Daily Lesson for March 30, 2020

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Judges 4verses 1 through 10:

The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. 3 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.

4 At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. 6 She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. 7 I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 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.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and ten thousand warriors went up behind him; and Deborah went up with him.

In these pages of the book of Judges the women take charge.

I’m grateful to the brilliant Brite Divinity School scholar Wil Gafney for this insight, and for the knowledge that “Deborah . . . wife of Lapidoth” could also be read “Deborah . . . fiery woman”.

Isn’t that interesting? It’s Dr. Gafney’s understanding that in a critical time in the history of ancient Israel, as the nation was falling apart, God gave them a fiery woman to lead, but then later translators gave them a wife of Lappidoth.

In either case, called in the crisis, Deborah rose to the occasion and brought her fire to light the torches of others — male and female.

So let it be.

NOTE: We’re reading the Bible through this year. Tomorrow is Judges chapters 6 & 7.

ATTRIBUTION: Unidentified. Deborah with weapons and palm tree, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56001[retrieved March 30, 2020]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cathedral_Basilica_of_Saint_Clement,_Tenancingo,_Mexico_State,_Mexico04.jpg