Why Deborah’s Different

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Some see her as an ancient Israelite Joan of Arc, a devout maid who led her people to victory against a hated national foe.¹ Others picture her as the prototype of the modern militant feminist, who challenged the forces of an oppressive patriarchy as she delivered Israel from the Canaanites.² Most readers simply admire Deborah as the only woman in the series of local chieftains—usually translated “judges” (in Hebrew, sûoµpeátiÆm)—who protected Israel during the turbulent days before the establishment of the Israelite monarchy.

But is this how the biblical author saw Deborah?

When we try to put aside our modern biases and read Deborah’s story afresh, we find that the image of Deborah in the mind of the ancient authors was very different.³ She functioned primarily as Yahweh’s representative.

Deborah first appeared on the scene in chapter 4 of the Book of Judges. Having recently entered the land of Canaan, the Israelites struggled to maintain their hold on the central highlands. The Canaanites, led by King Jabin of Hazor, proved to be a stubborn foe with superior military technology, including iron chariots. Facing constant harassment from the Canaanites, the Israelites cried out to Yahweh their God to rescue them from this enemy (Judges 4:3).

Enter Deborah.

While Deborah was “holding court” under a palm tree in the territory of Ephraim, Yahweh commanded her to engage Barak, a military leader from the northern tribe of Naphtali, and to have him marshal 10,000 troops and challenge the Canaanites to a battle. Deborah approached Barak with Yahweh’s directive: “The Lord the God of Israel commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of 036Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops. I will give him into your hand’” (Judges 4:6–7). Once Deborah reassured Barak that she would accompany him, Barak agreed, and his army attacked the Canaanites in the Jezreel Valley. Their victory was total: “All of the army of Sisera fell by the sword” (Judges 4:16). Sisera alone remained alive, having fled on foot. The only remaining issue was whether Barak would succeed in capturing the Canaanite general. In a surprising twist, it was not Barak but Jael (pronounced Ya-el), the wife of one of Jabin’s allies, who slew Sisera.

The question is: What role did Deborah play in this story? In what way did she help bring about the success of the Israelites?

The Bible never identifies Deborah as a warrior or deliverer (savior); rather, it calls her a “prophetess” (neábiÆ’aÆ) and describes her as “judging” Israel. Nevertheless, Deborah is generally grouped with those deliverers of Israel—Othniel, Ehud, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson and the other heroes of Judges—who won great military victories over the enemy. This conclusion is not surprising, for the Bible first names Deborah at precisely the point in the narrative where a careful reader would expect a military deliverer to be named.

The Book of Judges records the appearance of a series of deliverers. Beginning with Othniel in Judges 3, each judge is introduced with the same formulaic sequence:

1. an announcement of the Israelites’ wrongdoing (for example, the story of the first judge, Othniel, begins: “The Israelites did evil in the sight of Yahweh,” Judges 3:7);

2. a statement of Yahweh’s response (“Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of [the enemy] King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim,” Judges 3:8);

3. a notice of how long Israel was subservient to the enemy (“and the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim eight years,” Judges 3:8);

4. a reference to Israel’s “crying out” (saµ‘aq) to Yahweh (“The Israelites cried out to Yahweh,” Judges 3:9);

5. an announcement of Yahweh’s “raising up” (heµqiÆm) a deliverer (moÆsûiÆa‘) (“Yahweh raised up a deliverer for the Israelites, who delivered them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother,” Judges 3:9);

6. a description of the way deliverance was achieved (“[Othniel] went out to war, and Yahweh gave King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram into his hand,” Judges 3:10);

7. and, finally, a concluding note on how long the peace lasted (“So the land had rest forty years,” Judges 3:11).

The account of Deborah in Judges 4 follows the paradigm established by the sketchy story of Othniel, with one significant exception. Deborah’s story reads:

1. “The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, after Ehud died.”

2. “So Yahweh sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim.”

3. “[King Jabin] had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.”

4. “Then the Israelites cried out to Yahweh for help.”

At that time Deborah, a prophetess and wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She would sit under a palm tree, known as the palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment.

5. [missing]

6. “She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, ‘Yahweh, the God of Israel, commands you, Go, take position at Mount Tabor…’ So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand warriors.”

7. “And the land had rest forty years.”

Remarkably, Deborah’s story lacks a formal announcement of the raising up of a deliverer (point 5, above). In its place, Deborah is mentioned for the first time.

