Tell It to the Judge, Part III: Breakdown On the Side of the Road

In Judges 5 we see the Song of Deborah. There is one thing that is nearly always taught from the Scripture when it comes to Deborah. The reason Deborah is actually in a position of power is in and of itself, a national judgment. We need move past the fact that men have abdicated the role as leaders/judges at times by this point in Israel. Regardless of this being a sign of judgment on a nation, if we move past this we see indicators that the nation was still in steep spiritual freefall even in the Song of Deborah itself. In a slight turnaround, Deborah and Barak are able to slow the downward decent of Israel’s moral trajectory temporarily but the Song of Deborah is actually damning to Israel.

In Judges 5:6 and 7 we see the telling language. “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath. In the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned; travelers took to winding paths. Villagers in Israel would not fight; they held back until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel."

We see national ruin. Shamgar the prior judge to Deborah and Barak did not succeed in subduing the interior of Israel to a state of order and security. Whoever Jael (the Helper) may have been, whether Ehud, Shamgar, or some other hero, even he was unable to restore confidence to the dwellers in the land, or to allow communication between the towns and villages to pass easily or securely. The description here reminds one of the inner cities and illegal immigrant overrunning cities in our own times. Lawlessness.

A strong leadership is needed in order to inspire confidence and to allow the conditions of life to be consistently uniform and reliable. A country may be great in military strength but morally, socially and politically, at a standstill because of the absence of needed leadership, structure and internal direction. If there is no moral zeal for the public welfare the public will often be immoral and spiritually dead.

While the song celebrates a military victory, its opening verses expose a nation suffering from deep internal collapse, lawlessness, and a vacuum devoid of leaders. The description of abandoned highways and travelers taking to winding paths reveals a complete breakdown of law and order. Citizens could no longer travel safely on main roads due to the threat of violence, banditry and foreign oppression. The phrase "villagers in Israel would not fight; they held back" highlights a profound lack of resolve in citizens also. Spiritual and moral decay often manifests as collective paralysis, where the public loses the will to defend their communities or sometimes even themselves due to fear or reprisal. Good is punished and evil is rewarded.

Military strength alone cannot sustain a nation if its internal moral and social structures are hollowed out. That is because that moral rot will usually infect the military also. Without strong, principled leadership to inspire confidence and enforce justice, a society naturally fractures. Unfortunately, we see this in many places in society today. It is pervasive on social media. Welcome to America 2026.

When a people are morally bankrupt and socially under duress the communication is reduced or rendered useless. When compounded with highways and main thoroughfares that are not reliable there will be systemic breakdown. Societies need to have safely flowing goods AND ideas for proper social interaction. Physical highways are the routes of employment and paths for movement of resources and functioning civilization. All really great empires/governments have distinguished themselves in road making or at least blazers of trails whether on land or sea…the Romans, British and America to name a few. The main reason the Roman Empire became so expansive and so powerful for so long was because of the Roman road systems. The Romans had created such an extensive and safe road system that it could usually be travelled without risk to life or property by a traveler. This is even indirectly alluded to in the Bible when we read passages like Galatians 4:4:

Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law…

Why was it the fullness of time or perfect time? Primarily because of two things: There was a universal language. The Koine Greek language was spoken everywhere, making it easy to share the good news. Secondly, there was safe and easy travel. Safe roads built by the Roman Empire allowed messengers to travel quickly throughout the entire empire. Rome maintained thousands of miles of safe, paved roads because it possessed the organizational will and legal structure to enforce order. That physical connectivity inadvertently created the highway system for the early church to spread the Gospel across the Mediterranean then into Europe. People should begin to take this into account when the look around them at the crumbling infrastructure in America. If infrastructure morally and physically deteriorates destroying transfer of communication and goods it will bring a nation and its ideas to their knees.

So to see the imagery in verses 6–7 of abandoned roads and travelers forced onto "winding paths" is one of the most poignant metrics of societal breakdown in ancient literature. In the ancient Near East, public thoroughfares represented the bloodstream of a culture. Secure roads required a baseline of functional governance, active justice, and shared social trust. When those roads empty, it signals that public confidence has eroded. That is when citizens retreat into localized, defensive isolation, trade ceases, and public life freezes in collective paralysis. Social structure begins to fracture, communication breaks down leaving communities isolated and susceptible to fear and rumor. Economic movement stalls, shifting a society from proactive creation to mere survival. Civic courage vanishes, causing ordinary law-abiding citizens to forfeit responsibility and wait passively for extraordinary intervention. This intervention usually comes in the form of localized petty tyrants because no true leaders step forward.

When a nation enters this form of failed leadership and moral bankruptcy, destruction of physical and spiritual infrastructure are the two main symptoms. Roads deteriorate, communication deteriorates. Public discourse becomes unsafe. The public spaces become unsafe, and institutions fracture—not simply from a lack of tax revenue, but from a decay in the shared morality and civic duty required to maintain and protect them.

When thoroughfares, whether they be physical highways or public discourse become unreliable, inevitably society fractures into self-interests. People become isolationist or self-absorbed. Neighbor no longer looks out for their neighbor. The hearts of the people grow cold in an act of survival. People retreat to "winding paths" where accountability is low and the risk of exploitation is high. In these places lurks the worst type of people like murderers, thieves, rapists, etc.  Breaking down on the side of the road in a declining society isn't just a physical hazard; it leaves the vulnerable completely exposed to the lawlessness that fills a moral vacuum.

So how did Israel and how should America rectify the downward spiral? The secret of Deborah’s success in temporally slowing Israel’s descent is actually remarkably simple. Deborah was a mother in Israel in this song. She became a visible focal point of a nation and success. The past failures weren’t continually brought up to further damage national morale. The current victories were won and they were the one’s focused on. A nation is no more what it was in the past than a recovering drug addict is now. The recovering addict was formally a failure but now a success or at least trying to be. That is why what the educational systems, politicians and others are doing by focusing intently on our past national failures is so damaging to any forward progress for the well being of the United States. Yes, we’ve been less than a light on a hill. Conversely, constantly looking back will never allow us to look forward. A farmer plowing a field must look forward at a fixed point. If they look back, the rows become crooked and the harvest fails.

Luke 9:62 "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God"

In this instance it is by Deborah herself and her wise and statesmanlike measures, internal administration, and a strong central leadership, that brought the fruits of military success to people’s own front doors to instill confidence again. She fostered a national spirit, encouraged a respect for law, and rendered it as safe to dwell in the country as within the walled city. The continuous policy of Deborah achieved the reconstitution of the land and freed it from internal lawlessness. Our nation could benefit from more leadership and wisdom like this.