Deborah

VIEW:59 DATA:01-04-2020

word; thing; a bee
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


DEBORAH (‘bee’).—1. Rebekah’s nurse, who accompanied her mistress to her new home on her marrying Isaac (Gen_24:59). She was evidently held in great reverence, as the name of the site of her grave in Bethel shows, Allon-bacuth, the ‘terehinth of weeping’ (Gen_35:8).
2. The fourth of the leaders, or ‘Judges,’ of Israel; called also a ‘prophetess,’ i.e. an inspired woman—one of the four mentioned in the OT—of the tribe of Issachar (Jdg_5:15), wife of Lappidoth (Jdg_4:4). Her home was between Bethel and Ramah in the hill-country of Ephraim; here the Israelites came to her for judgment and guidance. She was the real deliverer of the Israelites, who had sunk into a state of feebleness and impotence, through the oppression of Jabin, king of Hazor (see Barak). A personality of great power and outstanding character, she was looked up to as a ‘mother in Israel’ (Jdg_5:7), and was instant both in word and in deed in fulfilling her calling of’ Judge.’ Her rôle is the more remarkable in that the general position of women in those days was of a distinctly subordinate character.
Deborah’s Song (Jdg_5:2-31) is one of the most ancient and magnificent remains of early Hebrew literature. It is a song of victory, sung in memory of Israel’s triumph (under the leadership of Deborah and Barak) over Sisera and the kings of Canaan. The vivid pictures which the poem brings up before the mind’s eye make it certain that the writer (whether Deborah or another) lived at the time of the events described. The parallel, and somewhat later, account (in prose) of the same battle (Jdg_4:4-24) agrees in the main with the poem, though there are many differences in the details. The Song is divided into four distinct sections:
Praise to Jahweh, and the terror of His approach, Jdg_4:2-5.
Condition of Israel prior to Deborah’s activity, Jdg_4:6-11.
Gathering of the tribes of Israel, Jdg_4:12-18.
Victory of Israel and death of Sisera, Jdg_4:19-23.
The chief importance of the Song lies in the historical data it contains, and in the light it throws on some of early Israel’s conceptions of Jahweh. Of the former, the main points are that at this time the Israelites had securely settled themselves in the mountainous districts, but had not as yet obtained any hold on the fertile lands of the Plain; that unity had not yet been established among the tribes of Israel; and that the ‘twelve tribes’ of later times had not yet all come into existence.
Of the latter, the main points are: that Jahweh has Hi a dwelling-place on the mountains in the South; that, therefore, He has not yet come to dwell among His people, though He is regarded as specifically the God of Israel; that He comes forth from His dwelling-place to lead His people to battle; and that His might and strength are so great that the very elements are shaken at His approach.
The Hebrew text is in some places (notably in Jdg_4:8; Jdg_4:10-15) very corrupt; but the general sense is clear.
3. The mother of Tobit’s father; she seems to have taught her grandchild the duty of almsgiving (Tob_1:8).
W. O. E. Oesterley.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

