04.02. Who Was Deborah
2.1 Deborah’s identity as a person:
Concerning Deborah’s person Judges 4:4-5 tells us that "Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment."
- A WOMAN
Although it is not evident in our translation, the Hebrew text makes a point of stating that Deborah was a woman. In the original text, verse 4 reads, "Now Deborah, a woman, a prophetess." The Lord makes specific mention of her gender. The reference to her being a woman is also meant to convey, according to the Hebrew rules of grammar, that she was "a certain woman".[1] The author of Judges 4:1-24, then, did not see Deborah as standing head and shoulders above the other women of her day, as if she were an obvious leader. She is portrayed as a normal, average woman in Israel.
- A PROPHETESS She is further described as a prophetess. In the Bible we read of more women who were prophetesses:
Miriam: In Exodus 15:20-21 we read of Miriam prophesying before the Lord and before Israel after the people had crossed through the Red Sea. "Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them: "Sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!"
Huldah: In 2 Kings 22:14 we read, "So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum ... And they spoke with her."
Isaiah’s wife: In Isaiah 8:3 Isaiah’s wife is described as a prophetess: "Then I (i.e. Isaiah) went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son."
Anna: Of her we read in Luke 2:36, "Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher."
So we have five women in the Scriptures who are known as prophetesses.
We need to note that the Old Testament does not tell us of an official function of the prophet in the divinely appointed worship service. A prophet is simply someone whom God was pleased to use in order to make known His will to the people in a given situation. Deborah was a prophetess, but no where do we read that she was ordained to an office in any way. This differs from Elisha and Jeremiah, for example. The Lord called those two men to the office of prophet. (See 1 Kings 19:19 ff; Jeremiah 1:4 ff).
What we also need to bear in mind is that although Deborah is a prophetess, no where do we read that Deborah went to the people with a word from God; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and all the other prophets did. Said they, "Thus says the LORD ..." and then spoke their prophecy. We do not read that concerning Deborah at all. She did not go to the people with a word from God, but the people came to her. "And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment" (Judges 4:5 b [Judges 4:5]). She sat under the palm tree. Exactly the same thing happens with Huldah; she did not go to anyone with a prophecy but instead, we read that "Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess" (2 Kings 22:14).
- THE WIFE OF LAPIDOTH
We read further in Judges 4:1-24 that Deborah was the wife of Lapidoth. It’s intriguing to note that she is known by her husband’s name! She is not known independently of her husband, even though she had a special place in Israel. That raises the question: why?! Why is she mentioned here by her husband’s name, the wife of Lapidoth? This is a question that needs to be answered later on.[2]
- A JUDGE
Deborah is called here a judge. It is this term that gives Deborah her profile in the book of Judges. Deborah is one of a series of twelve judges. Of the twelve judges, six are major judges (including Deborah), and six are minor judges, of whom we have very little detail. For the purposes of this paper, we shall focus on the six major judges and do some comparisons between them.
- Deborah was an unlikely choice for a judge
It turns out that the six major judges (i.e. Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson) are all unlikely and unexpected choices for a judge.[3]
Othniel: "... the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother" (Judges 3:9). Bible history teaches us that the younger brother had the less privileged position and had the least chance of making a stamp on society.
Ehud: "... the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man" (Judges 3:15). Ehud, in the accepted way of things, had a disadvantage in that he was left-handed (which in the course of events God turned to an advantage).
Deborah: From Judges 4:4 we learn that she is a woman. That makes her an unlikely choice for a judge.
Gideon: When the Lord told Gideon that he had to go and save the people, Gideon replied, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house" (Judges 6:15). Gideon: an unlikely choice for a judge.
Jephthah: Although described in Judges 11:1 as "a mighty man of valour", he was also "the son of a prostitute." That made him an unlikely candidate. Even his brothers rejected him, Judges 11:2.
