Wrestling the Word by Sharp Carolyn

Author:Sharp, Carolyn [Inconnu(e)]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
Published: 2011-03-21T01:00:00+00:00

Judges 4 spins out the narrative in dramatic storytelling mode, as it unfolds. Israel is in dire straits, oppressed by Jabin; the prophet Deborah summons Barak and decisively lays out the battle strategy, which will be carried out by the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun; the LORD throws the Canaanites into a panic, and they are routed by Barak’s forces; Sisera flees to Jael and collapses with exhaustion, whereupon Jael executes the sleeping warrior. Judges 5 offers a different diction in several key respects. The entire event is narrated as part of a epic victory song sung in praise of God, so the outcome is already known; the mustering of six willing Israelite tribes and the apparent hesitation of four others are recounted in detail (only ten tribes here, and some are named with ancient names—Judges 5 is likely older than the time at which the tradition of the twelve tribes of Israel became standard); cosmic dimensions of the battle are hymned; an alert, standing Sisera is killed by Jael; and a sharply ironic note is introduced with the vignette of Sisera’s mother watching in vain for the return of her son and musing on the plundering and raping that he must be doing. Analyzing all of the differences between the prose and poetic accounts would require a monograph. Here I shall have to content myself with sketching some brief observations that are, I hope, suggestive of Brueggemannesque and Bakhtinian readings.

First, we may hear these chapters as testimony and countertestimony. The holy-war testimony of Judges 4 is strong and confident, vivid with theological certitude and painted in rhetorically bold strokes. Barak’s anxiety might look like weakness on the part of Israel: as J. Clinton McCann says, the chief commander of Israel’s forces is “a guy named ‘Lightning,’ who seems none too quick, brave, or brilliant.”27 But his character may be read as a foil that points up the strength and decisiveness of all of the other characters allied with Israel (Deborah, Jael, and God). Israel acts as one, unified under the unwavering leadership of the glorious Deborah. Barak calls, and ten thousand troops are immediately with him; they rout the Canaanites in the space of a few verses and ultimately destroy Jabin. Monologic surety indeed: God’s holy people are victorious in combat, with the LORD, the Divine Warrior, at their side!

Judges 5, though, is a different telling. It is not fully “counter” in its theology, for the God of Israel is still sovereign here. But this is unsolicited testimony from an Israel that begins to provide too much information in the elaborate poetry, and it does counter the Judges 4 portrayal of Israel as heroic and unstoppable. Brueggemann says of unsolicited testimony something that is true of Judges 5: “much is stated extravagantly, inordinately, hyperbolically. In its witness, Israel delights to make a bold presentation in front of the watching nations.”28 Here we learn more of the ancient power of God, the One who marched from Seir and caused cosmic disruption with every holy footfall.

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