1. Rebekah's nurse (Gen_24:59), faithful as a servant from Rebekah's childhood, and so, when dead at an advanced age, lamented as much as one of the family. Her burial place at the oak beneath Bethel was hence called Allon-Bachuth," the oak of weeping" (Gen_35:8). She was in Jacob's household now, as she had been in his mother's, who was by this time dead, as appears from Gen_35:27.
2. The prophetess and judge ("a bee"), a personal or possibly an official name applied to poets, seers, and priestesses. The symbol of a monarch in Egypt; a honey bee to her friends, a stinging bee to the enemy (Cornelius a Lapide). "Lived under the palm tree"; a landmark, as palms were rare in Palestine (Jdg_4:5); possibly meaning Baal Tamar, "the sanctuary of the palm" (Jdg_20:33). Wife of Lapidoth; "a mother in Israel," a patriotic and inspired heroine like Miriam. Jabin oppressed the northern tribes adjacent to Hazor his capital (Zebuhn, Naphtali, and Issachar, which she judged). Barak, at her call, summoned these (to whom the central tribes, Ephraim, Manasseh (Machir), and Benjamin in part sent contingents, Jdg_20:14) in a long train (draw: Jdg_5:6-7) toward the broad topped mount Tabor. Deborah accompanied him at his request.
With but 10,000 in his train ("at his feet"), by the Lord's interposition, descending from Mount Tabor, he defeated Sisera's mighty host and 900 chariots who were in the famous battlefield of Jezreel or Esdraelon, in the valley of Kishon. Deborah's prediction was fulfilled by the "Lord's selling Sisera into the hand of a woman," namely, Jael, the Kenite Heber's wife. Enthusiasm for the cause of Israel, so closely allied with the Kenites through Moses' father-in-law Hobab, caused her to commit the treacherous murder. The praise, "blessed above women in the tent (i.e. shepherdesses) shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be" commends her faith, not her treachery. Some actions of faith are mixed with the corrupt motions of the flesh, as that of the midwives and Rahab's treatment of the spies. So Jael's act showed real faith in the case of God's controversy with the godless Canaanites.
The approval of her faith, the mainspring of her conduct, by no means implies approval of the deceit by which its true character was obscured. Yet faith is precious and "blessed" in spite of grievous infirmities, and will at last outgrow and stifle them utterly. God is keen to see the faith, slow to condemn the fault, of His children. Deborah and Barak together sang the song of victory composed by her. It begins with a reference to Jehovah's original, grand, and awful manifestation at Sinai (Exodus 19; Deu_33:2), the sealing of the covenant with Israel, and the ground of all His subsequent interpositions for them. Then follows Israel's deep degradation, its highways deserted, its 40,000 soldiers (a round number for a diminished army) without shield or spear, because they forsook Jehovah for "new gods" (compare Deu_32:17). Then "war (pressed up) to their (very) gates."
But now deliverance is come, for which "bless the Lord." All should join in "speaking" His praise: the upper classes "who ride upon white-spotted asses," and those "that sit upon coverings" (middin, the rich, Mat_21:7) spread upon the asses; also the humbler "who walk on the way," foot travelers. Those delivered from the plundering "archers "who infest "the places of drawing water" to plunder the shepherds, shepherdesses, and their flocks in lawless times (Exo_2:17), should rehearse there, now that all is peace, "the Lord's righteous acts." "Then shall the people of Jehovah go down (from their past mountain hiding places) to their gates" and towns now delivered. "Barak, lead away thy captivity (train of captives) captive" (quoted in Psa_68:18); fulfilled exhaustively in Christ the ascended Conqueror (Eph_4:8; Eph_4:13).
"Out of Zebulun came they that handle the pen of the writer," i.e. the scribes of the host (Jer_52:25) who wrote down the names of the soldiers. "Barak was sent by his feet into the valley," i.e. impelled irresistibly to the battle. "At the brooks of Reuben were great resolutions of the heart," but issuing in no practical action, the tribe resembling their forefather. Reuben preferred hearing "the bleatings of the flocks" to the blast of the war trumpets. Dan with its port Joppa preferred merchandise to warring for the fatherland. "Asher abode in his bags."
"The kings of Canaan took no gain of money," i.e. no booty, as they expected, from the battle; for "the stars from heaven fought against Sisera;" i.e., a Jehovah-sent storm beat in their faces and on the Israelites' back (Josephus), swelling the Kishon, which suddenly fills up the dry channel and overflows the plain of Esdraelon, making it impassable with mud, especially to chariots, so that the" prancing horses" and their "mighty" riders were swept away.
Meroz might have intercepted the retreating foe and Sisera, but is "cursed by the angel of Jehovah" for not doing so; and Jael is blessed" for her zeal, though mixed with earthly alloy. So "the land had rest for 40 years." (See BARAK.) Neither Ehud nor Jael are in the list of examples of faith in Hebrews 11. Jael apparently received Sisera in good faith, with the intention of hospitality, but a sudden impulse may have urged her to destroy the enemy of God's people. Her faith and patriotism are commendable, but not the means she took of delivering Israel.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Deb'orah. (a bee). (B.C. 1857).
1. The nurse of Rebekah. Gen_35:8. Deborah accompanied Rebekah from the house of Bethuel, Gen_24:59, and is only mentioned by name on the occasion of her burial under the oak tree of Bethel, which was called in her honor Allon-bachuth.
2. A prophetess who judged Israel. Judges 4-5. (B.C. 1316). She lived under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim, Jdg_4:5, which, as palm trees were rare in Palestine, "is mentioned as a well-known and solitary landmark." She was probably a woman of Ephraim. Lapidoth was probably her husband, and not Barak as some say. She was not so much a judge, as one gifted with prophetic command Jdg_4:6; Jdg_4:14; Jdg_5:7 and by virtue of her inspiration "a mother in Israel."
The tyranny of Jabin, a Canaanitish king, was peculiarly felt in the northern tribes, who were near his capital and under her jurisdiction. Under her direction, Barak encamped on the broad summit of Tabor. Deborah's prophecy was fulfilled, Jdg_4:9, and the enemy's general perished among the "oaks of the wanderers" (Zaanaim), in the tent of the Bedouin Kenite's wife, Jdg_4:21, in the northern mountains. Deborah's title of "prophetess" includes the notion of inspired poetry, as in Exo_15:20, and in this sense, the glorious triumphal ode, Judges 5, well vindicates her claim to the office.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

