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Prophetic word for today
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The name "Jabin" is derived from the Hebrew verb bin meaning "to understand, discern with the mind". Therefore, as indicated on babynamesfamily.com (and wikipedia.org), the name "Jabin" can be translated as "he that understands, discerner".
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The word "Hazor" means "castle", and is derived from the Hebrew verb chatsar meaning "enclosure".
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The meaning of the name "Sisera" is uncertain. According to wikipedia.org, the name is believed to be either Hittite, Hurrian, or Philistine. According to wikipedia.org, the Hurrians are historically related to the Hittites, and a close study of the Philistines in Scripture reveals that they are eminently Amorite-Hittite (spiritually speaking). Therefore, we can safely conclude that the name "Sisera" has strong Hittite connotations.
According to abarim-publications.com, the name "Sisera" would have reminded Hebrew listeners of the word sus (or soos), a word that is used in Jeremiah 8:7, where it is translated as "crane". As we have studied before, that word points to an evangelistic conqueror endowment that has been contaminated by the pastoral matriarchy. As we have also said before, Amorites are "evangelists gone bad", meaning that Sisera is strongly Amorite. Thus, Sisera is both Hittite and Amorite.
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The word "Harosheth" means "carving, skilful work", and is derived from charash, which means "to cut in, plough, engrave, devise".
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The word "Gentiles" at the end of verse 2 was translated from the Hebrew word goyim, which literally means "nations". As we have studied before, "nations", when used in a negative sense, refer to human strongholds that uphold Girgashite traditions. |
Based on the above, we can conclude that Judges 4:2 is referring to people who rely on human wisdom and understanding ("Jabin"). These people end up building a "castle", an "enclosure" within which their knowledge reigns supreme ("Hazor"). This is what scientists are prone to doing. Because of their proficiency in understanding many things in the natural realm, they create a castle within which their limited understanding is supreme, becoming disdainful about any knowledge or principles that do not fit into their limited discernment. Any reality that falls outside of their current understanding is "carved up", "skilfully worked over" ("Harosheth") in such a way that it becomes "explainable" by their limited paradigms, and any reality that requires too much "carving" to fit in their castle is simply labelled a "lie", a "myth", an "illusion of the masses". Curiously enough, it is this very "castle mentality" that has limited the development of science itself throughout human history. Had Copernicus enclosed himself within the castle of geocentric astronomy, the truth about heliocentrism would have taken longer to surface. Had Einstein enclosed himself within the castle of traditional physics, the theory of relativity would have taken much longer to surface. Ironically, Einstein himself ended up building a castle of his own, and had Max Born, Niels Bohr, Heisenberg, and others enclosed themselves within that castle, quantum mechanics would have never developed beyond its initial stages, and the principles of "quantum entanglement", "wave function collapse", and "quantum teleportation" would have never come forth. As illustrated by Gödel's incompleteness theorems, systems of knowledge are inherently incomplete. Knowledge is ever expanding, and those who build a castle around a limited set of axioms will eventually stop growing in their understanding and come woefully short of the full truth.
Just like Jabin, king of Hazor, those who build castle strongholds of limited understanding end up releasing "Siseras" that go out from these castles to overtake those who remain sceptical to their limited understanding. These "Siseras" are imbued with a strong spirit of Hittite deceit, and they have the "conquering" abilities of an arrogant Amorite. This is the type of spirit that goes forth from the scientific "castles" to deceive others into thinking that their scientific understanding is the foundation for all truth. This "Sisera" spirit is the one responsible for turning myths such as the theory of evolution into "scientific facts", despite all the speculation that must be added to the scientific "evidence" in order to make these "facts" "irrefutable". Anyone who points out all the speculation and guesswork and who exposes the lack of scientific causation in the "evidence" is arrogantly dismissed as a "mystical and superstitious nincompoop" who has yet to enter into the modernity of "scientific thinking". This is how "Sisera" perpetuates the Hittite deception in Amorite arrogance. Through Sisera-spirit attacks, people are kept within the confines of the Girgashite paradigms ("Gentiles") that issue forth from the Jabin castles.
