Female characters so far have been fairly scarce. We all know about Eve and the apple, of course. Sarah is named but we never really learn anything about her except that she's apparently sexually attractive and got jealous of Hagar -- a slave who was oppressed and mistreated. God noticed and gave her protection. (Of course, he didn't do anything about slavery and concubinage in general, in fact he was all for it.) Jacob's wives Rachel and Leah get a fair amount of play. They exert what agency they can within the limitations of their gender role. Rachel resorts to quite a bit of deception and manipulation. Zipporah has a brief appearance in the bizarre interlude in which she throws the bloody foreskin at Moses. Miriam organizes a song and dance party when the people escape Egypt. Rahab, in the book of Joshua, exercises independence and agency as a practitioner of the oldest profession, the course open to a woman. And the story of the daughters of Zelopehad is told twice.
The real point of the latter story is to actually to maintain a male line of inheritance -- as is the story of Onan, who refused to impregnate his brother's widow as the baby would not be considered his, so God whacked him. In fact, patriarchy is the basic architecture of the entire story up until now. For the most part, women's names aren't even mentioned in the begats. Patrilineage defines the tribes and clans which are the fundamental structure of society and a major obsession of the Torah and Joshua. Then, all of a sudden, we get this. I find it surprising that this story is so little known. .Deborah is a common name but I doubt that many people know where it comes from. In fact the story of Samson, that comes later in Judges, is much better known. Then, in the second part of this story, we have another woman exerting agency, though I must say she doesn't seem very nice. Anyway, it is just presented as perfectly normal that a woman Judges Israel, and commands an army. Don't worry, it won't happen again.
One further comment: It's pretty surprising that God sells the people to Jabin, King of Hazor, since Joshua long ago killed Jabin and exterminated Hazor in Joshua 11. It's a miracle!
4 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help.
4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading[a] Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. 7 I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”
8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”
9 “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law,[b] and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
12 When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. 15 At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
16 Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. 17 Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”
21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
22 Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.
23 On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.
Footnotes
- Judges 4:4 Traditionally judging
- Judges 4:11 Or father-in-law
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