a prophetess, wife of Lapidoth, judged the Israelites, and dwelt under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel, Jdg_4:4-5. She sent for Barak, directed him to attack Sisera, and, in the name of God, promised him victory; but Barak refusing to go, unless she went with him, she told him, that the honour of this expedition would be given to a woman, and not to him. After the victory, Deborah and Barak sung a fine thanksgiving song, the composition probably of Deborah alone, which is preserved, Judges 5.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

Two women named Deborah are mentioned in the Bible. The first of these was the maidservant of Rebekah who came with her from Paddan-aram when Rebekah married Isaac. She lived to a great age and died near Bethel (Gen_24:59; Gen_35:8).
The better known Deborah was a respected civil administrator in Israel during the era of the judges. She lived near the town of Bethel, where she gave decisions in cases brought to her for judgment. Being a prophetess, she was well suited to discern God’s will in difficult cases (Jdg_4:4-5). She is chiefly remembered for directing Israel’s victory over the forces of Sisera in northern Palestine. (For map see JUDGES, BOOK OF.)
With her army general Barak, Deborah led a force of Israelite soldiers up Mt Tabor, with the aim of drawing out Sisera’s chariot forces into the plain of the Kishon River below (Jdg_4:6-10). With prophetic insight, Deborah must have foreseen the outcome. There was a tremendous storm, the river flooded and, as Sisera’s chariots became bogged, the Israelites rushed down upon them and won a great victory. Many details of the event are given in the song of victory that Deborah composed to celebrate the occasion (Jdg_4:12-16; Jdg_5:1-22).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

deb?ō̇-ra (דּבורה, debhōrāh, signifying ?bee?):
(1) Rebekah's nurse, who died near Bethel and was buried under ?the oak of weeping? (Gen_35:8 margin).
(2) A prophetess, fourth in the order of the ?judges.? In aftertime a palm tree, known as the ?palm tree of Deborah,? was shown between Ramah and Bethel, beneath which the prophetess was wont to administer justice. Like the rest of the ?judges? she became a leader of her people in times of national distress. This time the oppressor was Jabin, king of Hazor, whose general was Sisera. Deborah summoned Barak of Kedesh-naphtali and delivered to him the Divine message to meet Sisera in battle by the brook Kishon. Barak induced Deborah to accompany him; they were joined by 10,000 men of Zebulun and Naphtali. The battle took place by the brook Kishon, and Sisera's army was thoroughly routed. While Barak pursued the fleeing army, Sisera escaped and sought refuge with Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, near Kedesh. The brave woman, the prototype of Judith, put the Canaanite general to sleep by offering him a draft of milk and then slew him by driving a peg into his temple. Thus runs the story in Jdg 4. It is on the whole substantiated by the ode in chapter 5 which is ascribed jointly to Deborah and Barak. It is possible that the editor mistook the archaic form קמתּי, ḳamtı̄, in Jdg_5:7 which should be rendered ?thou arosedst? instead of ?I arose.? Certainly the ode was composed by a person who, if not a contemporary of the event, was very near it in point of time. The song is spoken of as one of the oldest pieces of Hebrew literature. Great difficulties meet the exegete. Nevertheless the general substance is clear. The Lord is described as having come from Sinai near the ?field of Edom? to take part in the battle; 'for from heaven they fought, the very stars from their courses fought against Sisera' (Jdg_5:20). The nation was in a sad plight, oppressed by a mighty king, and the tribes loth to submerge their separatist tendencies. Some, like Reuben, Gilead, Dan and Asher remained away. A community by the name of Meroz is singled out for blame, 'because they came not to the help of Yahweh, to the help of Yahweh among the mighty' (Jdg_5:23; compare the Revised Version, margin). Ephraim, Issachar, Machir, Benjamin were among the followers of Barak; ?Zebulun ... jeopardized their lives unto the death, and Naphtali, upon the high places of the field? (Jdg_5:18). According to the song, the battle was fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; Sisera's host was swept away by ?that ancient river, the river Kishon? (Jdg_5:21). Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, receives here due reward of praise for her heroic act. The paean vividly paints the waiting of Sisera's mother for the home-coming of the general; the delay is ascribed to the great booty which the conqueror is distributing among his Canaanite host. ?So let all thine enemies perish,? concludes the song; ?O Yahweh: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.? It is a song in praise of the ?righteous acts? of the Lord, His work of victory which Israel's leaders, 'the long-haired princes,' wrought, giving their lives freely to the nation's cause. And the nation was sore bestead because it had become faithless to the Lord and chosen new gods. Out of the conflict came, for the time being, victory and moral purification; and the inspiring genius of it all was a woman in Israel, the prophetess Deborah.
(3) Tobit's grandmother (the King James Version ?Debora,? Tobit 1:8).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Deb?orah (a bee), a prophetess, wife of Lapidoth. She dwelt, probably, in a tent, under a well-known palm-tree between Ramah and Bethel, where she judged Israel (Jdg_4:4-5). This in all likelihood means that she was the organ of communication between God and his people, and probably, on account of the influence and authority of her character, was accounted in some sort as the head of the nation, to whom questions of doubt and difficulty were referred for decision. In her triumphal song she says?