As the people of God began to cry out for freedom from the Jabin oppression, the Lord raised up Deborah and Barak:
"4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. 5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?" (Judges 4:4-6)
The name "Deborah" literally means "bee", and is derived from the Hebrew word dabar meaning "word". As we have shared before, dabar is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word logos, and is intricately related to truth and judgements. Therefore, we can say that "bees" are spiritually related to the making of judgements. Thus, it is no coincidence that the verse in Scripture that introduces Deborah (verse 4 above) immediately declares that she "judged Israel at that time". As we have also shared before, "honey" is strongly related in Scripture to both wisdom and the making of judgements, so it is no coincidence that "bees" also point to the apostolic endowment of judgements.
The name "Barak" literally means "lightning". Therefore, it is a figure of "epiphanies", i.e.- revelations of wisdom from the Lord that come to you like lightning out of nowhere. These lightning revelations require a strong prophetic component, which enables thinking outside the box that transcends current understanding. This is the reason why verse 6 declares that Barak was the "son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali". The name "Abinoam" can be translated as "my father is grace", which points to the prophetic anointing, since the prophetic endowment is the one most directly related to spiritual grace. The word "Kedesh" in "Kedeshnaphtali" means "holy place", and, as we have said before, the endowment most directly related to "holiness" is the prophetic endowment. On the other hand, the word "naphtali" in "Kedeshnaphtali" means "my struggle, my battle", which points back to the apostolic endowment. It requires apostolic, trailblazing endurance to stick with a spiritual mystery, meditating on it day after day, week after week, month after month;, once you have put in the apostolic effort, it takes a flash of prophetic revelation for the mystery to suddenly become revealed. This prophetic flash cannot come unless you believe that you have grace before your Father in Heaven ("Abinoam") and that, as a holy prophet of God (1 John 2:20-27), you, fellow believer, have access to the holy things of God in the spirit realm as you are willing to wage the lonely battle ("Kedeshnaphtali").
"And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand." (Judges 4:7)
Notice how the Lord declares that He would draw Sisera to the river Kishon so as to deliver him into the hands of Barak. The name "Kishon" means "winding, tortuous, twisting", and is derived from the Hebrew word qowsh meaning "to lay bait, lure". Why would the Lord want to draw Sisera to the river Kishon in order to defeat him? Because Sisera is a linear thinker. The Sisera spirit of Amorite-Hittite deceit that seeks to enslave others within Jabin's castle is simplistic. It ignores subtleties, and it always goes from point A to point B in a "straight" line, making subtle but false assumptions along the way that "smooth out" or simplify the internal complexities of the issue being analysed. Because of his Amorite regal arrogance, Sisera is able to convince others into thinking that there is a valid logical path from A to B, even when there isn't one. In a sense, it is as if Sisera "decrees" these false paths into existence. God allows these 1-dimensional, "linear" thought patterns to emerge in order to lure the simple into deceit. The only ones who can avoid the lure of these patterns are those who are willing to embrace the complexities of life, those who are willing to reject simplistic, linear thinking and who realise that the path to real truth can be a tortuous, winding road. Those who are not willing to invest the time and effort required to travel down this tortuous and difficult stream are not worthy of the truth. Thus, to defeat the Amorite-Hittite deceit of Sisera, you must become comfortable around the winding river Kishon.
As we said above, the Sisera spirit is responsible for enclosing people within the human castle of scientific thinking. The scientific castle is built around the "plausibility" paradigm. If there is an observed event that requires an explanation, the "plausibility" paradigm searches for a theory that can propose a sequence of events where each link in the sequence is "plausible" and which does not require the introduction of any new understanding. In other words, if you can propose a possible sequence of events that sounds "logical", without the need to introduce any new truth or reject a currently accepted belief, that theory is accepted as scientific "truth". To the earth-bound scientist, the joy lies not in finding the core truth but rather in stringing together a possible sequence of events to explain a phenomenon. Why? Because "truth" to the Girgashite scientist is not an independent entity that he must submit under. Instead, "truth" is whatever he can explain through a "scientifically plausible" linear sequence. Instead of the truth being over him, he stands above the truth and carves it through logical sequences strung together in his imagination, like a biologist who dissects a frog. As long as the sequences sound "plausible", he can reject any alternative sequence that may require accepting a new truth or rejecting a currently accepted tenet. Since his main interest lies in preserving his castle and not in finding the truth, he can hide behind the ambiguity of the unknown events in the actual chain of causation, and he can explain away the improbability of some of the events in his imagined sequence using the "time is on my side" fallacy, which states that, if you wait "long enough", even the improbable becomes probable. In short, the scientific castle builds its walls around missing links and improbabilities rationalised by time. The Girgashite scientist praises himself on the cleverness of his sequences and not on whether they are what actually happened. He is after carving plausible explanations, not after the truth. Instead of asking, "Is this what really happened?", his question is "Does this sound plausible?". The castle of scientific thinking, built around the "plausibility" paradigm, is nothing but epistemological, but it has the gall to make ontological claims.
