A Story of Biblical Womanhood

The method of bible teaching and storytelling we engage in at Sacred Narratives is not a new one. Midrash, reimagining sacred texts, has been practiced for millennia. For today’s narrative, I’ve written my interpretation from Judges 4 & 5 and I wanted to share another midrash from the texts from antiquity. Enjoy!

ps. This selection of scripture is a little spicy and depicts unexpected aspects of biblical womanhood.

pps. I enabled comments so feel free to share any reflections or questions!

From Judges 4 & 5

The Israelites had rebelled against God and lost the peace their covenant afforded them. They were given into the hands of the King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera.  Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years.

The people of God dwelled in the promised land but were ruled by a foreign king. Regions and tribes were governed by prophets and messengers of God. Deborah was a woman of fire. The words of her mouth refined her people, all listed to her words, and were comforted by her warmth and truth. She spoke words that were true and pure like gold. She delivered the messages of the God who dwelled in her tent and blessed the works of her hands. Under the palms of Deborah, she spoke the word of the delivering God, the one who had delivered the Israelites from Egypt.

Deborah summoned her generals and legions. She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Position yourself at Mount Tabor, taking ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand.’” The fire from her lips burned on the ears of General Barak, his heart aflame with the daunting scope of the task, and the prospect of leading without the wisdom of Deborah, with whom the presence of God dwelled, was unbearable. Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” The message of Elohim did not include Deborah going into battle. Her rule and wisdom were indispensable among her people; there were foretold consequences for her leaving and this risk. Deborah’s fire must not be distinguished. She was the ruler of her people and recipient of God’s wisdom and presence. Yet, God’s message had been delivered; she was God’s messenger. The message, newly amended, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.”  Deborah wondered to herself, as she delivered these words, “Who was this foretold deliverer?” Deborah gathered herself and her things as Barak rallied the troops. 10,000 warriors followed Deborah and her general Barak into battle. Their delivering God has constructed a plan for their birth from captivity in the hands of a foreign king.

         Sisera heard of the movement of the troops of Israel and responded Sisera called out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the troops who were with him. Deborah, a gifted military mind and prophet, said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day on which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand warriors following him. And the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic before Barak; Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot, while Barak pursued the chariots and the army. All the army of Sisera fell by the sword; not one was left.

Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. Jael, who, like all women in her time, controlled the comings and goings in her own tent. Her tent and the contents of her household were her dowery, and hers to control. She was afforded her own allegiances in her tent. The stubborn, strong, and cunning Jael, came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” Jael has her own allegiances. She also has all the tools of a woman at her disposal. The general asks for water, she gives him soothing milk and covers him with her body. In the “bowl” reserved only for her lord, her husband, she feeds him. The general Sisera, between her feet he fell, he fell still. Fell still in his most unsuspecting moments, a tent stake driven through his temple. Jael had delivered herself and her people, weaponizing the very weakness so often exploited by armies of men. Jael stood outside her tent, her queendom, waiting for the pursuing army seeking the dead man, tent staked to her floor. “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.”

As was tradition, the women sang praises to their victors, drums, bells, dancing, and poetic verse. Deborah, like the prophet Miriam before her, lifts her voice in praise, recognizing the hand of God in the peace brought to her people through words of fire and the driving of tent stakes – both through the works of women. Like King David in psalm, she praises the peace of her people and the land rested from bloodshed for the next 40 years.

---

The Biblical Antiquities of Philo

translated by M. R. James [1917]

This book, dating from the late first century C.E. (after the destruction of the second temple, 70 C.E.) is attributed to the Jewish writer Philo. However, most scholars agree that it was not written by Philo, and it is hence sometimes called 'Pseuophilo'. Consisting of a retelling of the Hebrew Bible from Genesis to the end of 1 Samuel, Biblical Antiquities embellishes and often departs from the narrative as we know it today in small and large details. A little early to be called Midrash, Biblical Antiquities is one of the 'pseudepigrapha', writings on traditional Biblical subjects which were never canonized.

--John Bruno Hare, May 13th, 2004

11. And now in these days Sisara arose to make us his bondmen, and we cried unto the Lord our God, and he commanded the stars and said: Depart out of your ranks, and burn mine enemies, that they may know my might. And the stars came down and overthrew their camp and kept us safe without any labour.

