Judges Chapter 5, January 17, 2011

On January 3rd we discussed the prose version of the story of Deborah, Barak, Sisera and Jael.

On January 17th we discussed Chapter 5, the song version, which also includes Sisera’s mother. 

The Song version differs from the prose version in several ways.

o    Barak is presented differently. He is mentioned as a singer, but otherwise not highlighted.
§    It is not told that Barak, by being helped by a woman, will have no honor or glory, no right to boast about his deed.

§       Jael does not present the murdered Sisera to Barak. 

o          The story of Jael is shorter – the murder is told forcefully.  

§           She is not shown as enticing Sisera into her tent.

§           She appears to murder Sisera while he is still on his feet

o          The Song of Deborah has many points of connection with the Exodus story, including the theophany on Mt Sinai (an appearance of a god to a human; a divine manifestation), as well as the crossing of the Sea of Reeds (prose and Song of the Sea).

Judges Chapter 4, January 3, 2011

Heads up on scheduling: In February we will start to study the rest of the judges, chapters 1-3 and chapters 6-12.   We will study chapters 17-21 in the Spring.   My plan is to start I Samuel in the Fall, so that we can read the Hannah Narrative (I Sam 1-2) for Rosh Hashanah.  Between the end of Judges and the beginning of I Samuel, we’ll do some special topics.   If the timing is right, we may study Ruth right before Shavuot.  In the Christian Bible, Ruth is placed between Judges and I Samuel which is a good location in terms of time.

On January 3^rd, we discussed the prose version of the story of Deborah, Barak, Sisera and Jael.  On January 17 we will discuss Chapter 5, the song version, which also includes Sisera’s mother.  We will be looking for ways in which the story is told differently in prose and poetry.

We noted that women in Judges 4 (Deborah and Jael) have considerable agency.   Perhaps this is true in times of war generally.  Specifically, a society without structure, as shown in Judges, is known to provide opportunities for women and men of low standing.  Carol Myers, an archeologist who makes use of ethnographic studies, discusses this in her writings about Israelite women in Iron Age Palestine (Discovering Eve, Ancient Israelite Women in Context).  It is succinctly put by Leila Leah Bronner : “The lack of a hierarchical structure allowed men like Gideon and Jephthah, who were of low social standing, to achieve considerable political stature.  In the same way, it appears some women were also able to rise to positions of authority.”  (A Feminist Companion to the Bible: Judges, pg 73).

Names are meaningful.  V 4.4 is most often translated Deborah, wife of Lappidot.