The Song of Deborah (Judges 5): Between the Weakness of Israel and the Strength of Divine Intervention
The Song of Deborah (Judges 5): Between the Weakness of Israel and the Strength of Divine Intervention

Summary/Abstract: This article analyses the song of Deborah (Judges 5), one of the oldest examples ofHebrew poetry. T ogether with an even older form of prayer of praise, the Song of Moses (Exodus15:1-18), it represents the beginnings of the psalm-prayer genre. It focuses on the analysis of thethematic-motivic and rhetorical elements of the song of Deborah, which reveal the weaknessof the tribes of Israel in comparison with the militarily organised Canaanite kingdoms and thestrength of Jewish women in war. We are interested in how the women dealt with weakness,how they demonstrated strength and how they relied on the strength of God. The paper showshow only Deborah, a remarkable female figure of the Old T estament, prophetess, judge andmilitary leader, dared to stand up to the destructive strategy of the Canaanites. By defeatingthe mighty Canaanite warlord Sisera, she demonstrated her extraordinary power in an area thatis actually the domain of men, not women. Jael and Sisera’s mother are also portrayed with ironyand other rhetorical figures. In the context of Scripture, Deborah’s original prayer of praise,thanking God for her triumph in war, is only justified by the knowledge that the tribes of Israelhad to fight for their survival. A comparative analysis of the song of Deborah shows that thetradition of praise as prayer in connection with various female characters was enriched in thelater Old T estament period.

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