12. Therefore will we not cease to sing praises, neither shall our mouths keep silence from telling of his marvellous works: for he hath remembered his promises both new and old, and hath shown us his deliverance,: and therefore doth Jahel boast herself among women, because she alone hath brought this good way to success, in that with her own hands she slew Sisara.

Judith 13:2

13. O earth, go thou, go, ye heavens and lightnings, go, ye angels and hosts, [go ye] and tell the fathers in the treasure-houses of their souls, and say: The Most Mighty hath not forgotten the least of all the promises which he made with us, saying: Many wonders will I perform for your sons. And now from this day forth it shall be

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known that whatsoever God hath said unto men that he will perform, he will perform it, even though man die. 14. Sing praises, sing praises, O Debbora (or, if man delay to sing praises to God, yet sing thou, O Debbora), and let the grace of an holy spirit awake in thee, and begin to praise the works of the Lord: for there shall not again arise such a day, wherein the stars shall bear tidings and overcome the enemies of Israel, as it was commanded them. From this time forth if Israel fall into a strait, let him call upon these his witnesses together with their ministers, and they shall go upon an embassy to the most High, and he will remember this day, and will send a deliverance to his covenant. 15. And thou, Debbora, begin to speak of that thou sawest in the field: how that the people walked and went forth safely, and the stars fought on their part (or, how that, like peoples walking, so went forth the stars and fought). Rejoice, O land, over them that dwell in thee, for in thee is the knowledge of the Lord which buildeth his stronghold in thee. For it was of right that God took out of thee the rib of him that was first formed, knowing that out of his rib Israel should be born. And thy forming shall be for a testimony of what the Lord hath done for his people.

16. Tarry, O ye hours of the day, and hasten not onward, that we may declare that which our understanding can bring forth, for night will come upon us. And it shall be like the night when God smote the firstborn of the Egyptians for the sake of his firstborn. 17. And then shall I cease from my hymn because the time will be hastened (or prepared) for his righteous ones. For I will sing unto him as in the renewing of the creation, and the people shall remember this deliverance, and it

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shall be for a testimony unto them. Let the sea also bear witness, with the deeps thereof, for not only did God dry it up before the face of our fathers, but he did also overthrow the camp from its setting and overcame our enemies.

18. And when Debbora made an end of her words she went up with the people together unto Silo, and they offered sacrifices and burnt offerings and sounded upon the broad trumpets. 1 And when they sounded and had offered the sacrifices, Debbora said: This shall be for a testimony of the trumpets between the stars and the Lord of them.
XXXIII. And Debbora went down thence, and judged Israel 40 years. And it came to pass when the day of her death drew near, that she sent and gathered all the people and said unto them: Hearken now, my people. Behold, I admonish you as a woman of God, and give you light as one of the race of women; obey me now as your mother, and give ear to my words, as men that shall yourselves die. 2. Behold, I depart to die by the way of all flesh, whereby ye also shall go: only direct your heart unto the Lord your God in the time of your life, for after your death ye will not be able to repent of those things wherein ye live. 3. For death is now sealed up, and accomplished, and the measure and the time and the years have restored that which was committed to them. For even if ye seek to do evil in hell after your death, ye will not be able, because the desire of sin shall cease, and the evil creation 2 shall lose its power, and hell,

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which receiveth that that is committed to it, will not restore it unless it be demanded by him that committed it. Now, therefore, my sons, obey ye my voice while ye have the time of life and the light of the law, and direct your ways. 4. And when Debbora spake these words, all the people lifted up their voice together and wept, saying: Behold now, mother, thou diest and forsakest thy sons; and to whom dost thou commit them? Pray thou, therefore, for us, and after thy departure thy soul shall be mindful of us for ever. 5. And Debbora answered and said to the people: While a man yet liveth he can pray for himself and for his sons; but after his end he will not be able to 

Esd. 7:102-4

entreat nor to remember any man. Therefore, hope not in your fathers, for they will not profit you unless ye be found like unto them. But then your likeness shall be as the stars of the heaven, which have been manifested unto you at this time.

6. And Debbora died and slept with her fathers and was buried in the city of her fathers, and the people mourned for her 70 days. And as they bewailed her, thus they spake a lamentation, saying: Behold, a mother is perished out of Israel, and an holy one that bare rule in the house of Jacob, which made fast the fence about her generation, and her generation shall seek after her. And after her death the land had rest seven years.