Samson: From Judges 13:7 we learn that he was a Nazirite, which meant that he had to be different from the other young men of his day (cf Numbers 6:1-21). Samson was a social ’odd-ball’: he wasn’t allowed to cut his hair, was not allowed to touch anything dead, and had to abstain from all alcohol.
Altogether, the picture arises that the major judges were rather unlikely choices for being judges, and this was true of Deborah too. God chose what is weak, what is base, what is despised in the eye of the world to shame the mighty and the boastful (see 1 Corinthians 1:26 ff).
- Deborah was not raised up by the Lord to be a judge A second point concerning Deborah being a judge is that we do not read in Scripture that she was raised up by the Lord to be a judge.[4] That was the case though for the other (major) judges.
Othniel: "When the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them: Othniel ..." (Judges 3:9).
Ehud: "And when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud ..." (Judges 3:15).
Gideon: "Then the Lord turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand to the Midianites. Have I not sent you?" (Judges 6:14).
Jephthah: "Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah ..." (Judges 11:29).
Samson: "And the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him ..." (Judges 13:25). "And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him ..." (Judges 14:6). Already before Samson’s birth the Angel of the LORD told his parents that their son would deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines; Samson was an instrument of God.
However, we do not read any such qualification for Deborah; she was different! What we do read of Deborah is Judges 5:7, "until I, Deborah, arose, ... a mother in Israel." Notice the different emphasis between Deborah and the other five major judges. Certainly, the Lord God was behind Deborah’s rise as judge; all things are in God’s hand. But Deborah is the only major judge of whom it is not stated in so many words that God laid the office upon her. One wonders why. What makes the difference?
- Deborah was not a judge with a military function A third point in relation to Deborah’s office as judge is that she, unlike all the other judges in the book of Judges, did not have a military function.[5] Of the five other major judges for example, we read in Scripture of their military feats:
Otniel: "... He went out to war, ... and his hand prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim ..." (Judges 3:27).
Ehud: "... he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and he led them up ..." (Judges 3:27-30).
Gideon: "So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands…" (Judges 7:19 ff).
Jephthah: "So Jephthah advanced towards the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hands" (Judges 11:32).
Samson: "... he went down to Ashekelon and killed thirty of their men ..." (Judges 14:19 Judges 14:19); "... So he attacked (the Philistines) hip and thigh with a great slaughter ... He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it ..." (Judges 15:8, Judges 15:15); "Then Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he killed in his life." (Judges 16:30).
But no similar statement is recorded concerning Deborah. Instead, we read concerning her in Judges 4:6 that "she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, "Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, ’Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun." Deborah was not a military leader but she seconded military responsibility to another, to a man. Again, one wonders why?
- WOULD SIT UNDER THE PALM TREE In Judges 4:5 we are told that "she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim." Why are we told that Deborah sat under the palm tree? In order to appreciate this one needs to turn to Deuteronomy 16:18. There it is written, "You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment." Here is an instruction of the Lord to the people of Israel, that once they come into the Promised Land they were to make it their business to appoint judges. These judges were to function "in all your gates", these gates being a reference to the town gates. Judges did not have a national or a trans-tribal authority but rather, according to Deuteronomy 16:1-22, the ordinance of God was that the judges in Israel were to have local authority. A judge had a place in a particular town (or tribe), and it was in that town that the people of the community had to come to the judge in the event that they had a dispute. No one in Israel was to be without recourse to judgment and hence they were to expect and receive from the judge in their own town a "just judgment."
Deborah, however, was not sitting in the gates of her city but in the field somewhere, "under the palm tree of Deborah betweeen Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim." She didn’t sit in her city, did not even sit in a city. Although it cannot be said with certainty, Deborah probably came from the tribe of Issachar (see Judges 5:15). In any case, Deborah knew the people of Issachar and they knew her. However, she removed herself far from those whom she knew, and found a place "under the palm tree … in the mountains of Ephraim" (Judges 4:5). Hence she wasn’t even close to home. Deborah gave judgment, not in her own place, but out in the open. She gave judgment, not to the locals of her town, but to all and sundry! That is what we read in Judges 4:5 b : "And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment." Deborah’s position was not restricted to just her own local people but her position was national, trans-tribal. Again, one wonders why. Given the instruction of Deuteronomy 16:1-22, why did she function as she did?
