Haftorah reading for B’Shallah (Exodus 3:17-17:16) is Judges 4:4-5:31.
By Irv Jacobs, M.D.
LA JOLLA, California — These passages tell a triumphant story of Deborah, first in prose, then by a poetic version. The setting is mid-12th Century BCE, during the alleged “conquest” of the land, which became northern Israel.
This Haftorah is from the book of Judges, by a composite of unidentified writers. I could not confirm its veracity, as there is no other ancient record of this.
The Haftorah consists largely of prose, followed by a repeat of the same sentiments/message in Hebrew poetry.
I here use the translation and interpretations of the Haftorah by Emeritus Professor Dr. Robert Alter of the University of California Berkeley.[2]
Here are excerpts:
When bonds were loosed in Israel,
when the people answered the call, bless the LORD!
I to the LORD shall sing…
O LORD, the You came forth…
….the very heavens dripped rain…
Mountains melted before the LORD—
Unwalled cities ceased…
till you arose, Deborah,
till you arose, O mother of Israel…
They chose new gods,
then was there war at the gates.
No shield nor lance was seen
My heart to the leaders of Israel,
who answered the call for the people, bless the LORD!…
There let them retell the LORD’s bounties,
His bounties for the unwalled cities in Israel.
Awake, awake, O Deborah,
awake, awake, O speak the song.
Arise, Barak, take your captives…!
Then the remnant of the mighty came down,
the LORD’s people came down from amidst the warriors.
Here the poem mentions 11 tribes inhabiting the Northern Kingdom, four of which (Reuben, Gilead, Dan, Asher) did not answer the call for assistance.
(Canaan’s) Kings came, did battle…
From the heavens the stars did battle,
from the gallop, the gallop of his steeds.
Blessed above women Jael…above women in tents she blessed.
Water he asked for, milk did she give…
Her hand for the tent peg reached out
and her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
And she hammered Sisera, cracked his head…
Between her legs he kneeled, he fell,
where he kneeled he fell, destroyed.
Through the window she looked out, moaned,
Sisera’s mother, through the lattice:
“Why is his chariot so long in coming,
The wisest of her ladies answer her…
‘Why, they will find and share out the spoils—
Thus perish all Your enemies, O LORD!
And be His friends like the sun coming out in its might.
*
As usual, the prophets castigate their people, the Israelites, for corruption. But their message is more complicated.
Sadly, our legends also contain hate and violence toward outsiders. Were there nil trends of diplomacy toward peace attributable to those times? Also, we seemed to relish the most repulsive of killing techniques on enemies.
[1] Etz Hayim,The Jewish Publication Society, 2001, New York, p. 423
[2] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, Prophets Vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019, pp. 94-103
[3] Alter, Ibid. p. 94, & Wikipedia. This is hyperbole, as there was no single king of Canaan. Hazor was an important city-state, so its king likely had more influence than others. As to Iron Age onset, it was different for different geographical regions. Iron-working in the middle East can be dated to the mid-12th century BCE. Accordingly, it is believable that in Deborah’s story, an enemy with iron chariots and weapons existed.
[4] reminds of Mark Antony’s soliloquy opener in Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’—after Caesar’s death by multiple stabbings. Possibly, even likely, Shakespeare borrowed from the Bible!’
Also: Unlike the above prose version, in which the enemy was led by one king (Jabin), here the Canaanites are represented by an alliance of kings!
[5] hyperbole that ‘there were no defenders until Deborah’
[6] emphatic statement that the Canaanites won no spoils!
[7] a metaphor, God’s agents in heaven assisted in the battle—Good luck with that!
[8] a double metaphor: the enemy was stuck in the wadi’s mud; this also refers back to the Torah’s description of the Egyptian pursuers stuck in the mud of the Sea of Reeds.
[9] The translation attempts to reproduce the alliteration in the Hebrew.
[10] a place whose dwellers failed to join Israel in this battle
[11] a metaphor for chariots