Deborah

(Aids to Bible Studies)

First among the illustrious women characters of the Bible, as respects personal force molding their times, may be placed Deborah, whose name means the “bee.” It was in the period of the Judges, when there was not yet that cohesion and concert of the Israelitish tribes needed to make them a nation. Deborah is called a “prophetess,” and it is said that she “judged Israel.” This indicates that she was a national leader, whose words and decisions on the affairs of the people had a peculiar power that inspired confidence. The northern tribes, Zebulun, Naphtali, and Issachar, had been cut off from the more southern tribes, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Benjamin, by the Canaanites using war chariots in the Plain of Esdraelon. The warriors of all these tribes rallied at Mount Tabor under the general, Barak, when Deborah went forth with him, and their enemies were attacked in the Plain, routed, and utterly overthrown. Their commander, Sisera, fleeing to the Kenite encampment, was slain by Jael in her tent. The ode of Deborah celebrating this victory is among the foremost examples of early Hebrew poetry.