Deborah

 

(dĕb'ōrə) , in the Bible, prophetess and judge of Israel, the only woman to hold that office. Under her guidance Barak conquered Sisera and delivered Israel from the oppression of the Canaanite King Jabin. The triumphant “Song of Deborah” is one of the most ancient literary pieces in the Bible, perhaps composed in the 12th cent. B.C. Pseudo-Philo discusses Deborah's appeal to the tribes and her death.

Judges in the Bible
In the Book of Judges
Othniel
Ehud
Shamgar
Deborah and Barak
Gideon
Abimelech
Tola
Jair
Jephtha
Ibzan
Elon
Abdon
Samson
In the First Book of Samuel
Eli
Samuel

For information on the name Deborah, see Debbie

For information on the nurse of Rebeccah, mentioned in Genesis, see Deborah (Genesis)

Grave near Tel Kadesh attributed to Barak or Deborah

Deborah or Dvora (Hebrew: דְּבוֹרָה, Standard Dəvora Tiberian Dəḇôrāh ; "Bee") was a prophetess and the fourth Judge and only female Judge of pre-monarchic Israel in the Old Testament (Tanakh). Her story is told twice in chapters 4 and 5 of Judges. The first account is prose, relating the victory of Israelite forces led by General Barak, whom Deborah called forth but prophesied would not achieve the final victory over the Canaanite general Sisera himself. That honor went to Jael, the wife of Heber, a Kenite tentmaker. Jael killed Sisera by driving a tent peg through his head as he slept.

Judges 5 gives this same story in poetic form. This passage, often called The Song of Deborah may date to as early as the 8th century BC, which would make it one of the oldest passages of the Bible and the earliest extant sample of Hebrew poetry. Two dates are given in the text, 28:30 and 28:31, the first pointing to the fall of Ephraim (722 BCE), the other to a time near the beginning of the royal house of Israel.

It is also significant because it is one of the oldest extant passages that portrays fighting women. The poem may have been included in the Book of the Wars of the Lord mentioned in Numbers 21:14.

Little is known about Deborah's personal life. She was apparently married to a man named Lapidoth (meaning "torches"), but this name is not extant outside of the Book of Judges and might simply mean that Deborah herself was a "fiery" spirit. She was a poet and she rendered her judgments beneath a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the land of Benjamin. Some people refer to her as the mother of Israel. After her victory over Sisera and the Canaanite army, there was peace in the land for forty years.

See also

• Biblical judges
• Book of Judges
• List of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture
• Animal names as first names in Hebrew

External links

• Book of Judges article (Jewish Encyclopedia)
• Debbora - Catholic Encyclopedia article
• Biblical Hebrew Poetry - Reconstructing the Original Oral, Aural and Visual Experience
• Song of Deborah (Judges 5) Reconstructed

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