Article on "Ontology" on wikipedia.org | |
Article on "Epistemology" on wikipedia.org | |
Article on the "Plausibility-Informativeness Theory" on caltech.edu} |
Given all of the above, it is no coincidence that the word "plausible" has the following definitions, according to answers.com:
Apparently valid, likely, or acceptable
Giving a deceptive impression of truth
Disingenuously smooth, fast talking
"Plausibility thinking" smoothes out the winding complexities of truth, turning it into a simple and straight line. It clouds up its questionable chains of causation in the ambiguous haze of time and the unknown, and it keeps people trapped in incomplete and inaccurate paradigms that prevent them discovering deeper truths.
As indicated in Judges 4, Barak defeated Sisera and his 900 chariots as he descended from Mount Tabor:
"14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. 15 And 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. 16 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." (Judges 4:14-16)
The name "Tabor" literally means "mound", but is derived from the Hebrew verb tebar meaning "to break in pieces". This speaks of how the spirit of Barak (i.e.- "lightning") revelation is intimately related to the concept of breaking down reality, analysing minor details. This is part of the tortuous Kishon path to deep truth. Notice also that Barak went down to the battle against Sisera with 10,000 men, which speaks of a foot army of scouts looking for and manually analysing a myriad of little details. The "1" in "10,000" speaks of several things:
Attention to individual details | |
A search for a single, unique truth, as opposed to searching for one of many "satisfying" possibilities | |
A self-effacing search whose prize is the truth searched for, not the applause that comes with finding a "plausible" truth (interestingly enough, the word "plausible" is derived from a Latin word meaning "deserving applause") |
In addition, the 4 zeros in "10,000" point to the 4 "spiritual faces" portrayed in Scripture, which speaks of a comprehensive search for truth from all 4 angles, from all angles of the human experience.
By contrast, Sisera fought with 900 chariots. Whereas "10,000" starts with the smallest non-zero digit ("1"), the number "900" starts with the largest digit ("9"). The "9" in "900" speaks of the following:
Dealing with generalities rather than individual details | |
A search for any of a multitude of "satisfying" possibilities, not for a unique and irreplaceable truth | |
A search for power and fame, not a search for cold, hard truth (the number "9" represents dunamis power) |
In addition, the 2 zeros in "900" point to half of the 4 "spiritual faces": the "Man" face and the "Lion" face. The other 2 faces, the evangelistic "Ox" face and the prophetic "Eagle" face are trapped in Amorite arrogance and Hittite deceit respectively. Both of these distorted faces, which are not represented in the 2 zeros, are encapsulated in the digit "9", since these faces are in hot pursuit of fleshly power and grace. In the context of the "scientific" Sisera, the "Ox" face is distorted into intellectual arrogance and the "Eagle" face is distorted into deceitful assumptions that clear the way for Sisera's "linear" logical sequences. The fact that Sisera had chariots (as opposed to Barak, who had men afoot) speaks of a mechanical and speedy search for truth, a search based on human methods that do not take into account the deeper elements of truth.
