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The so-called Song of Deborah celebrates a decisive victory during the era of the Judges, and praises Jael and the Israelites for their defeat of a Canaanite coalition led by Sisera. Despite generations of scholarship, virtually every aspect of the poem remains disputed, because it has been misunderstood in previous research. This study explains both the enigmatic role of Yahweh of the poem and its heroic ethos through a comparative study of heroic poetry. Part I addresses preliminary critical issues, the most important being the poem''s unity. Although the case for the poem''s unity has merit, the stronger argument is that religious material was added. References to Yahweh occur in the original poem, but it is essentially profane, making it exceptional among comparable Hebrew poetry. How, then, do we account for a Yahwistic poem which primarily praises the human characters?Part II establishes a basis of comparison for the original poem through a survey of heroic poetry. After determining that the original poem is not the narrative type, subgenres of the lyric family are analyzed. Of these, the victory song corresponds most closely to the poem. The results of the survey of heroic poetry are then used to determine whether the poem is heroic. The poem is assessed for heroic and non-heroic features, and the results indicate that it is indeed a heroic victory song. The refinement of the generic classification reveals a new literary genre in the Hebrew Bible and the social context from which the poem arose as well as explains the enigmatic role of Yahweh in the poem.>
List of contents
Preface
Abbreviations
Part 1 - Prolegomena
Chapter I - Introduction
A. Introduction
B. The Date of the Song of Deborah
Chapter II - Annotated Translation of the Song of Deborah
Chapter III - The Unity of the Song
A. The Case for the Unity of the Song
B. The Case Against the Unity of the Song
C. Conclusion
Chapter IV - The Portrayal of God in the Song of Deborah
A. Introduction
B. The Original Song of Deborah
C. The Contrast with Judges 4
D. The Contrast with Other Early Hebrew Poetry
1. The Song of the Sea (Exod 15.1b-18)
2. 2 Sam 22 = Ps 18
3. Habakkuk 3
E. Conclusion
Chapter V - Attempts to Reassert the Prominence of God in the Song of Deborah
A. Introduction
B. The Arguments of Hauser and O'Connell
C. Yahweh and the Stars (v. 20)
D. Mythological Interpretations
E. Conclusion
Part 2 - The Original Song of Deborah in the Light of Heroic Poetry
Chapter VI - The Original Song and Heroic Poetry (Especially Heroic Narrative Poetry)
A. The Central Characteristics of Heroic Poetry
B. Determining the Boundaries of the Heroic Genre
C. Ancient Near Eastern Literature and Heroic Poetry
D. Conclusion
Chapter VII - The Original Song and Lyric Genres
A. Subgenres which are Clearly Irrelevant
B. Subgenres with Limited or Qualified Relevance
C. Candidates for Comparison with the Song
D. Conclusion
Chapter VIII - The Original Song as a Heroic Victory Song
A. Introduction
B. Heroic Features in the Song
C. Possible Non-Heroic Features in the Song
D. Conclusion
E. Excursus: The Contribution of the Heroic Dimension to the Victory Song in the Old Testament
Chapter IX - Conclusion
Bibliography
Index of Authors
About the author
Charles L. Echols, Ph.D., is a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge, and has research interests in the early history and religion of Israel.He lives in Stapleford, Cambridgeshire with his wife and daughter.
