St. Deborah

Deborah, whose name means bee in Hebrew, was a judge and prophetess in ancient Israel. She was the wife of Lappidoth and she used to sit under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel judging the cases the people brought before her. She predicted the fall of Sisera, an enemy of Israel by the hand of a woman and she commanded Barak to lead an army of Israelites against Sisera’s army. Barak would do so only if she accompanied the army. She did so and the Israelites were victorious; as she had predicted, Sisera died at the hand of a woman (Jael) while fleeing for his life. The story of Deborah is told in Judges 4:4-5:31.