Scripture declares that, even though Sisera's army was wiped out, Sisera himself was able to escape from Barak's grasp:
"Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite." (Judges 4:17)
Notice that Heber the Kenite, Jael's husband, had an alliance with the unrighteous Jabin, king of Hazor. The name "Heber" means "comrade", and is derived from the Hebrew verb chabar meaning "to unite, associate with, make an alliance with". As we have shared before, the spirit of "camaraderie" is strongest amongst prophets (in a positive sense) and Hittites (in a negative sense). Therefore, the name "Heber" points to the Hittite spirit of deceit. This is reinforced by the fact that the Hebrew word for "Heber" can also be translated as "magician, charmer, enchantment", and is translated as such in 4 of its 7 appearances in Scripture (in the King James version). On the other hand, the word "Kenite" comes from the word "Cain" meaning "possession", which points to the evangelistic endowment of conquest (in a positive sense) and to Amorite conquest (in a negative sense). Thus, "Heber the Kenite", the man who was an ally of the unrighteous Jabin, illustrates the fact that the spirit of Jabin is comfortable in a Hittite-Amorite environment.
The one who received Sisera, however, was Jael, not Heber, and this is what happened as a result:
"18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. 19 And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. 20 Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No. 21 Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died." (Judges 4:18-21)
Notice how Sisera instructs Jael to tell everyone that there was no man inside the tent whilst he was in there (v20). This is a figure of how those with the Sisera spirit endeavour to convince people that there is no personal agenda behind their message. They want people to believe that they are messengers of an objective, impersonal truth when, in reality, their message is full of subjectivity and personal speculation that is driven by the effort to promote a hidden agenda (much like the mainstream media in America at the time of this writing).
Notice also that Jael did two things upon receiving Sisera in her tent:
She covered him with a mantle (v18)
She opened a bottle of milk and gave him milk when he asked for water (v19)
The word "mantle" in verse 18 was translated from the Hebrew word semiykah. Interestingly enough, this is the only time that this word appears in all of Scripture. This word is derived from the word samak meaning "to lean upon, uphold, support", and which can also be translated as "to sustain, refresh, revive". As we have studied before, the ministry endowment most directly related to "refreshing" and to providing an emotional source of support that others can lean on is the pastoral endowment. Therefore, when Jael covered Sisera with a mantle, she was covering him pastorally. This correlates with what she said to him prior to covering him, "turn in to me, fear not", which speaks of someone providing soothing comfort.
{Those who claim that believers should always seek a human minister to "cover" them might want to jump on verse 18 above to claim that it teaches the importance of having a covering. They might want to claim that Jael was able to cover Sisera because she had the human covering of her husband. However, these believers of the doctrine of "human coverings" would be ignoring the fact that Jael's "human covering", her husband Heber, had forged a peace alliance with Sisera. Therefore, if Jael had been trying to remain submitted under the edicts of her "covering", she would have treated Sisera well and would have never endeavoured to kill him. Also, it is worth noting that Scripture never speaks of Jael ever going to Heber to ask for any type of "authorisation" to kill Sisera. She took it upon herself to kill him, even when it went contrary to the peace alliance that her "covering" had authorised, and even when her "covering" was not privy to her decision to kill him. The "human coverings" doctrine is a Sisera-spirit doctrine full of Amorite arrogance and Hittite deceit. It is a doctrine that takes Scriptural passages and oversimplifies them through linear, earthly thinking in order to justify the belief that certain men and women should be revered as royalty superior to the rest of the flock. May Jael's nail drive through the temples of the arrogant fools who herald the satanic doctrine of human coverings! May God's curse hang over them and cover them until the day of their death.}
Notice how the Holy Spirit "goes out of His way" to emphasise that Jael opened a bottle of milk and gave him milk to drink. He could have simply stated that she gave him milk, and "be done with". Therefore, there is spiritual significance behind the bottle per se. The bottle is a container, and, as we have studied before, the ministry endowment most directly related to "containers" is the teacher endowment. As we have also said before, the teacher endowment is also the one most directly related to "warehousing", i.e.- storing something for future use. This correlates with the fact that Jael gave him milk that she had previously saved in a bottle for future use. The teacher endowment is also the one most directly related to "looking back" and methodically retrieving things from the past, bringing them to present remembrance. This correlates with Jael going back to retrieve a bottle of milk and opening it for use at that time.
The fact that she gave him milk instead of the water he requested also has spiritual significance. As we have said before, milk in Scripture is often a figure of "basic doctrine", i.e.- basic, foundational teaching from the Spirit. Therefore, the water that unrighteous Sisera requested refers to "watered-down teachings", i.e.- teachings that have been diluted to conform to the hearer's soul. In this context, water refers to non-nutritional teaching that does not edify and only appeals to the emotions (as we have studied before, "water" is often a spiritual figure of "emotions"). When Jael gave milk to Sisera, she was forcing him to face basic, foundational doctrine that would overcome the spirit of deceit that was in him. This is the reason why Sisera fell asleep soon after he drank the milk. As the milk coursed through his system, it began to rebuke the Hittite spirit that had energised him and allowed him to stealthily escape from Barak's grasp.
