In memory July 1, 2021

Dr. Dvora Teitelbaum

Deborah or Devora was a prophetess and the fourth Judge and only female Judge of pre-monarchic Israel in the Old Testament .

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. It is also significant because it is one of the oldest extant passages that portray fighting women.

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.
This introduction was made with the inspiration of Wikipedia “Devora”.