Home About Us Our Publications Email Us:
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
(Romans
8:2)
Deborah
– Prophetess – Wikipedia
Deborah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Deborah
Other names Debora,
Débora, Dvora, Debra
Occupations Prophetess
of God, Fourth Judge of Israel
Predecessor Shamgar
Successor Gideon
Spouse Lapidoth
(possibly)
Judges in the Hebrew Bible
שופטים
Book of Exodus
Moses
Book of Joshua
Joshua
Book of Judges
Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair,
JephthahIbzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson
First Book of Samuel
Eli, Samuel, Joel, Abijah
Judges are often
defined simply as military, political, and spiritual leaders of the tribes of
Israel in times of crisis, in the period before the monarchy was established. Moses
and Joshua qualify under this definition, but are not in power in the Book of
Judges, nor are they explicitly described as judges.
According to the Book of Judges, Deborah (Hebrew: דְּבוֹרָה,
Dəḇōrā) was a prophetess of Judaism, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic
Israel and the only female judge mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Many scholars
contend that the phrase, "a woman of Lappidoth", as translated from
biblical Hebrew in Judges 4:4 denotes her marital status as the wife of
Lapidoth.[1] Alternatively, "lappid"[1] translates as
"torch" or "lightning", therefore the phrase, "woman
of Lappidoth" could be referencing Deborah as a "fiery
woman".[2] Deborah told Barak, an Israelite general[1] from Kedesh in
Naphtali, that God commanded him to lead an attack against the forces of Jabin
king of Canaan and his military commander Sisera (Judges 4:6–7); the entire
narrative is recounted in chapter 4.
Judges 5 gives the same story in poetic form. This passage,
often called The Song of Deborah, may date to as early as the twelfth century
BCE.[3] It and the Song of the Sea from Exodus are sometimes cited as the
earliest sample of Hebrew poetry.[4]
Bible narrative
In the Book of Judges, it is stated that Deborah was a
prophetess, a judge of Israel and the wife of Lapidoth.[5][6] She rendered her
judgments beneath a date palm tree between Ramah in Benjamin and Bethel in the
land of Ephraim.[7]
The people of Israel had been oppressed by Jabin, the king
of Canaan, whose capital was Hazor, for twenty years. Stirred by the wretched
condition of Israel she sends a message to Barak, the son of Abinoam, at Kedesh
in Naphtali, and tells him that the Lord God had commanded him to muster ten
thousand troops of Naphtali and Zebulun and concentrate them upon Mount Tabor,
the mountain at the northern angle of the great plain of Esdraelon. At the same
time she states that the Lord God of Israel will draw Sisera, commander of
Jabin's army, to the Kishon River. Barak declines to go without the prophet.
Deborah consents, but declares that the glory of the victory will therefore
belong to a woman. As soon as the news of the rebellion reaches Sisera, he
collects nine hundred chariots of iron and a host of people.[6]
Then Deborah said, according to Judges 4:14:
"Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into
your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?" So Barak went down Mount
Tabor, with ten thousand men following him.
As Deborah prophesied, a battle is fought (led by Barak),
and Sisera is completely defeated. He escapes on foot while his army is pursued
as far as Harosheth Haggoyim and destroyed. Sisera comes to the tent of Jael
and lies down to rest. He asks for a drink, she gives him milk and he falls
asleep. While he is asleep she hammers a tent-pin through his temple.[6]
The Biblical account of Deborah ends with the statement
that after the battle, there was peace in the land for 40 years (Judges 5:31).
The Song of Deborah
See also: Judges 5
The Song of Deborah is found in Judges 5 and is a victory
hymn, sung by Deborah and Barak. It describes the defeat of Canaanite
adversaries by some of the tribes of Israel. The song itself differs slightly
from the events described in Judges 4, mentioning six participating tribes:
Ephraim, Benjamin, Machir—a group associated with the Tribe of
Manasseh—Zebulun, Issachar and Naphtali, as opposed to the two tribes in Judges
4:6 (Naphtali and Zebulun) and does not mention the role of Jabin (king of
Hazor).[8] The song also rebukes three other tribes (Reuben, Dan, and Asher)
for their lack of patriotism,[9] not mentioning the tribes of Gad, Simeon and
Judah. Michael Coogan writes that for the redactors of the Song of Deborah,
that the Canaanite general Sisera ends up being murdered by a woman (Jael)—the
ultimate degradation—"is a further sign that Yahweh ultimately is
responsible for the victory".[10]
Though the presence of victory hymns is conventional in the
Hebrew Bible, the Song of Deborah is unusual in that it is a hymn that
celebrates a military victory of two women: Deborah, the prophetess and Jael,
the warrior.[11] Jael—the heroine of the Song of Deborah—shares parallels with
the main character of the Book of Judith, who uses her beauty and charm to kill
an Assyrian general who has besieged her city, Bethulia.
The Song of Deborah is commonly identified as among the
oldest texts of the Bible,[12] but the date of its composition is
controversial. Many scholars claim a date as early as the 12th century BCE,[3]
while others claim it to be as late as the 3rd century BCE. Some hold that the
song was written no earlier than the 7th century BCE.[13]
Traditional chronology
The Seder Olam Rabbah places Deborah's 40 years of judging
Israel (Judges 5:31) from 1107 BC until her death in 1067 BC.[14] The
Dictionary of World Biography: The Ancient World claims that she might have
lived in the period between 1200 BC and 1124 BC.[15] Based on archaeological
findings, different biblical scholars have argued that Deborah's war with
Sisera best fits the context of either the second half of the 12th century
BC[16] or the second half of the 11th century BC.[17] Sisera is a non-Semitic
name, and the story is set "in the days of Shamgar", a hero famous
for killing 600 Philistines. Many scholars, such as Łukasz
Niesiołowski-Spanò, believe that the story is really about the Sea
Peoples.[18] One archaeological stratum of Hazor dating from around 1200 BCE
shows signs of catastrophic fire.[19]
Some scholars like Israel Finkelstein, who associated first
monarchy of Israel with Gibeon-Gibeah polity of the early to mid 10th century
BC,[20][21] placed the background of the Song of Deborah in the early 10th
century BC associating with the Late Iron Age I (c. 1050–950 BCE) destruction
of Megiddo, which dates to c. 1000–985 BCE.[22]