Some 9 to 11 years ago, I was reading a passage in 1 Corinthians when a "revelation" suddenly hit my mind. I became excited about the "amazing concept" that I had just "found" in Scripture, and I began to imagine the positive reaction that some friends would have to this new "revelation". These friends were people who loved "shocking revelations". They would become excited anytime they would hear a preacher from their organisation of churches dishing out a brand new "apostolic revelation". Their interest in these "revelations", however, was not so that they could grow in the Spirit; rather, it was to feel more "knowledgeable" than those who belonged to other organisations, which boosted their ego and made them feel more mature than the rest. As I began to imagine myself sharing my new "revelation" with them, and, as I heard their ("plausible") applause in my mind, something began to disturb me. As the applause fell silent in my mind for a moment, I began to perceive a quiet "emptiness" in the depths of my soul. Even though this new revelation "computed well" and sounded logical in my mind, something didn't quite feel right. Even as my soul rejoiced at this new finding (and the "applause" it could bring), my spirit felt no joy. My spirit did not feel "fed" or "strengthened". Something seemed "amiss" with this new "revelation". If it was such a pivotal "revelation" from God, why did it feel so "liquid", so "non-solid" in my mouth? This is when I remembered what the Lord had spoken to my heart regarding Judges 4 and Jael just a few days earlier. Fearing that this new "revelation" might be a "Sisera" in my hands, I decided to do the 2 things that Jael did to Sisera to see if this "revelation" passed the test:
To "cover" it with a pastoral mantle, I had a "meeting" in the Spirit with two brothers (who, by the way, had a strong pastoral endowment). This was not an actual meeting in the flesh. I did not pick up the phone to speak to any of them or go out to meet any of them in person. There, in the room where I was, I took the "revelation" that I had and presented it in the Spirit to the spirit of these 2 brothers, and, as I explained this idea to them, they both said to me that the "revelation" did not seem to be from God.
To give it milk, I decided to go back and consider "basic doctrine" in Scripture to see if this new "revelation" was consistent with it. I began to consider what basic passage of Scripture might say something related to the issue at hand, and the Lord immediately brought to my remembrance the first few verses of Psalm 103. He then reminded me of other verses in the book of Psalms (Psalm 42), and, as the new "revelation" drank down these basic verses of Scripture, it became evident that it was not consistent with Scripture, "fresh and innovative" as the revelation may have seemed.
When I realised that the new "revelation" that had fallen into my lap was actually a Sisera, I promptly did what Jael did: I took a nail and drove it into that "revelation's" temple, killing it then and there. Fellow believer, as you begin to operate in the apostolic, lightning-revelation anointing of Deborah and Barak, you will occasionally come across "Siseras", small but destructive falsehoods that will pass themselves up for "high-level revelations" from God. You must be able to detect them and apply the 2-pronged approach used by Jael to filter them out. In order for your spiritual sensors to detect them, you must stay away from the "plausibility" paradigm, the paradigm that praises theories for their "brilliance" and not for their truth. You must stay away from the thirst for "applause" and stay committed to finding God's unique truth. Otherwise, the alarms in your soul will not go off when a Sisera crosses the threshold of your mind.
{As a side note, it is worth pointing out that, by getting together with the other 2 brothers in the Spirit and not the flesh, the Lord allowed me to stay free from the spiritual contaminations and shortcomings in both of their hearts. Since it was an "episynagoge" between spirits, the few words exchanged during that spiritual meeting stayed within the realm of God's righteousness. Even though both brothers were either my age or older, neither of them was overly "mature" in the Spirit, and one of them even ended up giving me some well-meaning but misguided advice a few months later (had I followed that piece of advice, you would not be reading this article because my life would have gone so far off track that this website would have never come into being).
