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Study the Word. Meditate on it and let it be your delight and holy guide.
Youth Ministry
Children's Nurture
Mission & Food Pantry
Deborah
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Historians suggest that
in times of social
upheaval, turbulance and
rapid change, women -
throughout history -
have been able to assume
leadership positions.
When the turbulance ends
and circumstances
stabilize, men reassume
the helm.
The period of the Judges certainly reflects turbulant, transitional times. There arose a leader in Israel - a female leader. Her name is Deborah, which means “bee.” (The first Queen Bee!) She is the heroine of Judges 4-5. She’s a prophet, a judge, a ruler, a mother, a poet. Alongside Deborah is Jael, whose acts of heroism make her “the most blessed woman” in the episode of Judges 5:24. With assistance from her general, Barak, Deborah leads a successful coalition of Israelite militias to a victory over the Canaanite army, led by a man named Sisera. In his demise, Sisera flees northward for protection against Israel. There he is welcomed (or lured) into Jael’s tent. Due to the national crisis, the normal hospitality laws are suspended. Jael pretends to comfort Sisera, covers him with a blanket, and kills him with a tent pin and hammer. (For the Bedouin nomads then and now, tent pitching via tent pins and hammer was and is the business of women.) His death at the hands of a woman was particularly humiliating, and particularly delicious to Deborah!
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