Does the Hebrew in Judges 4:4 explicitly identify Deborah as a woman?

Question

I have no skill at reading Hebrew, so I was using some tool to try and parse the sentence in Judges 4:4. I noticed that the definition given for the second word (אִשָּׁה) is "woman"; but what I'm unable to figure out is whether it is a modifier of some other word (like prophetess), or whether it stands on its own.

No major English translations seem to retain it as a separate word (i.e. "Deborah, a woman, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she was judging Israel at that time."), suggesting to me that the word is subsumed under "prophetess". However, it also seems from the lexicon that the word for "prophetess" already includes gender.

I realize that the grammars are very different; but are the English translations dropping something that is present in the Hebrew?

Answer 1

According the the NET Bible translator note on the verse:

1 tn Heb “ a woman, a prophetess.” In Hebrew idiom the generic “woman” sometimes precedes the more specific designation. See GKC 437-38 §135.b.

Interestingly, since her husband, Lappidoth, is identified the text must reorient itself to point back to Deborah when talking about her leadership role:

2 tn Heb “she was.” The pronoun refers back to the nominative absolute “Deborah.” Hebrew style sometimes employs such resumptive pronouns when lengthy qualifiers separate the subject from the verb.

The text goes out of its way to identify her as a woman in this verse by:

• Giving her a feminine name (Dĕbowrah <01683>)
• Calling her a prophetess (nĕbiy'ah <05031> is feminine)
• Identifying her husband
• And redirecting the subject to a woman when talking about her national role.

Finally, the translator mentions that her role could either be "leading Israel" or:

3 tn Or “judging.”

Summary

Having a woman in this role was no doubt unusual enough that the text seems to go out of its way to avoid confusion on that point.

Answer 2

There is no ambiguity about Deborah’s sex. The reason you have not seen a translation render this “Deborah, a woman, a prophetess, etc.” is the awkwardness of such a translation. And there are many other instances of this in the Bible: ish mitzri (to take an example from this morning’s Torah reading), “an Egyptian man” or just “an Egyptian”, not “a man, an Egyptian”. The Masoretic trop therefore explicitly combine the two words into a single phrase.

Note that the next instance of the word for woman in this verse is in the construct form and must be translated “woman of” (or “wife of”) and is attached to the next word. The usual translation is “wife of Lapidoth” and the midrash Eliyahu Rabbah identifies Lapidoth (meaning “torches”) with Barak (meaning “lightning”). However, in ArtScroll’s The Prophets, Rubin Edition, the words esheth lapidoth (אשת לפידות) are instead rendered “a fiery woman”. This seems to follow another midrashic tradition, as explained by Metzudath David ad loc. (translation my own):

Esheth lapidoth, that is to say, a woman of valor, enthusiastic in her service as a flaming torch; this is a colloquialism.

This translation is perhaps informed by the Midrash quoted in the Talmud (Megilla 14a):

אשת לפידות שהיתה עושה פתילות למקדש
She is called esheth lapidoth because she made wicks for the sanctuary.

If the text is read “a fiery woman” (lit., “woman of torches”), this Midrash would be a hyper-literal reading of her description. If the text refers to her husband, one might expect the Midrash to describe his fieriness instead.

Answer 3

Yes it does. In the Strong's Hebrew concordance: entry 802. Ishshah meaning woman, wife and female. Thus it reads, Deborah Ishshah. This prophetess is rightfully one Dabra Makeda of Ethiopia grand daughter of Amanishketo who valiantly fought against the legendary Alexander the great. Axum, kush if I'm not mistaken as to the dynasty attributed.

Answer 4

I suppose it would be a valid thought-for-thought translation to leave אשה untranslated, since calling Deborah "a woman, a prophetess" or "a woman prophetess" would seem a little redundant. Personally, however, I would choose to translate אשה despite any awkwardness in English, because it seems that the Author of Judges likely included it in order to emphasize that Deborah was a woman.

Being defeated by a woman was a humiliation, to say the very least, as shown in the following story from Ch 9.

Judges 9:52-55 (DRB) And Abimelech coming near the tower, fought stoutly: and approaching to the gate, endeavoured to set fire to it: And behold a certain woman casting a piece of a millstone from above, dashed it against the head of Abimelech, and broke his skull. And he called hastily to his armourbearer, and said to him: Draw thy sword, and kill me: lest it should be said that I was slain by a woman. He did as he was commanded, and slew him.

It is fitting that God would humble His enemies through women as he does through the unnamed woman of Judges 9, and through Jahel who kills the general of Jabin's army in Judges 4, and through Deborah. After all, this is the same God who, in the words of Mary (another woman), "Has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly." (Luke 1:52)