Judge Deborah - A Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 24A (Judges 4)
Judges 4:1-7 New
Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
4 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. 2 So the Lord 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 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.
4 At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. 6 She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “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. 7 I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’”
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Judge
Deborah is not Judge Judy. She’s not a reality TV star. Judge Deborah is a
prophet of God. She was counted among those who rose to leadership in Israel
during the period between the death of Joshua and the rise of the monarchy. When
Joshua died, he didn’t leave a designated heir. There was no Joshua to Moses,
no specific leader to whom the tribes of Israel looked to for leadership. While
we might be led to believe that the conquest of Canaan was completed under
Joshua’s leadership, this wasn’t completely true. Israel lived in pockets in
the land, but they shared it, and this was not always to Israel’s benefit. Thus,
conflict was continuous. When the people cried out for relief, leaders would
arise from within the community to lead the people to victory.
According
to the Book of Judges, Israel’s big problem was that it continually “did evil
in the sight of the Lord,” and therefore suffered divine rejection (at least
for a time). When Israel would return to Yahweh, Yahweh would take steps to
restore Israel by calling forth a savior figure. It might be a military leader
like Gideon or Samson, but at least on one occasion, it was a woman prophet. As we attend to this story, it is appropriate that we read it in light of the overarching message of God's commitment to God's covenant with Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. God might discipline the people of Israel, so as to keep them on the path forward, but God will not abandon them.
Deborah was respected as a prophet by
her people, the first prophetess since Miriam, the sister of Moses. John
Goldingay notes that the name Deborah means Bee in Hebrew. The name of her
husband is “Torches.” Goldingay points out that the name itself is rather odd,
and her husband doesn’t figure at all in the story. This leads him to suggest
that the message here is that Deborah is a “fiery woman.” Deborah is a woman of
power, respected by the people who came to seek out her guidance, as she sat
under a palm tree near her home in the hill country of Ephraim. She lived in
the middle of nowhere, and yet people streamed to gain her wisdom.
We are used to men standing at the
center of the biblical story. They are the leaders both political and
religious. This is, after all, a patriarchal society. Yet, as Goldingay points out: “Whereas institutional
ministry in the Old Testament (notably that of the priests) belongs to men,
when God wants to break into the regular institutional arrangement, prophecy is
one way God does so, and women are sometimes the people God then speaks
through.” [Joshua, Judges & Ruth for Everyone,
p. 100-101]. When I read of a person like Deborah, who shatters norms
because of her gender, I can’t help but think of a person like Aimee Semple
McPherson. I might not share her politics or her theology, but in an age when women
were largely kept in the kitchen or the children’s Sunday School rooms in mainline
Protestant churches, she was standing tall as a preacher, church planter,
founder of a denomination, an early adopter of radio, and more.
Deborah, the fiery woman, was a
recognized leader in Israel. In a time of trouble, when Jabin the King of Hazor, and his general Sisera were oppressing Israel, God spoke through Deborah,
calling forth a response. Through her prophetic auspices, God called on
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| Aimee Semple McPherson |
We remember Deborah today in large
part because she stands out among her peers. In a patriarchal age, when women
were not generally allowed out in public, figures like Deborah and Miriam were
important witnesses to God’s wisdom. They are exemplars for women, who find in
their stories permission to break through institutional limitations and
express their gifts and calling. The stories of here of Deborah and Jael in
Judges 4—despite the violence that is present in the story—invite us to move
beyond stereotypical roles for women. Susan Bond writes that in this passage “God
is not sexist about fully invested female leadership. God is no ‘respecter of
persons.’” Then she writes that “in a time when the church still struggles with
women in leadership roles, a sermon about Deborah could be crafted to promote
the divine mandate for equality without regard to gender and without reducing
women to their sexuality or reproductive states” [Preaching God’s Transforming Justice, p. 487].
The story of Deborah is a call for
the church to break out of stereotypes, and to recognize the gifts of all
members of the community. I know that my denomination heard that message loud
and clear in 2005 when the Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins was elected as General
Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the first
woman to lead a mainline Protestant denomination. Of course, it took
eighty-five years for a mainline church to follow in the footsteps of a Pentecostal
evangelist, who heard the call and would not be deterred. Such was the case of
Deborah, who heard the call and did not her culturally-defined status hinder
her work in the service of God. Yes, Judge Deborah was not Judge Judy. She was
not a Reality TV star. She was a powerful woman, who led Israel in a moment of
crisis, and beyond. Let us give thanks to God for women like Deborah and Miriam and Aimee Semple McPherson and Sharon Watkins.
Picture attribution: Unidentified. Deborah with weapons and palm tree, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56001 [retrieved November 14, 2017]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cathedral_Basilica_of_Saint_Clement,_Tenancingo,_Mexico_State,_Mexico04.jpg.
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