Deborah (Judges 4, 5)

The Old Testament/Hebrew Bible features two women named Deborah: the handmaid of Rebekah (Gen. 35:8) and the prophetess, wife, and judge (Judges 4, 5). A third, the mother of Tobiel, appears in the Apocrypha (Tobit 1:8). This article is on the second biblical figure. Similarly, while Deborah may be the poet of the so-called Song of Deborah (Judges 5) and features in it, the Song is a discrete subject apart from present focus. Deborah is arguably the most important woman in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible by virtue of her leadership roles in both spiritual and civil spheres. So influential was she that her story is preserved in juxtaposed accounts in prose and poetry (respectively, Judges 4, 5)—the exodus from Egypt being the only other event so preserved (respectively, Exodus 14, 15). Deborah lived during the period of the judges. Scholars debate over the precise dates of the period, but a span from c. 1250 bce to 1020 bce is reasonable. It was Israel’s heroic age, before the monarchy, when male and female roles were less fossilized. The context of the Deborah story was a battle that occurred near the wadi Kishon between the superior Canaanite forces under Sisera and a coalition of Israelite tribes. Deborah summoned Barak to lead the Israelite forces, and she might have helped lead them. While the narrative attributes the unexpected Israelite victory to YHWH and the poem implies the same (respectively, Judg. 4:14; 5:20), both highlight a foreign woman, Jael, with slaying Sisera (respectively, Judg. 4:17–22; 5:24–27). Because Deborah had multiple roles, scholarly attention has pursued an astonishing number of directions as the following areas evince. Studies pertaining to more than one category are listed according to their primary area of importance and cross-referenced in the others. For information on the book of Judges and the nature of ancient Israel’s judgeship, see the separate Oxford Bibliographies article “Book of Judges.”