‘Obey me like your mother’: Deborah's Leadership in Light of Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum 33

Abstract

Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum ( L.A.B.) employs the term ‘mother’ several times in ch. 33, which outlines Deborah's farewell speech and her death. The significance of the term has been interpreted in different ways in the past. This article first analyzes L.A.B. 33, where the term ‘mother’ features prominently, in order to discover the author's use of the term. Next, the use of the term ‘mother’ is compared with the term ‘father’ in L.A.B. Interestingly, L.A.B. reports that when Deborah died, she, like the patriarchs of Genesis, ‘slept with her fathers’ ( L.A.B. 33.6). This reading has implications concerning Deborah's leadership in L.A.B. Finally, it is argued that the use of the term ‘mother’ in relation to Deborah in L.A.B. should be understood as a title implying political leadership.