Deborah was the name of two Old Testament women. The word in Hebrew means “honeybee” (Psalm 118:12; Isaiah 7:18).
1. Deborah was Rebekah’s nurse (Genesis 35:8). This Deborah died as she was traveling to Bethel with her master Jacob’s household. She was buried in a spot called Allon-bacuth (“the oak of weeping”). That probably indicates that she had been well loved. She was probably Rebekah’s longtime companion (24:59-61).
2. Deborah was also a prophetess and judge (Judges 4-5). Deborah’s position as a prophetess shows that her message was from God. That was not unique in the Bible, but it was unusual. Other prophetesses included Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), and Anna (Luke 2:36). Deborah, however, was unique. Only she is said to have “judged Israel” before the major event that marks her story (Judges 4:4). Her husband, Lappidoth, is otherwise unknown.
Deborah, known as a “mother in Israel” (Judges 5:7), remained in one location and the people came to her for guidance. Evidently over two hundred years later, when the book of Judges was compiled, a giant palm tree still marked the spot. Though she lived within the boundary of Benjamin (4:5; compare Joshua 16:2; 18:13), Deborah was probably from the tribe of Ephraim. That was the most prominent tribe of northern Israel. Some feel she came from the tribe of Issachar (Judges 5:14-15).
Under Deborah’s inspired leadership, the poorly equipped Israelites defeated the Canaanites in the plain of Esdraelon (Judges 4:15). The flooding of the Kishon River evidently interfered with the enemy’s impressive chariots (5:21-22). The Canaanites retreated to the north, perhaps to Taanach near Megiddo (5:19). They never reappeared as an enemy within Israel. The Song of Deborah (chapter 5) is a poetic version of the account recorded in Judges 4.