After the death of Moses’ successor, Joshua, Israel developed a bad case of spiritual amnesia. God’s people had forgotten who He is, what He had done for them, and what He required of them.

So God appointed judges, valiant military leaders who also acted as spiritual and moral authorities pointing people to their need for repentance. 

Deborah, of the tribe of Naphtali, became the fourth of these leaders. Why was a woman appointed to this position in a patriarchal society? Was no man fit for the job? Or was she, as a woman, meant to represent God’s comforting presence?

We don’t know. But we do know Deborah acted decisively and courageously at a critical juncture in Israel’s history. And she was able to share some of the credit for her nation’s deliverance with an unlikely heroine named Jael.

A Bright Light in a Dark Time

A prophetess identified as the wife of a man named Lappidoth—about whom we know nothing else—Deborah stationed herself daily under the Palm of Deborah in Ephraim, where the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided (Judges 4:5).

Her tenure began during a dark and stormy night in Israel’s brief and bullied history. Israel had long suffered under the thumb of Canaan and its army, led by a commanding officer named Sisera.

Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for 20 years.—Judges 4:3 (ESV)

In Judges 5:6, Deborah describes those days as fear-filled and dangerous. But the Lord heard the cry of His people, and He was ready to move.

A Mission from God

The Lord revealed His plan to Deborah, and He had her approach an Israelite military commander named Barak. 

“Has not the Lord the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulin. And I will draw out Sisera, the general of [King] Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?”—Judges 4:6b-7 (ESV)

Barak, who was all too familiar with their formidable foe, was all in—on one condition: if Deborah went with him. The judge assured him she would, but Barak’s reliance upon her would cost him.

And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.—Judges 4:9a (ESV)

Barak was warned. But the woman’s hand would not belong to Deborah.

An Unlikely Ally

Barak faced Sisera in battle. True to His word, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot (Judges 4:15). 

Sisera fled to the house of Heber the Kenite, a trusted sympathizer. Heber’s wife, Jael, welcomed the commander inside, gave him a drink and hid him under a rug. Sisera thought Jael would protect him. Jael had other thoughts.

But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died.—Judges 4:21 (ESV)

God drove out the Canaanites. The Israelites again knew peace, so Deborah and Barak celebrated with a song of victory. Their song celebrated the “most blessed of women,” Jael, as well as Deborah, “a mother in Israel.”

What We Can Learn from Them

These women had three critical traits in common: They were faithful, Spirit-led and available. The fact they were women was irrelevant. They didn’t focus on biology but on the greater spiritual reality.

That reality is God calls faithful men and faithful women. And those He calls, He equips for the calling. It is not a matter of our inability or weakness. It’s a matter of His ability and His strength. But will we trust Him when He calls us?

Deborah and Jael did, and their faithfulness helped bring freedom from oppression to an entire nation.

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This is Part 29 in a series about biblical women—some named, some not, some honorable, some less so. But all have earned a place in scripture, and all have important lessons to teach us.