Fellow believer, as a spirit being in Christ, you have the ability to project yourself in the Spirit and engage in spiritual activity that transcends the understanding of the unbelievers and the so-called "believers" who are trapped in the natural realm.}
For most believers, the possibility of a falsehood creeping into our minds is more than enough justification to avoid delving into the spiritual truths hidden beneath the surface in Scripture. As many of you may know, there are many people out there who believe that it is actually "dangerous" to study the Bible too much. They believe that delving into deep spiritual insights exposes you to heresies, to falsehoods, to self-deception. However, not endeavouring to understand the secrets of the Spirit out of fear of deceitful falsehoods is like a guy who refuses to fall in love out of fear that a gal out there might end up breaking his heart. It is like someone who refuses to drive because he might just end up in a car accident. It is like someone who does not buy a computer or use the Internet out of fear of viruses and identity theft. You cannot move forward without taking risks, and inaction justified solely by the "plausibility" of something going wrong is inaction abhorrent to the Lord God of Israel. As long as your heart is right and you constantly seek to submit your soul under the Spirit, God will not only save your calling from any "Sisera" that may come your way; He will also fill your mind and heart with ever-growing revelation truth from above as you diligently seek His secrets with all of your heart:
"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deuteronomy 29:29)
"It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." (Proverbs 25:2)
"And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." (Revelation 1:6)
"2 Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; 3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." (Jeremiah 33:2-3)
Many a man or woman who have operated in the Deborah and Barak anointing have fallen prey to "runaway" Sisera revelations. Many of the present-day sects are the "love children" of people who began to receive true revelations from God, revelations that went outside the established religious castles of their day, but who, at one point or another, fell in love with the idea of building a castle of their own. They became enamoured with the applause, and they began to string together "plausible" new revelations that sounded "reasonable" but were actually nothing more than destructive lies from Sheol. As they allowed these Siseras to thrive, they and those who followed them became enclosed in castles of falsehood that made them adversarial towards new revelations from God, and they ended up as deceived and stunted as the religious people they had left behind.
As indicated in Judges 4:21, Jael took a nail from the tent where Sisera lay sleeping, and drove it into Sisera's temple with a hammer. The tent or "tabernacle" speaks of a temporary abode, a temporary place of rest that Sisera wanted to turn into a permanent residence, into an isolation bunker for self-feasting. By contrast, those whose hearts are right with God are used to living in tents, and the only permanent residence they are after is the Temple of God covering all men on Earth in the latter-rain Feast of Tabernacles. Therefore, the fact that Jael took a nail from the tent is a way of Jael saying, "Don't get too comfortable in there; this tent will come down soon, and you will not remain under it for long".
The word "nail" in Judges 4:21 was translated from the Hebrew word yathed, which appears for the first time in the following verse, translated as "pins":
"All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass." (Exodus 27:19)
As we have said before, "brass" or "bronze" in Scripture speaks of judgements. Therefore, the nail used by Jael to kill Sisera is a figure of God's judgements against those who seek to raise permanent tents of their own instead of enabling God's tabernacle on Earth.
The word "hammer" in Judges 4:21 was translated from the Hebrew word maqqebeth. Interestingly enough, this word is only used one other time in all of Scripture, in verse 1 of the following passage, translated as "hole":
"1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. 2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. 4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. 5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust." (Isaiah 51:1-5)
[Notice that, to God's remnant, to those who follow after righteousness (v1), the coming of God's "salvation" is equated with the coming of His judgements that fill the Earth (v4,5)]
Notice how the passage above speaks of His remnant being cut out from an Ancient Rock. Because of this, those who follow after God's righteousness see no "permanent home" in the earthly structures of man. The remnant are not ambitioning to forge a permanent castle on Earth, and they find no sense of ultimate identity in any paradigm or adjective that man has to offer, for they are strongly aware of the "rock whence they are hewn". This is the spiritual reason why the word used by the Holy Spirit to refer to the hammer that Jael took to kill Sisera (maqqebeth) only appears again in Isaiah 51 above.
According to Judges 4:21, Jael drove the nail into Sisera's temple. In most cultures, pointing to the temple is a gesture that refers to "thinking" in one way or another. Therefore, the nail driven through Sisera's temple is a figure of God's judgement against the linear thinking patterns of the Sisera spirit. The fact that Jael drove the nail in a straight line through Sisera's head and into the ground is a figure of how Sisera's linear thinking was nothing but low, earthly thinking, regardless of how "high-level" and "lofty" he thought it was.
