The Accounts of Deborah (Judges 4—5) in Recent Research

Abstract

Within the book of Judges, the figure of Deborah receives exceptional treatment in that her actions are presented first in a narrative, comprising chapter four, then in a poem, chapter five. Read together or separately, these chapters elicit scholarly interpretations aplenty. This article surveys recent research on the accounts of Deborah since 1990 by dividing the discussion into three sections: the two accounts as a single unit, Judges 4 alone, and Judges 5 alone. The first section discusses the function of these chapters within the book and their relationship with each other. The second section further subdivides according to the narrative elements of character or event, while the third section's divisions are based on common scholarly concerns like genre, dating, and structure.

Matrices of motherhood in Judges 5

“…For theories and literature on the relationship between Judges 4 and 5, see Younger (1991: 136-37); by analyzing ancient Near Eastern parallel narrative accounts that have a prosaic and a poetic version, Younger shows that Judges 4 and 5 present two parallel accounts of the same event and are likely complementary, synoptic accounts. 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).…”

“…Yee (1993: 100) argues readings of Deborah and Jael are contradictory because of their liminality as expressions of the female warrior. Mayfield (2009) points out the contradictory readings of Jael and Deborah. Lowery (1992) thinks that Jael’s motives are political.…”

“…Yee (1993) looks at 19th century and modern readings of the conceptual metaphor of female warrior in Judges 4-5, and shows correlations between interpretation of the characters and the context of the interpreter. In his review, Mayfield (2009: 308-10) highlights the rich variety of approaches to the characters of Deborah and Jael in both Judges 4 and 5.…”