Deborah

Deborah the prophet appears in the book of Judges, chapters 4 and 5. Barak, the military leader of the Israelite tribes, demands that Deborah accompany him into battle against Sisera, the commander of the enemy Canaanite army. In Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities, Deborah’s role as a religious leader is expanded. She describes herself as a “woman of God” and admonishes the Israelites to obey God and keep the covenant. Her words include an exhortation to the people before her death, echoing the messages Moses gives to the people in the final chapters of Deuteronomy. For Deborah’s hymn after defeating the Canaanites in Biblical Antiquities, see “Deborah’s Hymn of Thanksgiving.”