Femme Friday- Deborah

 

Thousands of years ago, there was a chosen people. Chosen by an omnipotent, omniscient, loving Creator. They were a collection of tribes brought under the promise they would one day become a great nation. As long as they followed a few rules. Ten to be precise. These ten rules proved to be to much for the people. The people, Hebrews or Israelites, were attacked by neighboring countries and people groups. After being attacked or living under persecution, the Israelites would "cry out to God and he would hear them". This cycle went on for hundred of years. 

A particularly dark time in Israelites history is called the "Time of the Judges". This is shortly after Israel has conquered a city and is establishing itself as a country. They don't have a king like the other countries. They don't have tribal chieftens working together as a council either. They are simply trying to follow their ten rules and obey their God. The pattern goes like this, Israel sins or doesn't follow God. Then an enemy nation comes into punish the people. Next, Israel cries out to God for deliverence and repents of their sinful ways. Finally, God raises up a warrior or judge to fight against the invading oppressors and sets Israel free. This went on for about a century. 

Our Femme Friday heroine is one of these Judges. Deborah is the only female judge named in the historical account, indeed throughout the entire Old Testament. Her name in Hebrew means "bee" or "hardworking bee". We will see that thru her dilligence and hard-work, the returns of her efforts are as sweet as the honey a bee works for.  Deborah was said to "sit under a palm tree and listen to the issues the Israelites faced." She would, quite literally, judge the people. Ruling in a way that was fair and just. Deborah was also a wife and mother while she held this role. Deborah is the fourth in a series of six judges in Israel's history. She is also noted to be the most upstanding of the judges. Her role was more of that like the judges Moses appointed to help him handle the issues of Israel while wandering thru the desert on their way to the promised land. Not like the warriors the rest of the judges are. 

As Deborah sat under the palm tree, she received a vision to share. Because Deborah was also a prophetess. Another distinction in her unusual crown. Deborah calls one of her fellow Israelites over and tells him to go fight Sisera. The Caananite general that has been tormenting them for the last twenty years. Barak initially is disbelieving in a military victory on his own, and so Deborah joins him in the battle at the same place. The Israelite's defeat Sisera, he is then killed by another woman when she lures him into a tent offering milk and a warm blanket. Jael, our second heroine of the story, pounds a tent peg thru Sisera's skull. Israel is now free from their oppressors and living under the protection of Yahweh once again.