On the surface, Deborah appears to have acted like a deliverer. She accompanied Barak when he marshaled his troops (Judges 4:10); she apparently marched out onto the battlefield with them (Judges 4:10b, 14); and, like the deliverer Ehud in Judges 3, she announced in advance that Yahweh had delivered the enemy into Israel’s hands. Deborah cried: “Up, for this is the day in which Yahweh has given Sisera into your hands” (Judges 4:14), which resembles Ehud’s call: “Follow 038after me, for Yahweh has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands” (Judges 3:28). The verbal echo invites the reader to look upon Deborah as a female version of Ehud.

Deborah’s own actions seem to point to a role as deliverer. In response to Barak’s hesitation, she suggested: “I will go with you, but the honor that comes from the adventure on which we are embarking shall not be yours; for Yahweh will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman” (Judges 4:9). Did Deborah anticipate that she would come home with the glory of victory? The author encourages us to think so, since Deborah is the only female character mentioned in the narrative so far. (Only later do we meet Jael, who will kill Sisera.)

Furthermore, Deborah is explicitly described as “judging” Israel (Judges 4:5). By referring to Deborah as one rendering judgment (sûoµpeátaÆ), the author invites the reader to see her as one in the series of “judges” whose role the author explicitly describes in 3:16: “Then Yahweh raised up judges (sûoµpeátiÆm), who delivered (hoÆsûiÆa‘) them from the hands of those who plundered them” (Judges 2:16; compare v. 18).⁴

Embedded in the account of the conquest of Jabin is a long, obscure poem known as the Song of Deborah (Judges 5:2–31), identified by some scholars as one of the oldest parts of the Bible, dating to about the 12th century B.C.^a Here, too, Deborah seems to be presented as a deliverer. According to the poem, Deborah’s 039appearance in Israel coincided with the return of security in the countryside (Judges 5:6–8). Although the verses that follow are extremely difficult to interpret, they create the impression that Deborah was involved in marshaling the troops:

In the days of Jael, caravans ceased
and travelers kept to the byways.
The peasantry prospered in Israel,
they grew fat on plunder,
because you arose, Deborah,
arose as a mother in Israel.
When new gods were chosen,
then war was in the gates.

Was shield or spear to be seen
among forty thousand in Israel?
My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel
who offered themselves willingly among
the people.

Judges 5:6–9 (NRSV)

When named alongside Barak later in the poem, Deborah is given priority, and she is explicitly associated with the troops (Judges 5:15), apparently supporting the view that credit for the victory was primarily hers.

At first, the evidence from both the poem and the prose account of Israel’s triumph seems convincing: The biblical author saw Deborah as a deliverer. But upon closer reading, the presentation of Deborah as a savior of her people is more apparent than real. Our first clue is that unlike the other judges, Deborah is never explicitly referred to as a “savior” (moÆsûiÆa‘) (compare the descriptions of the other judges in Judges 2:16, 3:9, 15); nor does the text ever state that she “saved” (hoÆsûiÆa‘) the Israelites “from the hand (mikkap/miyyad) of their enemies” (compare Judges 2:16, 6:14, 8:22, 12:2, 13:5) or that she brought salvation to them (compare Judges 15:18). Indeed, the verb ysû‘, “to save,” is never applied to Deborah.

A closer reading of Judges 4 raises several additional questions about Deborah’s role as compared with those who are explicitly identified as deliverers:

Why did Deborah need Barak to accomplish the deliverance? None of the other judges shared their leadership.

Why does Barak’s name appear in later lists of deliverers, but never Deborah’s (1 Samuel 12:9–11; Hebrews 11:32)?

Why did Deborah announce to Barak, “This is the day in which Yahweh has given Sisera into your hands,” rather than “my hands” (Judges 4:14)?

Furthermore, why did Deborah say “Yahweh will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman,” instead of “into my hands”?

Why does the author observe that “she went up with Barak” (Judges 4:10), but avoid placing Deborah at the head of the troops?

Why is Deborah entirely absent from the description of the actual battle (Judges 4:15–17)?

Why does the poet use the title “mother in Israel,” rather than “savior of Israel” (Judges 5:7)?

