John Kitto Morning Bible Devotions: June 9

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John Kitto Morning Bible Devotions: June 9

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A Mother in Israel

Jdg_4:4-5

Under the circumstances described yesterday, Israel was not destitute of a judge, and that judge was a woman, being the only one who ever held that high office, if office it may be called, being rather a function or position. In this instance, also, as in some others, the position was not, as generally the case, acquired by some warlike exploit tending to the deliverance of Israel, but seems to have grown out of the respect and honor paid to her as one taught of God, and eminent for her sagacity, her wisdom, and her high utterances. This led to her being much consulted and referred to, and to the eventual establishment of a recognized influence and position, which made her virtually the judge of the nation. She calls herself, “a mother in Israel,” which is in fact the most striking and emphatic description of her position which could be given.

She is called “Deborah the prophetess.” The name Deborah means a bee, being one of a class of names, such as are derived from material objects, not uncommon in Scripture. Thus we find Rachel, a lamb; Chasidah, a stork; Hadessah (Esther), a myrtle; Tamar, a palm-tree; Caleb, a dog; Nehushta, a serpent; Irad, wild ass; Achbor, a mouse; Agabus, a locust; Cephas, a rock or stone; and many others. Nor are such names unknown to us. Thus we have Margaret, a pearl; Agnes, a lamb; Phyllis, a green bough; Penelope, a species of bird (turkey-pheasant?); Rose; Giles, a little goat; Lionel, a little lion, etc. Then, still more analogously, there are our surnames, in which almost every material object is represented.

Of Deborah an old writer quaintly remarks that she was indeed a bee, having honey for the friends and a sting for the enemies of Israel. Then she was a “prophetess.” The words “prophet” and “prophetess” are of very extensive and somewhat ambiguous signification in Scripture, being sometimes applied to persons extraordinarily endowed by God with the power of foretelling future events, or of working miracles, or of chanting or singing forth the praises of God under supernatural influence, and sometimes to those who were remarkably instructed in divine knowledge by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God, and therefore appointed to act as interpreters of his will. The reader will easily call to mind personages in Scripture who class themselves under these different kinds, but who are all equally called “prophets.” To which of these classes does Deborah the prophetess belong? It seems to us that in her, as in some others, two or more of these different sorts of prophecy were united. The last formed, probably, the foundation of her credit, and led the people to resort to her for guidance. But that she was also a prophetess in the sense of a foreteller of things to come, is shown by the assurance of victory she gave to Barak, and more clearly by her prediction that the commander of the enemy’s forces would fall by a woman’s hand; while the high poetic inspiration, which is sometimes called prophecy, is not more clearly evinced in any portion of Scripture than in that most noble ode in which Deborah celebrates the praise of the Lord for the victory of Israel over king Jabin’s host. Of that fine hymn, which we find in Judges 5, it is impossible to speak in language adequate to the peculiar merits and beauties which render it one of the most illustrious examples of early Hebrew poesy. Even in a translation, which in a composition like this can be but a pale reflection of the original, its strong claims to our highest admiration are apparent to every reader. It abounds in traits, some of which we indicated yesterday, of the age in which it was written and the circumstances in which it originated, and is full of warmth and animation. The natural gradation and progress is more observed in this than in most other sacred songs, while the solemn and unexpected, though not abrupt close—“So let thine enemies perish, O Lord!” may be indicated as being, in the connection in which it stands, unsurpassed by anything of the kind that was ever written. “Her strains are bold, varied, and sublime; she is everywhere full of abrupt and impassioned appeals and personifications; she bursts away from earth to heaven, and again returns to human things. She touches now upon the present, now dwells upon the past, and closes at length with the grand promise and results of all prophecy and of all the dealings of God’s providence, that the wicked shall be overthrown, while the righteous shall ever triumph in Jehovah’s name.” Note: Dr. Robinson in Biblical Repository for 1831, p. 569.

There is, as Dr. Chalmers well remarks, “a beautiful and antique simplicity” in the description of Deborah’s dwelling, under a remarkable and noted tree still known as “the palm-tree of Deborah,” at the time the book of Judges was written. The situation of this palm-tree is particularly pointed out, “between Ramah and Bethel, in Mount Ephraim.” But whether this is designed to intimate that her settled habitation was in this place, or that it was the spot in the open air, shaded by the tree, to which she repaired for hearing the applications that were made to her, it may not be quite easy to determine.

It is worthy of notice that Deborah is stated to have been a married woman and, probable, from her calling herself “a mother in Israel,” somewhat advanced in years. She is described as the wife of Lapidoth. Much curious consideration has been bestowed upon this. The word is in the feminine plural in Hebrew, whence some have doubted that it can be a man’s name. But those who thus doubt have not agreed what Lapidoth shall be. Some take it to be the name of a place, and apprehend the phrase to mean that Deborah was “a woman of Lapidoth,” while others look to the signification of the name, which is “lamps,” and therefrom infer that she was “a woman of lamps,” supposed to mean one who made wicks for the lamps of the tabernacle! Again, others, looking to the metaphorical sense of the word, which has the material sense of “lamps,” considers that we should translate the phrase into a “woman of lights, illuminations, or splendors,” that is to say, an enlightened woman; and we should be disposed to incline to this, did we see any good reason for questioning the common interpretation. The only objection has no solid foundation, seeing that there are other instances of men’s names with the feminine plural termination, such as Shelomith, in 1Ch_23:9; Meremoth, in Ezr_8:33; and Mikloth, in 1Ch_27:4.

Deborah’s position, in this respect, reminds one of another “mother in Israel,” “Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum,” 2Ki_22:14. As the Hebrew word for wife may apply either to one who has been or is married, it may be, however, as some suppose, that Deborah was at this time a widow; and that the husband, although named, does not in any way appear, and that she seems to have an independent existence, are circumstances in favor of that conclusion—for under the ancient as well as under the modern notions, and institutions, and ideas of the East, the separate existence of a married woman is rarely apparent to the world. It has also been thought by some that Barak was the son of Deborah, but for this we are unable to see any evidence. It is a pure conjecture, which nothing in the history requires, and nothing sustains.