When I’m not working, there’s nothing like lounging around in a comfy old T-shirt and tracky dacks.
My cotton T-shirts though, rarely make it out into the public. Frankly, they make me look like a homeless person, but they’re like a second skin, and oh so soft from years of spinning round in the washing machine.
My favorites are embarrassingly thin, stained, and faded. Some have letters peeling off and holes I fail to acknowledge unless the door bell rings. That’s when I run and hide in shame, or make a quick wardrobe change to answer the door.
When I’m out and about though, what gives me pause are the ironic T-shirts that other people wear. Their slogans are like mental chewing gum. It’s hard not to smile.
Irony presents itself in different guises.
Verbal irony is when someone says something, but it’s the opposite of what they actually mean. It’s often used to make people laugh.
For instance, you’re sitting in Mr Nightingale’s English class.
Mr Nightingale says, “Using double negatives in a sentence turns the thought or sentence into a positive one.”
He clears his throat and continues, “However, there are no double positives that make a negative statement.”
A student in the back replies, “Yeah, right.”
Sarcasm is a darker form of verbal irony. Sarcasm has attitude that’s targeted to inflict pain. It can sting and that’s why sarcastic people are so endearing.
Dramatic irony is the situation in which the audience knows more than the main character. Because the audience is in on ‘a secret’, the actions and the words of the characters take on a different meaning.
Playwrights and authors use dramatic irony to create suspense or even comic relief.
In Disney’s Frozen, we find Olaf the snowman longing to experience his first summer.
He naively sings about the virtues of summertime without realizing that exposure to heat would cause him to melt.
Situational Irony is when something happens that is deliberately contrary to what you were expecting. It’s the curveball or the shocking twist in a plot.
It’s when you open a pack of Cheese Twisties and find it’s stuffed with Doritos instead.
It’s when the ‘dead weight’ in your group project actually contributes intelligent ideas and does more than their fair share of the workload.
Interwoven within scripture are rich threads of irony.
Just take a look at Judges 4 and 5.
Yet again, we find the children of Israel are entrenched in wickedness and spiritual infidelity. The Lord unleashes a fresh dose of chastisement by casting them over to King Jabin, ruler of the Canaanites.
Sisera, commander of King Jabin’s army, oppresses the Israelites for twenty years. He is a man at ease with carrying out acts of cruelty and violence.
In desperation, the Israelites cry out to the Lord for help.
Their eyes watch expectantly for God to anoint a mighty man of valour to deliver their nation.
In steps a woman, a mother in Israel, a most unlikely candidate.
Deborah, wife of Lappidoth surprises them all by ripping through the goatskin tent ceiling. She not only assumes the role of judge, but also of prophet and military commander.
This is a radical departure from the traditional role of women, which centred on the continuance of Abraham’s line through childbearing.
She ascends to power because no representatives of the Y chromosome bother to take charge.
During the day, she judges matters and settles disputes at her court under a palm tree.
One morning, acting as a prophetess, she relays a message from God to Barak—military commander of the Israelites—to prepare an army of 10,000 men.
She intends to draw Sisera and his 900 chariots to the Kishon River and deliver him into Barak’s hands.
Barak agrees, but insists that Deborah go along with him. (Hmm. Sounds like he needs her to hold his hand.)
Unimpressed, Deborah retorts with this, ‘I will go with you, but there will be no glory in it for you. The Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman.’
Death at the hands of a woman is nothing but a disgrace. We are left thinking that Deborah herself will slay Sisera.
Word breaks out to Sisera that Barak and his troops are heading for Mount Tabor.
Sisera rallies his men and 900 iron chariots.
The Caananite army have a distinct advantage. On flat plains, chariots are fast and easy to steer. With sharp iron blades attached on their axles, they arouse terror upon any advancing foot soldiers.
Spikes also cover their horses hooves and bridles.
Yet, despite the menacing Caananite army, Deborah does not waver. She lures Sisera and his army to the flat plain near the Kishon River.
Then she orders Barak and the 10,000 Israelite soldiers, to what appears to be a foolish frontal attack, down the mountain against the well-armed and technologically advanced Canaanites.
Another twist of fate.
God sends a heavy downpour and the shallow river begins to swell. The plain turns into a quagmire. The seemingly invincible chariots become death traps as they sink into the mud.
The might of God’s balled fist comes down. He fights for Israel. Sisera’s army is flattened.
A woeful figure from the Caananites emerges, covered head to foot in blood and mud. Sisera alone survives.
In his panic stricken mind, the name of Heber the Kennite floats to the surface. Though Heber has family ties to the Israelites, he is allied to King Jabin. Any friend of the Caananites is a friend of Sisera’s, so he flees on foot to Heber’s campsite.
There the clang of metal striking metal pounds in his ears. Heber’s tribe are skilled tinsmiths, busy with forging weapons and supplying them to his very own army.
In the distance he sees a woman standing by a tent, beckoning with her arms to draw near. What a brazen woman. Where was her husband?
Sisera wipes the mud from his crusted over eyes.
It is Heber’s wife, Jael. She invites Sisera into her own tent; offering him refuge from the Israelites. With haste, she covers him over with a blanket.
In severe thirst, Sisera asks for a drink of water. He doesn’t care that he’s being rude, and brusquely orders Jael to act as his guard.
Water is scarce, so Jael gives him milk from a lambskin bottle. Exhausted, he falls into a deep sleep. Jael looks on at the man responsible for inflicting so much brutality to her own people.
Quietly, she takes a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other. Their weights in her hands so familiar after years of being responsible for setting up and pulling down the tents.
She tiptoes around Sisera, hovering directly above his head. She feels a pounding in her chest.
It is a drum beating louder and louder, faster and faster, spurring her on.
With thundering blows and expert precision, Jael hammers the iron peg through his temples.
****
The man that believed he could destroy Israel with his army of iron chariots is himself destroyed with a single iron nail. . . by the hand of a woman.
As you have read, this biblical account is forged in irony.
God uses not one, but two remarkable women to accomplish His plans. Deborah and Jael completely overturn the male dominated arenas of battle, religion and politics.
With God, always expect the unexpected.
Bibliography
Author unspecified. ‘Houses, tents, housing in ancient Bible times’, Women in the Bible. Retrieved 5 May 2021 from:
Author unspecified. ‘Daybreak: Judges’, Apostolic Faith. Retrieved 5 May 2021 from:
http://apostolicfaith.org/library-articles/judges-04
Author unspecified. ‘What is Irony?’, Master Class. Retrieved 5 May 2021 from:
Author unspecified. ‘Ironic Jokes’, Upjoke. Retrieved 5 May 2021 from:
https://upjoke.com/ironic-jokes
Henry, M. 1961, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Zondervan, Michigan.
Oxford English Dictionary online. Retrieved 5 May from:
https://www.lexico.com/definition/irony
Pfeiffer C,F. 1990, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Moody Publishers, Illinois.
The Quest Study Bible, 1994, Zondervan Publishing House, Michigan.
Walton, J. 2000, The IVP Bible Background Commentary Old Testament, IVP Academic, Illinois.
Hey Miss,
Another great message! It always great to to think about the irony in life, and even how it is shown in the Bible. How ironic is it that God uses someone that eveyone else would think is useless t defeat a whole aremy and win a war. It’s so great to see that God uses the worst of us to do something good!
– Dim
Amen, Dim. Keep studying the word.
Excellent, I liked the explanation on why a woman was used, as no man stood up.