Why does the narrator fail to introduce Deborah as one raised up (qûm) by Yahweh (compare Judges 2:18,040 3:9–15), and why does the poet avoid the root quÆm, “to rise,” which is used to describe the arrival of the other judges, when he speaks of Deborah’s rise to power (Judges 5:7)?

Why is there no reference to Deborah’s inspiration and empowerment by Yahweh’s spirit (ruÆah. yhwh), as witnessed in the life of Othniel (Judges 3:10), Gideon (Judges 6:34), Jephthah (Judges 11:29) and Samson (Judges 14:19, 15:14)?

Something more separates Deborah from the rest of the deliverer judges: her character. Not only was she the sole woman in this man’s world, with the exception of Othniel she was also the only “judge” with a stainless personal reputation. Far from being solutions to the spiritual decay and moral Canaanization of Israelite thought and ethic, the other judges tended to contribute to the problem. Admittedly, the narrative says nothing negative about the first judge, Othniel, but the description is cursory and paradigmatic. The second judge, Ehud, is also not criticized overtly, but his brutal and treacherous tactics leave the reader wondering whether he is truly a hero or a villain. After Deborah, the quality of the individuals called upon to deliver Israel deteriorated, especially that of Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. These were not noble men; they were not heroes; they were antiheroes.⁵

Deborah was different. She alone was in the service of Yahweh before her battle against the Canaanites. She alone is cast in an unequivocally positive light.

Could it be that, by inviting the reader to consider Deborah among the savior judges, the narrator has led us up the proverbial garden path? This woman may appear on the surface to be a deliverer—but is this a longstanding misreading?

If Deborah was not a deliverer, what was her role?

The straightforward assertion that “Deborah was judging (sûoµpeátaÆ) Israel” (Judges 4:4–5) might lead us to believe that her primary role was judicial. But the traditional interpretation of sûoµpeátaÆ (from the Hebrew root sûpt.) is probably not correct in this context.

In the Bible, sûpt. often bears the general meaning “govern.”^b (This reading is found in a number of texts outside of Judges, such as 2 Kings 15:5; Isaiah 40:23; Amos 2:3; Psalms 2:10, 94:2, 148:11, as well as in the use of the cognates in Ugaritic and Akkadian.)⁶ In each case, the context determines the meaning of the term. In the case of Deborah, the context offers nothing to 049suggest that Deborah is holding court under the palm tree: She is never portrayed as presiding over a case or settling a specific dispute among the citizens of Israel.⁷ The verb sûoµpeátaÆ suggests she was indeed rendering official decisions, but it would be surprising if the author showed any interest in the settlement of a petty civil dispute at this point in the narrative.

What kind of decisions did the Israelites expect from Deborah? The traditional reading of Judges 4:5 suggests that the Israelites came to her for judgment. But it is doubtful that the term used here, lammisûpaµt. (also from the root sûpt.), denotes a legal decision. The verse identifies those who come to Deborah for “judgment” as beáneÆ yisŒraµ’eµl (literally, “sons of Israel”), a reference to the nation as a whole.⁸ Yet the ancient scribes responsible for transmitting the vowels in the Hebrew text rendered the passage as lammisûpaµt., “for the judgment,” which suggests that a particular issue is at stake, not a series of cases or a routine fulfillment of professional duties. The context makes it clear what that issue is: the oppression of Israel at the hands of Jabin and the Canaanites.

In the Bible, the noun misûpaµt., “judgment,” is often used in conjunction with the verb saµ‘aq, “to cry out”—especially in life-threatening situations.⁹ In the Book of Job (19:7), Job calls out to God:

Look! I cry out (saµ‘aq)
…“Violence!”
But I am not answered (‘aµnaÆ).
I shout aloud,
But there is no response (judgment)
(’eÆn misûpaµt.).

In Judges, such cries for deliverance are always directed by the sons of Israel to Yahweh, never to a human authority (Judges 3:9, 15, 4:3, 6:6, 10:10). (In the story of Jephthah [Judges 10:14], God acknowledged that human beings must only address their appeals to divinities. When the errant “sons of Israel” cried out to God, he retorted sarcastically, “Go and cry out [saµ‘aq] to the gods whom you have chosen! Let them save 050[hoûsûiÆa‘] you from your distress!”) Accordingly, in Judges 4, when the Israelites “cried out” about the cruel oppression of the Canaanites and sought out Deborah for her “judgment,” they were asking her not to solve their legal disputes, but to give them the divine answer to their cries. She functioned as a representative of Yahweh. She was a prophetess.

