Deborah, part two

Part One focused on SH-F-T, the Hebrew root common to judges, judgment (both subjective and judicial,) and laws. The emergence of Deborah in Judges 4:4 was striking in its use of language and imagery that strongly echoed the leadership of Moses.

Now, let's dive deeper into the use of key words that link her story to another story as well. By "key words," I refer to words that stand out from a text, either because they are rare or used awkwardly, and we realize that the same words were used in a different story, so the mind begins to link the two stories, looking for common themes or lessons.

The era of the Book of Judges is a time of anarchy punctuated by sporadic communal cohesion under the charismatic leadership of "judges." The description of the crisis that led to Deborah's dramatic intervention has at least two key words that recall another time of division and trauma that led to the paradigmatic subjugation and oppression of the People of Israel.

note: I have modified the NJPS translation to accent key-words

The Hebrew word va-yosifu for "continued to" is an odd locution, as is va-yim'k'rem "YHWH sold them," and both link to the same words retelling key events in the life of ... Joseph and his brothers!

What connects the era of Judges 4:1-2 with the sale of Joseph? Rabbi Tali Adler wrote an extraordinary essay titled “Ghosts in the Haggadah” in which she observes: "We did not end up in Egypt by accident. We were there because of a tragedy precipitated by unthinkable hatred: [Joseph]’s brothers selling him into slavery and deceiving their father..." With these two rare Hebrew verbs, the text evokes the fraternal strife that led inexorably to the subjugation from which Moses would rescue his people. It is as though the people are again descending into Egypt. Then Deborah emerges in verse four and there are at least 15 easy-to-find key words that evoke the life of Moses, suggesting that - like Moses - Deborah might redeem her people and reestablish the covenant:

Unlike our awareness of Moses, whom we first encounter in his infancy, when we meet Deborah she is already a fully-formed prophet and judge. Like Moses in Ex 18:13, she appears to be offering judgments on a case-by-case basis, a scene we have not encountered since Exodus 18!

Whatever law code and judicial system Moses established, when we read the Book of Joshua, judges appear only when there is a public ceremonial event (8:33, 23:2, 24:1, and in reference to Cities of Refuge in 20:6.) There is certainly no evidence of courts in most of the Book of Judges save for this fleeting reference to Deborah; "judges" are charismatic military leaders, not those who interpret the law code.

We read of Deborah as a prophet (Judges 4:4,) a spouse (ibid,) an arbiter (ibid,) a commander-in-chief (4:8) and a poet (5:1ff,) a life that resembles Moses' life as prophet (Deut 34:14,) a spouse (Ex 2:21,) an arbiter (Ex 18:13,) a commander-in-chief (Ex 14:21ff) and a poet (Ex 15 and Deut 32.) But Moses is also a lawgiver, whose legacy will endure.

Judges 5:31 relates that after Deborah's victory, "the land was tranquil forty years," the same amount of time that Moses led his less-than-tranquil nation through the wilderness. And then the idyllic period of her leadership came to an unceremonious end, and the nation reverted to anarchy.

In the Book of Judges, there were three "judges" before Deborah, and nine followed her, but she was the only one who adjudicated cases. Only centuries later would a new prophet/ commander-in-chief emerge and serve as perhaps the first Circuit-Court Judge.

[this is a work-in-progress; I'm pausing to take a break on August 19, 2025]