Women in the Bible

Deborah the Judge

Judges 4-5

• Judges 4:4-6 At that time Deborah, a prophet, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came up to her for judgment.

• Judges 5:1-2 Then Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day,“When locks are long in Israel, when the people offer themselves willingly—bless the Lord!

List of Reading & Resources:

Articles

• “Deborah: Bible” by Tikva Frymer-Kensky

• "Deborah" by Jennifer L. Koosed

• “The ‘Mothers’ Who Were Not: Motherhood Imagery and Childless Women Warriors in Early Jewish Literature” by Caryn Tamber-Rosenau

• “‘A Breeder or Two for Each Leader’: On Mothers in Judges 4 and 5” by Jack M. Sasson

• “Sit On It: Judges 4:1-7” by Talitha Arnold

• “Ruth Bader Ginsburg Saw the Biblical Deborah as a Role Model” by Serene Jones

• “By the Hand of a Woman: The Metaphor of the Woman Warrior in Judges 4” by Gale A. Yee

Books

• “‘Awake! Awake! Utter a Song!”: Deborah, Women, and War” (Ch.1) from Warrior, Dancer, Seductress, Queen: Women in Judges and Biblical Israel by Susan Ackerman (1998)

• “Deborah, Jael, and Their Interpreters” (pp. 128- 132) by Anne. W. Stewart in The Women’s Bible Commentary edited by Carol A. Newsom (2012)

• “Deborah’s Daughters: Gender Politics and Biblical Interpretation” by Joy A. Schroeder

• “Feminist Criticism: Whose Interests are Being Served?” by J. Cheryl Exum in Judges and Method: New Approaches in Biblical Studies edited by Gale A. Yee (1995)