Hugely popular English name, versioned from the Hebrew name (דבורה) means - "bee".
Deborah (modern Dvora, Arabic Diba) was a prophetess of Yahweh the God of the Israelites. According to the Book of Judges, Deborah was the fourth Judge of premonarchic Israel. Being the only female judge in the vast history of Israel, Deborah led a successful counterattack against the forces of Jabin, king of Canaan and his military commander Sisera.
In the Book of Judges, it is stated that she was the wife of Lapidoth. She rendered her judgments beneath a palm tree between Ramah in Benjamin and Bethel in the land of Ephraim. (Judges 4:5) Some people today refer to Deborah as the mother of Israel because of the "Song of Deborah and Barak" found in Judges 5.
After being oppressed by Jabin, the king of Canaan, in Hazor, for twenty years, (Judges 4:9) Deborah prevailed upon Barak to face the Assyrian (Syriac) General Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, in battle. The victory to which the Bible refers is the victory of an Israelite force of ten thousand over Sisera's force of nine hundred iron chariots. (Judges 4:10)
As Deborah prophesied, the Lord gave the victory to the Israelites. Sisera fled the battle site seeking refuge in the tent of the woman Jael. In the Biblical account, Jael killed the enemy leader, Sisera. The Biblical account of Deborah ends in Judges 5.
After the battle, there was peace in the land for 40 years.
Comments (0)