Judges 4. has a lot of action. First as I mentioned Ehud dies, then we are quickly introduced to Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth (the H is not pronounced) who is also a judge. This is all said so quickly and perfunctorily that we have to think that this fourth judge (i.e. Judges 4) being a woman is fine and dandy. No problems here.
Deborah (not pronounced the modern Debra but as Deb-Ora) means bee. Her husband name, Lappidoth means flames which reminds me, of the adage, like a moth to a flame. Of course that’s a wild thing since the saying means someone who is irresistibly & more importantly, dangerously attracted to something or someone.
Back to Deborah the Judge who sits under the Palm Tree of Deborah or in Hebrew the Tomer Devorah which many centuries later becomes a book by Moses Cordovero in the 16th century on the Tree of Life or the Kabbalah. I am digressing but that’s because so much is happening and keeping it straight is difficult. So I am going slowly trying to piece the puzzle together and understand to some degree what is happening.
Deborah sits in the hill country of Ephraim, which coincidentally is where the prophet Samuel will hail when Barak (meaning lightning or thunder but spelt with no “C” in this rendition as this is Hebrew spelling & not the Arabic) son of Abinoam (which means father of beauty) visits her and she tells him to take up arms against Jabin the enemy.
And then the strange thing happens. Barak says Yes but only if she comes along. Talk about cowardice. Well Deborah is good and leads the army for Barak and he rallies the troops on Mount Tabor, which is a hill near Nazareth, and sits at the west end of the Sea of Galilee and a “woman wins one for God” (Judges 4:8-10) but not just yet.
Mount Tabor is a beautiful place btw. Click here to be inspired.
In my anguish... 