Deborah: The Woman Who Judged Israel Quiz

Answer: Bee

Deborah, from the Hebrew Debbora, means bee. To us moderns, 'bee' may suggest the honeybee or bumblebee, something bright and pretty flitting about a garden. In ancient Canaan, however, while they were of course associated with honey, bees were seen as aggressive and to be feared. It would have seemed altogether fitting to the Israelites that their lady leader be called Bee.

Answer: Prophetess

Although in pre-monarchic Israel the term 'prophet' was applied to bands of roving dervishes or zealots whose frenzy was thought to bring them into touch with the divine, Deborah appears to have been a prophet(ess) in the usual acceptation of the word, in the mold of Samuel and Hulda for example. That is, she was a holy woman who spoke the word of the Lord to her people, who received divine revelation and was graced with the gifts of poetry and song.

Answer: False

"Deborah...wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at the time."

Lappidoth is not strictly speaking a name, but rather the plural of a word translated elsewhere in Scripture as 'torch'. So it may be that the traditional translation "wife of Lappidoth" is inaccurate. Deborah may be described as a woman of torches, that is of fire or of light. Such a description would certainly be apt for a prophetess and ruler of a restless, warlike people.

Answer: Roughly at the dividing line between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in the Near East.

"The first successful method for smelting iron ore was developed somewhere in or near Hittite territory about 1400 B.C., while the Israelites were in Egyptian slavery... At the time of the Israelite conquest of Caanan, the use of iron in restricted quantities had come to the more sophisticated towns. The desert tribes were still innocent of its use. The Israelites, therefore, entered Caanan at the dividing line between the Bronze Age and the Iron..."
Asimov's Guide to the Bible", Chapter Seven, page 229

The chronology not only of Judges but of the whole of pre-monarchic Israelite history remains in dispute. Here I use the mainstream scholarly view employed by Isaac Asimov in his comprehensive and very helpful book "Asimov's Guide to the Bible".

The accession of Saul to the throne is thought to have occurred in ca. 1028 B.C. If the Exodus took place ca. 1200 B.C. and the death of Joshua ca. 1150 B.C., then the Book of Judges covers some one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty years with Deborah ruling ca. 1107 through ca. 1067 B.C.

Rather than each of the twelve named judges ruling all twelve tribes and serving consecutively, in this view, two or more served concurrently, each ruling a single tribe or small group of tribes. Thus, it is thought that Deborah's core constituency was the tribes whose progenetrix was Rachel, namely those of Benjamin, Manassa and Ephraim, along with the neighboring tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali.

Answer: All of these

"The word 'judge' is here used in the sense of a ruler, since in early cultures the chief function of a tribal ruler in peacetime was that of judging disputes and reaching, it was to be hoped, some just decision. This had the crucial purpose of preventing internal feuds and disputes that would weaken the entire population in the face of some always waiting outer enemy."
"Asimov's Guide to the Bible", Chapter Seven, page 230

The article on Deborah in "The Catholic Encyclopedia" stresses that she was primarily a dispenser of justice, and it was through earning her people's trust by the fairness of her judgments that she also earned their trust in time of war. This idea seems sound as far as it goes, although Deborah was more than only a judge in the modern sense of the word. She was also a prophetess, one in direct contact with the Lord and able to speak on His behalf and, to whatever degree, able to see into the future. She evidently also was well-known for being able to tell times and seasons, as what day and hour would be best to launch an attack.

Answer: Yes

Men are almost always introduced in Scripture as Somebody son of Someone. It is notable that Deborah is not introduced using the same formula. Though I'm no Biblical scholar, the omission strikes me as odd, especially for a personage as important as a prophetess and judge. Recall, though, that the chapter begins in this way:

"Once Ehud was dead..."

Applying logic to the situation, it seems plausible that Deborah was either Ehud's widow or his only child. It has not been unknown throughout history for women to become leaders in this way. In any case, as Isaac Asimov observes in the chapter on "Judges" in "Asimov's Guide to the Bible":

"There may at this time have been some sort of internal difficulties in Ephraim that we have no knowledge of, for the Rachel tribes seem to be led by a woman, a most unusual situation."
"Asimov's Guide to the Bible", Chapter Seven, page 238

Answer: Under a palm tree

"She used to sit under Deborah's Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the highlands of Ephraim, and the Israelites would come to her for justice."
Jud. 4:5

The phrase 'palm tree' is often elaborated as 'date palm', with the fruitfulness and nurturing that implies in a harsh land. Thus, the image of the lady of the palm tree is a striking one. The King James Version uses the word "dwelt", giving the impression that she had a house there. To say she sat, as do several other translations including the Jerusalem Bible, gives a different impression, as for instance she sat in judgment or she held court, as befitted a ruler.

Answer: Her people were being oppressed by a Canaanite king.

"and Yahweh handed them over to Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned at Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Haroshet-ha-Goiim."
Jud. 4:2

Sisera was equipped not only with chariots, which Barak's tribesmen likely were not, but more importantly, the Canaanites were armed in iron, while the Israelites were armed with bronze at best.

"At the time of the Israelite conquest of Caanan, the use of iron in restricted quantities had come to the more sophisticated towns. The desert tribes were still innocent of its use. The Israelites, therefore...had to fight iron with bronze. What they could do with sheer numbers and energy they did, but anyone fighting iron with bronze reaches a quick limit to conquest. The men of Judah found this out the hard way. So, apparently, did the men of the other Israelite tribes."
Asimov's Guide to the Bible", Chapter Seven, page 229

Answer: He said he would only go if she went with him.

"Barak replied, 'If you come with me, I shall go; if you will not come, I shall not go, for I do not know how to choose the day when the angel of Yahweh will grant me success.'"
Jud. 4:8

This reply demonstrates that Barak, though a man of courage and resourcefulness, or else Deborah would not have selected him to "March to Mount Tabor and...take ten thousand of the sons of Naphtali and the sons of Zebulun", nonetheless was a man of purely secular power, who needed the assistance of one in direct contact with God. It shows too that Deborah, while not a warrior as such, was still an important and powerful woman, worthy of the respect of warriors. In modern terms, we would call her the Commander in Chief.

Answer: Yes

"'I shall go with you then,' she said, 'but, the way you are going about it, the glory will not be yours; for Yahweh will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.' Deborah then stood up and went with Barak to Kedesh."
Jud. 4:9

The scene then shifts to the battle, where we witness a breathtaking act of cowardice on the part of the Canaanite general.

"Sisera meanwhile fled on foot towards the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, 'Stay here, my lord, with me; do not be afraid!' He stayed with her in her tent, and she covered him with a rug.
He said to her, 'Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.' She opened the skin of milk, gave him some to drink and covered him up again.
Then he said to her, 'Stand at the tent door, and if anyone comes and questions you -- if he asks, "Is there a man here?" say, "No." '
But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent-peg and picked up a mallet; she crept up softly to him and drove the peg into his temple right through to the ground. He was lying fast asleep, worn out; and so he died.
And now Barak came up in pursuit of Sisera. Jael went out to meet him and said, 'Come in, and I will show you the man you are looking for.' He went into her tent; and there was Sisera dead, with the tent-peg through his temple."
Jud. 4:17-22

Thus, in biblical parlance, it came to pass as Deborah prophesied, that the Lord gave Sisera the Canaanite into the hand of a woman.
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After their victory, Deborah and Barak sang a song. Known as "The Song of Deborah", the poem is thought to be among the most ancient parts of the Old Testament.

Though her parentage is unknown, Deborah has won an undying place among the heroes and heroines of ancient Israel.