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The Song of
Deborah can be found in the Book of Judges of the Hebrew bible. It comes
immediately after the prose narrative of chapter 4 which recounts the
Israelites doing battle with the Canaanites of Hazor, and the actions taken by
the prophetess Deborah as well as Barak, the son of Abinoam. The text of
chapter 4 discusses how the Israelites were delivered into the hand of Jabin,
king of Canaan, because they had again done “what was offensive to the LORD.”[1] The following chapter,
chapter 5, recounts the entirety of the Song of Deborah, and the next, chapter
6, tells the story of the Israelites being delivered into the hands of the
Midianites, again for doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD. The Song of
Deborah, then, is a poem that is inserted between two prose narratives telling
two different, yet similar stories. Yet, it is not a song of praise, as many
biblical poems are. Many scholars refer to it as a victory hymn. While there
are components of the Song that like those of a victory hymn, in its entirety,
it is made up of much more. The Song of Deborah is a re-telling of the
prose story found immediately before it in chapter 4 of Judges. Many scholars
have found the Song to have components leading to a very early date of
composition. There are clues that the Song may have been used to write portions
of the Psalms. It is clear that the Song of Deborah is an archaic composition
utilizing old poetic forms that was designed to relate the story of Deborah and
Barak with a theological purpose.[2]
The Song of
Deborah has been classified by some as a “narrative battle poem.”[3] That is to say, as
mentioned previously, a poem that tells a narrative story. If it is a narrative
battle
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poem, it would be one of only two in the Hebrew bible, the
other being the Song of the Sea found in Exodus 15.[4] In its archaic and
sweeping form, parallels can be drawn to the Greek choral odes or the
Anglo-Saxon epic. It is “stirring, evocative, and rhetorically powerful.”[5] However, poetry in the
Hebrew bible is varied in form and composition. The Song of Deborah does not
claim to be historical narrative, although it does re-tell the historical
narrative of the preceding chapter.[6] Instead, the poem is
intended as a theological restructuring of the battle that ensues this day as
an exemplar of battles and as instruction to the Israelites of their faithful
God, even when they were not faithful.[7] The Song does not follow
specific poetic parameters, and events are linked sometimes illogically. The
repetition and parallelism in the Song of Deborah, something often found in
both Hebrew prose and poetry, is of an archaic nature.[8] Gerleman believes that the
repetition and form of the Song are aimed at a “psychological foundation” that glorifies
“warlike propaganda” and “religious fanaticism.”[9] Whether instructional or fanatical,
there is no doubt that the Song is stirring emotionally, filled with figurative
language with the call to the Israelites to come together to defeat their
enemy.
Components
of the Song of Deborah indicate it is quite old in composition. This is based
primarily on some of the language used in the text. However, there are other
clues within the text
3
that lead us to believe this to be the case. For example,
the calling out of village militias to come together to fight this battle contrasts
with the standing armies of the tenth century BCE.[10] Deborah relies on the mutual
defense provided by the tribes coming together in times of need. In the song,
Deborah laments those tribes who failed to act. Not all of the tribes sent
warriors to fight. The text rhetorically asks why they did not but does not continue
to provide context. The economic picture portrayed in the poem is also an
indicator of an earlier composition of the text rather than later, fitting in
more with an Iron Age I setting.[11] Another clue can be found
in the somewhat obscure text of verse 2. Some texts translate this as “When
locks go untrimmed in Israel.”[12] Another version has this
as “When men let grow their hair in Israel.” Nonetheless, according to Koller,
this practice of letting one’s hair grow long before battle occurs in the Hebrew
bible only here and in the ancient poem of Deuteronomy 32:42.[13] Within the Song, in
verses 4-5, we encounter a short victory ode, within which is found a short
Theophany, or series of cosmic events:
“The
earth trembled;
The heavens dripped,
Yea, the clouds dripped water,
The mountains quaked- “[14]
4
It has been noted that the text here is almost identical to
that of Psalms 68:8-9 and it is thought that the author of the Psalms already
knew the Song of Deborah and incorporated this into Psalm 68.[15]
Biblical
poetry is not always easy to identify and less easy to translate. From the
western mind, the poetry of the Hebrew bible is vastly different from what has
come down to us in the forms of Greek and Latin poetry. The use of form and
meter is paramount to identifying and understanding Hebrew poems. Our job is
made easier by the use of biblical verse, as we have it now. There is a rhythmic,
semantic, and structural significance to it.[16] In the Masoretic text, a variety
of spatial, columnar, and lineal formats were used to designate poetry, making
it easier to understand and read.[17] For those reading
versions translated into English or other languages, we do not have use of
these helpers. The language of the Song of Deborah is stamped by an archaic
quality and brevity which makes its meaning not easily intelligible.[18] Coogan believes that the
text places two sets of emphasis: one on the actions of God and one on the actions
of Deborah.[19]
Yahweh’s power, described mythically in the theophany of verses 4-5 are
revealed in history in
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the actions of a woman.[20] Like Knight, Coogan sees
the Song as having a theological message rather than a historical one.[21] In addition, Coogan notes
the following patterns throughout the Song of Deborah:
1. Alliteration: Parallel elements such as bese’tak…besa’dak and mahaqah…mahasa.
2. Paronomasia: Such as in the coupling of Deborah with dabberi.
3. Repetitive Parallelism.[22]
These patterns are often found in both biblical Hebrew prose
as well as poetry, however they remain identifying elements that help to
conceptualize what exactly biblical poetry is.
