Deborah

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Infobox person Template:Sidebar According to the Book of Judges, Deborah (Template:Langx, 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.<ref name=":0">Van Wijk-Bos, Johanna WH. The End of the Beginning: Joshua and Judges. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2019.</ref> Alternatively, "lappid"<ref name=":0" /> translates as "torch" or "lightning", therefore the phrase, "woman of Lappidoth" could be referencing Deborah as a "fiery woman."<ref>García Bachmann, Mercedes L., Ahida E. Pilarski, and Barbara E. Reid. "Judges." Wisdom commentary, Liturgical Press, 2018.</ref> Deborah told Barak, an Israelite general<ref name=":0" /> 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,<ref name=Coogan2006p216>Template:Cite book</ref> and is perhaps the earliest sample of Hebrew poetry.<ref>Template:Cite EB1911</ref>

Bible narrativeEdit

Template:Multiple image In the Book of Judges, it is stated that Deborah was a prophetess, a judge of Israel and the wife of Lapidoth.<ref>Template:Bible verse</ref><ref name= je>"Deborah", Jewish Encyclopedia.</ref> She rendered her judgments beneath a date palm tree between Ramah in Benjamin and Bethel in the land of Ephraim.<ref>Template:Bible verse</ref>

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.<ref name=je/>

Then Deborah said, according to Template:Bibleverse:

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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.<ref name=je/>

The Biblical account of Deborah ends with the statement that after the battle, there was peace in the land for 40 years (Template:Bibleverse).

The Song of DeborahEdit

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File:053.Deborah Praises Jael.jpg

Deborah portrayed in Gustave Doré's illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours (1865)

The Song of Deborah is found in Judges 5:2–31 and is a victory hymn, sung by Deborah and Barak, about the defeat of Canaanite adversaries by some of the tribes of Israel. The song itself differs slightly from the events described in Judges 4. The song mentions 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).<ref>Nelson, Richard (2006). "Judges". The HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed. Eds. Attridge, Harold & Wayne Meeks. New York: HarperCollins, p. 353.</ref> The song also rebukes three other tribes (Reuben, Dan, and Asher) for their lack of patriotism,<ref name=JE1912>Template:Cite book</ref> 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".<ref name=Coogan2006p217>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref name=Niditch2011>Template:Cite book</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> but the date of its composition is controversial. Many scholars claim a date as early as the 12th century BCE,<ref name=Coogan2006p216/> 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.<ref name= "Frolov">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Traditional chronologyEdit

Traditional Jewish chronology places Deborah's 40 years of judging Israel (Template:Bibleverse) from 1107 BC until her death in 1067 BC.<ref>Jewish History: Deborah the Prophetess, Chabad.</ref> The Dictionary of World Biography: The Ancient World claims that she might have lived in the period between 1200 BC to 1124 BC.<ref name="bio dictionary">Template:Cite book</ref> 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<ref name= "Albright">Template:Cite journal</ref> or the second half of the 11th century BC.<ref name= "Mayes">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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, believes the story is really about the Sea Peoples.<ref>Niesiolowski-Spano, Ł., & Kantor, M. (2015). Goliath's legacy: Philistines and Hebrews in biblical times (Philippika). Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN: 978-3447103466.</ref> One archaeological stratum of Hazor dating from around 1200 BCE shows signs of catastrophic fire.<ref>https://embassies.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/history/Pages/Hatzor%20-%20The%20Head%20of%20all%20those%20Kingdoms.aspx Template:Bare URL inline</ref>

Some scholars like Israel Finkelstein, who associated first monarchy of Israel with Gibeon-Gibeah polity of the early to mid 10th century BC,<ref>Finkelstein, Israel (2020). "Saul and Highlands of Benjamin Update: The Role of Jerusalem". In Joachim J. Krause; Omer Sergi; Kristin Weingart (eds.). Saul, Benjamin, and the Emergence of Monarchy in Israel: Biblical and Archaeological Perspectives. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-88414-451-9.</ref><ref>Finkelstein, Israel (2019). "First Israel, Core Israel, United (Northern) Israel". Near Eastern Archaeology. American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR). 82 (1): 12. doi:10.1086/703321. S2CID 167052643. Retrieved 22 March 2020.</ref> 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.<ref>Albright Live (2021). Episode Twenty-one: Heroic Stories in the Book of Judges, 12:25–19:45. </ref> However, this is not a mainstream idea.