2.2 Deborah’s relation to Barak:
All indications are that Deborah did not try to upstage Barak. On the contrary, she very deliberately attempted to place herself in the shadow of a man. Consider the following:
though she could conceivably have whipped up the troops behind her in order to attack the enemy, she did not do so. Rather, "she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali" (Judges 4:6) and asked him to take the initiative in fighting the enemy.
she accompanied Barak in his campaign not because she wanted the honour, but only because Barak was scared. "And Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go" (Judges 4:8). He was afraid, and so she went along in order to temper his fear.
Judges 5:1-31 records a song. Though we tend to refer to it as "the Song of Deborah", it is in fact not the song of Deborah alone. Judges 5:1 we read that "Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying: ..."
2.3 Deborah’s relation to Jael: When it comes to the defeat of the enemy, it was not Deborah who defeated the enemy, but another woman, Jael (Judges 4:17-22). Of Jael it was sung, "Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed is she among women in tents" (Judges 5:24). In the face of attempts to present Deborah as a feminist model, it is important to note that she did not pursue the glory that comes with defeating the enemy. The Lord tells us that this honour went to another, not to Deborah.
Conclusion: To sum it up so far, we do wrong on the basis of Judges 4:1-24; Judges 5:1-31 to envisage Deborah as some sort of a feminist. That is a misreading of the Scripture. In His Word the Lord does not present Deborah as an "emancipated woman", a feminist who placed herself on centre stage, a woman striving to stand tall to exercise her rights to lead. What we do read here is of a woman who gave leadership without placing herself on centre stage. Deborah distinctly did not draw attention to herself. This conclusion comes into sharper focus when we turn our attention now to Deborah’s context.
2.4 The context in which Deborah lived:
Time and again in the book of Judges we read the phrase "the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord" (Judges 2:11). This is mentioned in relation to each of the major judges:
Othniel: "So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs" (Judges 3:7).
Ehud: "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Judges 3:12).
Deborah: "When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Judges 4:1).
Gideon: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Judges 6:1).
Jephthah: "Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the LORD and did not serve him" (Judges 10:6).
Samson: "Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years" (Judges 13:1).
It’s a refrain: "the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD." This refrain comes to its climax in the reformulation of the same thought in Judges 21:25, where is written the well known phrase, "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." That typifies also the days of Deborah: each did what was right in his own eyes.
It was, then, a time of radical deformation, a time of decay. The degree of degeneration characterising the time is possibly best illustrated by the material written in Judges 17:1-13; Judges 18:1-31; Judges 19:1-30; Judges 20:1-48; Judges 21:1-25, where we read of Micah’s idolatry and the brutal raping of the Levite’s concubine. It was a time where standards of behaviour and godliness in Israel were far removed from the norms God had established in His Word. In a word: it was an ab-norm-al time.
Specific to Deborah’s day: deformation and decay is pointed up by the fact that there were no leaders. Deborah had to call upon Barak to come and lead (Judges 4:6). Once he had been chased up, he was too scared to do anything (Judges 4:8).[6] Where was Barak’s backbone? Barak had none; he was not a leader. He didn’t know, at least it didn’t come out in his conduct, that he could lean on the Lord for strength and wisdom. Nor was Barak the only spineless man in Israel. We read in Judges 5:6-7, "In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted, and the travellers walked along the byways. Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel." Imagine for a moment that we couldn’t freely walk or drive down our main roads. Imagine if we, in order to do our business, had to sneak out at night and move cautiously from tree to tree lest we’d be fallen upon. We’d very quickly complain to the authorities in town that our streets aren’t safe. That is exactly what happened in the days of Judges 4:1-24. The streets were not safe. What does that says about leadership? This context of fear makes evident that there were no leaders able to lead the people against their oppressors. Recall in this context none of the major judges were likely persons to have been judges! That was the problem of the day: there were no leaders.