Of course, that is the very first thing the author of Judges tells us about Deborah: “Deborah, a prophetess (neábiÆ’aÆ), wife of Lappidoth, was rendering decisions for Israel” (Judges 4:4). The role of a prophet in Israel is clearly defined in the Bible (see, for example, Exodus 4:15–16 and 7:1–2, in which Aaron is named the spokesperson and “prophet” of Moses). A prophet spoke to the people on behalf of the deity. By applying the term to Deborah, the author places her in the succession of Moses (see Deuteronomy 18:15–22). Incidentally, she is not the only woman to bear this title: Miriam (Exodus 15:20), the unnamed wife of Isaiah (Isaiah 8:3), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14) and Anna (Luke 2:36) are all called prophets.

It was Deborah’s prophetic status and not her judicial office that drew the Israelites to her at her palm tree between Ramah and Bethel. They came to her to “cry out” to Yahweh and to hear “the judgment,” that is, Yahweh’s answer to the national crisis created by the Canaanite oppression.

This oracular use of the term “judgment” (misûpaµt.) is firmly attested elsewhere in the Old Testament. The best-known example involves the Urim and Thummim, the stone (or stones) carried in a special pocket of the high priest’s garment called the hoµsûen hammisûpaµt., “the pouch of the judgment” (Exodus 28:30). In Numbers 27:21, Joshua turns to the Urim and Thummim to find out how to conduct affairs of state after he takes over from Moses. As the late Hebrew Bible scholar Umberto Cassuto concluded, these special stones “served as a means of inquiring of God, that is to say, of obtaining from the Deity, with the help of the priest, an answer concerning matters beyond human ken.”¹⁰

On several occasions in the Book of Judges, the Israelites make inquiry before Yahweh (sûaÆ’al bayhwh) concerning how best to conduct their affairs. In Judges 1:1, the issue is leadership in the battle against the Canaanites and the conquest of tribal territory; in chapter 20, “the sons of Israel” went up three times to Bethel, in the region of Ephraim, to have Phinehas the priest inquire of God how they should conduct war against the Benjaminites (Judges 20:18, 23, 27).¹¹ In Judges 4, instead of going to the priest, the sons of Israel went up to Deborah in the hill country of Ephraim, as if they were ascending to the high place to inquire of the deity. Stationed beneath her palm tree just outside Bethel, Deborah presented an alternative to the priesthood in town.

That the Israelites came to her for an oracular judgment instead of the local priest may reflect the failure of the established priestly institution in maintaining contact with God, a spiritual tragedy that is given explicit expression in the early chapters of 1 Samuel. The narrator observes in 1 Samuel 3:1 that “a word from Yahweh was rare in those days; visions were infrequent.” In fact, when Yahweh finally spoke, he deliberately bypassed the priest, who did not recognize the voice of God (1 Samuel 3:4–18). The Israelites learned that if they desired a determination from Yahweh, they should go to the prophet Samuel, not the priest Eli (1 Samuel 3:19–21). The account of Deborah in Judges 4 suggests that the demise of the priesthood and their impotence in receiving communication from God antedated the ministry of Samuel. The people went to Deborah because she represented their only hope of receiving a response from Yahweh. Through her Yahweh permitted himself to be inquired of, even during the dark days of the judges.

Now that we have identified Deborah as a prophet, let us examine more closely how she filled this role. The story of Deborah is included in an account that scholars identify as a “call narrative” (or, in this case, a “protested call narrative”).¹² A similar pattern is seen in Judges 5, in which God calls the reluctant deliverer Gideon. But in our story it is Deborah, as Yahweh’s representative, who does the calling. Call narratives typically begin with a personal encounter between the person called (in this case, Barak) and Yahweh or his messenger (here, Deborah).¹³ Though no details of this initial meeting are given, it is hardly accidental that Deborah enters the picture at precisely the same point as did the angel of Yahweh in the account of Gideon (Judges 6:11).

Next, the person called is assigned a specific task. Deborah first charged Barak to deploy 10,000 troops; then she promised Barak Yahweh’s personal involvement in the upcoming battle (Judges 4:6b–7). Although the account makes no reference to Deborah receiving any orders from Yahweh, the form of her commissioning speech to Barak reflects a clear awareness of her prophetic status. What Deborah said, as an authorized representative of Yahweh, was by definition what Yahweh said. She even gave God’s message in the first person: “I [referring to Yahweh] will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops. I will give him [Sisera] into your hand” (Judges 4:7).

