Editing Deborah (section)

==Bible narrative==
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 | image1 = Tissot Deborah Beneath the Palm Tree.jpg
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 | caption1 = ''Deborah Beneath the Palm Tree'' (c. 1896–1902), [[James Tissot]]
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 | caption2 = Grave near [[Kedesh]] attributed to [[Barak]] or Deborah}}
In the [[Book of Judges]], it is stated that Deborah was a [[Prophets in Judaism|prophetess]], a [[Hebrew Bible judges|judge of Israel]] and the wife of Lapidoth.<ref>{{bible verse ||Judges|4:4|NIV}}</ref><ref name= je>[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5027-deborah "Deborah"], ''Jewish Encyclopedia''.</ref> She rendered her judgments beneath a [[date palm]] tree between [[Ramah in Benjamin]] and [[Bethel]] in the land of [[Tribe of Ephraim|Ephraim]].<ref>{{bible verse||Judges|4:5|NIV}}</ref>

The [[Israelites|people of Israel]] had been oppressed by [[Jabin]], the king of [[Canaan]], whose capital was [[Tel Hazor|Hazor]], for twenty years. Stirred by the wretched condition of Israel she sends a message to [[Barak]], the son of Abinoam, at [[Kedesh]] in [[Tribe of Naphtali|Naphtali]], and tells him that the Lord God had commanded him to muster ten thousand troops of Naphtali and [[Tribe of Zebulun|Zebulun]] and concentrate them upon [[Mount Tabor]], the mountain at the northern angle of the great plain of [[Jezreel Valley|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 {{bibleverse||Judges|4:14|NIV}}:

 {{quote|"Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?" So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him.}}

As Deborah prophesied, [[Battle of Mount Tabor (biblical)|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 ({{bibleverse||Judges|5:31|NIV}}).

===The Song of Deborah===
{{See also|Judges 5}}
[[File:053.Deborah Praises Jael.jpg|thumb|Deborah portrayed in [[Gustave Doré's illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours|Gustave Doré's illustrations for ''La Grande Bible de Tours'']] (1865)]]
The Song of Deborah is found in [http://studylight.org/desk/?l=en&query=Judges+5%3A2-31&section=0&translation=nrs&oq=&sr=1 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: [[Tribe of Ephraim|Ephraim]], [[Tribe of Benjamin|Benjamin]], [[Machir (biblical region)|Machir]]—a group associated with the [[Tribe of Manasseh]]—[[Tribe of Zebulun|Zebulun]], [[Tribe of Issachar|Issachar]] and [[Tribe of Naphtali|Naphtali]], as opposed to the two tribes in [http://studylight.org/desk/?l=en&query=Judges+4%3A6&section=0&translation=nrs&oq=Judges%25204%3A2&new=1&nb=jud&ng=4&ncc=4 Judges 4:6] (Naphtali and Zebulun) and does not mention the role of [[Jabin]] (king of [[Tel Hazor|Hazor]]).<ref>[[Richard D. Nelson|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 ([[Tribe of Reuben|Reuben]], [[Tribe of Dan|Dan]], and [[Tribe of Asher|Asher]]) for their lack of patriotism,<ref name=JE1912>{{cite book|editor-last=Singer|editor-first=Isidore|editor-link=Isidore Singer|title=[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]|edition=3|volume=4|chapter=Deborah, The Song of|pages=490|publisher=Funk & Wagnalls|location=New York|year=1912|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/the-jewish-encyclopedia-vol.-4/page/490/mode/1up}}</ref> not mentioning the tribes of Gad, Simeon and Judah. [[Michael Coogan]] writes that for [[Deuteronomist#Deuteronomistic_history|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>{{cite book|last=Coogan|first=Michael David|author-link=Michael Coogan|title=A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in its Context|edition=|page=217|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, England|year=2006|isbn=978-0195139112|url=https://archive.org/details/oldtestamenthist0000coog/page/217/mode/1up}}</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>{{cite book|last=Niditch|first=Susan|series=The Old Testament Library|title=Judges: a commentary|chapter=Tales of Deborah and Jael, Warrior Women|pages=59–67|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|location=Louisville, Kentucky|year=2011|isbn=978-1611644937|oclc=|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=46Z1BwAAQBAJ}}</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 [[Holofernes|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>{{Cite book |title=How Old Is the Hebrew Bible?: A Linguistic, Textual, and Historical Study |last=Hendel |first=Ronald |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-300-23488-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efR0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA104 |last2=Joosten |first2=Jan |page=104 |quote=The archaic nature of the Song of Deborah is granted by most scholars. [...] The consilience of linguistic and historical data indicate that this is a very early text, composed in the premonarchical or early monarchical period. It belongs to the oldest age of biblical literature.}}</ref> but [[Dating the Bible|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">{{cite journal |last1=Frolov |first1=S. |title= How Old is the Song of Deborah? |doi=10.1177/0309089211423720 |journal=Journal for the Study of the Old Testament |volume=36 |issue= 2 |pages=163–84 |year= 2011 |s2cid=170121702 |quote='To be sure, the consensus outlined here is by no means perfect; several publications that appeared in the 1980s and 1990s diverge from it, sometimes in a major way. In particular, [[Alberto Soggin]], Ulrike Schorn, and [[Barnabas Lindars]] see the Song, or at least the bulk thereof, as a product of the early monarchy; Ulrike Bechmann and Manfred Görg place it in the late pre-exilic period; Michael Waltisberg advocates early post-exilic provenance (fifth to third centuries BC); and B.-J. Diebner shifts the composition's date to the turn of the era.' (p. 165); 'With the text’s internal parameters and the external conditions of its existence considered systematically, what we know as Judg. 5.2–31a presents itself as an integral part of the Deuteronomistic oeuvre and should be dated, accordingly, between c. 700 and c. 450 BCE.' (p. 183)}}</ref>