The word "temple" in Judges 4:21 was translated from the Hebrew word raqqah, which is derived from the word raq meaning "thin, lean". This is because the temple is where the bone protecting the brain is the thinnest and most vulnerable; thus, the temple represents the most vulnerable entry point into our thinking patterns. Interestingly enough, the word raq meaning "thin, lean" only appears in Genesis 41, where it is used three times to refer to the 7 thin cows that Joseph saw in his dream. Therefore, it represents a circumstance of vulnerability that can only be overcome if the weak green-horse remnant (represented by Joseph) have been given their place of honour and have not been left to perish in unjust imprisonment. Egypt honoured Joseph, and, because of this, Egypt was able to survive the period of famine represented by the 7 thin cows. When the wisdom of Joseph is honoured, the people prosper. When the pseudo-wisdom of Sisera prospers, the people perish.
According to Judges 4:21, Sisera was "fast asleep" when Jael drove the nail through his temple. The phrase "fast asleep" was translated from the Hebrew word radam, which is only used 7 times in Scripture. Its first appearance is in Judges 4:21, and its last 2 appearances are in the following passage:
"5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. 6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." (Jonah 1:5-6)
[The word radam was translated as "fast asleep" at the end of verse 5 and as "sleeper" in verse 6]
As we have shared before, Jonah was running away from the vows he had made to God; he was running away from his calling, attempting to sleep to his spiritual nature in order to live a life confined to the natural realm. Therefore, we can say that Sisera is a thief that sneaks in to rob you of your ultimate calling. It turns you away from the vows you made to the Lord, and it prompts you to establish your own "permanent" castle on Earth, a castle that insulates you from any future spiritual growth. It lulls you into an unrighteous sleep. This is the reason why God killed Sisera as he slept, nailing him to the earth as a sign of what he does to others.
From all of the above, we can say that sister Maureen's dream points to Jael's killing of Sisera in the following way:
Jael covering Sisera with a pastoral mantle correlates with sister Maureen covering the holes in the basement walls with cement.
Jael opening a bottle of "teacher" milk correlates with sister Maureen making sure that the prophetic windows were locked right, ensuring that no Hittite would take advantage of the prophetic windows to get in (teachers are the best rebukers of Hittite hysteria).
As we shared above, sister Maureen acted in the dream as both an apostolic pastor and a prophetic teacher, meaning that both of the "female" ministerial endowments were covered by the "male" endowments of apostle and prophet. In the same way, Jael acted as an apostolic pastor when she covered Sisera, as shown by the fact that she judged him as worthy of punishment by death even as she pastorally soothed his emotions, and she acted as a prophetic teacher, as shown by the fact that she prophetically defied hierarchical protocols; being a female, she chose to give Sisera milk even when Sisera, a male allied to her husband, had told her to get him water, not milk; she also showed herself prophetically bold when she, a weak female, chose to kill the male general Sisera without even consulting her husband, and without caring what her husband might do to her if he disapproved of her actions. From this, we can conclude that Jael was acting as a spiritual "female" (i.e.- pastor and teacher) who was fully submitted under the "male" spirit, even when, to the natural eye, she may have seemed like a rebellious female acting recklessly, without the authorisation of her male "covering".
After acting like a female soul fully submitted under the male spirit, Jael manifested the full-blown nature of the 3 "male" ministry anointings when she drove the nail through Sisera's temple to kill him:
She showed herself apostolic when she judged Sisera's thinking to death by targeting Sisera's brain
She showed herself prophetic by piercing Sisera with a lethal "nail sting" (as we have shared before, "stings" are prophetic in nature)
She showed herself evangelistic by vanquishing the giant warrior Sisera, reducing him to total defeat.
Therefore, we can say that Jael gave Sisera a "female" one-two punch when she covered him with a pastoral mantle and gave him teacher milk, and she gave him a "male" knockout punch when she drove the tent nail through Sisera's temple and into the ground.
There is much more to say regarding this dream. God willing, we will study in a future article how the spiritual connection between Judges 4 and sister Maureen's dream reveals more about the overall spiritual context of the dream.