Judges 4:1-7 is part of the story of Deborah and Barak.
Judges 4-5 (1200s BC) present the story of Deborah and Barak. Chapter 4's tale of Israel's deliverance from Canaanite oppression under the guidance of Deborah's judgeship is retold in grand poetic style in chapter 5's "The Song of Deborah." Hebrews 11 identifies Barak as the judge, rather than Deborah. Scholars suggest that this poetic version is the oldest integral text contained in the Old Testament. While portions of chapter 4's prose rendition of these events are also quite early, there is structural evidence (grammatical, historical and especially geographic) that point to the fact that considerable redaction work took place within these texts later. Thus, there are discrepancies in such particulars as the number of tribes that participated in the battle, the physical movements of the main characters, and the identities of some of the actors, with 4:2 as an example. These Canaanites were part of the sea peoples who came to the area in the 13 to 12 centuries. 4:14 is close to Exodus 14:24, while 4:15 is close to Exodus 14:28, suggesting dependence one way or the other.
The Israelites managed to maintain only a loose national identity. It had no one ruler. Each of the tribal families governed themselves. Indeed, during this period "Israel" did not truly exist as a physical entity. Instead, "Israel" was a theocratic society, recognizing only direct divine guidance as its unifying, governing principle. Without a strong national identity, it is not surprising that tribal independence gradually led to episodes of disobedience. For about 200 years‑‑the period of the Judges‑‑Israel fell into a predictable, yet tragic, cycle of behavior. Soon after Joshua's death, the tribes of Israel gradually turned away from worshiping Yahweh alone, and began to follow the lead of their Canaanite neighbors, worshiping idols and false gods. Because of this disobedience, the text portrays God as allowing one of Israel's pagan neighbors to invade and conquer the chosen people enslaving and oppressing them, until the Israelites would again turn toward God, cry out in repentance and beg for deliverance. Inevitably, God would hear and respond. The divine solution was to call and establish a "judge" over the Israelite people. Guided and strengthened by Yahweh, this judge would bring about the means of Israel's deliverance. Nevertheless, Israel's obedience and loyalty to God only seemed to last as long as the lifetime of any one judge. Thus, when the judge died, so too would the loyalty of the people. Quickly they would revert to the worthless idols and gods of their neighbors. The cycle would then begin again disobedience, judgment, and deliverance through the hand of God's chosen judge.
There are further connections between Judges 4-5 and other portions of Scripture. There are resonances between Psalm 68 and the Song of Deborah. Samuel (in I Samuel 12:11) mentions the judges Jerubbaal [Gideon], Barak (remarkably Samuel did not mention Deborah), Jephthah and Samson, who rescued Israel from its enemies. Hebrews 11:31-33 mentions Rahab (see Joshua 2:1 ff.); also, the judges Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, as well as David, Samuel and other (unnamed) prophets, “who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises ....”
Judges 4:1-7 track a cyclical pattern of Judges (summarized in 2:6-23 and exemplified repeatedly in 3:7—16:31). The Israelites maintained their national identity through their covenant with the Lord. We can see the stipulations of the covenant in the early formulation of the Torah symbolized in the Ark, the Tabernacle, and the early sanctuaries. They had yearly festivals in which leaders from the tribes gathered, the purpose of which was to remember the covenant they had with the Lord. Yet, it was a loose confederation of tribes. The actuality of national identity became loosely held in the minds of many Israelites. Soon after the death of Joshua, and for about 200 years, Israel fell into a predictable, yet tragic cycle of behavior. First, the Israelites turn away from following the way of the Lord. In this case, 1The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. The text does not tell us the specifics of what they did. Usually in Judges, it refers to idolatry. They become comfortable with worshipping the Lord along with other of the gods of Canaanites. The covenant commanded exclusive loyalty to the Lord, as we see in the first two of the Ten Commandments. Further, they turn to evil after Ehud died. Second, the Lord hands the Israelites over to oppressing nations. The Lord allows one of the pagan neighbors of Israel to invade and conquer the chosen people, thereby enslaving and oppressing them. In this case, 2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The city was north of the Sea of Galilee. Mt. Tabor is southwest of there. The defeat of Hazor would come sometime in the 1200s BC. Jabin would become a harsh master, reminding us that the Israelite dominance of Canaan would not come easily, an impression we might get at the end of the book of Joshua. There are some textual oddities relating to Jabin that deserve some attention. One of the redactor's