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DEBORAH

(Heb. dĕḇôrâ)

1. One of the most notable women in the OT. Deborah (“honeybee”) figures prominently in Judg. 4 and 5, which recount a decisive battle between the Canaanites, under the command of Jabin and his general Sisera, and an Israelite tribal militia force. This episode, set in the period of the judges, is one of a series of deliverer stories that constitute the central section of the book of Judges. Judg. 4 is a narrative account, usually dated to the late monarchic period. A poetic and probably much earlier version, perhaps dating to the late 12th century b.c.e., appears in Judg. 5 and is known as the Song of Deborah (although the superscription in 5:1 attributes it to both Deborah and her general Barak). Its archaic language of divine triumph over Israel’s enemies represents the only extended poetic account accompanying the prose description of an episode in Judges.

Deborah is identified in Judg. 4:4 by two terms: “a prophet” (NRSV “prophetess”), lit., “a woman (Heb. ʿiššâ), a prophet”; and as one who was “judging Israel” at the time of a 20-year period of oppression by the heavily armed Canaanites. Between these two terms is another identifier, the phrase ʾēšeṯ lappîḏôṯ, typically translated “wife of Lappidoth (Torches).” However, it could equally mean “fiery (or spirited) woman” (lit., “woman of torches”) because Lappidoth, elsewhere unknown in the Bible, is unlikely to be a man’s name and because the noun ʿēšeṯ (construct of ʿiššâ) can mean “woman of” as well as “wife of.” The need to have a woman identified in relation to a man, rather than the acknowledgement that a woman’s identity could in some instances stand alone, apparently influenced virtually all modern and ancient translations. Yet the several roles Deborah plays as an autonomous woman in national life would warrant her name appearing with the epithet “fiery woman” and without reference to a man. Because of the overlap between territory and kinship groups in ancient Israel, her family identity is supplied by the information in Judg. 4:5 about her geographical locale — that she comes from a place “between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim” — rather than by the name of a male relative.

Deborah plays a number of vital leadership roles. As a judge, she is involved in military activity as are those other judges whom the Lord raised up “to deliver Israel.” But also, uniquely among the judges, Deborah renders “judgment,” or legal decisions, as she sits “under the palm of Deborah.” In addition, she is the only figure in Judges who is called a prophet. That designation may be related to the song attributed to her in ch. 5, for poetic outbursts recounting Yahweh’s saving (or punitive) powers are frequently related to the activity of prophets, who mediate God’s word to the people. Deborah also bears the title “mother in Israel” (Judg. 5:7), perhaps because she gives wise counsel to those who seek her help (cf. 2 Sam. 20:19). More likely, “mother” is the honorific title for a female authority figure or protector in a family or the larger community, just as “father” is for a male authority (cf. 1 Sam. 24:11; Isa. 12:21).

Deborah is consulted by the Israelites, who are greatly concerned about the Canaanite threat. She summons her general Barak, who musters troops from two tribes (Judg. 4:6) or perhaps six (5:14-15). Yet, because of the superior numbers and resources of the enemy coalition, Barak is reluctant to go out to battle unless Deborah will also go. In agreeing to do so, she taunts him, saying that the victory will not be his but rather will belong to a woman. The woman is not Deborah but rather the Kenite Jael, who entices Sisera into her tent and kills him with a tent peg (Judg. 4:17-22; 5:24-27), thus assuring Israelite victory.

Both the compelling irony of the prose account, which begins and ends with the decisions and deeds of women, and the vivid passion of the poetic version, which concludes with two striking women’s scenes, testify to victory against great odds in a decisive battle. Indeed, the Song of Deborah can be identified as a “victory song,” a genre of stirring poetic outbursts acknowledging the miraculous intervention of Yahweh to save the people, who otherwise seem doomed. In ancient Israel, female composers and performers typically sang such songs (cf. Exod. 15:20-21, the song of the “prophet Miriam,” and the account in 1 Sam. 18:6-7 of women performers heralding David’s victory over the superior military power of the Philistines). Besides belonging to a genre attributed to women authors, the Song of Deborah exhibits thematic aspects, such as gender cooperation and solidarity, that characterize female texts.

The prominence of Deborah as a woman in the largely male world of military and political leadership is often viewed as unusual and remarkable. However, unless forbidden by custom or law (as for monarchs and priests), women could and did act in various public roles in Israelite society. Because they had shorter life spans than men, and because their adulthood was usually taken up with procreation, perhaps few did. And because the male biblical canon-makers typically exhibit androcentric bias, the deeds of even fewer are remembered. Yet periods such as that of the judges, with decentralized ad hoc leadership patterns, typically provide greater possibilities for the talents of women to emerge. Deborah, still visible to us millennia later, may represent many other such “mothers” in early Israel.

Bibliography. M. Bal, Gender, Genre, and Scholarship on Sisera’s Death (Bloomington, Ind., 1988); M. D. Coogan, “A Structural and Literary Analysis of the Song of Deborah,” CBQ 40 (1978): 143-66; F. van Dijk-Hemmes, “Mothers and a Mediator in the Song of Deborah,” in A Feminist Companion to Judges (Sheffield, 1993), 110-14; D. N. Fewell and D. M. Gunn, “Controlling Perspectives: Women, Men, and the Authority of Violence in Judges 4 & 5,” JAAR 58 (1990): 389-411; J. Hackett, “In the Days of Jael: Reclaiming the History of Women in Ancient Israel,” in Immaculate and Powerful: The Female in Sacred Image and Social Reality, ed. C. W. Atkinson, C. H. Buchanan, and M. L. Miles (Boston, 1985), 15-38.

2. Rebekah’s nurse, who like the judge Deborah is associated with a tree (Gen. 35:8).

3. The grandmother of Tobit (Tob. 1:8).

Carol Meyers

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DEBORAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)