Deborah - A woman of spirit
God always chose to act, speak and reveal the divine purposes through men. It
is quite probable that you are not familiar with the story of Deborah from the
book of Judges, especially since the letter to the Hebrew in the New Testament
singles out Barak as one of the great heroes of faith in ancient Israel when it
refers to this story – an interpretation that is somewhat at odds with the narrative
that we heard read this morning.
The name Deborah is the normal Hebrew word for a bee or a hornet – and it
sounds very similar to the feminine form of the Hebrew participle meaning ‘one
who speaks’. So is the name encouraging us to anticipate a woman who will
produce the honey that Israel expected to flow in the Promised Land, or a
woman who will speak in mellifluous tones? – or perhaps the writer is preparing
us for a story with a sting in its tail. There is only one other woman in the
Hebrew Bible called Deborah and her story is told in Genesis where she is the
wet nurse to Rebekah, the mother of Jacob, who is subsequently renamed Israel.
They are different women; but the Deborah of Genesis was buried beneath an
oak tree just to the south of Bethel – a place remembered by tradition as
somewhere that their ancestors had regularly discerned God; and exactly the
same location where we find the Deborah of Judges, between Ramah and
Bethel, sitting under a palm tree.
We are told straightaway that Deborah was a prophetess, someone who acted as
a mouthpiece for God and as a mediator between the people and God. We are
told that the people of Israel went to Deborah for wise judgements and divine
guidance, at a location where the woman who had wet nursed, nourished the
infant Israel, as a mother would, was remembered.
Deborah’s story is set in the pre-monarchic period of Israel’s history, the period
when they lived as a loose confederation of tribes in the land of Canaan.
Although Deborah isn’t unique as a female prophet, Huldah in the reign of King
Josiah and Isaiah’s wife are similarly described, she is the only one credited
with uttering more than a single prophetic oracle. She is presented as someone
whose reputation had spread far and wide; and who had been sought out by the
people for divine guidance on many occasions prior to this story that is
recorded. Deborah was a woman of stature in her community, with
acknowledged authority.
In our reading Deborah was also presented as the wife of Lappidoth. I want to
suggest that translation is indicative of the patriarchal culture in which the
biblical texts have been handed down and translated from the original; a culture
that presumed that no woman could be independent and virtuous, that a woman
must always be identified in terms of her relationship to a man, be it her father,
brother, or husband, to whom she belonged. There is no distinction in Hebrew
vocabulary between a woman and a wife, but Lappidoth is actually a feminine
plural noun that would consequently be a very strange name for a man; it simply
means torches. It could be the name of the town or village from which Deborah
originated, as places were often understood in feminine terms; but as no such
place is attested elsewhere we might wonder why the narrator would draw
attention to it. However a natural reading of the phrase describing Deborah the
prophet would lead to the concept ‘a woman of torches’, or a fiery, spirited
woman, which accords with the way she is presented throughout the story.
Deborah is an independent woman, answerable only to God; a woman who calls
others to action in the name of God and determines when and how to act herself
– a woman whose words were infused with divine power and authority.
In Judges 4 Deborah takes the initiative to summons Barak – she doesn’t wait
for him to come to her. She is the one in tune with God, with a commission for
Barak to fulfil. He is told to gather the forces of Israel and prepare to carry out
God’s purposes of rescuing Israel from oppression. But rather than acting
instantly, Barak, whose name ironically means lightning, shows reluctance and
declares that he won’t go unless Deborah accompanies him. He could be
challenging Deborah’s prophetic status, or quite the opposite – his words might
denote a recognition that she is the one who is in communication with God, who
will be able to mediate ongoing wisdom and advice to him; and therefore be an
acknowledgement that without Deborah’s presence, representing God’s
presence, he is unlikely to succeed.
Whatever motives we attribute to Barak, Deborah’s response indicates a
negative judgement on his failure to act with unquestioning obedience. She
declares that as a consequence the oppressor will be given into the hands of a
woman – the ultimate insult to a warrior. As we listen we imagine that Deborah
is prophesying that God will grant her the victory; but as the story unfolds we
discover that another woman, Jael, the wife of a Kenite blacksmith is the one
who ultimately overcomes the oppressor by pinning him to the ground with a
tent peg! So Deborah’s prophecies are fulfilled, Israel is set free from
oppression; and she is affirmed as a true and faithful prophet.
But another version of this story is found in Judges 5, one written in poetry and
presented as a victory song, being sung after the events, in praise and thanks to
God for Israel’s deliverance. Deborah is the songstress – like Miriam, the sister
of Moses and Aaron, who led her people in praise of God after their deliverance
from slavery in Egypt and safe passage across the Reed Sea. Now Deborah
leads the community in praise and worship of God; and although Barak is made
a co-singer by translators the feminine singular verb in the Hebrew text
excludes him from this role. Deborah attributes all power and glory to God and
sings of her role in the events as a mother in Israel – another allusion to her
namesake in Genesis to emphasise her matriarchal status? – as she tells how the
people flourished under her leadership and how she was called upon by them in
a time of trouble to awake and sing her songs, perhaps her way to proclaim
messages from God as a prophet.
Deborah, an inspired and spirited woman in the pages of scripture, who has
been side-lined by tradition and patriarchal assumptions. In the Gospel we
heard of Jesus being rejected at Nazareth by those who thought they knew him
and just couldn’t imagine that he might be God’s chosen means of revelation in
their day. I wonder what presumptions, prejudices and misplaced confidence in
our own wisdom prevent us from recognising those through whom God is at
work in our world today? Amen.
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