apparent mistakes is the reference in 4:2 to Jabin as the king of Canaan. In the Song of Deborah, the text correctly speaks of the "kings of Canaan" (5:19) for there was no one supreme ruler over all the Canaanite people. In Joshua 11, Jabin is the king of Hazor. Because the usual formula for setting up the rise of a new judge and the ultimate deliverance of Israel called for the identification of some single oppressor, the redactor of chapter 4 has created in Jabin a single king with an intimidating commander in chief and a truly awe inspiring enemy force (900 iron chariots). Jabin had help. the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim, 3bfor he had nine hundred chariots of iron, the kind with spiked wheels designed to chew up enemy foot soldiers, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years. They had military superiority. Such oppression dispirited the people of Israel. How could they prevail? At this point, the story in Judges 4-5 becomes a David and Goliath type of story. This time, however, the victory will be through teamwork rather than a hero acting alone. Third, 3aThen the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help. The “repentance” (the word is not used) in Judges seems more secular than religious. It is a crying out during times of oppression. It may represent a primitive faith, appealing to God for deliverance from trouble rather than asking for a closer relationship, a change of heart or for moral direction. Fourth, the Lord rescues them through a judge (a charismatic leader/heroic deliverer). In this case, 4 At that time Deborah, a prophetess, was judging Israel. Despite the military superiority of Hazor, the Lord will answer their cry for help through Deborah and Barak. It will become the story of leadership in a time of crisis. No one else is stepping forward, but Deborah is available. Note that Judges 5:7 also calls Deborah “a mother in Israel.” We do not know if Deborah had children in the conventional sense. Likely “Mother in Israel” is a title of respect, as when certain people are called “Father” (Elijah, by Elisha: II Kings 2:12. Elisha, by a king of Israel: II Kings 6:21). Her name meant, “honey bee,” while his name meant “lightning.” The feminine word for prophet occurs only six other times in the Old Testament, to describe Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Huldah (II Kings 22:14, II Chronicles 34:22), Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14), and the wife of Isaiah (Isaiah 8:3). In the New Testament, we find Anna (Luke 2:36) and a negative reference in Revelation 2:20. Deborah held court a few miles north of Jerusalem, 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. We can see that her primary function as judge was to settle disputes. The story is surprising among early Old Testament episodes in the leadership provided by a woman. It lets us know that even in heavily patriarchal cultures, the Lord will call women to political and military leadership, as well as to spiritual guidance. She will initiate contact as 6 She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. We might be just as surprised that Barak accepts the leadership of a female prophet in such matters. The people of God need women like Deborah to hear and respond to the call of the Lord. They also need men like Barak, who will accept the calling of the Lord upon a woman and receive the leadership the Lord provides through her. We can see this quality in the other men of her life, her husband Lapidoth and the 10,000 soldiers who heeded her call to military action.[1]
It seems that “Flash” and “Honey Bee” will team up to defeat the stronger army of Hazor. and Deborah said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take a military position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. both of which were in the north. She orders him to assume military leadership of these two tribes. 7 I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon, which ran through the plain of Jezreel/Esdraelon near the Mount Carmel range. The Wadi was dry certain seasons of the year. The Lord will draw Sisera out with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’” Such divinization before battle was common in this culture. The Lord would fight for them and lead them into battle, just as the Lord had done in the wilderness for Moses and in the opening victories in Canaan with Joshua. Strategically, this military victory, for which one will need to read Judges 4-5, prevented a permanent division of the tribes north and south of the Plain of Esdraelon. Had Hazor won, this area would have been in non-Israelite hands. Fifth, after the death of that judge the pattern repeats itself. Their obedience and loyalty to the Lord lasted only about as long as the life of the judge the Lord sent.
I could site many examples of men who did not have the spirit of Barak. I will use just one, from John Knox, a theologian of the 1500s.
“To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion or empire above any realm, nation or city is repugnant to nature, contumely to God, and the subversion of good order, of all equity and justice.”[2]
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