For our final series of women (and men) in the Bible who can inspire and inform the living of our faith, we meet Deborah, a judge of the Hebrew scriptures. How might her wisdom and courageous actions inspire us in our own faith walks?
Deborah is introduced “under the palm tree” in Judges 4-5. This
is the period after the people return to Israel from the Exodus. There are
still foreign tribes in the land and stronger nations on the borders. The
children of Israel backslide again and again into worshipping like their
neighbors and then, it seems, God punishes them by letting them be invaded and
conquered by their enemies. After suffering foreign domination, the people
repent and a leader (judge) leads them to defeat their foes.
At the beginning of chapter 4 we hear the familiar drumbeat that repeats throughout the Book of Judges: the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord…And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan... and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
There is the tiniest glimmer of hope in Judges 4:4. We meet Deborah,
a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she
dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim:
and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
This woman, known to be wise and caring, and is honor enough
that the people come to her for justice and advice. Before her (in Judges 3),
we hear of Othniel and Ehud who as warriors delivered the children of Israel
from various conquerors. Now about 150 years after the Israelites returned to
the land, they are no longer a free people. They are under the rule of Jabin
king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera,
which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
Deborah’s heart was sad for her people and God directed her
to call Barak the son of Abinoam to lead the people to defeat the Canaanites.
She tells him Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take ten thousand men of
the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun…I will deliver [Sisera]
into your hand.
Barak, however, hesitates to do this alone and insists that
Deborah go with him. Because of his hesitation, she tells him that the Lord shall sell Sisera into
the hand of a woman.
Deborah goes with Barak and his troops as they meet Sisera who has a forbidding force of 900 chariots of iron. In this early Iron Age time frame (ca 1100BC), having iron weapons of any kind, esp. chariots, would have seemed to give the army of Sisera an incredible advantage.
However, Deborah encourages Barak saying, this
is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand… So Barak went
down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
As Deborah had said, the armies of Israel defeat Sisera and
his men. Sisera…fled away on his feet… to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber
the Kenite… Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer
in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and
fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. When
Barak arrives, Jael shows him that Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his
temples.
Further the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and
prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king
of Canaan. Deborah and Barak sing a song of praise to God that takes
up most of chapter 5. At the very end we hear the land had rest forty years.
Deborah as prophetess and judge of Israel brought them
freedom from their enemies, the Canaanites. She leads them in this peace. But
after she dies, immediately we hear the Israelites did evil in the
eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hand of the
Midianites. (Judges 6:1)
It took courage for Deborah to be the leader and judge of
the people. As a woman, she had less influence than men, yet they followed her
willingly. She must have had an assurance and faith that showed so that people
were willing to listen to her. The time she spent hearing and judging
complaints “under the palm tree” gave her wisdom to act when the time was
right.
Sometimes we have to wait until the time is right before we
can step into the fullness of our ministry or calling. That may be an
uncomfortable ministry if it means we have to name evil and take action against
it. Yet, we can be assured that God is with us, like with Barak and Deborah, to
accomplish what we are called to do.
