Deborah to the Rescue—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 25A/Proper 28A (Judges 4)

Judges 4:1-7 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

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 prophet, 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, ‘Position yourself at Mount Tabor, taking 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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In the years following the death of Joshua, the successor to Moses, the one whom God called to liberate Israel from slavery in Egypt, and before the rise of the monarchy, there were a number of leaders who took up the responsibility of guiding and protecting the twelve tribes of Israel. We read about these folks in the Book of Judges. There we read about Gideon and Samson and a woman named Deborah. While the Book of Joshua described the conquest of Canaan, the Book of Judges reminds us that the conquest was not complete. Therefore, they existed within a rather pluralistic context in which they compromised their covenant relationship with God, and this led them to do what is evil in the sight of God. David Beldman, in his commentary on the book of Judges, writes that this book of the Bible is “about God’s covenant people whose witness and way of being in the world had been deeply compromised by the religion and culture of the surrounding nations. A seemingly insignificant nation among the powerful empires around them, they could have experienced and influenced widespread and profound blessing in allegiance to Yahweh and his kingdom, but instead divided their allegiance, which only brought violence, misery, and chaos” [Beldman, Judges, pp. 1-2]. Instead of fulfilling the covenant God made first with Abraham, then Moses, and finally Joshua, they gave in to idolatry and the accompanying violence that went with this idolatry.

The book of Judges, which is the second book of what scholars call the Deuteronomistic History (following Joshua) is rather violent. It’s filled with stories that should turn our stomachs. Lisa Davison reminds us that “Judges reflects a time in Israel’s story when life was extremely precarious, when violence was the preferred way to settle disputes, when wars were waged in the name of God, and human lives were traded for protection and political power. Unfortunately, things are not that different today” [Davison, “Judges,” Preacher’s Bible Handbook, p. 49]. Thus, even though preachers may follow the lectionary’s lead and steer clear of the book, perhaps the kind of stories present in this book make it all the more relevant. As Belden notes, the book deals with “murder, warfare, state, and economic terrorism, sexual exploitation, nepotism, perversion of justice, authoritarianism, populism, tribalism, revolution—one might see this list and suppose that it was drawn from today’s newspaper headlines and social media newsfeeds,” yet these are the kind of stories we find in the book of Judges. [Judges, p. 1]. In fact, we are seeing the fruit of what happens when Christianity merges with a self-serving, idolatrous culture, given over to populism that has led some sectors of the Christian community to embrace purveyors of authoritarian governance. We call this Dominionism or Christian nationalism.

Something needs to be said here about the title of the book before we get to the central character in the story, which would be Deborah. When we hear the word judge we think in terms of a legal figure who passes judgment on criminal or civil cases. That’s not the case here. While there may be some judicial responsibilities involved, the Hebrew word shopheṭ more specifically speaks of governance. So, we’re really speaking here of charismatic leaders who emerge from time to time to lead Israel when the nation is experiencing a crisis. The story of Deborah and her governing partner Barak is one of six main narratives within the book. Of course, the ultimate judge or leader is Yahweh. As for readings from Judges, this is the only one for this cycle. There is another reading for Epiphany in Year C from Judges 6, that focuses on the call of Gideon.

Deborah is the only female Judge in the Old Testament, which is perhaps why we have this opportunity. The focus is on the call of Deborah and her role in providing judgment for the people who came to her for help. Again, we need to set aside the typical modern legal system. It also includes a word about how she would participate in rescuing Israel by delivering Sisera, a Canaanite general into the hands of Barak.   

To reorient ourselves, when the prophet Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was sitting under a palm tree in place between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, dealing with the issues brought to her by people (serving as a judge), Israel was experiencing a time of trial, where the Canaanites were oppressing them. When the people cried out to Yahweh for relief from Sisera’s oppression, the job of rescuing them fell to Deborah, though she wasn’t a warrior (she was a prophet after all). The reason for their oppression was that they had done what was evil in God’s sight. Therefore, God left them to their own devices. The Book of Judges suggests that God took a more active role in inflicting pain on the people but ultimately, they suffered the consequences of their decisions.

The pattern we see here is one of the people doing evil, they cry out for help, and God steps in to restore Israel by calling forth a savior figure. Often, it’s a military type of leader such as Gideon or Samson. This time it is a female prophet. Though Israel might wander away from God’s covenant, God remained faithful, even if God might discipline them but God didn’t abandon them. In this case, the deliverer or savior is the prophetess Deborah, the first such prophetess since Moses’ sister, Miriam, helped guide Israel. She was highly regarded by the people. After all, people came to her from all over even though she lived in the hill country of Ephraim and held court under a palm tree. If we continue into chapter 5, which records the “Song of Deborah,” we learn that when Deborah rose to power, she “arose as a mother in Israel” (Judges 5:7).  In other words, metaphorically, she was the mother of Israel.