Why were there no leaders? Can we find an answer to that question? Yes, we can. For the Lord had promised to deal with Israel according to a pattern. In Deuteronomy 28:1-68 the Lord promised His blessings on obedience: "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth (Deuteronomy 28:1) ... And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only and not beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them" (Deuteronomy 28:13). Such security requires leadership, and this is what the Lord promised His people when there was obedience. Conversely, when there was no obedience: "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country (Deuteronomy 28:15) ... And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continuously, and no one shall save you" (Deuteronomy 28:29). Here is the fear of Judges 5:6-7, a condition the people could do nothing about because those who were to be leaders had no back-bone.[7]
Why weren’t the streets safe in the days of Deborah? Why didn’t anyone dare to assume leadership? It was because of a spiritual decay. The people of Israel did not live according to the Word of God. In Deuteronomy 16:18 the Lord had commanded to appoint judges in every town. But the people did not go the judges of their community because their men were not functioning as the leaders God wished them to be.[8] So they went to Deborah instead. A spiritual decay amongst the people of God produced a paralysis that drove the people to an unlikely person as judge.
Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, arose as prophetess in Israel in abnormal circumstances. In a time of spiritual decay, it pleased the Lord God to send a judge in the person of His choosing. The Lord showed mercy according to His Word in Deuteronomy 18:15, "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren." The person of His choosing was first of all that younger brother, then the left-handed man, then a woman, then the son of a harlot, then the least of all the tribes in Israel, etc. Specific to Judges 4:1-24, God calls upon a woman. Truly, God chose what is weak, what is base, what is despised in the eye of the world to shame the mighty and the boastful (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-31).
How does all this relate to what God had ordained in the beginning? What could Deborah and Israel have known from God’s revelation about how God wanted things to be in the relation between man and woman? Does Deborah’s express action of placing a man in center stage instead of herself reveal an insecure character or humble obedience to God’s instructions?
----- Footnotes -----
[1] Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, §131b makes this comment on this passage: "a certain (indefinite) woman (named) Deborah, who was also a prophetess [2] cf Point 4 below: Conclusion for Deborah’s day
[3] cf Lillian Klein, The Triumph of Irony in the Book of Judges (Decatur: The Almond Press, 1989), pg 41. See also A Janse, Eva’s Dochteren (Kampen: Kok, 1923), pg 93.
[4] Cf Thomas R Schreiner, "The Valuable Ministries of Women in the Context of Male Leadership: a Survey of Old and New Testament Examples and Teaching", in Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, editors: John Piper and Wayne Grudem (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1991), pg 216.
[5] Ibid, pg 216.
[6] Cf Holwerda, Richteren I (Kampen: vandenBerg, n.d.), pg 17: "Hij steunt niet simpel op de Here en heeft dus niet verstaan de les van cap. III, dat de Here ALLEEN het doet, en Hij daarom onnutte dienstknechten kiest. Daarom komt de eer dan ook toe aan een vrouw (iemand die tot de strijd niet geroepen en bekwaam is) als dienstmaagd des Heeren."
[7] See in this context also Isaiah 3:4; Isaiah 3:12.
[8] Holwerda, Exegese Oude Testament (Deuteronomium), (Kampen: van der Berg, n.d.) pg 424"…achter berichten also Richt IV 4v en I Sam VII 6vv ligt dus een ontsellende tragiek: de ambtsdragers spelen algemeen met hun ambt, en alleen de genade van Jahwe die charismatici verwekt behoedt het volk voor totale instorting van het rechtsleven."