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In a protested call narrative, the person called next expresses resistance. Moses, with his complaints of ineloquence and slowness of tongue in Exodus 4:10, is the archetype of one who resists the call of God. In Judges, Gideon responded to God’s summons to deliver the nation from the Midianites with apologies regarding his insignificance in Israel (Judges 6:15) and with repeated demands for signs showing that Yahweh actually meant what he said. Barak’s protestation to Deborah was less overt, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go” (Judges 4:8). On the surface, Barak’s reluctance makes him appear cowardly, as if he won’t enter the fray unless Deborah holds his hand. But his objection may actually reflect his recognition of Deborah’s status. When Barak begged her to accompany him, he was in effect pleading for the presence of Yahweh.

Finally, the person called is reassured by promises of the presence of Yahweh and/or authenticating signs. Both elements are found here. First, Deborah promised the hesitant Barak, “I will surely go with you.” It is no coincidence that this reassuring word appears at the same point where other call narratives promise God’s presence (see Exodus 3:12; Judges 6:16; 1 Samuel 10:7; Jeremiah 1:8). Deborah functioned as the alter ego of Yahweh. Second, Deborah offered Barak an authenticating, if deflating, sign of God’s presence. Yahweh would deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman, she predicted. Barak could count on this as confirmation of Yahweh’s involvement in the event.

Barak marched off to battle, with Deborah, the symbol of Yahweh’s presence, at his side. The call and commission have been completed. It is evident from the account of the ensuing battle that in the mind of the narrator Deborah played no real military role. First, the author notes that it was Barak’s arrival on Mt. Tabor that caused Sisera to marshal his forces against Israel. Sisera seemed unaware of Deborah’s presence. Second, he reports that Barak was the one who came down the mountain with 10,000 troops following him. Deborah is out of the picture. Third, he describes the ensuing battle as involving the forces of Barak and the armies of Sisera. There is no reference to any military activity on Deborah’s part.

But does this mean that Deborah was not involved? On the contrary, according to Judges 4:14: At the critical moment, speaking for God, she gave the signal to attack and declared that Yahweh had delivered Sisera’s troops into his hands. After all, she informed Barak, Yahweh had gone out to the battlefield before them.

Deborah’s exclusively prophetic role in the narrative was never compromised. 052Throughout, she functioned solely as a spokeswoman and representative of Yahweh. She communicated the commands of the divine warrior Yahweh to Barak—but nothing more.

In the end, Israel was saved. But to whom does the credit belong? Who rescued the nation? Was it Deborah? Barak? Jael? If the reader’s interest remains on the human level, he or she will walk away from this drama puzzled. But the author wishes the reader to know that this story is not simply a performance being acted out on a stage by characters who have the freedom to write their own script and determine their own moves. The answer to our question becomes clear only when attention is directed away from the human participants in this drama to the real hero, Yahweh. The epilogic comment says it all: “So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel” (Judges 4:23). It is the saving activity of Yahweh, the divine warrior, that the Song of Deborah celebrates in chapter 5.

In fact, this theological dimension has shaped the account from the beginning. The crisis came about because the Israelites violated the will of God (Judges 4:1). Yahweh expressed his displeasure by introducing the Canaanites as agents of punishment. When the people cried out, God answered by raising up Barak. However, unlike earlier episodes, no formal statement to this effect is made. Instead the narrator has opened a window into God’s mysterious workings in calling a deliverer.

The silence of the priesthood in the Book of Judges is deafening. But the narrator informs us that the spiritual decline of the people and the priesthood did not mean that Yahweh had abandoned his people totally. He still had his representative. She sat, not at Bethel or at Shiloh, where the ark was, but outside the town, receiving the pleas of the Israelites on Yahweh’s behalf. Deborah’s commissioning of Barak represented the divine misûpaµt. In fact, as his representative she went the second mile. She accompanied Barak into battle, as a recognized spokesperson for the commander in chief, as his prophet.

That was her role, no more and no less. To borrow from the first-century A.D. author Pseudo-Philo: In Deborah the grace of God was awakened; through her the works of the Lord were praised.¹⁴