Deborah's leadership and spiritual motherhood in the Book of Judges

Biblical Exegesis

The Book of Judges tells how the Israelites reverted to older forms of worship, and denied the gifts their true God had given them, such as a homeland. But in the Book of Judges, God send individuals with righteous characters, such as Deborah to return to the nation of Israel to its old ways and to restore the covenant of Abraham. The book also attempts to show why the Israelites had difficulty, after the death of the warrior Joshua, taking control of the full territory of the Holy Land. It was, the book suggests, a moral failure as well as a military failure (Keathley, 2007).

One of the more interesting features of the book is how women essentially pick up the military and religious roles temporarily vacated by the less courageous men, such as Deborah, who proclaims: "Village life in Israel ceased, / ceased until I, Deborah, arose, / arose a mother in Israel. 8 When they chose new gods, / war came to the city gates, / and not a shield or spear was seen / among forty thousand in Israel. / 9 My heart is with Israel's princes, / with the willing volunteers among the people. / Praise the LORD! (Judges 5:7-9). The enemy at the gates comes because Israel is unprepared militarily, but also because it has forgotten that the land is a gift from God.

Deborah acts as a spur to the new men of Israel, to become willing warriors again and to defend older values. She is a mother of the new Israel, giving birth to a new era. Deborah's expression of her mission evolves as a poem of praise to the Lord, in which she uses both her own femininity and righteousness as a rallying point and call to arms.