The Song of Deborah has been
described as “a primitive, unconscious type, naive, spontaneous art.”[23] But, as Knight points
out, poetry is not “monolithic.”[24] Perhaps it is this naïve,
spontaneous nature that makes the Song appealing and timeless. Certainly, the
Song of Deborah is unique among biblical literature. It is important to
remember that the composition is a song.[25] Too often we forget about
the oral tradition that came before the stories were written down. As beautiful
as they are in written form, how much more were they in spoken form. In its
6
form as historical narrative, the Song of Deborah could be
compared with others in the Bible, as stated previously in Exodus 15 or
Deuteronomy 32. But the Song is unlike others in so many ways. The poem is far
from a simple victory song or an emotional outcry. The poetic narrative in
Judges 5 is a crucial part of the whole story and can be seen as the theological
and hermeneutical core of Judges.[26] Regardless of how we
analyze the Song of Deborah, it is clear that the poem is archaic in nature and
of a style and form found nowhere else in the Hebrew bible. While it would be
tempting to label the song as a Victory Hymn or a Battle Hymn, it may be best
to leave it in a category all its own.
7
Bibliography
Coogan, Michael David. “A Structural and Literary Analysis
of the Song of Deborah.” The
Catholic Biblical Quarterly 40,
no. 2 (1978): 143–66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43714562
Dobbs-Allsopp, F.W. On Biblical Poetry. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2015.
Gerleman, Gillis. “The Song of Deborah in the Light of
Stylistics.” Vetus Testamentum 1, no. 3
(1951): 168–80. https://doi.org/10.2307/1515859
Knight, Michelle. “The Rational Poet: Appealing to the Heart
and the Mind in the Book of
Judges.” The
Biblical Mind (August 12, 2020).
https://hebraicthought.org/book-of-judges-poetic-appeal-heart-mind/
Koller, Aaron. "Composing the Song of Deborah:
Empirical Models" TheTorah.com (2020).
https://thetorah.com/article/composing-the-song-of-deborah-empirical-models
[1]
Judg. 4:1, JSB, 2nd Ed.
[2]
Knight, Michelle. “The Rational Poet: Appealing to the Heart and the Mind in
the Book of Judges.” The Biblical Mind (August 12, 2020). https://hebraicthought.org/book-of-judges-poetic-appeal-heart-mind/
[3]
Koller, Aaron. "Composing the Song of Deborah: Empirical Models" TheTorah.com
(2020). https://thetorah.com/article/composing-the-song-of-deborah-empirical-models
[4]
Koller, Aaron. "Composing the Song of Deborah: Empirical Models" TheTorah.com
(2020). https://thetorah.com/article/composing-the-song-of-deborah-empirical-models
[5]
Knight, Michelle. “The Rational Poet: Appealing to the Heart and the Mind in
the Book of Judges.” The Biblical Mind (August 12, 2020). https://hebraicthought.org/book-of-judges-poetic-appeal-heart-mind/
[6]
Ibid.
[7]
Ibid.
[8]
Gerleman, Gillis. “The Song of Deborah in the Light of Stylistics.” Vetus
Testamentum 1, no. 3 (1951): 170-171. https://doi.org/10.2307/1515859
[9]
Ibid, 174.
[10]
Koller, Aaron. "Composing the Song of Deborah: Empirical Models" TheTorah.com
(2020). https://thetorah.com/article/composing-the-song-of-deborah-empirical-models
[11]
Ibid.
[12]
Judg. 5:2, JSB, 2nd Ed.
[13]
Koller, Aaron. "Composing the Song of Deborah: Empirical Models" TheTorah.com
(2020). https://thetorah.com/article/composing-the-song-of-deborah-empirical-models
[14]
Judg. 5:4-5, JDB, 2nd Ed.
[15]
Coogan, Michael David. “A Structural and Literary Analysis of the Song of
Deborah.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 40, no. 2 (1978): 143–66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43714562
[16]
Dobbs-Allsopp, F.W. On Biblical Poetry. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2015. 22.
[17]
Ibid, 29-30.
[18]
Gerleman, Gillis. “The Song of Deborah in the Light of Stylistics.” Vetus
Testamentum 1, no. 3 (1951): 168–80. https://doi.org/10.2307/1515859
[19]
Coogan, Michael David. “A Structural and Literary Analysis of the Song of
Deborah.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 40, no. 2 (1978): 143–66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43714562
[20]
. Coogan, Michael David. “A Structural and Literary Analysis of the Song of
Deborah.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 40, no. 2 (1978): 143–66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43714562
[21]
Ibid.
[22]
Ibid.
[23]
Gerleman, Gillis. “The Song of Deborah in the Light of Stylistics.” Vetus
Testamentum 1, no. 3 (1951): 168–80. https://doi.org/10.2307/1515859
[24]
Knight, Michelle. “The Rational Poet: Appealing to the Heart and the Mind in
the Book of Judges.” The Biblical Mind (August 12, 2020). https://hebraicthought.org/book-of-judges-poetic-appeal-heart-mind/
[25]
Ibid.
[26]
Knight, Michelle. “The Rational Poet: Appealing to the Heart and the Mind in
the Book of Judges.” The Biblical Mind (August 12, 2020). https://hebraicthought.org/book-of-judges-poetic-appeal-heart-mind/
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