I have always loved the story of Deborah. All other women of faith in the Bible, seem to be in a subservient role to men. They obeyed husbands, priests and rulers. Deborah bowed to no man – they bowed before her. No man passed judgment on her; she passed judgement on them. They came to her for wisdom.

The book of Judges contains great stories of Jewish heroes. These stories loom large in Jewish folklore. When the Jewish people think of great heroes, they certainly think of a Moses or a David but also of characters like Ehud, Gideon, Deborah and Sampson – all of which are found in the book of Judges.

The story of Deborah and Barak stands out as different from all the rest, as the great hero of the story is a woman. She is a leader and judge of men and without a doubt was the greatest person in Israel at the time. The other thing that stands out in the story is that it features a second woman who becomes a fundamental part of the narrative. There is a reason for this.

There are some who suggest that God resorted to using a woman leader simply because there was no man ‘up for the job’. I certainly believe this represents a profound misunderstanding of the purpose of the story. It is no accident that two women feature in the story. It is absolutely deliberate.

The story begins with the Israelites again sliding into evil ways after the leadership of Ehud ended. God let Jabin the Canaanite and Sisera his army captain, oppress the people and they cried out. The Canaanites had 900 iron chariots. I think smelting of iron was first practised by the Hittites – and this knowledge extended to surrounding nations. Deborah was already a judge in Israel before this adventure begins. We have no knowledge of why she was selected, but she seems to be firmly established in the role by time our story starts.

She summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor”  Judges 4:6

The command is directly from the Lord.

It has been further suggested that Judges 4:8  ^“And Barak said to her, “if you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!” illustrates cowardice on the behalf of Barak. This could not be further from the truth.

They go on to suggest that verse 9 -“so she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman,” was some form of punishment for his cowardice. This belief shows utter ignorance of God’s purpose. Barak did exactly what he should have done – it shows absolute dependence on God. We will explore this more a little later.

Four Judges are listed in Hebrews 11, as examples of great faith. All of their stories contain some elements that would make us possibly reject them as being suitable for faith heroes. They are maybe not the ones we’d select.

Hebrews 11: ³² And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah,

Gideon: Didn’t he doubt and need repeated miracles to assure him of God’s help? Didn’t he make     an ‘ephod’ idol which became a snare to him?

Barak: Didn’t he play second fiddle to a woman and appear to hide behind her skirts?

Samson: Didn’t he hang out with harlots?

Jephthah: Didn’t he sacrifice his daughter?

I am always thankful when I read of these characters, because then I am assured that to be a person of faith doesn’t mean we have to lead a perfect life, but simply rely on the grace given to us through one who did lead such a life.

Why is only Barak mentioned in Hebrews and Deborah omitted? Because neither was superior – they were equals with different jobs, separately and individually great, and the author of Hebrews just ‘grabbed’ a handful of names from Judges.

Judges 4:4 records the words “Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time”.

This may seem to be a straightforward statement but is actually far from it.

The word Deborah is a proper feminine noun meaning ‘bee’.

How do we know that the subject is a woman and not an insect? This may seem trivial, but in a moment, we will see that it is important. We can tell from the context. The ‘bee’, judges, speaks, and rules. Clearly not an insect. There are other women with this name in the Bible.

Now look at Lapidoth – A feminine noun meaning ‘torches’ (flames).

So, is this a name or a real torch? Let’s look at the context. This word never appears again – no context. This name never appears anywhere else in the Bible – so we have no contextual way of knowing. But – here is the answer.

In Hebrew, many neuter objects may have masculine or feminine gender. E.g. Spirit (ruach) is a feminine noun, but spirit is not female sex. Sea (yam) is a masculine noun, but the sea is not male sex.

However, if an object has a sex, then it always has a matching gender. E.g. Young woman (Betula) is a feminine noun – as it must be since ‘woman’ has female sex. King (melek) is a masculine noun – as it must be since king has ‘male’ sex.

Now – here’s the kicker!!

Lapidoth is a feminine noun. It cannot possibly apply to a male sex person.

So, Lapidoth is a torch, not a man.

So, should Judges 4:4 read “Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of a torch, was judging Israel at that time” ?  I guess not. So, we turn to the word wife.

Wife in Hebrew (issa) means woman, wife, or female animals. Having established that Lapidoth was not a man, we conclude that ‘issa’ means woman.

Finally, we come to this:

“Now Deborah, a prophetess, the woman of fire or flames, was judging Israel at that time”.

So now we come to why Deborah was chosen. Was there no man good enough? Clearly Hebrews 11 judges Barak as a great man of faith. But God did not choose him. God wanted a woman – this is the critical point of the story.

Let’s visit Judges 4:8 again. Does it represent some sort of cowardice on the part of Barak. Absolutely not. Here is a literal translation.

Judges 4:8 And Barak saith unto her, `If thou dost go with me, then I have gone; and if thou dost not go with me, I do not go;’ <sup>9</sup> and she saith, `I do certainly go with thee; only, surely thy glory is not on the way which thou art going, for into the hand of a woman doth Jehovah sell Sisera;’ [Young’s Literal Translation.]

Deborah was correctly warning him that he would not get the glory of killing Sisera – that ‘privilege’ would go to a woman. It was not a ‘punishment’ for wanting Deborah to come along – but rather a revealing of the plan of God. Barak should have done exactly what he did – The Holy Spirit was upon Deborah. She was a chosen one. Barak wanted the Spirit of God to go with him, exactly as he should have. And so should we. Every battle we face should be faced with the sword of the Spirit beside us. That was all Barak wanted.