As we ponder this story it’s good to remember that men tend to dominate the biblical story. They serve as political and religious leaders. This is, after all, a patriarchal society. So, when someone, like the current Speaker of the House, says they base their worldview on the Bible, we might want to raise some questions as to what that involves. After all, there are portions of the story that are less than savory. Some of the heroes of the Bible, people like Samson, are not all that righteous. That can’t be said about Deborah, who seems to be rather virtuous. In fact, she’s the only Judge in the Book of Judges not to be criticized. While men dominate, as John 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].

What is clear from reading the story of Deborah is that she was a fiery woman who served as a recognized leader of the people of Israel. So, when Jabin, the King of Hazor, and his general Sisera, were oppressing Israel, God spoke to the people through Deborah. It is through Deborah, the prophet, that God called Barak from Kedesh in the region of Naphtali, to gather an army of ten thousand soldiers from among the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun so they could respond to this threat from the Canaanites. God tells Barak through Deborah to gather the troops on Mount Tabor. When they have gathered there, God will deliver Sisera and his army into Barak’s hands. Victory is assured because God is with them. That’s where our lectionary reading ends. Just the promise of deliverance that comes to Barak through Deborah. But there is much more to the story, which gets rather violent.

What we don’t hear in our reading is how the battle went or how Sisera died at the hands of another woman named Jael. We also don’t hear that Barak doesn’t want to go into battle without Deborah at his side. She’ll agree to go with him, but she tells him that the glory of victory won’t go to him. Rather it will go to a woman (that woman would be Jael who kills Sisera by driving a tent peg into his temple after supposedly welcoming him into her home). Again, the story of Sisera’s demise is rather bloody, which might be why the lectionary doesn’t include this part of the story. We may want to leave such things unspoken, but that might be a mistake. Perhaps we need to deal with unsettling passages. Yes, it’s good to remember that Deborah was a woman leader in Israel, but shouldn’t we get the entire story?  

A major reason why we remember Deborah today is that she stands out as a woman leader in a patriarchal age. Thus, Deborah, like Miriam, serves as an important witness to God’s wisdom and serves as an exemplar for women who seek to find their own stories present in Scripture. These two women do serve as examples of women who break through institutional limitations and use their gifts in service to their communities. Although Jael’s role is very different from that of Deborah, she too demonstrates ways in which “biblical” women can transcend stereotypes. 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].  

While we should celebrate the role that Deborah plays in the early years of Israel’s presence in the Promised Land, we need to remember why we see so few readings from Judges. It’s largely due to the violence present in the book. There’s also the problem of failed genocide here. The problems faced by Israel, according to Judges, is rooted in the failure of Joshua to eradicate the original inhabitants who now serve as a temptation to walk away from Yahweh, whom we learned in Joshua is a jealous God (Joshua 24:19). These two books, Joshua and Judges, have been used in service to colonial expansion and conquest. So, we need to make note of this, lest we simply turn these into hero stories that justify our embrace of superheroes (and I like superhero movies).

So, recognizing the problem of the violence and colonialism present in this book, we can celebrate the leadership role Deborah played in her context. In an age when women were neither seen nor heard, she was a profound leader of her people. Such was the case of Deborah, who heard the call and did not let her culturally defined status hinder her work in the service of God. The lectionary doesn’t include in our reading the Song of Deborah (Judges 5), which is believed by many scholars to be one of the oldest pieces of Hebrew poetry in the Bible. Not only does this song celebrate Deborah, but also Jael and her execution of Sisera, leading to forty years of peace in the land. With that in mind, I’ll include the rather bloody celebration of Jael’s role in defending Israel in its time of crisis, a time when Deborah was the leader of the people.

²⁴Most blessed of women be Jael,
    the wife of Heber the Kenite,
    of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
²⁵ Water he asked, milk she gave;
    she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.
²⁶ She put her hand to the tent peg
    and her right hand to the workers’ mallet;
she struck Sisera a blow;
    she crushed his head;
    she shattered and pierced his temple.
²⁷ Between her feet he sank, he fell,
    he lay still;
between her feet he sank, he fell;
    where he sank, there he fell dead.  (Judges 5:24-27)

After recounting the thoughts of Sisera’s mother who is waiting for her son to return victorious, the song closes with these words of praise of God for bringing victory over Israel’s enemies.

So perish all your enemies, O Lord!
    But may your friends be like the sun as it rises in its might.”  (Judges 5:31).

                Biblical stories that feature women are few, and yet when we find them, we need to highlight them. In this case, we remember not only Deborah the prophet but Jael, the accidental warrior. At the same time, we need to be careful not to embrace the violence, even if we have a sense of understanding of why violence is part of the story. What we can celebrate is the courage and wisdom of Deborah and Jael.

Tissot, James, 1836-1902. Deborah Beneath the Palm Tree, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55998 [retrieved November 10, 2023]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tissot_Deborah_Beneath_the_Palm_Tree.jpg.