Deborah

The title ʾem, “mother,” is found in a synagogue inscription, and is used in the Talmud to refer to Abaye’s foster mother. ʾEm is likely also used as a title when it is applied to biblical Eve, Deborah, and the wise woman of Abel of Beth-maacah. It reflects their honored position, not their role as child-bearing women.

Sisera asks for water, Yael gives him milk (Judges 4:19), and then she kills him. Is Yael a foreign “killer woman” or an “aid of YHWH” and his people?

The description of Deborah as a judge and prophetess is brief, but through her speeches and actions, and in contrast with other characters, she emerges as a prophet modeled after Moses.

Biblical Antiquities, circa 1^st cent. C.E., retells the story of Judges 4–5. It expands the maternal imagery of Deborah and Yael, develops the character of Sisera’s mother, and adds sexual innuendo to Yael’s interactions with Sisera.

The Song of Deborah in Judges 5 is similar to both Arabic qaṣīdā poetry and ancient Egyptian epic poetry. How should we categorize it? Is it like the former, and composed orally by a bard, or like the latter, and composed by a royal scribe?

The Canaanite city of Hazor was destroyed in the Late Bronze Age. When the Israelites resettled the city in the Early Iron Age, they placed standing stones in three different places on the destroyed remains. What were these stones meant to signify?

The Bible presents Israel as having twelve tribes from both northern Israel and southern Judah. In older northern lists, however, the southern tribes do not appear, and the full list seems to have developed in Judah, after the destruction of Israel. Moreover, the idea that the tribes are descended from Jacob developed even later.

The Canaanite general Sisera is killed by Yael in her tent but in an older version of the story, he died in battle at the hands of the Israelite general, Barak. The story was revised as part of a broader theme in Judges, to weaken the image of male military heroes through women and give the power to God.

Judith is a beautiful, clever, and righteous Jewish woman who saves her people by enticing and then beheading the enemy commander who threatens Jerusalem and its Temple. What is her connection to Chanukah?

The Song of Deborah (Judges 5) is often seen as an ancient text, perhaps one of the oldest in the Tanach, but analysis of its language and contents suggests that it is a later Deuteronomistic composition.