Women with a Story to Tell: Deborah.

 You know the story of the children of Israel; God broke them out of captivity in Egypt through the work of Moses. There was the wilderness journey and then the conquest of the Promised Land. A wonderful heart-warming story…well, almost. 

 There were a few stumbling blocks along the way, if you take a closer look. The idolatry of the golden calf, the grumbling over lack of food and water, and outright rebellion by some factions. God had his hands full, if he has hands, and if they get full from time to time. Probably not.

By the use of the word “conquest” we are led to believe that the Israelites took the land from the Canaanites in one miraculous victory after another. Visions of Joshua leading the 12 tribes to claim their allotted territories. Well, almost. 

 After the initial victories, Joshua and the priest Eleazar were old, and they died. As the book of Judges begins, the job was only half-done. The book begins with Judah and Reuben defeating some Canaanite petty kingdoms, then the text itself admits that, “the LORD was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain, because they had chariots of iron” (Judges 1:19). 

 The Iron Age in the Ancient Near East ran from about 1200 to 600 BC, so the mention of chariots with at least the axle and wheel bearings made of iron, is a significant marker. The Merneptah Stele which was erected around 1208 BC is the first written record of a people called Israel being in Canaan. (See footnotes in Craig Keener and John Walton, The NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, 2019, page 409). 

 The failure to drive all the Canaanites out does not bode well for the tribes of Israel. What follows in the book of Judges is a sad story with a few highlights. 

 First, note that the phrase, “they did not drive out...” occurs repeatedly in just the first chapter (Judges 1:21,27,29,30,31, and 33).

 Second, another common theme in the book is “Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and worshiped the Baals.” In Chapter 2 alone, this observation is repeated four times. So, reading the book of Judges is like riding downhill on a toboggan with one thrilling jump after another followed by a hard landing. Whoever was serving as judge would call up the troops of nearby tribes and lead them into battle. God would be one their side, and so they would have a period of peace without oppression. But then they would fall into sin again. 

 Since judges became war leaders, it may come as a surprise that the fourth judge called by God was a woman. Her name was Deborah. Her story is in Judges 4 and 5). She is identified as a ‘prophetess’, that is a nabiah, feminine of the word nabi which is widely used among Semitic speakers to identify a ‘prophet’ or ‘one who is stirred in spirit’. The same word is used in Arabic (another Semitic language) to identify one who is chosen by God to announce his message, like Mohammed. In the Bible, there are four other female prophets: Miriam, Moses’ sister (Exodus 15: 20), Huldah (II Kings 22: 14), Noadiah (Nehemiah 6: 14), and the unnamed wife of Isaiah (Isaiah 8: 3). 

 Deborah is identified as the wife of Lappidoth. We know nothing more about him. It appears that Deborah was already acting as an informal ‘judge’ of Israel. She was accustomed to sitting under her palm tree and giving God’s counsel on questions that the Israelites brought to her. She lived in the north between the towns of Ramah and Bethel (note, towns with these names also existed in the south). 

The problem again was that “the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD.” God backed off just enough that a king named Jabin who ruled the Canaanites around Hazor extended his rule over parts of Naphtali and Zebulun. 

 God directed Deborah to summon Barak who lived a bit further north in Kadesh. All these places are west and northwest of the Sea of Galilee. As was her practice, she spoke God’s commanding words to him. 

 She told Barak to raise 10,000 soldiers of the home guard and position them on Mt. Tabor. However, Barak seemed reluctant. He said, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 

 Deborah replied that, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.”  

 When Jabin’s general Sisera showed up to meet the challenge, Deborah gave the war cry: “Up! For this is the day on which the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. The LORD is indeed going out before you.” Stirred by Deborah and following God’s lead, Barak and his soldiers gained victory. However, general Sisera jumped down from his chariot and escaped. 

 We do not speak of Barak as a judge because he wasn’t. He was the military leader, but Deborah was the judge. She illustrates for us what a woman dedicated to God and faithfully proclaiming God’s word is able to accomplish in society. 

 Is she the woman who gets the glory for the victory? Maybe. We’ll see next week.