Judges 4:4

At that time the Israelites were judged by Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, who dwelt under the Deborah-palm between Ramah (er Rm: see at Jos 18:25) and Bethel (Beitin: see at Jos 7:2) in the tribe of Benjamin, upon the mountains of Ephraim. Deborah is called נמיאה אשּׁה on account of her prophetic gift, like Miriam in Exo 15:20, and Hulda the wife of Shallum in Kg2 22:14. This gift qualified her to judge the nation (the participle שׁפטה expresses the permanence of the act of judging), i.e., first of all to settle such disputes among the people themselves as the lower courts were unable to decide, and which ought therefore, according to Deu 17:8, to be referred to the supreme judge of the whole nation. The palm where she sat in judgment (cf. Psa 9:5) was called after her the Deborah-palm. The Israelites went up to her there to obtain justice. The expression "came up" is applied here, as in Deu 17:8, to the place of justice, as a spiritual height, independently of the fact that the place referred to here really stood upon an eminence.

The year of the redeemed at length came, when Israel was to be delivered out of the hands of Jabin, and restored again to their liberty, which we may suppose the northern tribes, that lay nearest to the oppressors and felt most the effects of his fury, did in a particular manner cry to God for. For the oppression of the poor, and the sighing of the needy, now will God arise. Now here we have, I. The preparation of the people for their deliverance, by the prophetic conduct and government of Deborah, Jdg 4:4, Jdg 4:5. Her name signifies a bee; and she answered her name by her industry, sagacity, and great usefulness to the public, her sweetness to her friends and sharpness to her enemies. She is said to be the wife of Lapidoth; but, the termination not being commonly found in the name of a man, some make this the name of a place: she was a woman of Lapidoth. Others take it appellatively, Lapidoth signifies lamps. The Rabbin say she had employed herself in making wicks for the lamps of the tabernacle; and, having stooped to that mean office for God, she was afterwards thus preferred. Or she was a woman of illuminations, or of splendours, one that was extraordinarily knowing and wise, and so came to be very eminent and illustrious. Concerning her we are here told, 1. That she was intimately acquainted with God; she was a prophetess, one that was instructed in divine knowledge by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God, and had gifts of wisdom, to which she attained not in an ordinary way: she heard the words of God, and probably saw the visions of the Almighty. 2. That she was entirely devoted to the service of Israel. She judged Israel at the time that Jabin oppressed them; and perhaps, being a woman, she was the more easily permitted by the oppressor to do it. She…