Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Judges

[gmw803]

I need to understand Deborah better. I know what is universally said about her. Sometimes I wonder if all the high marks are due to the likelihood that a commentator is putting his career on the line if he takes a swipe at her. But I have trouble getting past Judges 5:7-8.

7 The villagers ceased in Israel;
they ceased to be until I arose;
I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.
8 When new gods were chosen,
then war was in the gates.
Was shield or spear to be seen
among forty thousand in Israel?

This just sounds terribly self-glorifying to be coming from one who places her trust in God.

[jimwalton]

We must recognize that poetry is heightened speech. I believe that Deborah is not speaking from conceit, but aware of her calling (cf. Lk. 1.48). Perhaps in the same way that Mary was risen out of a simple village to bear the Son of God, Deborah is called forth to arise to bear the nation (cf. Lk. 1.48). We are reading of confidence in her calling (cf. Lk. 1.49), emotional engagement with her delegation to deliverance (cf. Lk. 1.51-55), as well as the warmth and intimacy of her familial role as Israel’s guardian. Despite the environment of fear, she rose in the courage of the Lord (vv. 2-5) to execute his judgment upon the earth.

Just like the Magnificat (Lk. 1.46-56), God is upending the world, religion, and society, and he’s doing it through the common folk. Deborah is in humble adoration (2-5) that God has chosen one so insignificant for his blessing (she had to rise; she was not already a star player). You will notice many repeated instances in the poem that the praise belongs to the Lord.