'In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath,
In the days of Jael, the ways lay desert,
And high-way travelers went in winding bypaths.
Leaders failed in Israel, they failed,
Until that I Deborah arose,
That I arose, a mother in Israel.'

From the further intimations which that song contains, and from other circumstances, the people would appear to have sunk into a state of total discouragement under the oppression of the Canaanites; so that it was difficult to rouse them from their despondency and to induce them to make any exertion to burst the fetters of their bondage. From the gratitude which Deborah expresses towards the people for the effort which they finally made, we are warranted in drawing the conclusion that she had long endeavored to instigate them to this step in vain. At length she summoned Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh, a city of Naphtali, on a mountain not far from Hazor, and made known to him the will of God that he should undertake an enterprise for the deliverance of his country. But such was his disheartened state of feeling, and at the same time such his confidence in the superior character and authority of Deborah, that he assented to go only on the condition that she would accompany him. To this she at length consented. They then repaired together to Kedesh, and collected there?in the immediate vicinity of Hazor, the capital of the dominant power?ten thousand men, with whom they marched southward, and encamped on Mount Tabor. Sisera, the general of Jabin, king of Hazor, who was at the head of the Canaanitish confederacy, immediately collected an army, pursued them, and encamped in face of them in the great Plain of Esdraelon. Encouraged by Deborah, Barak boldly descended from Tabor into the plain with his ten thousand men to give battle to the far superior host of Sisera, which was rendered the more formidable to the Israelites by nine hundred chariots of iron. The Canaanites were beaten; and Barak pursued them northward to Harosheth. Sisera himself, being hotly pursued, alighted from his chariot and escaped on foot to the tent of Heber the Kenite, by whose wife he was slain. This great victory (dated about B.C. 1296), which seems to have been followed up, broke the power of the native princes, and secured to the Israelites a repose of forty years' duration. During part of this time Deborah probably continued to exercise her former authority; but nothing more of her history is known.
The song of triumph, which was composed in consequence of the great victory over Sisera, is said to have been 'sung by Deborah and Barak.' It is usually regarded as the composition of Deborah; and was probably composed by her to be sung on the return of Barak and his warriors from the pursuit. It is a peculiarly fine specimen of the earlier poetry of the Hebrews.
Deborah, 2
Deborah. The nurse of Rebekah, whom she accompanied to the land of Canaan; she died near Beth-el, and was buried under an oak, which for that reason was thenceforth called Allon-bachuth?'the oak of weeping' (Gen_35:8).
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Deborah
SEE BEE.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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