How Old Is the Song of Deborah?

Abstract

The article challenges the conventional view of the Song of Deborah (Judg. 5.2-31a) as an originally independent composition from the pre-monarchic period (twelfth or eleventh century BCE). Based on a comprehensive examination of the fragment’s internal parameters (grammar, syntax, vocabulary, intertextual links, outlook, and agenda) as well as of the external conditions of its production and circulation, the article argues that the Song of Deborah best qualifies as a late pre-exilic, exilic, or early post-exilic piece and an integral part of the Deuteronomistic corpus.

Matrices of motherhood in Judges 5

“…Leah’s three sons Simeon, Levi, and Judah are not mentioned. Commentators think that this is perhaps because these are Southern tribes and this describes a Northern battle (Frolov, 2011: 176-77).…”

“…His insights support an integrative reading taken by many who have approached the text as literature, such as Brenner (1990: 129-38); however, Mayfield (2009) found that most studies approached the two chapters separately, and that those who focused on Judges 5 were still focused very much on questions of dating and composition. On the dating of Judges 5, see Frolov (2011: 163-84) and Smith (2014: 211-33). For literature on Judges (4-5) see the bibliography in McDaniel (2003: 256-98); Craig (2003: 159-85) covers Judges in its entirety.…”

The function of alliteration in the prosaic and poetic accounts of the Deborah cycle

“… 6. B. Herzberg (“Deborah and Moses,” JSOT 38/1 [2013]: 26) and Susan Niditch ( Judges: A Commentary [OTL; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008], 76) are examples of the overwhelming consensus that the Song of Deborah is among the oldest texts in the Hebrew Bible, whereas S. Frolov offers a challenge to that consensus (“How Old is the Song of Deborah?” JSOT 36/2 [2011]: 183). K. Lawson Younger offers a helpful review of the various interpretative options, including those who consider the poem to be original, those who consider the narrative to be original, those who consider the two to be independent from each other, and those who consider the two to have derived from a common source, “Heads!…”