is recorded, an stark absence of unnecessary detail. Too often, I think, we focus or make much of details or events that are small to the Lord. We need to learn to treasure what he treasurers.

Judges 4:23-24
This is an expected conclusion to this account, except there is no mention of the death of Deborah or Barak. While these events are recorded in a formulaic way, the small differences between them allow us to see a human hand at work composing the material, guided by the Spirit, mentioning that which is important in each episode.