Deborah — Kicking Ass and Taking Names

From my new book, Thus Sayeth the Lord — we looked last week at Jonah. Now, let's take a look at how the ladies can crush it when it comes to the prophet business.

We're going to read about Deborah. She's going to change your mind about ancient Jews and gender roles.

DEBORAH

Kicking Ass and Taking Names

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

Judges 4:4

What to Read

• Judges 4–5

Deborah’s story is two short chapters that turn popular ideas about ancient Jews and gender roles upside down.

You know how you have bad habits, vow to reform, and then fall back into the same things over and over? Once Joshua (the leader after Moses) dies, that’s the Israelites’s main problem. With no single leader to keep them on the straight and narrow, the tribes fall into a recognizable cycle. They idolize pagan gods, and God lets them reap what they sow. Nearby nations invade, and God doesn’t stop them. Eventually, the Israelites get the point and repent, wailing for help. God raises a hero (a.k.a. judge) to restore his people.

Although every sin-oppression-repentance spiral is depressingly the same, the heroes God raises each time are startlingly different. Trust God to handle each problem with creative flair. And he’s willing to keep on doing it as long as they need. The Book of Judges is one long, action-packed look at God and his heroes.

Deborah is one of the lesser known judges and prophets, but her short story is one of the most unusual. Among other things, the only other person in the entire Bible to be both a judge and a prophet is Samuel, so she’s a rarely gifted individual.

Quick Take on Deborah

With Deborah, God is at his most surprising because, first of all, he gives the Jews an unconventional female leader. Not a man. Not someone like Miriam, who’s always mentioned alongside her brothers. Deborah’s a married woman, but her husband is just mentioned in passing. Her personal life isn’t the point here. She sits under her palm tree in the mountains, judging Israel and laying down some of the most immediately provable prophecies in the entire Bible.

For twenty years, Israel has been in the power of the Canaanites. Their general, Sisera, is oppressing the heck out of everyone with his nine hundred iron chariots, the newest thing in military tech.

Deborah summons Israel’s top general, Barak, giving him God’s command to take ten thousand men and march to the Kishon River, where Sisera will be delivered into his power. Barak says, “OK, but only if you come, too.” Without missing a beat, Deb replies, “No prob. But now a woman is going to kill their general. Coulda been your gig, but … there you go!”

With that intro, we all think it’s going to be Deborah dealing the final blow, but surprise! It’s a new player, Jael, with her handy tent peg and hammer!

It goes down like this: God sends rain, which floods right down the Kishon River and washes away those awesome chariots. All the Canaanites are slaughtered on the field of battle, except Sisera, who runs away on foot. Smart or coward? You decide.

He winds up at a tent where his ally’s wife, Jael, is home alone. She offers him a jug of milk, and when he’s off guard, she takes a tent peg and drives it through Sisera’s temple with a big mallet.

One translation says the peg went through his skull into the dirt beneath his head. That is graphic. And impressive. Barak shows up too late, but he can’t say God didn’t warn him. He leads the warriors, but the special glory goes to Deborah and Jael.

Then Deborah and Barak sing a victory hymn that poetically retells the story. This is the high point of a huge celebration party with lots of roasted sheep, wine, and Bollywood-style dancing. OK, the party isn’t described in the Bible, but that’s how it goes in my head. You can just feel the joy and triumph coming through.

And there was peace for forty years.

Tomorrow in part 2 we'll compare the prose and poetic versions of the story and see what why two versions are better than one.

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