Judges 4 tells of the Battle.

Judges 4:2 Jabin reigned in Hazor.     

We have come across Jabin of Hazor before (Joshua 11:1). This was well before the time of Deborah. Jabin means ‘he who God looks upon’ and was very possibly a ‘title’ of the king of Hazor rather than a name. So, the Jabin of Judges 4 would be descendant of the Jabin of Joshua. Joshua destroyed Jabin and the city of Hazor.

Joshua 11:10 Joshua turned back at that time and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms. ¹¹ And they struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was none left breathing. Then he burned Hazor with fire.

Evidently, Hazor was rebuilt and again became the major city of the Canaanites. God finally decreed it for eternal destruction. See YouTube:

Is the Bible Believable       From 5:50

Deborah instructs Barak to gather 10,000 men to Mount Tabor.

We are also introduced to Heber the Kenite, of the family of Moses’ father-in-law. This family had settled at “Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh”, probably about 30 kms north of the Sea of Galilee.

The battle is joined at the Kishon river, which runs through the valley of Jezreel, from the lower Jordan to the sea at Mt Carmel.

Barak’s army came down from Mt Tabor and defeated Sisera’s army with its iron chariots. Little detail of the battle is given in Judges 4, but more is added in the Song of Deborah and Barak in Judges 5.

²⁰ From heaven fought the stars, from their courses they fought against Sis′era.
²¹ The torrent Kishon swept them away, the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon.
    March on, my soul, with might!

It would seem that God sent a torrential rain which caused the Kishon river to flood, thus causing its flood plain to become a sea of mud. Here iron chariots were not just useless – but became a trap as they sunk in the mud. This explains Sisera having to escape on foot.

Sisera escapes to the tents of Heber the Kenite, who had previously been on good relations with Jabin. Jael, Heber’s wife, welcomes Sisera into her tent and promises to hide him there. He is thirsty after the long battle, and he asks for water, but Jael offers him milk. Milk is a soporific, and so the exhausted Sisera falls asleep.  Jael takes a tent peg and a hammer and strikes Sisera through the temple, killing him. When Barack comes looking for Sisera, Jael goes out to meet him and shows him the man he has been seeking. The power of sin is struck in the temple by a woman.

Judges 5 is one of the most powerful pieces of poetry in the Bible. It contains hints of the real meaning of the story.

⁶ “In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Ja′el, caravans ceased, and travellers kept to the byways. ⁷ The peasantry ceased in Israel, they ceased.” This shows the desperate plight of the Israelites under the oppression of Jabin.

⁷ ….. until I Deb′orah arose, until I arose as a mother in Israel.  

This verse is critical! We need to tuck it into our memory banks. Deborah was not married and had no children (as far as we know) and yet she is styled a mother. The spirit of the lord was on her. She is a mother overshadowed by God’s spirit!

¹² Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. (KJV)

This verse is also critical! We need to also tuck it into our memory banks. The KJV is the only one that gets the words right. Now, look, David takes up the same refrain. David and Deborah link the great deliverance at Sinai, and David adds the torrent of rain at the salvation wrought by Deborah.

Psalm 68:8  the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, at the presence of God;
yon Sinai quaked at the presence of God the God of Israel.

Judges 5:5 The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.

But now, David links God’s blessings to the deliverance of Deborah.

Psalm 68:18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; ….

Exactly the same phrase as Judges 5:12. But now David connects gifts with this.

But wait …there’s more !!

Paul picks up exactly the same phrase in Ephesians –

4:7-8 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.  Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

Barak led captivity captive i.e. the captors of Israel (Jabin and Sisera) were themselves taken captive.

We were captive to sin and death, but Jesus led our captivity captive, when he destroyed the power of sin and death. Jesus gave gifts to us rather than receiving them.

The phrase ‘captivity captive’ only occurs in these 3 places.

So, the salvation by Deborah and Barak mirror our salvation by Jesus.

Deborah, and unmarred woman (virgin?), is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, and is called a mother in Israel, and produces the child of salvation- Barak. The mother in Israel (Judges 5:7) produces the spiritual son to overcome sin (Genesis 3:15).

An undoubted parallel with Mary in Luke 1:28-31.

But – we now find a parable within a parable.

Sisera is sin’s power. He is struck in the temple and killed by a woman, using a nail. Jael is called ‘most blessed of women’. Judges 5 ²⁴ “Most blessed of women be Ja′el, the wife of Heber the Ken′ite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed.”

Only one other woman has ever been called  ‘blessed of women’- 

Luke 1:28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

Jael and Mary are the ‘most blessed of women’.

Jael struck sin (Sisera) in the temple Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

Jael’s tent peg struck Sisera in the head – the fatal blow.

The seed of Mary struck sin, a fatal blow, in its head.

Jesus has the title of a tent peg in Isaiah 22:22-23

 The key of the house of David
I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And he shall shut, and no one shall open. ²³ I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house.

So, the most blessed of women, took Jesus (the tent peg) and struck sin in the head and so freed the people from sin and death

A powerful parable within a parable. Deborah, an unmarried woman, became a mother in Israel by the power of the Holy Spirit and so produced the son of salvation Barak who saved his people from the consequence of their own sin. Jael took hold of a tent peg (Jesus) and smote the power of sin in its head, crushing it and so freeing the people from the consequences of their own sin.

It is now obvious why God chose these two women as a symbol of His greatest salvation.

YouTube version at Woman of Flames